Rafe's school

 Take two! Rafe's second first day of preschool. So this was taken the beginning of October at the first day of starting his new preschool. Good grief what a month of September preschool we had! 

Happy Day!

Here's our story...

We put him in Granite School District - Upland Terrace Preschool, just like his brothers have all done. I have loved it when they are 4 years old. 4 days a week, 3 hrs. a day. And the teachers and classroom have been a great learning environment and helped my children socially and to learn and grow. But this time, with my shy sweet baby of the family. It was a little different. We even had neighborhood friends we signed him up with. Then after 2 weeks in, one of them, his favorite up and left back to our old preschool (felt it wasn't right for them). I was so sad, our carpool was gone, his favorite friend Lucy was gone. She was the only way he would go to school. In fact everyday was a HUGE battle to get Rafe to please get dressed, please get shoes on, lets get in the car... Sometimes I would call Greg and have him tell Rafe he has to because he wouldn't do what I asked and I would get mad. I seriously was late EVERY time I had to drive car pool. It was killing me. Talk about a long month. I was dreading the whole year. I was thinking it was a phase and would change. He just hated it and didn't want to go to school.
 I volunteered a couple times in September and his teacher wanted to talk to me about him. He wouldn't ever play with the other kids, and he wouldn't do what he was asked. What?! My child. That was weird behavior and concerned me. And then we discover a bully in class. This bully was violent, scratched our other friend a blood scratch across her forehead and eye/eye lid. Yikes, then while I was there he full on bit another boy. And the stories of stuff he had done was a list that was growing. We talked with the teacher and district, they were trying to find a solution. In the mean time I was blessed with an opportunity to go back to our old preschool with Miss Jenn from last year. That, Rafe loved and kept talking about. And she even let the other little neighbor girls in also.  I felt like crying when we all got in. So beginning of October we switched schools and now we are back to our 3 kid neighborhood carpool. Rafe likes school and is glad when he goes again.  It has been wonderful.  For whatever reasons, Upland Terrace wasn't a good fit for Rafe and we had an opportunity and switched him.  And I'm not looking back.  Yeah!  Wonderful for him, and for us.  It is a relief.

Rafe is a little turkey. He is always asking for me to take his picture. The scratch on is forehead was from fighting with his brother. Always wanting to play Clumsy Ninja on my phone, I find pictures of Rafe's self portraits all too often, we are still trying to master him putting on his shoes. I know, we are bad and always just do it for him so we need to get the baby of the family to be a little more independent. And then a silly Rafe who likes to hide under a blanket after his cold bowl of cereal in the mornings. And he was walking around with it on his head. Just being silly the way Rafe is silly.

Kitchen Remodel Saga

Can't Even 

The whole process of gutting your kitchen and bathroom, living in a renovation, the hours of physical labor, the emotional drain, never any downtime - always stuff to be done, the many many and big decisions, I'm so thankful for all that Greg did to make this possible and for all the help Abe did. Can't Even!

Before:

The previous owners hand made the cabinets in their wood shop in the 1980's or something. And after all this time they were falling apart. They were laminate and I hated them. Greg said they were beginning to be awful. At least they were white and not some ugly color. We also did not like the layout. We had to zig-zag through the kitchen, the over hanging cabinets blocked views and the cooler air flow. We just really wanted something nice and new. After 12 years we were done, it was either move or remodel. 

You can't really tell in the pictures, but they were uneven, missing knobs, peeling apart, chipping, and need I even mention the mauve/pinkish beige counter tops.

Plenty of pictures for posterity and to jog some laughs remembering. And the white tile! Ugh! What a pain to keep clean. But what a cute baby Rafe modeling for me years ago. Just ignore the piles and clutter it was the last week of school - enough said with all the crap the boys bring home.

And the outdated bathroom. Salmon color grout, peach/tan/brownish tile, cream counter with a sea shell shaped sink. Bone color toilet and original cast iron tub. It was long over due for a remodel.

Again, cute little models, but I'm trying to show the tile, grout, etc.

After:

Here it is, almost all done. Minor details left. Like a window sill, pencil trim, and some decor, etc.

We love it! We love having a kitchen again, I am so happy. It makes it seem like a whole new home. We rearranged the layout and the appliances. Now we just need to get new appliances... in time.

A close up and our bathroom almost finished too. Just some curtains and decor for in there.

This is my dream kitchen below. I am showing it for fun, so I can remember and maybe have a laugh at the style one day. I think is great right now, nice and modern. Perhaps one day it will be ghastly? But, I LOVE IT! It is my inspiration. And I talked Greg into doing the bold floor. But we had a difficult time finding it and getting in done in our time table.

Anyways, so now we are to the demolition....  We did it right after school got out in June (literally the next day). And Greg wanted to get it all done before he started his new job at ebay. So the night before we were packing our kitchen up and stashed the many boxes and things in the living room and office down stairs. I wish I had a good picture of our crowded living room, full of the fridge, dishwasher, stove, and boxes all summer long in chaos.

 Then week after week... we worked on the floors, the walls, the electrical. And the hours of running all over the valley looking at cabinets, counter tops, paint, tile, tile, tile, hours spent on line, shopping, the countless times running to Home Depot. It was a full-time gig I tell ya!

So glad I meticulously taped plastic up to block out all the dust. And I love Bodie's tongue sticking out while hard at work with a screw driver. The boys loved hammering at things, and at different times some of them were really good helpers and other times others would be. But they all enjoyed helping. It was great to have them haul debris to the dumpster in the drive-way.

Chiseling tile, no problem. Hauling away a 300 lb. tub, no problem. Ha!

What a beast of a job. Our kitchen is not only 60 years old, but the floor, walls, ceiling showed it. All different heights and uneven everything. Greg and I worried about some things, but in the end it all came together. We enlisted our bro-in-law Abe to help with demo, and drywall, and laying our kitchen floor. What a task! He came, and worked and worked with us, we used his tools, he came back again and again until it was done and he was ready to curse the uneven floor! Ha!  "Abe, you're my hero" - that's what I said to him every day he was there. In my Ferris Bueller's Day Off movie voice. :) And in the very end I looked at my hubby and said most lovingly, "Greg, you're my hero"! He's the man and I'm so glad he is capable to go and do and so glad he is persuaded by his wife to go along with my ideas.

After we got our floor half done, everything takes way longer than expected. So it wasn't all finished when we were scheduled for the cabinets to be installed. So after the cabinets were in, then the kitchen floor was finished! 

And that's me, grouting. Yes, I grouted our whole kitchen and bathroom floor. And I NEVER want to do it again. :) I had Jax to help me empty the water bucket and refresh it for me. And when I panicked about the drying, wiping, and cleaning before it dries I had Greg help sponge for me. I did the bathroom in one afternoon. It was ok. But the kitchen, oh boy. That was a lot of floor. My body died.

And then weeks later, after I painted the walls, after our counter tops were installed, Greg and I installed our back splash (ok mostly Greg). I helped and grouted with Greg. Team work is nice. And there's Abe laying the last piece of tile. I could shed tears of joy that it was finished and we were close to the finished product!

I chose dark brown tile floor, because we didn't want wood or faux wood. Everyone has dark wood floor, so we figured the dark tile will go well and be easy maintenance. I wanted Gray cabinets (like from my dream pic), and changed it up a little by adding white upper cabinets. I love marble back splash, so we did a glass polished that looks like marble. And the lighting was fun to add some bling. Our neighbor is an electrician and he helped install and move wires and things for us.

Picking a light gray paint color was ridiculous! We picked several, went through quite a few samples, and even painted full walls. Everything was too purple, blue, tan. How hard is it to mix black and white to get some gray? The last one we chose, we painted several samples on different walls and called it good. Then I painted and by the next day or evening I felt it was too minty greenish of a gray! Ahh! But I'm not painting over it. I'll just live with it for now. Everyone says it looks gray to them. So that's good enough. It's amazing how the certain time of the day lighting, evening, changes it constantly.

So many people live through building and remodeling. It is crazy, I don't want to do it again - at least for a long long time. Well after I've forgotten the toll it takes. Have I mentioned how much time Greg spent laboring on our remodel? How much time I spent? The poor boys were probably a little neglected this summer. But they survived and are enjoying our new kitchen with us. The End!

The details in case I need to remember...

Fashion Cabinets made here in SLC
We ordered tile and counters in the kitchen from Prosource

Aspen Countertops did Hanstone Quartz in Aurora Snow

Daltile, Concrete Connection glazed tile in East Side Brown, grout color Sable Brown

Kitchen back splash is from Arizona Tile the Baroque Carrara

Bathroom tile is Jadidi Back to Basics, polished Charcoal with grout color Truffle

bathroom countertop is Cambria Quartz in Dovetale (?) -we found a remnant

bathroom back splash is from Arizona Tile the Skylights Glass Subway tile in white &

the dark back splash boarder is from Lowes the Allen & Roth Shimmering Lights Glass Mosaic

vanity color is Benjamin Moore in San Antonio Gray

Wall paint color is Ralph Lauren in Silversmith

Kitchen sink is Blanco Siligranite II in Metallic Gray  (which I love!)

Delta Trask kitchen faucet.

1st days

 School started the 19th of August. Yes, that's a mid number of the month, in the teens. Our summer came to a screeching halt. But it was secretly quite nice after all. Nice to have the boys gone, out of the house, away from each other and a break from fighting. Having them home all summer was getting to us. 

Jax is ready to rule the school. Forget sixth grade, he thinks he can now. Both of his classes (French/English) are outside in the portables. So he's not "in" the school that much. That's going to get old in the winter or when I need to get him or run to his classroom. Stink!

And I begged for him to cut his hair. He wouldn't... until he came home after the first day and begged Greg to in fact cut it. His friends teased him and basically said he looked funny with long shaggy dog hair. (rude kids) So he gave into pressure and wanting to look like his normal self and Greg cut it on Thursday night. Phew!

 And Creed, same thing about the hair. But he only cut his to be like Jax. That makes Jax mad. :)

Both he and Jax have 1 male teacher this year. And the other teacher of Creed was NOT a good teacher for Jax. We call her evil. But Creed has a good attitude and says he's going to be on her good side. So far, so good.

 And our Bodie. He is in Kindergarten again. This time at the same school as Jax and Creed. We told him if he wants to go to their school he can go and do KG and then next year he can be in the French like his brothers. He is fine and happy about that. And so excited to walk to school with his brothers and the herd of kids going too. He is a giant, but he was last year too.

So, with our August birthday boy... It was a VERY hard decision to have him repeat KG. It has been on my mind for years and especially months. The pros and cons and the feeling we felt to do what is best for Bodie. A lot of motherly prayers have gone into this and I knew what conclusion would be best. I could make this a long story. But I will try and keep it short. Ultimately it came down to if he is ready to go into 1st grade French Immersion. And we truly felt he needs more time and will be better off to do that next year. He certainly doesn't need to repeat kindergarten really, but he certainly would have a struggle with being the youngest and behind - year after year through elementary school.  He's been a little behind with things when he was young like not crawling, walking, jumping, and now writing, he is in speech,  and he's done really well with reading last year. But at the end of year assessment with his great Kindergarten teacher at Oakridge, he was still one of the "lower" ones in his class and can still work on a lot of things.

I am happy that he will not be the young baby of his class, but now he can be the oldest and thrive better. He is at the top of his class right now after his assessment last week. It will help his self esteem and bring him confidence he recognizes he doesn't have. He hated how behind he was with his peers and how he would get their help a lot. He could see it and feel it. Now we told him he can be the one to help the kids in his class. He fits in with either year of kids, but now he will have a better chance of achieving instead of struggling so much and being happy and confident instead of sad and calling himself stupid. Makes me sad. And he won't be with his best friend in first grade, but that's ok, I suppose he can make new friends to have all through school - that are "his" age. 

If he reads this one day or wonders why we had him wait to start 1st grade. It's because we love him and knew in our hearts what would be best for him. We gave him a gift. To have another year of childhood, and to become the strong smart boy we know he is. 

Now to just get through this "silly" repeat of a year with a not impressive teacher. We got this!

 ***

Ok, back to 1st days...

Rafe finally started preschool. Several weeks after his brothers started school. Geesh that was a long wait. But he is happy as can be. I will volunteer in his class every-once-in-a-while so that will be fun. And we go with a few little girls from our neighborhood to carpool with too. 4 days a week leaves me with 4 DAYS A WEEK! I am just a little excited about that fact. All the kids gone in the mornings. It is so nice.

Here's a few close ups. Bodie's eyes hurting in the morning after I made him open them for so long for pictures on his first day. And then after school on the first day, he had a good one and was happy. And I had to share the picture of his scraggly tooth. He kept hurting it, I tried pulling it, but got too grossed out and realized it would need some yanking, so Greg did it, phew! And then one of Rafe and his scratch below his eye from fighting with his brother. Of course.

end of sum

Here's some pics of the last of our summer from my phone - that don't involve our kitchen remodel. I'll get to posting about that when I get to it.

 Bodie lost his first tooth in July! The first pic he is in shock of having Greg just pull it out. Then he laughed after he realized he was worried for nothing. By the time his second tooth came out in August, he was scared and cried and waiting all day for Greg to pull it out. And we watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and the boys loved it, and loved dancing around too. And Greg's big burger. We haven't BBQ'd much at all this summer. We were too busy with the kitchen to do our normal summer stuff. :(

And... Rafe is just getting up after steam rolling his brothers while camping up at East Canyon. Then a quick race with the Davies at the track, we only did that a handful of times this summer too. :( 

Then we did a tour of Fox 13 news with cousins. Then squished in the back seat on the way to church. Not much longer will they be able to sit hip to hip and fit all 4 of them.

  

Greg took a quick time out from laying our back splash to change our tire to our spare because we got a screw in the tire! And Rafe being half naked all afternoon, just because that's what boys do. With one sock too. Whatever. And Rafe hiding under pillows and nobody can see him.

All the rest of our summer will be on a lengthy post on our remodel. I'm so excited to write that up. Not!

Our EU trip

Greg went to Amsterdam to work with his boss training some of the eBay offices on stuff. Luckily about a week before he left he finally got his passport, that took forever to arrive. And about 2 weeks before we checked our points and we booked me a ticket and I arranged for our mom's and my sister to babysit and cleared my full calendar and joined him for part of the trip. Because of the remodel my mom helped me unpack and move back into our kitchen just before we left. It was crazy timing but I am so glad I went. So glad we could be there together and have a little vacation with just the 2 of us. I was a little worried, because I had no time to plan and prepare what I was going to do and see. All my spare time before we left was all on the remodel stuff. So I felt quite unprepared. But I quickly found a quick to do and see list. And read up on what I was going to see the night before. Thank goodness for wifi in our hotel!

On Tuesday we left. Bodie's birthday too :( But we got him another video game in the morning so he didn't care, he was happy. We had direct flights from SLC which was nice. Nice for Greg since he was 1st class for work, and they wouldn't let us switch seats during the flight. But I did get a spacious exit row, which was great. Everyday we Skyped to chat with our boys. This is our view of them and their crazy-ness.

 Jet lag is the worst, but a price to pay to enjoy travel to neat places in the world. Here are some of our dinners out in Amsterdam every evening. Schnitzel, Africian (Ethiopian?) very delish but messy, Pannenkoek (Dutch Pancakes) -which are just large Crepe's unrolled but so yummy, and we tried Stupenwaffel (Dutch Waffle w/ caramel sauce). Amsterdam is quite a world cultural place. There is the Dutch, and then so so many more ethnicity and religions. And therefore lots of different areas and restaurants. Did I explain that right?

Dinner's were my favorite, not just because we got to eat food, but because I was with Greg and enjoying a date night every night!

 For the first 2 1/2 days I was on my own while Greg worked. So I became very familiar with Amsterdam. I can tell you anything, what places are good, pretty, easy to get to, too far to walk, and how to avoid the famous Red Light District, etc. ha ha. The hop on/off bus and canal tour was what I did. And am very glad I did. It was fun. All buildings in Amsterdam are 5 stories high, more canal space than in Venice, I saw the Anne Frank House, the museum's, the Central Station, the big main canal, I enjoyed it all. All by myself. Great sightseeing.

And I have to mention the bicycles. Amsterdam is all BIKES! Truly, they are what everyone uses. I put a picture of a parking garage. Full of not cars, but bikes. There are over 2 million bikes in the city, people own more than one, so they can leave them at different spots. So walking around crossing streets was crazy, only because not only do you watch for cars, you watch for zooming bikes! They have a car lane, bike lanes, and then sidewalks for walking. I'd have to stop like 4-5 times to cross the busy streets. But it's all part of the fun adventure. 

 Here's some more pretty highlights of my canal tour.

 The one museum I picked to go in was the Van Gogh. It was neat, I didn't realize he did so many self portraits, and the "Sunflowers" painting is actually really pretty and shimmery in person. I wish I could have seen Starry Night, it is my favorite - but it's not at that museum. I wandered some of the many out door markets, did lots of walking in my flip flops. And nobody in Europe wears flip flops. ha! Just me. :) 


I also was going to mention how I noticed that European's aren't addicted to their smart phones like we are here. At parks and cafe's and the youth I saw, nobody was ever using their phones. Maybe that's just American's. Gosh, and then the smoking. Everyone and their dog smokes. That is all.

The next day Greg and I rented a car and first thing in the morning we drove a few minutes to north Holland up to Zaanse Schans to see us some real life big original Holland Windmills. I picked a good spot, it was pretty neat. Then we headed down to Den Haag (The Hague) I just had a good time calling it Den Haag. It was not like an old EU city. All new and modern. While we were there we did a quick stop at the North Sea. Quick because we can't read Dutch and figure out the parking meters, so we parked and ran w/o paying for a few minutes. He he. Then we drove a ways over to see the Amsterdam Temple. Before heading south to Belgium.

 My favorite selfie picture of the whole trip. Only because we had to take many and were laughing, the sun was in our eyes before we moved to shade and we were cracking up. Then I got a decent one, voila!

The roads in the Netherlands were nice, new, and modern and cool. (America/Utah should get ideas) Even the graffiti was cool, it was definitely Graffiti Art. More like murals everywhere. Then Belgium, older, not good maintenance and no more Windmills to spot. But, we arrived in Brussels, and parked our car, and wandered the incredible and beautiful city. It is hilly, so all the cobblestone streets were winding up and down and all around. And the Grand Place (main square) was so ornate and gold leafing all over. Very pretty. When I googled what to do or see in Brussels the top thing was a little famous statue. So we found it, being photographed by hundreds. The Manneken Pis. The little boy peeing fountain. I only knew it from the movie the Money Pit w/ Tom Hanks. But that was fun to see. It's from the 1400's. And of course while there we had to have a real Belgium Waffle, with chocolate and strawberries. Yum!

 We thought of going to Bruges on the coast but Greg really wanted to say he's been to France, so we jumped in the car and headed down to Lille, France. We loved the old city. Small cobble stone streets, it was unreal, we got lost and were loving the quaint streets we came across. We headed to the Grand Place (main square) saw the statue of Charles de Gualle and the old ornate buildings, and had a dinner with real french fries, Ha! Then we literally ran to our car to get back on the road to race back to Amsterdam to get our car rental back by 11:30pm. We made it back at 11:20pm. Only 3 1/2 hours back.(and 3 countries - crazy!) I also included a picture of the Belgium countryside. I spotted a hot air balloon and loved all the lush farms. They speak French in Belgium (some Flemish, and Dutch) and of course French in France so I kinda wished our boys were with us so they could see and hear and experience the language they are learning. Someday maybe.

Our last day we walked 10 years to go to church. It's always neat to attend church in other places. We had yummy Italian dinner in the Jewish district (random) and some down time and lots of conversations with my hubby that we've been missing out on all summer by always working on the kitchen/bathroom or discussing the house project. It was a week we really needed to have and didn't know it. What a blessing to be able to go to Europe. 

Then on Monday morning I got on the plane back to SLC almost 11 hours. I saw lots of movies. And Greg headed to London and then Copenhagen before ending his week back in Amsterdam to come home. I made him go out and see "stuff", any stuff. And even texted him 2 things to see in Copenhagen. I'm sure he's glad he obeyed his wife.

(You know, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Little Mermaid Statue, Nyhavn, and some fountain at twilight) 

Till next time Europe.

Bo is 6

 Bodie had a birthday! He is happy to be 6! He asked for an Oreo cake and wanted a video game and a big dart machine gun. He was so happy to get them and more. We actually celebrated his b-day the day before because Greg and I were leaving for our trip in the afternoon of his actual day. We were sad to do that. At least we got to celebrate with him.

Blowing out his candles was... tricky and silly. He first tried blowing, and got one candle, then did it again. Then laughed because he would miss the flame, then he would blow some more, then stop and laugh, and then blow, then laugh and laugh and then finally after about 6 times he finally got the last of the candles. He cracked himself up by not being able to blow them out. And that triggered the silly crazy Bodie...

And the lame person from the store who decorated his cake put the writing on some plastic and rested it on top of the cake. Seriously. But, he ended up taking the candles out and then put the plastic covered in frosting in his mouth and eventually forehead too and started laughing at how silly he thought he was being. And then he laughed more. Not just any laugh, but a crazy, loud, silly, bellowing giggle laugh. And he couldn't stop. And then he started crying he was laughing so hard. I love it - tears of joy! That's the best to laugh and not be able to stop.

He finally calmed down, we ate cake and ice cream and then did his presents all with G-ma April and Amy & Karl. And the next morning, his actual Birthday, we gave him one more present to open before we left on our trip. Another video game to keep him occupied for the babysitters (his grandma's). And Bodie is posing for me in his pj's after we sang to him that morning. He is truly a silly turkey.

 I love our Bodie boy. He can be such a delight. I mean, look how cute he is. He is 2 1/2 in the picture and I cannot believe he is already 6!

I love his little voice. He tries so hard to say things and people struggle to understand what he's saying sometimes. We are always correcting him and recently we all tease him with a phrase he said this summer. "The beh in the eh oveh theh" i.e. - the bear in the air over there. His correct speech will come in time. I love his hands and his little chub. He beat the habit of biting his nails so short after we used the medicine on his nails. I'll keep it on hand in-case we need it again. Greg and I get a kick out of the way he runs. He swings his arms and scurries his legs along. So cute. He has 2 or 3 cowlicks in his hair, so we keep it buzzed. And it's cuter that way I think because then you can really see his adorable face and not the poof hair. He is a mini hoarder. He loves to keep everything and has quite a stash. Lately Jax and Creed play and call him their teddy bear. He loves it. He loves to play video games, eat popcorn, ice cream, apples, Cheerios, playing anything with his brothers, snuggling with his dad, and always asks for a massage or back scratch in church or if I'm sitting near him on the couch. He is a fun kiddo. I think we'll keep him. :)

Our Uinta's

 Uinta's or Bust! Gosh, looking forward for months for the annual Uinta's camping trip over the 24th of July holiday, and now it has come and gone. Well, the males in my family were looking forward to it. I was just looking to it. Ha!

We had great weather again this year, the bugs weren't bad, no injuries, so it was pretty successful. It was a different year this year. There were no horses, it was a small Lorenzon group, but still a big Bangerter family group, we didn't do the usual hike up to the second river crossing. But, I was kinda glad about that. Every year it's the same ol' stuff. The monotony broke up this year. 

We did climb a steep mountain this year with our kids in tow. We hiked a half day up the side of a mountain, switch backs and cliffs to boot. There we are with Tokewanna Peak behind us. It was pretty up there in the high meadows. Some of the boys did some whining and we kinda had to hold hands and pull the little ones along. We pepped talked them and told them they can do hard things. And how rewarding to say they climbed to the top of a big mountain. Bodie still compares things to how hard it was. It was a nice change of scenery.

We did some nice short and sweet fishing outings with the boys. Hung out around camp, visited with all the cousins, ate, played around, threw rocks in the river, had campfires. And a too bright to look at fire with burning magnesium - that's why I'm not facing the fire. And ended it with Sacrament meeting with the whole Bangerter clan in the beautiful Mother Nature at it's best.

 Fishing along the Black's Fork River. See my boys all spread out in the picture.

 They boys went down to the river to throw rocks or try skipping rocks everyday. Other cousins, swam, tubed, and bathed. Maybe next year we'll think ahead to do that too. The boys enjoy it anyways.

 4 happy campers right there. It was a bummer to come home and in my mind I envision the way it is every year and unloading everything and putting things away. But then I remembered, this year we came home to chaos and didn't have a kitchen and our stuff is everywhere. But we can do hard things. :)

half summa!

 The first part of our summer is gone. And we really have a month and a few days left! Stink'n school starting so early in August. Boo! So here is our summa life so far according to my phone.

We fed the crazy fighting seagulls some pizza one night in Sugarhouse Park. Creed's ankle sure hurt a lot the last month, so we carried him to and fro a lot too. I just did a piggy back ride though. :) 

We go to Classic Fun Center and play sometimes. The boys were "being boys" and playing with the shooting streams of water. But I think we all know they were joking it was something else. And the excitement I felt when we started laying our kitchen floor tile. Almost felt like crying. Ha!

We played in the cold, sprinkling rain at Liberty Park one day, the boys didn't care about the temperature though. Sunday after church, I like it when they all wear ties and look sharp. Father's day at the cemetery to visit Grandpa Lee's grave. And it almost brought tears of joy as Greg finished the touches on the bathroom counter and toilet. Serious joy! Did I mention I grouted our tile, all by myself. It looks good too. :) And then swinging at the Bangerter Farm in Alpine at Greg's bro Chris and wife Anna's year later open house from when they got married.

 We went downtown for our ward play group to tour the Beehive House and go to the top of the Church Office Building observation deck this week. But it's so busy in the summer they don't send you upstairs at the house and the observation deck was closed for maintenance. Good grief. But we all still had such a fun time being at Temple Sqare together with friends. We got free Lion House rolls, yum, we did go to the top of the JSMB to see the views and saw all the flowers and visited the Christus Statue. We LOVE to see the temple!

What else have we been up to? We swam at the Abbotts, I love the picture I captured of Bodie and Creed jumping in together. Jax has been starting to learn to mow the lawn. It's funny when he tries to turn around the at the edges. It's a big machine for him. :) And we even cleaned our church on Saturday.

I suppose that's all the captured moments. I have left out all the remodel pictures. That will be for another day. But I just have to say I desperately miss normal life. I need a house of order and wish I would have tried harder to do the boys schedules and goals and try and make life a little more normal for us. The boys have been done with their piano book for over a month waiting for the next, we haven't done any French, or writing with Bodie. At least they all read everyday, right? 

Everything is out and kitchen torn up, stuff everywhere. It feels like chaos. I hate it. I am so sick of it. Ugh. The boys school work is still in their piles where we stashed it for the demo back in June. I could go on and on with the clutter and items with no home.

We have our cabinets now, floor is being finished as I type. Thanks to Abe our awesome brother-in-law. Our bathroom is pretty much done. I love have running water again on the main living floor. So there is light at the end. I know it is coming. I am getting excited. I just need patience to wait a little longer.

Our annual 4th

 What would the 4th of July be without our party? Not the same, that's for sure. The Millcreek Parade in the morning, we sat with the Davies again. Poor Greg couldn't come with us because he had to stay home and work on the kitchen floor laying the backer board for tile. The boys really wanted to enter and be in the parade and be the ones to throw candy out. But I wasn't on top of it and it just didn't happen this year. So we'll try for next year. The Lorenzon party is our tradition. Everyone over to our yard for some food, family, friends, and fun. This year I made Sloppy Joe's, we did water balloons and they had quite a water fight, and then of course fireworks!

Here's the meal time and visiting in our not so spacious yard. :)

See Greg and I posing in the middle of the sparkler chaos. We love us our 4th of July Par-tay!

Always fun to take a picture of the whole group gathered to watch the fireworks.

 Unfortunately this year we had another mishap with aerials. Someone let one off without checking what it was and it tipped over and shot explosion into the crowd again like last year. But this time I know 2 people got hit. Yikes! One little boy got quite a black burn with some blood and broken skin right on his spine. We bandaged him and he was back to playing in no time. Phew! And then an older neighbor lady lost her balance leaving at the end and stumbled in the gutter and fell and broke her arm. She just had surgery last week to get pins in. I feel so bad and awful she got hurt. 

We did have some wind and dark clouds blow in threatening to rain. But it never did and the wind stopped so we could still do our show. Yeah! The group of boys started gathering thinking they would be a part of the lighting this year. But, we didn't allow them and just a few "men" did the lighting off. Anyways, another great party! I think we had over 75 people. Woohoo!

Yellowstone 2015

 This is a picture overload of our vacation to Yellowstone last week. I want to document it and found myself using lots of pictures. I couldn't narrow it down. That's always my problem. Here we go with a bunch of them.

We took our camper trailer and headed up to Jackson Hole, WY for the first night. And boy oh boy, our boys had a hay day calling it "Jax's butthole" the whole time. Fun stuff.

They loved the old feel of the town. Cowboys, horses, old carriages, wood sidewalks, antlers, etc. It is pretty fun. We got there and wandered around and had yummy ice cream before heading to our campsite for the night.

 For dinner we had a full on Cowboy dinner. We did the Bar J ranch Chuckwagon dinner and show. It was a fun time. The boys thought it was great. We were able to sit to the side and front table, which made Jax happy to get food first and see the show with a perfect view. I thought it would be boring music and we would leave early, but it was actually pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of humor too. Jax couldn't get enough, it was late and the other boys were tired and had all wandered outside so we did leave before it got over. (I kept taking selfie pictures of Greg and I during the trip, so you'll see some of those.)

The next morning we headed to Yellowstone, via the Grand Teton's. We didn't realized by driving into Yellowstone from the south you have to go through Grand Teton Nat. Park and so we had to pay for both, yes it was ridiculous. Oh well. 

Right as we stopped for pictures a Tour bus stopped and they wouldn't get out of our shot. And it was very sunny as you can tell by the boys squinting faces. Ha!

 Awesome pointy mountains. Greg told Jax what Tetons means, and then Creed had to know. Yay. - that's my sarcasm.

Again - too much sun shine for our eyes. I'm breaking out their sunglasses.

We camped the next night at Grant Village by the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. It was by far our favorite. Hugh pines, shade, threat of bears, spread out campers, total woodsy Forest feel.

 Here is a glimpse of our exploring the huge camp ground area.

After lunch, and a couple hours after I wanted to, we headed out. Immediately we saw, right up close some huge Bull Elk. And then of course the never ending Bison, or as we all just call them, Buffalo. Greg would pull over and snap some pictures. Several more Elk were scene and tons of what Bodie said, "too many Buffalo". The boys all had their iPods taking their own pictures as well. They had their heart set on seeing a bear or wolf. Of course, that didn't happen. No luck. And Bodie was scared at night because of the bears.

When I think of Yellowstone, this is what it is. Classic. Cars at a stop, waiting around for the buffalo to move off the road.  I love it.

Seeing valley's like this, all of us searching the water or tree line for animals. Only to always see buffalo. We heard about earlier in the day a bear spotting. But it was much too hot for them to leave shade. Bummer. Still so pretty.

There's something so eery about Yellowstone. An amazing spot on earth with such extreme nature and landscape. It feels almost spooky. I guess it's the awe and almost danger of it all? We watched a documentary on Yellowstone (Mysterious Yellowstone) a while ago to get the boys excited about where we were going this summer. And it scared them all. Ha! The volcano, bears, wolves, scalding water, and death. Gosh that does sound scary.

 The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Awesome and spectacular. Glad I could take my boys to see it.

We also hiked down to see the brink of the lower falls. Pretty cool. If it wasn't an unusual 90+ degrees we would have hiked a few other trails. I was burning and knew I'd get heat exhaustion. Another bummer.

Always stuff to pull the car over for to see in the park. Dragon's Breath, mud pots, geyser pools, the boys always saying how stinky it was and of course seeing animals.

Back down to Yellowstone Lake. My sister Amy worked at Lake Lodge for several summers. One summer I went up to see her 3 times. I think this is my 5th time to Yellowstone? Anyways, the boys dug the big wood rocking chairs while checking out the lake view. And buying souviners.

We went to visit the Lake Hotel too.  Love the big yellow hotel. And the boys were starving so we left for dinner.

 We ate at the Lake House Restaurant by our camp ground. On the water, it was fun, and we all enjoyed our pasta.

The next day we started our journey out of the park by stopping at Old Faithful. We got there just moments before it irrupted, so we didn't have to wait around for it. Then we took the Geyser Hill trail around and then headed into the Old Faithful Inn. I love the picture of them all looking up in awe of the cool sight. All the wood beams if you can see it in the collage. 

Creed hurt his ankle a few weeks ago and it kept hurting (a strain maybe?). So bad that he couldn't walk. Luckily we happened to still have our stroller in the car, so we lugged Creed around in that.

 We parked on the side of the road to park our car towing a camper to see the Grand Prismatic. Hoping we wouldn't get hit by a fast car going by. Yikes. And then I had a list of a few other places to see. But oh my, the heat! Couldn't do it. I feel bad. I had so many plans of what to see while there and it didn't happen. :(  And the pool was calling our name at the next camp site. We stayed the last night in West Yellowstone at the KOA. Swimming, movie in the camper, dinner (with Jax carrying Creed since he couldn't walk) and ending with another campfire.

 It was fun, the boys thought it ended much too soon. Wish we could have seen a bear in the wild, camped another night IN the park, and had a little cooler temperatures.

Good bye for now Yellowstone. Perhaps we'll make it up there again someday.