Summertime.

It has been brought to my attention by several people that I've let my blog slide. Yes, it's true. So here I go... here's an all-encompassing update of our summer so far.

First thing on the list for summer. Clean bedrooms. I told the girls they could pick 5 stuffed animals to keep on their bed.Sophie didn't get the memo:

Emma got braces... and one of our very favorite people had the nerve to tell us she was moving to Houston! We'll forgive you Liz, but we'll miss you like crazy!

For mother's day I got a beautiful painting by Casey Childs:

Memorial weekend was fun. Joseph & his "chef posse" went to Vegas, and I took the kids to the zoo! It was a beautiful day.
The saddest camel ever:

A most beautiful peacock:

These guys creep me out:

Nice try guys:

The most humongous seagull ever:

We watched a TON of this:

We went to Park City for a week:

Sophie bounced....high....

snow cones...

we swam... a lot...

Utah Olympic Park

We saw this and loved it:

Scilla was showered with love when we got home:

We marched in Provo's Freedom Festival Children's Parade:

Godscilla (as John nicknamed her) got groomed, much to her dismay:

Emma and Olivia made elaborate crowns.

Which they then wore to see Toy Story 3:

And finally...

Jacob had three molars pulled this morning in preparation for his braces that are coming in a few weeks. See how busy this first month of summer has been?

It's time to relax :)

End of School Wrap-Up

Here is a photo/video diary of our last day of school. At the end of the year, each class awards one student the "Citizen of the Year" award. Two McRae kids won it this year!

Emma, walking up to receive her award:



Wanna hear the Westridge Wildcat school song?



Sophie & her fabulous teacher, Shannon Allen:


Jacob and his favorite 4th grade teacher, Margo Christensen:

Emma and her wonderful teacher, Kara Cosby:

Jake & his most awesome 6th grade teacher, Carrie Rawlins:

After their assembly on the last day of school, the kids wanted to go to Carl's Jr. Check it out...the sky was giving a thumbs up! Come on, use your imagination.

Yep, moms & dads are different.

I was so lucky this past weekend. Since Joseph is spending the week in New York City, he thought it'd be nice if I took some time for myself this past Saturday. I could go shopping, run errands and he would take the kids. Nice, huh?

Well, the kids had a great day. They all had friends over. Sophie & her good friend Audrey spent the entire day outside playing in the sprinklers, jumping on the trampoline, coloring with sidewalk chalk... you know...summer in suburbia.

When I got home around 3 p.m., I noticed Sophie looked fairly pink, so I asked her if she had put sunscreen on. She told me that dad told her to put it on herself. Hmmm. Really? Well, you can now see the aftermath of an 8 year old applying her own sunscreen:

And the blisters have gotten bigger since I took the picture this morning. When I questioned Joseph sweetly about the "sunscreen issue" (ok, maybe I wasn't so sweet), he told me that she wanted to do it herself.

Yes, moms & dads are different.