Cram

I remember cramming for finals in school especially college. I sometimes crammed well and sometimes failed miserably. I have felt that our summer thus far has been just like that--we are cramming everything into a shortened summer as we can. Mike tells me I do this anyways--I always cram whatever I can into our day, our breaks, our life. BUT that is what makes things happier I guess.

This has been our summer so far...

7/7  we had FHE at the Bee's game. For $20 you can get 4 tickets and 4 hot dogs on Monday nights at the ball field. So we talked to everyone and this is who we got to come with us! 

Emma, Grampa, Grama Buddy, The Stakers and cousins Kamryn and Karsyn and Bill

The game was fun, it was hot. The first couple of innings I sat with my parents in the bleachers hoping it would cool off in the outfield so we could go sit on the grass. It eventually did. The kids don't really watch the game. MIKE however caught the home run ball--well took it off someones blanket and claimed it as his own is more the real deal. 

Emma!! The kids were balancing gummy worms on there noses and trying to get them into their mouths. Emma did it! 

And then we got most of the kids to come and get a picture. Of course, Lilly didn't. Stinker loves to have her picture taken!

Any night we are home, the kids in the hood gather forces and knock on doors and arrange to play night games. I always thought night games were when it was dark but not these kids they start when it's light and then play til and thru the dark. Smart kids. This is just some of our crazy neighborhood. Yep, some! We have the best neighborhood on the block! 

Did you know IHOP is 56 years old? To celebrate they had pancakes for $56 cents! So being the awesome mom I am, I splurged and took my kids out to eat. LOL, the people behind Maddy also only ate pancakes which made me feel a little better that I didn't buy a juice or something. My blil was $3.02!


And food is always better when you can see what we are eating!

7/10? We finally made a trip to the Herriman Reseviour. It's a crazy location, literally right in the middle of a neighborhood in Heriman. It is man made and used as a back up water for the residents. Gorgeous HUGE houses surround it. It was nosy and I've heard the crowds come from everywhere--probably glad I  don't call that neighborhood home.

Once again, I invited everyone I knew to come to the resevior with us. I think 9 families came. IT was so fun, although open water also scares me so I was right by the water because this one was right by the water all night. She has gotten over her fear of water and thinks all water is safe! Although, she doesn't know how to save her self if she were to fall down so I am constantly right next to her. 

Mike chatted with the adults while I was down at the beach the whole night. I guess it was his night off and I was on the clock. 

The kids played in the sand.

Swam in the cool water. Clayton is showing me his best side.

Played with friends. Daniel and Jack

Ate yummy treats.

And stayed til the park closed at 9. The weather was perfect. It is a fun spot and not to far from home.

This is where I sat all night, this girl has NO fear!!

The iPad aka mine-craft is a family past time--it drives me crazy sometimes! The 3 big kids are obsessed with mine-craft and Lilly is obsessed with pbskids.org. I've made rules, no iPad unless chores, school work and mom says!

7/11

Lots of free food was given away on 7/11 day. First up we (yep i did too just didn't get a picture of me) dressed up like

COWS for Chick a fila appreciation day. If you dress up like a cow you get a free meal. We meet cousins to celebrate Kamryn's birthday but stopped at 7-11 on the way to get a free slurpee. It was also $77 cent donuts at Krispie Kreme but never made it down to Orem to get them.

Aren't these cows cute!! Hey we got a free meal out of it. Jack was still hungry and ate 2 kid meals for free. Our bill was $35 and comped.

Later we celebrated Kamryn's birthday with dinner and lemon pie and beach cupcakes. We enjoyed the day with her. Just love her enthusiasm right before she let her little sister blow out the candles. Ashyln who turned 2 in May, wanted all the presents and candles. K was so sweet and even let her open a present. K is growing up!


Lexi loves loves loves friends. She plays with Ally probably the most. But Lexi calls her Little Ally so I know who she's talking about. There are 3 Ally's in the hood. Most popular name! And to think I wanted Jack to be Alison so we could go with the "son" theme for names--Mike voted me down--he must have known the popularity.

These girls play here and there and today walked around the block without asking. They got in trouble for that one! BUT they play so well, Ally will be in 2nd grade and Lexi starts Kinder no one would know. Age really doesn't matter. Lexi will be sad when Ally is at school all day and she will be done at lunch time.

We pulled out the slip n slide and at the end of the day threw it away, it got a hole in it.

The KIDS, neighbors and everyone but me have been enjoying the raspberries. I've threatened them all not to eat them because I planted them. Yeah, that doesn't do any good.

7/15 we went to the Tracy Aviary with friends and cousins. It's hard to see but there's a peacock on the roof. IT was hot! Kids were hungry, we didn't last long at the Aviary but saw all we wanted to.

We put on our swim suits to go to the splash pad at Liberty Park only to find out on Tuesdays they don't open til 2. Say what? We had 2 hours to say no thank you and ended up going to Lehi to swim at cousins pool and then stayed for yummy dinner and fun at Thanksgiving Points farm and then icecream!

The cousins love to play! Jack plays with Kamryn, Lexi and Karsyn play, and these two love to play or fight over the same things. Maddy loves there toys and doesn't mind spending time alone doing that! Such fun we have with cousins. 

Here's Lilly's first ride aka scream fest on the pony. She's a chicken and likes things from a far!

We only had about 30 minutes to enjoy the farm before they closed but still enjoyed the farm. Poor Ashlyn got sprayed by the lama who spit at a goat that was bothering him. She was covered in spit grass.

Can you tell how much Lilly enjoyed the horse ride! Yep, she did this the whole ride. It's not like they go fast or anything either.

7/16 we had dinner at Grammies house. Ethan and his girlfriend Elmeira from LA were in town. Ethan made the mistake of swinging ONE kid and then ended up swinging the whole bunch! There are lots of rowdy boys and of course a couple cute girls in the mix that all wanted a swing.

I stayed late to help clean up and organize Grammies finances (her phone was recently shut off because she didn't pay her phone bill yet it was on auto pay) It was a mess but it's back up and running. Needless to say I brought home cheesecake but left my purse. SO the next day I had to run over and pick it up. I got Lexi to come with me and she enjoyed cuddle time with Lexi. She loves people esp men. It was so fun to see Ethan and meet his gorgeous girlfriend.

Here she is. Elmeira--hopefully we'll see lots more of her. I heard the question may be popping in the air soon!


7/18 we drove up to American Fork canyon and had dinner and smores by the fire. It was beautiful. Mike knows this canyon by heart, it was only my 2nd time, the kids 1st time. I hope we can get here more often--I just love the mountains and the kids had a blast.

Julie brought pizza, I brought salad, Stephanie brought water mellon and chips and we had a yummy time!

Even Grandma came. She's a good sport and enjoyed watching the kids and seeing how dirty they could truly get. We should have taken before and after pictures.

Kids hiked, explored and got dirty that's for sure!

Smoke from the fire but in the background is Kamryn and Jack.

Jack spent 2 days at Cub Scout Camp 7/18-7/19. He doesn't tell much of what he did but I did get these photos from friends to see he did enjoy himself. Mike and Jack went up the 2nd day together. So the girls and I played also.

 I see into his future...I'm sure my kids will have glasses and inherit the Loveridge eyes.

7/19 we headed down to Jiggle Fest at Thanksgiving Point. We just missed the first jello fight lol and instead played in a swimming pool of cornstarch and water. LOL.

If you stand in it, your feet sink. You can also play with it and make a ball or run it thru your fingers.


Lexi wasn't shy about trying it out. Lilly even did but Maddy didn't want anything to do with it.

Every hour they would load up more swimming pools with JELLO and then let us have a fight. Lol. I hadn't planned on getting jello-y but was by the pool showing Lilly what it was when someone threw jello at me. I then decided it was fair to include everyone I was with some jello love. Once the girls saw me get Bill, they decided to join on in on the fun. BILL's nice white shirt was covered in redish orangish jello. AND Boy was it sticky!

It's hard to see but I was also covered in jello. It soaked thru my shirt and got my garments colored too. BUT luckily it came right out in the wash. Next year, I guess I will wear my bathing suit also.

It was also fun to have more cousins- Tonya brought Eric and Luke. They were sad Jack wasn't there to play with. He was sad he missed out on the fun too. Grandpa and Grandma got lots of fun pictures in addition to jello and cornstarch on the camera-it'll be fun to see her pictures.

After camp and jiggle fest and dropped Maddy off at a birthday party, Mike and I got a babysitter and snuck away for an evening with Brent and Julie. They treated us to Wicked and dinner. Aren't we lucky!! We both knew the basic story of the Wizard of Oz and that Wicked was the before Oz show but that's about it. Can I just say, I am know a WICKED fan and will travel the globe to watch it also.

The capital theatre is beautiful even tho there's like 3 bathrooms in the whole place. We had wonderful seats. on the first row of the balcony and I was right in the center. The costumes were amazing, the voices were even more amazing and I loved every minute of it. Honestly can't wait to see it again. Thank you, Thank you Julie for insisting that we see it and dragging us to it. I probably would have never on my own.

PS like Mike's beard, he spent a week in July at scout camp-Me and the kids dressed up like cows and spent the week at the water park--we missed him.


We have spent TONS of summer days at 7 peaks. Across the street they give out free school lunches to children. Lilly and I usually share and then we head across the water park and spend the day in the sun and water playing. Lilly will sometimes fall asleep in the lazy river or the wave pool and then let us spend more time there.

Almost every evening we are home, we got outside about 7-8 and enjoy the cooler summer evening and play outside. Sometimes the kids are riding bikes but usually they are on the quest to find neighbors to play with.

 Did I mention Lexi learned how to ride a bike? We worked on it this spring, she asked for her training wheels to be put back on, (it was too hard). I did but didn't do a very good job because they fell off. I ran up and down the street with her, told her she could have a Popsicle if she went 3 houses. She very much loves a good bribe!! She is so happy she can go fast now! She speeds down the hill. But almost always wears her helmet. Maybe we can get a morning bike ride to the school.

 Apricots!! Grammies tree produced thousands and we've been enjoying them so much.

7/22 We went with the Stakers and Wakelys to see a preview of the floats for the Days of 47 parade aka 24th of July parade in Salt Lake. They put all the floats on show for everyone to come and see. I have been one other year but really wanted to this year because I helped a little bit with the decorating of our Stakes float!! I say little bit because all I helped was glitter flowers. It was so fun, I spent probably 5 or 6 mornings glittering! This is just a small picture of the float. The animals were amazing, the flowers were sparkely and one of my favorites. Lots and lots of time and money went into it. The budget is $10,000! Not sure how much they spent but i'm sure a lot.

So yes, we have been cramming everything in to our shortened summer because school starts on Monday. Boo hoo but also yay we can get back on track and schedule. We have been going going going, since baseball started and haven't caught up yet! But probably won't just because school is starting because it's still summer! BUT that's how I roll anyways. I love to stay busy.