Lagoon Day

On August 1, JD's work had their annual Lagoon Day. The kids had a blast. We started the day off in lagoon-a-beach playing in the water. Afterwards, we spent hours at the kiddie rides. Sam's favorite was driving the cars. I think he was a little scared of any other ride than cars after he went on the helicopter ride. While JD and his sister ran off to ride an adult roller coaster, Sam did this ride over and over and over, dragging Danny along with him. We were able to persuade Sam to go on the river rafting ride. We all got soaked, which the boys thought was hilarious. Danny was a little more adventurous than Sam. JD even convinced him to go on one of the tamer adult roller coasters, since Danny is tall enough for most of them now. Alina loved her flinstone push-up sherbet treat as you can see on her face. She also enjoyed the train ride, on which she got to see animals.

I just love this outfit for Alina. Even the shoes match! Thank you to Aunt Lindsey for giving it to her. Picture taken July 30.

Weekends in the Mountain

JD's dad has been building a cabin this past summer. We like to go up there to spend our weekends while JD helps his dad. This is how the kids typically spend their time: Sam plays outside, rolls around in the dirt, and teases the dogs; Alina begs to get out of the playpen, which she has to be inside of to keep her safe when nobody is holding her; and Danny plays a game on the Playstation 2.

Pioneer Day Floats

Alina, Sam, and I went to a local convention center to see the floats that would be in the 24th of July Pioneer Day Parade in downtown Salt Lake City. The public was able to see the floats on the 22nd for free. Sam and Alina really enjoyed getting up close to them. Plus, there was some candy being passed out.

Dirty Laundry

You'd think Sam made this mess on these clothes, but it wasn't him. It was my 5-year old. I wish I had posted something right after Danny got food all over his shirt, because now I can't even remember specifically what he was eating. The pants are covered with a red Crayola twistable crayon. (BTW, the twistable crayons are really great. I received a couple of sets for my birthday, and the boys love playing with them.) Both messes happened on the same day.

Horse Ride

In the middle of June, our family went to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho for a family reunion on JD's mom's side of family. During that time, we all went on a horse drawn wagon ride to a canyon where we had a BBQ dinner around a campfire. Danny got to sit up by the driver for part of the time. Sam enjoyed sitting on one of the horses for a brief moment.

Dinosaur Museum

You'd think I asked them to make silly faces for this picture, but I didn't.


We're visiting the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point near Lehi, Utah. The boys love it here. There are some interactive galleries, which make the museum even more fun. They are brushing away the sand to find dinosaur bones. Pictures taken July 1, 2008

Mommy's Princess

These pictures were taken at the end of June.

Monkeys at the Zoo

We celebrated Danny's fifth birthday at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Danny likes to play on this elephant statue, which squirts water out of its trunk.










All my kids are seated on the zoo train ready for it to start going. JD's parents came along for the ride, too. Thanks to them for their help on that day!










Sam poses on the alligator (or crocodile?) in the playground area of the zoo.

Another Dr. Zimmerman in the Family?

I just thought this was cute. Danny received this outfit from a parent at Challenger who brought outfits in for every child in his class during Career Day. Picture taken in May. For those of you who don't know, JD's dad is a doctor...now the title of this post makes sense.

I guess Danny was listening pretty well during sharing time this past Sunday, during which we heard stories of pioneers who traveled to Utah. In one of these stories, we were told of a young girl who froze to death. After sharing time was over, Danny turned around in his seat to locate me. (I am a primary teacher for the 7 year olds.) He asked me, "Mommy, are you going to die? I don't want you to ever die." So, we had some talking and reassuring to do when we got home from church. At least he was listening!

Ringing Ears

That would describe the state of JD's and mine after Tuesday night. We went with JD's dad and siblings to the American Idol concert in Salt Lake. I have never seen or heard so many screaming teenage and pre-teen girls in my life! They were quite a spectacle for us to watch. Shrieks and shrills all night long. We could almost hear the music through it all.

Seriously, though, it was an entertaining concert, and what music we did hear sounded good. Thanks to JD's dad for taking us!

Swell Time at Jordanelle

We had a fantastic weekend camping at Jordanelle near Park City. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera, so we don't have any pictures of our adventure. JD's dad rented 4 waverunners to ride out on the dam lake. (Sorry if that offends anyone. I just couldn't help myself! It IS a lake created by a dam.) I was a little reserved on them at first, having never driven one before, but with a little practice, I got much more daring, so it became alot more fun to ride them. It actually is a slight workout to the arms when you go fast, flip around in a 180 then fly across the wake you've just created.

The boys even went out for slow rides with us. Sam would scream, "Slow!" anytime he thought JD was driving him a bit too fast, which was really not fast at all, and Danny enjoyed his ride with me. They liked to watch the other waverunners and boats out on the lake.

We were all very fortunate not to get sunburns. By "we" I mean the kids and I. I reapplied sunscreen over and over to my kids and myself. Since we are all so fairskinned, we would have cooked otherwise. No serious injuries either. Of course there were the minor scrapes and scratches to be expected from active boys playing outside all day.

Why is it that camping food tastes so good? Is it because we're famished when we eat or is it the smoky flavor of the barbeque? Maybe both. I guess in our case, it's also because we don't eat the types of food we had very often. A nice indulgence for us. Many thanks to JD's family for providing us with a great weekend!

Kids' Birthday Party for Danny

Danny is excited to open presents.
The scramble for candy from our dinosaur pinata.













The children are decorating their cupcakes with frosting and different candies.











Sam really likes his cupcake. At least the chocolate frosting part.

Danny is about ready to swing for the pinata. I made him pose for a picture first. I wish I had had the camera rolling, because when I asked him to hit the pinata, so I could take a picture, he maintained this position with his back to the pinata and started to swing the bat behind him. I guess he thought I wanted a picture of the front of him.

Discovery Gateway Museum

Wow! When the pictures from May were finally uploaded to our computer, I realized what a busy and fun month we had. JD earned a free day off of work, because he worked really hard and diligently to get a project done. On that day off, we took the kids to the Discovery Museum at the Gateway in SLC. It was an amazing place for our children. They LOVED it. We spent all afternoon there, and when we left, the kids were upset, wanting to stay longer. It took some great coaxing to get the boys past the first exhibit to go look at the other things in the museum, because they enjoyed it so much. We must have spent over an hour alone at this first area, so we didn't even get to experience all the museum had to offer. I know the children would love to go back again for an afternoon.

Danny's Preschool Graduation

This is a picture of Danny's "Bus School" teachers. (For those of you who don't know what that means: it was the school district's preschool for kids with disabilities. Danny's was speech. He got to ride a bus to and from the school. Hence, the term "bus school". The bus driver picked him up right in front of our driveway.)
At the graduation, they had an all-out program with music performances, diplomas, and cake. It was cute and fun, but I couldn't help think of the lines from the movie "The Incredibles" about preschool graduation.

Here are videos of the procession and one of the songs the class performed. Danny did a good job participating.

My Danny Boy

My firstborn is 5 years old now! It really does feel like it was just yesterday when he was born. We love him very much. He's been such a great helper for me lately. He likes to play with his baby sister, Alina. He loves to tease Sam. What kind of a big brother would he be if he didn't? He really is a loving boy. He frequently and randomly comes up to me to say, "mommy, I love you. You know that?"

Right now, he is obsessed with Mario Kart and Smash Brothers for the Wii. Before he can play games, I make him do some workbook pages. He calls it his "get smart stuff". After he does this, he asks me if he's smart now, so he can play games. What he really loves is for his friends (or mommy, daddy, sam) to play the games with him, because he is very social.

He does like to talk. I don't know where he got that from.... When we're out grocery shopping or doing some other errand, he'll make sure other kids he sees knows that he is Danny and he's 5 now and what's their names. The grocer at the checkout stand is sure to hear this same information, too.

As soon as I get some newer pictures loaded to the computer, I will post pictures from his birthday. We had a big birthday party with lots of little friends the night before his birthday, he played soccer at one of his games, and we went to the zoo on the day of his birthday. It was a great 2 days for him.

Snow in April

Picture taken April 26th. The weather is so unpredictable here during the spring. That day started out sunny, and then this happened in the afternoon. By dinnertime, the sun was out again and the clouds were gone. If you can believe it, it also snowed in May.

Soccer Madness!

This video was taken on April 26th. It is Danny's second soccer game of the season. He is playing in the local city league. It's the first time we've had him signed up for any team sports. He has really been enjoying the games. There are no rules for his age group other than the out of bounds and scoring in the opponents goal. Keeping it simple for the kids. We all have fun watching the games. They can be quite entertaining (because as you'll see in the next video, they are sometimes funny). Danny is wearing the number 13, in case you don't know which one he is. He also has a green hoodie under his jersey. It is usually chilly at the fields where the games are played. The wind is pretty fierce, too.

This video is a little bit funny. At this moment, Danny was more preoccupied with one of his shin guards than the game when the ball was put back into play. This was his second game of the season, which was held on April 26th.