July

Hopefully this will become a tradition, we've done it two years now.  We enjoyed watching the USU fireworks from the amazing backyard view of the Jensen's neighbors.  We didn't have to fuss with traffic or anything, beautiful evening and great way to start the celebration.

 For the Fourth Of July our family did our own thing this year, which is kind of a big deal for us.  We all went down to the Stadium of Fire.  On our way down we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, Red Robin.

 This photo above is absolutely incredible.  This girl did a back flip and was thrown in the air and landed perfectly on top of the third standing man's shoulders.  Cirque De Soleil is in an awe inspiring class of their own.

 Kelly Clarkson, what can I say?  Every single one of us just love her!  We had a great jam session in the car on the way down listening to her music, and her performance lived up to our expectations.  That girl can SING!

 We loved the Patriotic program the stadium performs.  It was all very moving and really does make you proud to be an American.  The fireworks display at the end of the night was truly the best I have ever seen.  The finale had lights and sound like I didn't know was possible.  So glad we made the efforts to come down. 

 We spent a lot of our days up at my parent's house enjoying their pool.

 Lydia loves playing on Annie's ipad and iphone and snuggling in the tiny bed just her size. This above photo is Lydia's signature smile, it melts my heart.

 This photo doesn't really capture the joy I have from a night time swim.  Okay, let's be honest, a night time skinny dip.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  I love water, and not being encumbered by a swimsuit, nothing beats it.

 These little girls were such great friends this summer (at least up through July) and I loved watching them play, be silly together, quarrel, and work it out themselves.

 We enjoyed many trips to the Logan Aquatic Center

 Loved playing with the neighborhood girls.  I am so blessed to have our neighborhood filled with 7 other girls and only 3 other boys.  Perfect!

 Every time we go to the mall the girls love to go to this arcade....which is where games go to die.  It's the most depressing and sketchy "arcade" you have ever seen.  This merry-go-round just needs a push and it will spin and play creepy carousel music like that from a horror film.  But the girls love it here, so who am I to begrudge them some play time.

  Ahhh the Wimmers.  What can I say about these friends of ours who we cherish? I know what I can say, I sure as H wish they wouldn't have moved from Cache Valley!  Oh well.  We always appreciate the effort they put into seeing us when they come to town.

 

This above photo is of Britney catching Lydia after the water slide.  It's so fun to have kids the same ages, but our girls could NOT be more different, which makes for great conversations and laughs as we try to maneuver this whole Motherhood thing together.  

I can't believe this is the only photo I have of this little baby that Bundy and I are obsessed with, but oh well, here he is, in his perfect baby glory.

 No words necessary, just a beautiful summer sunset.

 Emma and Jaken loved having a slumber party with my 85 year old Grandma.  She is very good to them and they both love her dearly. In this photo Jaken is wearing Emma's sparkly shoes and so he is posing the way she usually does. 

 Absolutely love having this little Addi come and spend time with us.

 Bundy is such a champ.  Our dryer wasn't performing at it's best, so he went and rigged something up to clean out the pipes and vents, I love having a fix it man!  I should call him Felix.  Get it? Get it?  Like Fix it Felix.

 Absolutely LOVED reading this book to Emma this summer.  It was a page turner!!  It was quite mature for her, to be honest, I loved it more than she did, but it was a great activity for us to do together this summer.

 Ryan's sister Julie and her husband Scott came to stay with us for a week.  Unfortunately, I only took these few photos, which is super lame because we really did so many fun activities.  Here we are at Lava Hot Springs.  We left Lydia and the five of us spent the day there.  One day when they went down to visit their Grandma, Julie and Scott stopped at my FAVORITE smoothie shop, bought a cooler and some ice, and brought me back my very most favorite smoothie.  Seriously, THAT is a good friend!

 We tried to get to Bear Lake as often as we could.  I don't think there is a better spot for families in all of Utah than North Shore Beach at Bear Lake (which technically is in Idaho)

 The girls think it is so fun to help me with the house hold chores, hopefully they'll keep the enthusiasm up when they have homes of their own.

 What the?!  This little girl came walking up to me with her tortilla as a mask.  It is so very funny and clever, and yet rather disturbing at the same time.

 So....remember those friends the Wimmers?  We went to Las Vegas with them, and just barely went to Brigham Pool with them.  Well, one day we had a package arrive in the mail.  No card or note, but inside was THE WEAVE!!!  The same Weave from "You betta get yo weave right!"  It stunk like you can't believe, but boy howdy did it have us rolling with laughter.  Who does that?  Awesome, amazing friend, that's who!  I love a good prank war, I've already got my next one planned :)

 Yep.  That's 12:40 A.M.  Just up late making cookies for our picnic the next day.  I love summer nights!

 One of the highlights of my summer was having a girls day at Lagoon.  Me with my best friend Carrie and her daughter, Emma's best friend Addi.  It was completely awesome!!  No little siblings, girls had our undivided attention, and we were able to go on all the rides, whether the girls liked it or not!

 Another great night this summer was when Cody and Holly Stowers came up and we ate at our favorite restaurant, Elements, for the boy's birthdays.  We stayed chatting for a couple hours and then hit up Cold Stone on the way home.  We absolutely love the Stowers and sooooo wish we saw more of them.  We are constantly laughing with them and have such great history.  I didn't even get a picture of all of us together, so as they were driving away I ran up to their car window and hurried and snapped a shot.  It'll have to do. 

 Many happy times spent playing with these Utah cousins this summer.  So glad these four are so close, because they're all each other has in the Skeen family.

 So I made a choice this summer.  I'm DONE BEING AFRAID OF SPIDERS!!  This has been quite the journey, but it has been building up to this summer, and I think I finally did it.  I decided to appreciate spiders for all they do for us.  So when we would see one in the house, the girls and I would capture them and release them out in the back field.  They're just trying to eat bugs that bother us and stick to themselves.  They're not super poisonous, they're not out for human blood, and they serve a great purpose.  Sooooooo, this was all fun until summer hit, and spiders were pretty much everywhere, so then I just started killing them, it got too busy to put them in jars constantly.  The true victory is that my girls aren't afraid of them and appreciate them for what they are.

 Amazing summer storm, washed it all down with a beautiful rainbow.

What a wonderful month this has been!  This summer in Hyde Park is everything I hoped it would be for my girls.

Lydia's Luau

 My sweetest little treasure turned four this summer (insert tears here.)  How is my BABY four?!!

We had a Hawaiian Luau in Paradise, where else?

Pinterest makes this rainbow slushy drink seem a lot easier to execute than it is in reality.

 So you're probably thinking "Hey, isn't that the same photo stacked on top of each other?"  Well, no, it isn't.  They are slightly different angles, and I had to show both to get my time's worth.  Just a note for some of you.  If you don't like delegating (or are incapable of it) or asking for help, so you have a party to prepare for the whole family, well, you probably shouldn't carve fruit during the day of the party, it can really add to your stress level and put you behind for when the guests arrive, I'm just sayin'.

We HAD to do the Limbo, these are the top 3 winners.
1. Lydia.  It's her birthday, aaaaaand, look at that face, is she worried she won't clear the stick?

 2. My dad.  He is totally trying to participate.  There's his daughter on the left trying to cut him some slack, and his life partner on the right, finding joy and not budging on raising that stick!

 3. Kennedy of course, that girl is rubber I tell ya!

 We played some minute to win it games.  Boys vs. Girls.  We looked for hidden paper umbrellas, had yoga competitions, fire baton twirling, hula hoop contests, lei piling, and pass the orange.

 The best was the game called "Go Fish."  The kids had to reach in this vase and see who could catch a fish with their bare hand in the least amount of time.  Emma dominated with a 3 second catch!

 At the start of the night, everyone had a lei.  If you said the word "drink" then someone else could say "gotcha" and you had to give them your lei.  The person at the end of the night with the most leis was the winner.  Brody was thrilled to win, but not thrilled that he only won a fruit roll up.  Sorry kid!

We had some fantastic presents, Lydia was pleased as Hawaiian punch!  A Minnie Mouse nightgown...best ever!!  I don't support character clothing, but pajamas is an exception.  Look at Emma eying all her new gifts.

 The best ever was when we lit the candles and Lydia's paper umbrella went up in flames, she was scared for her life!!  I wish I could've caught her face on camera.

 I had two amazing parts of her birthday.  One was when Ryan and I pulled her aside and let her open a gift from our house elf.  She was finally returning Lydia's silk tag back to her.  Lydia has been missing it since the elf left Christmas Eve and took it with her.  It's a long story of the significance of this tag, but it just really means a lot to her and I went to great lengths to make the gift possible, so I was pleased to find that she treasured this present.  As a baby she used to suck her thumb and rub taggy on her nose.  She still love to rub that tag on her nose, and my nose as well, if I've been extra nice.

 The ultimate best part of the day was when the party was over, everything had been played, eaten, and unwrapped.  Then Lydia and I sat down by the pool and talked about her life and how thankful I am to have her in mine.

For the sake of the blog book I am going to address this letter to Lydia.  It's surely going to be cheesy, so you might want to spare yourself.  I just have to write it now, I know if I don't now, then who knows when I will. 
Dear Pipsquek,
I struggle to find the words to let you know jut how much you fill my heart.  You bring a gentleness and tenderness with you everywhere you go.  My life has a lot of big personalities, loud laughing, and playing hard.  Then you come along, with your tiny little body, your fluffy hair, and those bright blue eyes.  You instantly soften every room you step into.  When you were a baby I would just lay next to you and beg God to not let me forget the way you smelled, the little sounds you made, and the way I felt.  I think I have been blessed to really soak up the tiny moments with you.  I love it when you crawl in bed with me in the mornings, and gently pet my cheeks, and when I open my eyes I see the most loving expression on your face, just like the one I would wear when I watched you sleep as a baby.   I absolutely love watching you learn, you really soak it all in and value the importance of being smart.  I love that you know your limits, much better than I know your limits.  I never have to worry about you being in danger, but I am always surprised by what you are capable of, especially for someone so young.  Most of all, I love what an obedient little girl you are.  The ability to obey will serve you well in this life, and I mean that to be much further reaching than just obeying your parents.  I've loved watching you grow up, reach milestones, and give so much purpose to my life.  Six years ago I felt your absence in our family, we truly were incomplete without you.  I am so thankful for your sweet gentle spirit and the love and light you bring to this family.  Thanks goodness I don't have a choice whether you grow up or not, because if it were up to me you would have stayed 3 forever.  You are my sweetest little Pippie.  I hope you had the happiest birthday (which of course you did, look at all those above photos, how could you not love this day?)  All my love, literally, you can have every drop that I can give.  Love, Mom.