Elliott's latest...

Elliott is obsessed with the motorcycle now. Every time we are outside him and Ollie point it out to me. And everywhere we go they point out the other motorcycles that are "like Daddy's." They love it.

Elliott has never been one to play well by himself. He always wants me or a friend to play with him. But we got this little pool for the summer and he spent all day out there, even when friends went home and Ollie was taking a nap. I think he looks so little in this picture- like he's my baby again and not about to turn 5!

Here are some funny things E has said lately: 

"I wish our house was made of metal and then if something like wind came to break it, it wouldn't break because it would be too metally!"

"I just want a suck thing like Ollie." (He was talking about a candy that you suck on from the parade.)

"When we grow up we need to a have a backyard that is a lot bigger like Grandma and Grandpa's. When our heads all touch the ceiling, then we will huh?"

Mini Reunion

My brother Ari and his family were in from Chicago last week, so we got together a few times. They are so fun to hang out with- we laugh a lot.  I wish we could see them more, and my proposal to get them to start a blog failed. So until next year....

All nine McEntire grandkids: Clockwise from Ollie, Elliott, Baby Addie, Anikka, Stacey, Trevor, Jason, Benny and Elli.

We had 4 year old Elliott take this picture, which is why some of us are slouching! My cousin Justin and his family came over to my house too. It was fun seeing them! Front l-r: Linds, Baby Addie, Anikka, Anikka, Michelle, Jason and Leena (my mom.) Back l-r: Brian, Benny, Justin, James, Tamara, Chase, Mike, Ari, Jen, Adam and me. 

My brother and sisters (minus a few): Ari, Michelle, Linds, my Mom, Sini

Ari's little family: Ari, Trevor, Jen and Jason.

Michelle's fam: Stacey, Mike, Michelle and Anikka

Little Blondies: My cousin Justin's daughter, Anikka, my niece, Elli and Ollie.

Adam showing off....I mean telling about his motorcycle. (The enthusiasm from everyone is killing my "shouldn't have gotten it" theory!! Come on people!)

Ari showing off his new hybrid car, a Toyota Highlander.

Splash Park

We went to the splash park in Riverton on Wednesday, just to do something to cool off. The boys liked it, although they didn't love being "splashed." Their favorite was to watch all the water in the drain and drop rocks and other cool finds in. And they love being with cousins. I think this may become a regular because #1- it's free and #2- it's open before 1:00 (which is Ollie's nap time!!) unlike every pool I know of!! I wish we had one closer to us!

Summer Boys. I love this picture!! These guys have so much fun together! Every time we go somewhere, Elliott asks if Benny is coming.

Elli was fun to play with, we kept going through that circle thing above and would get soaked. We were the only wet ones!!

 Linds and her kids.

Pizza at the park

For family night we ate pizza at a fun park in AF. If you're going on Main St. heading East, you take a right on Center St. It's surrounded by houses, so it's kind of hidden until you turn. Check it out! We like to go there because no one is ever there, so it's really quiet and beautiful. There are cool things for the boys to do (besides the playground.) This bridge was their favorite. They ran back and forth for a long time.

Saratoga Splash

Here are some more pictures from our town day celebration. They had so many fun things for us to do during the week!

Movie night outside on the big screen. We watched "Water Horse" and had yummy treats!
On Saturday, my girls and I ran the race in the morning and then our families met us and we ate the police officer's breakfast. There was a big carnival with fun jumping houses and slides at the park- Elliott loved that. But I think the highlight for the boys was that the police were giving rides in their cars! They turned on their sirens and drove a little faster on roads with no houses. They even used their  speaker to talk to people on the street. They were also giving out sticker badges. We had lots of fun! (Ollie has a baseball painted on his cheek- it got smudged! ;) )
                                              At the parade. Kind of short, but fun.
Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band performed for a while before the fireworks started and the kids were dancing like crazy with their little glow necklaces.  Benny was the funniest to watch! He's such a cute dancer. Ollie, Elliott, Elli and Benny.
Our little family. It was perfect weather that night- we actually got hot walking home! Plus it is so fun living in the same place as my sister! We got to hang out all week in the name of our city! (Although we get to see each other a lot anyway!!)

As if Adam needed another hobby........

Utah Lake

We went to the bird show at Utah Lake earlier this week. It was part of our town days. They brought a hawk to show the kids and answered all kinds of questions. My boys really liked it. It was really hot, so afterward we went down on the docks to throw rocks in the water.

                                               Rosey cheeks.
                                            Ollie, Benny, Elli and Elliott
They could have thrown rocks all day. Ollie kept saying, "Just one more! Just one more!" I have a really cute video of it too, but for some reason it won't upload. 

Ward Camp Out

We had our ward camp out 2 weeks ago at the Kohler Dairy Farm in Midway. It was really nice- lots of grass and fun things to do. Here are the pics a little out of order:

Breakfast
Baby Cows. They liked to lick fingers- Elliott was the only one who dared...
They were so sweet.

Elliott on the zipline. He was a little nervous, but he was so light that it went pretty slow.
S'more face.
Our friends, the Woods. What a cute little family.
Huck Finn Ollie. Our boys were both soaked in the first 20 minutes of arriving. Elliott turned on a faucet right when we got out of the car and Ollie fell in this tiny stream a little later. 

Neighbor kids on the bridge. Elliott was pretending to catch fish.

For some reason Ollie has been making faces when it's picture time......

farmer tan

I'm all about slathering the sunscreen on faces, ears and necks, but for some reason I forget to do arms- woops! Who has the best farmer tan? You be the judge. By the way, I look awesome in a swimsuit- if awesome means it looks like I'm wearing a white shirt under my suit! :)

                                                     Farmer Ollie
      Farmer Elliott. He thought it was so funny that I turned him sideways to take the picture.
                                                    Farmer Sini

Girls Camp!!

I had such a fun time at camp last week! It was up at the Heber Valley Camp, which is right above Heber, Utah. It was so pretty and fun to be out in the fresh mountain air. I always love camp because it is so spiritual. Here are some of the highlights:

Working with these awesome girls! Kim and Jackie- camp directors and me, Rachel and Melissa who are YW leaders. They were so much fun. We really laughed our heads off the whole time about anything and everything. 
I took this one for my boys. These little guys were everywhere. We also saw lots of chipmunks and deer.
Our whole ward in our blue tie-dyed shirts. We had 18 girls and 5 leaders. Our girls are so fabulous! They are sweet, nice, loving and helpful (most of the time.) We couldn't have asked for better girls!
Boating with Ashley and Christina. We didn't fall in, although 3 girls from our camp did! But every time I moved just a smidgeon, we almost tipped, thanks to the girls wanting the "harder to balance boat."
The leaders again at the camp fire. We smelled like little smokey s'mores! :) Did I mention how great these guys were??
Okay, so the first day was nice and warm. But on the second day the temps began to drop and it was freezing the rest of the time! We ate breakfast and dinner with our whole stake in this huge pavilion, which we liked to call "the wind tunnel." We had to bundle with all of our belongings just to stand it, but we hardly ever warmed up. We did have cabins, thank goodness, but the floors were cement so they stayed rather chilly.  
Ahh, the snow. As if we didn't get enough this winter.... This was the day we were supposed to go on long hikes, but they decided to cancel them, which meant cabin time. It felt a little like I imagine a cold prison cell feeling like, because our feet never warmed up, and we shivered the whole time. But we passed the time by coloring, playing jacks and painting our nails crazy colors. We also did hair all day, which was fun for me because I never really get to do hair. 

I had a fun and pretty relaxing time. I ate my meals without getting up 10 times like I do at home. But in the end, it was just good to come home to my boys. No more camp planning until next year! Summer vacation, here we come!!