the fourth

My one big goal this summer was to blog about all of our fun adventures - I haven't done so well.  I am going to play catch-up on some of our adventures though.  We went up to Cedar for the 4th of July again - they don't have a parade down here - so it was a no brainer for the kids - we go where the candy (and cousins) are!  Abby and Katie are best friends during this parade (I will post more about the 24th parade later - they were not friends that day).

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of the twins.  Piper and her "cheesy" grin and Paige with candy in her mouth.  (I am pretty sure that Paige had candy in her mouth the entire parade)

 Ethan was a big help with the girls - he "helped" them get their candy.  That means he gave all the candy he collected to the little ones.

 This picture was taken during the parade - the girls had so much fun eating their candy that they missed quite a few floats throwing more.

Here are some cousin shots - all the Duncan grandkids were there except for Victor - but he joined us in Escalante for the 24th parade.  I was almost to comment on how well they all match, but then noticed Miles's hat - it seems he must always wear something green and yellow.  And yes - if you look close enough you can see that Paige's mouth is still full of candy.  Oh and you might also notice that Miles is soaked - another tradition - get as many kids as you can to spray you with their water guns from the floats.

It was a fun day - we celebrated Britt's birthday with family lunch and family dinner with water games in between.  I thought the fireworks were great too - however the rest of my family is looking forward to the day when my kids will sit quietly through the display.

one hour later...

I have tons on my to-do list for summer.  Most of it are things I should have done a while ago, but haven't had the time to do.  The first on the list was to teach Abby how to ride her bike - her training wheels fell off a few months ago and she has been begging me since to help her ride without them.  So - the first day of summer we were at the church parking lot at 7 am ready to try.  I didn't take a camera with me because I knew from experience with the boys that it takes days (or weeks) for kids to really be able to ride their bike.   Well - Abby was maybe a bit older than her brothers (or maybe more cordinated :)???) - because an hour later she was flying around the parking lot all by herself.  She could even start and stop all by herself.  We took a camera with us this morning and went back to stage some pictures - she is pretty proud of herself!  Yay - one thing checked off the to-do list (actually two - Piper is finally potty-trained too)!

Paige and Piper love to ride bikes too!

Healthy!!!

We were up in Salt Lake for another check-up for Paige last weekend - we got GREAT results - the tests (MRI and x-ray) all looked perfect and we can relax for another 3 months.  Paige loves the doctor and has been talking about going to see the "doctor's horsie" for the past couple weeks.  She loves the colorful horse in front of the hospital!

Paige cried this visit when they put the IV in her hand (can you tell by the big sad blue eyes?).  The nurse was excellent - but there is quite a bit of scar tissue in her veins and the nurse had to maneuver the needle to get it in.  She was still a trooper though and the hospital staff fell in love with her.  She ended up with quite a stash of goodies - her favorite being the nail polish - yes, there are days that her nails get painted at least 3 times.

She had already forgiven the nurses and was smiling by the time we got done taking pictures - she is one TOUGH kid!!!

WE "HEART" SNOW!!!

We saw our first snow of the year this weekend - and we all enjoyed it.  Saturday the boys and I ran up to Brian Head for some snowboarding.  This is the second time this season that we have gone up for night skiing -we love their "poor and hungry" deal - it includes the lift pass (from 4 pm to 9 pm), board rental and pizza and a drink for only $25.  The boys are getting to be pretty good snowboarders - they are tons better than their mom and need Uncle Michael to come down again to give them more pointers (Michael - if you are reading this - what are you doing two weeks from now?)  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip.  In case you can't tell - Ethan is the one in the green/grey jacket.

Miles is in blue - but you might could recognize him better as the one in the Oregon Duck beanie.

Miles rode the lift by himself most of the time - I was a pretty nervous mom the first few times - but he did great!

Ethan rode with me!

We took a break to warm up with a piece of pizza. 

We all had a great time and even though it got pretty cold on the lift - I couldn't talk the boys into leaving until it closed at 9 pm.

The next morning we woke up to 6 inches of snow outside.  I LOVE SNOW!!!  And Sunday is my favorite day for it to snow - the only driving that we did was 2 blocks to church and back. 

Monday we went sledding - here are some pictures.  Here is Piper and her cheesy grin - with the cutest hat that I have ever seen - her cousin Victor gave her this hat for Christmas (I think his mom might have helped him a bit - thanks Elsa - you are super talented!). 

Paige was the dare devil.  She loved to go "super fast".  She liked riding with Ethan since they went faster together than she did alone.

Abby also had a blast!

Ethan and Miles liked the jumps.

And my favorite picture of the day - aren't they cute?

28 minutes 15 seconds

Miles ran his first 5K today!!!  Pineview High sponsered a run as a fundraiser to help a cute little girl that has leukemia with medical bills - I signed both of us up.  I thought that by taking Miles with me it would give me an excuse to not run fast - but Miles pushed me the whole way.  He is a pretty tough kid - I was proud of him - we ran the whole way and he even had lots left at the end of the race to outsprint me!  His new goal is to run the "Dogtown" (Washington City) Half Marathon next year - I think he just wants the super cool t-shirt.  Either way though - it is fun to have a running buddy.