4th of July

We got back from Canada just in time for the 4th of July festivities in Idaho Falls. Mike and I ran the Firecracker 5k which was super fun since there were a lot of people that we knew there. The race is along part of the parade route, so we could see where to set up our parade spot. I don't know what we placed, but it was our fastest 5k yet! No medals though, since they only give them out to the first place finishers and that was not us this time... :( Maybe next year!

After the race, we hurried home and got our kids and rushed back to see the parade. We got to sit with our friend Tammie, her parents and her kids. It was fun and perfect weather.


Mia and I waiting for the parade to start:
Then we went home and did chores. Woohoo! Not a very eventful holiday, but we spent it together as a family and had fun anyway. Later that evening we bought a few fireworks and lit them off in out cul-de-sac.

Then as it got dark, we headed up the hill to watch the big fireworks that they set off down by the river. Apparently a lot of people do that! I had no idea! It wasn't as exciting as being right down where the big booms were, but we got home in less than 10 minutes! That was better than waiting for hours in traffic just to get home. Next year we might have to brave the traffic... I love all of the people watching and the Big Booms! :)

O Canada!

We were able to go up to Lethbridge this summer and celebrate Canada Day with my family. We like to go to the Raymond parade every year. It's just a little town parade, but fun for the kids and they throw out lots of candy. We even got a roll of toilet paper this year!

That afternoon we spent down to the river bottom in Lethbridge with my mom's side of the family for a little family reunion. It was fun to see my cousins and their kids and all the aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I stole some pics from my Uncle Brad's Facebook page since I did not take any pictures... Ooops!

Here is my mom and her sisters:

Grandma Simington, dirty face Mia and my sister Cynthia:

I got to hold baby Exton! What a cute chubby baby!
Grandpa Simington and my mom:
The next day, Mike and I ran a 5k in Raymond. I ended up getting first place for the women and Mike got 2nd for the men. He was 3rd overall and I was 4th. It was a pretty fun race. We even got gift certificates for winning. I got $50 to a running store in Lethbridge and Mike got a $20 Itunes gift card. Sa-weet!Then we got to spend some time at the Nicholas Sheran Spray Park with my family. My kids always love this place! It was the perfect weather for it too! My cousins Jason and Melissa and kids and Dave and Sonia and their kids met up with us there too. It was a fun afternoon.

Asia soaking up the sun:Mia copying her big sister:

Ethan the cool dude! Nice six-pack, buddy!
Jacob trying to figure out the elephant squirters:
Ethan and Asia trying to soak Jacob from the other end:

Snack time:

It was a fun little holiday! We can't wait to go up there again! :)

Circus, Entrepreneurs, and 10K - Oh My!

We got 2 free kids tickets to see the Shriner's Circus, so we decided to take the family. It was a pretty fun time, although pretty cheesy at times! When we got to the gate to pay for our tickets, we saw that kids 3 and under were free. Sweet! We only had to pay for 2 adult tickets because we had 2 free kids tickets. The lady giving the tickets out didn't believe that Jacob was only 3. She looked all annoyed and asked when he was born. I said the date, but couldn't remember the year. You know how it is when you have too many kids and can't remember the day of their birthday, much less the year! Especially on the spot! So I fumbled and tried to count back from this year 3 years ago and couldn't figure it out fast enough. I said I could get his birth certificate if she didn't believe me! I was getting pretty ticked at this point. So she finally, reluctantly, let us in without paying for him. Sheesh! I'm gonna have to carry around my kids' birth certificates from now on! Especially Asia's since she's a giant!

This was the finale of the show, the elephants:


Pretty blurry, but the elephant is standing up on its hind legs:

The trapeze act was a big hit:

Me and the girls:

Daddy and his boys. Ethan really was having a great time. He thinks he has to look tough in pictures lately.:
It was a fun time, except intermission was waaaaay too long and the food was soooo outrageously priced! We splurged and shared a cotton candy for 5 bucks I think. The kids got free balloon animals out of the deal.

At the beginning of the summer, Asia and Ethan wanted to do a bunch of things that cost money. Things such as going to Blast Off, The Riot Zone, Lagoon, etc. I told them that we probably couldn't do everything like that this summer, but we could do some of them. I told them that they could earn their own money, then maybe we would be able to do more of those things. So, looking around our cul-de-sac, Ethan had the brilliant idea of starting a weed pulling business. He made these little fliers and taped them to our neighbors' doors. Nobody called though... But our next door neighbor decided to have Ethan start mowing their lawn. So he gets $5.00 every time he mows which is about once a week. He thought he had hit the jackpot since we don't pay him to mow our lawn! You can also tell that he gets paid to mow their lawn because our lawn has all these missed spots, and our neighbors' is immaculate! Ha Ha! Maybe we should start paying him...

Asia got this brilliant idea to make earrings/hair things. She got her friend Mara to come over and they started creating. They unfolded paper clips and got some of my cheaper beads and made these cute little things. Here are Asia's creations. Asia is more of a symmetrical person than Mara:
The signs Asia made. I like how she spelled barrettes!:
Another one of her signs:
She earned a whole dollar from our other next door neighbor!
Mara, however, did not sell any. She was pretty upset about it, til I brought out the freezy pops for everyone! Here are Mara's Masterpieces:
This is Asia and her friend Mara. Mara is 4 months older than Asia and they've been best friends since we moved to our great cul-de-sac.
In June Mike and I and our friend Chris ran a 10K in the Snake River Classic. It was a perfect day, not too hot and not too cold.

Mike won first place in his division and I won 2nd. I should've ran faster, dang it!

I ran with one of my sweet Young Women, Kaitlin. She's on the cross-country team at Hillcrest and is the awesomest girl ever! She used to always babysit for us until she turned 16 and dating was waaaay more important! She'll still babysit for us every once in a while... Oh, and we have the exact same birthday! She got first in her age group. Nice job Kaitlin!!