Summer's Annual BBQ

My sister Summer and Bro-in-law Jarom have a BBQ and fireworks every year in July. I look forward to this all year. It's fun to get together with friends and family and have a good time.

Ryan is a stud! And always has to carry around Mr. Bear. He said, "but mom, Mr. Bear likes fireworks too".

Mom and Ethan. What is that look he is pulling? Super funny!

Me, my brother Brant, and Kit's girlfriend Lynzie (Kit's in San Diego being a Marine). We love that Lynzie seems to still like to hang around us even though Kit is not there. She is super cute.

Jarom can't wait for the sun to go down. He wants to start as soon as possible and just lite the "baby" fireworks.

All the kids waiting for them to start.

I'm already excited for next year.

Ben's 29th Birthday

Ben's birthday was Saturday. We hung out with the boys and went to Cafe Rio during the day. Summer gave Ben tickets to Secondhand Serenade for his birthday (she was too busy to use them). So the boys went to my parents and we went to an outdoor concert at Thanksgiving Point. It was really fun. We got there on our blanket at 6:30 p.m. and Secondhand didn't start until 9:50 p.m. They had Parachute as the opener ("they call her love, love, love, love"). And they also had 2 other bands before that, Single File, and A Silver Lining. We really had a great time. Ben kept saying how old he felt though (there were a lot of young people at the concert). Thanks Summer for the tickets.

Ben waiting for the concert to start.

The boys and I gave Ben Cologne and a book for his birthday. The boys were excited to help Ben open his presents. Happy Birthday Ben!

The 24th

We had the Clegg Reunion on the 24th. We went to Settlement Canyon and ate lots of good food. Thanks Bruce Clegg girls for putting it together.

Ethan with the Bruce Clegg family horses.

Ryan with the horses. They both love horses.

Swim Lessons

Ryan started swim lessons this year. He loves the water. He has been doing great. I think the hard thing is that he is not afraid of the water at all. No fear. All the girls in his class scream and giggle because he splashes them all the time. The teacher is constantly telling Ryan to stop splashing the girls.

Ryan is Five

Can you believe I have a 5 year old? (I hope your answer is no way, you're way too young). Ryan was so excited for his birthday this year. He said he just wanted family to come over for his birthday so that's what we did. He was really into Transformers this year. His favorite is Optimus Prime. Ryan was in our room at 7 a.m. asking to open his presents. Crazy boy!

Ethan watching Ryan open his presents.

Before the family party we took a trip to Home Depot. The boys can not go there without sitting on the riding lawn mowers.

Ryan opening presents from family. We were really grateful for all of you who took time out of your busy lives to be there for Ryan. Ryan was excited to have all of you there.

Ryan wanted birthday cake, but he can't have cake so I decided to make a birthday ice cream pie instead. He insisted on the fudge and the sprinkles.

Uncle Brant and Ethan.

Ryan eating his pie.

Rick & Liz and Jake & Shayla. Sorry for the sun in your face! :-)

Happy Birthday Ryan. We love you so much!

7th Year of Bliss and not so Blissness

Ryan's Birthday came first but I can't get to my pictures right now, so I'll do our anniversary post first. Our anniversary was yesterday, July 19th. We celebrated it last week so we didn't really do anything yesterday. I can and can't believe we've been married 7 years. You know...sometimes it feels like you've been married forever, and sometimes it feels like just yesterday. I won't make this too gooey like I did for Father's Day. So this is it: Ben I love you, and I'm so happy I married you. And you must be super smart to have married me. Thanks for being so good to me and thanks for being a great father to our children. And p.s. you can post something on here too! :-)

Here are some pictures from our wedding day. Enjoy.

p.p.s. The title is not meant to be rude...we all have good and bad days in a marriage. But we love each other anyway.

Blue Pancakes

During Ethan's nap Ryan and I have "quiet time". We either play with quiet toys, watch a movie, or read books. Ryan usually likes to read for a while. He's been reading Green Eggs and Ham. So he wanted to make Green Eggs (we decided on Green pancakes since he can't eat eggs). So he invited his friends, Will and Logan over for Green and Blue pancakes (Ryan preferred Blue). They were a hit!

My signature Mickey Mouse pancake. Although after they were cooked, they really just looked brown.

Ben and I had a super fun weekend by ourselves. We were walking around Macy's looking for new cologne for Ben's birthday and we ended up in the cooking stuff. So we had to take a picture because we felt super boring after we realized what we were doing with no kids.

Ryan and Ethan were riding the big truck and Ryan said, "Mom take a picture".

Thanks for all your input on the Kindergarten poll. We realize most of you said to start him in Kindergarten, but we've decided to stick with our original decision and start him a year later. As my mother in law puts it: What's wrong with being the smartest in the class?