Partying with our peeps

The thing I look most forward to every summer is our trip to Utah to spend time with my family. My youngest sister lives south of Salt Lake City with her husband and three cute kiddos and for the last three summers our family drives from California, my other sister's family drives all the way from Michigan and my parents fly from Texas to converge on her home. We pile into every nook and cranny and then eat and play ourselves into a stupor.

Greg and Julie are the consummate hosts, always with something fun at the ready. Greg kept the backyard rotating through all kinds of activities, beginning with badminton. 

Brenna and her cousin Jonathan continue to be the best of friends. I remember when Jonathan and Brenna were somewhere around 2 or 3 years old and Jonathan did not want to share with his slightly younger and therefore inferior cousin. They were fighting with each other constantly that visit. Apparently Brenna was done feeling picked on so she pulled her arm back and punched her poor stunned cousin in the face. He stopped trying to push her around and they've been as close as can be ever since. (I have a similar story about the day Ava gained respect from her bullying older sister.)

Greg and Julie taking a rare break.

Our favorite outing in Utah is Seven Peaks water park. We exhaust ourselves on the water slides and wave pool.

Here's the proof. Gwen came back to the house, put on a Tinkerbell costume, and fell asleep sitting straight up.

When a little downtime is needed, a Wii comes in handy. Either that or a Phineas and Ferb marathon.

This year marked the introduction of "Night Games". When it got dark we played Capture the Flag and other super fun backyard games. We learned that our sweet cousin Anna is more competitive than the rest of us hyper-competitors ever dreamed of being. I personally witnessed her get airborne as she football tackled her much smaller 5 year old sister. And not long after that I had the ill fortune to be the recipient of a hair-pulling take-down. I think Anna might have a future in NCAA football or Olympic rugby. All I really know is next time I want her on my team.

One morning Greg and my brother-in-law David took the older kids on a hike to see the "Y" on the side of the mountain near Provo.

When grown women get together they like to shop, so the dads entertained the kids one afternoon by shooting bottle rockets.

July 3rd we camped out in the backyard. Here's some of the gang the following morning.

That next morning was the 4th of July and for the first time we skipped the 5k and the parade and just took it easy. Once we were up and ready we walked a few blocks to a restaurant for breakfast. What could be better than carrot muffins with cream cheese icing, french toast with buttermilk syrup, and biscuits with gravy? I think we should rename that second one "freedom toast" in honor of the holiday.

Me and Gwen at breakfast. This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Gwen because it captures her little personality so well. She's a gem.

Gwennie having a tea party with Alice and Aunt Julie. 

For our Independence Day dinner we had ribs, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, jello pretzel salad, and watermelon.

Ava  and Annie chow down.

I LOVE this picture of Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. They're so good together.

Nate and Aiden made friends with each other this time around. Aiden is two years older than Nate, which at this age is a big gap. It takes some serious patience for a 7 year old to play with a 5 year old.

 

And finally, a picture of most of the cousins wearing their visors that they all made together. On the back is Brenna (10), Jonathan (11), and Anna (8). Second row is Nate (5), Aiden (7) and Ava (8). Third row is Gwen (3), Annie (4), and Rachel (5) and there in the very front is Alice (3).

We had so much fun seeing our Larsen side of the family again this summer! Thanks so much to Jules and Gregor for all the time and energy it took to entertain a crew of this magnitude!

June

 Okay, this first part is still a bit of May. I told you that preschool had wrapped up, but didn't have the pictures of the graduation and subsequent party yet uploaded to my computer. Let me just state for the record that while I think my son is absolutely adorable in his construction paper graduation cap, I absolutely loathe preschool graduations (also, kindergarten graduation, 8th grade graduation, and even high school graduation for that matter, since I felt then too that of course I graduated from high school. Is it really worth all the hoopla?) Nothing says "way to show up" like a preschool graduation ceremony. Still, Nate's a cutie.

Much more satisfying is the after-party. Truly that's what the day was about, celebrating the end of what was, for Nate, a very long school year. My boy did not love preschool. I'll admit that I'm a little worried what the next 13 years will be like, given that it's all downhill from here. Preschool is as fun as school gets.

The party included balloons and face painting. Also acceptable was arm painting, especially if the selected design was a snake.

Gwen chose a red flower, but spent her time giving her face painter the stink eye.

The graduation party also included a picnic, bubbles, play doh, popsicles, and general mayhem.

In June my brother had a few days between school and his internship when the Mrs. was out of town, so he came to play with us. The kids loved the visit from their Uncle Patrick.

This summer has included a new experience for us: swim team. Brenna and Ava are both competing. They have practice from 11-12, Monday through Thursday, with one evening swim meet a week. We are completing our 8th and final week and they have yet to grow tired of it! They leave practice smiling every day and are excited for all the meets.

As I tried to take photos of the girls in their events Gwen said, "Take a picture of me!" Who could resist?

Ava swam 25 meter races, which meant she never faced my direction for an event. So the best shot I have of her of the one meet I remembered to bring my camera to is this one:

Brenna swam 50 meters for her events. Here she is in the backstroke.

And the freestyle.

This has been a fantastic summer, with all four kids finally swimming independently! Nate and Gwen took swimming lessons early in the summer and loved it. Here Nate is learning to dive.

It was during swimming lessons that Gwennie turned a corner and began to just...swim. She went from needing to be held onto every second she was in the pool to pushing me away, burying her face in the water and just swimming to me. Just like that. Here she is doing it for her instructor.

And here you can see that she and Lila (on the left) are having the time of their lives.

I still have to watch Gwen every single second she's in the pool but the girl is swimming, and that makes me so happy.