{This is the 3rd big catch-up post of the day.}

6/17: We brought the twins up to Grandma's house, where they stayed for three night while Jared and I went to the annual company leadership conference, this year in Salt Lake City. After dropping them off, we went back to the house to finish getting ready, then we went to the open house at the new corporate office, which is really big and super nice! They had tons of food and some fun little activities for everyone there.  That night, there was a welcome dinner at the hotel (The Grand America), then we hung out with some friends from Louisiana (Rodrick and Dana) for a while before heading to our awesome room to go to bed.

6/18: We enjoyed beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, and really fun activities at Snowbird that morning. We rode the Alpine Slide, the ski lift, the Mountain Flyer, the Mountain Coaster, and the tram, and we even jumped off the 50-ft. Vertical Jump tower! So much fun!

View from the ski lift:

 Jared up on the Vertical Jump tower before his jump (after mine):

The view from the Mountain Flyer (kind of like a big zipline):

View of the Alpine Slide from the Mountain Flyer:

On the tram ride:

The view from Hidden Peak, at the top of the tram ride:

Panoramic of the view from Hidden Peak, at the top of the tram ride:

On the Mountain Coaster:

 After returning to the hotel from Snowbird, we ate lunch, then Jared attended the general meeting; I was supposed to go but my back and neck were hurting and I had a migraine, so I stayed in the room and napped.  That evening, the manager's had their own dinner while all of the spouses/guests had our own dinner (and we were given our usual $50 in a card from upper management).  That night, we went to Temple Square to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra perform; Alex Boye sang two songs with them. Awesome! It was a rehearsal concert before they headed on a tour the next week, during which they performed twice at Carnegie Hall.

 Alex Boye:

6/19: After breakfast, the manager's had to go to a meeting and the spouses had free time; I opted to have some alone, quiet time in the room.  For lunch, we took TRAX to the Public Safety Building Plaza, where there were several food trucks for us to choose from for our lunch.  We had some gelati and gourmet pizza, and Jared tried some kind of Chinese burrito?  Back at the hotel, we had the amazing opportunity to do service with Stop Hunger Now. Our group put together 150,000 meal packs!  We had to wear these hair nets while putting the meals together:

That night was the awards dinner. The theme was "Spurs and Pearls" and the dress code was dressy Western.  Here are us and some of our friends in our outfits:

Dave and Darlene:

 Dana and Rodrick and us:

 Uncle Jim retired and received an award and Aunt Cindy came for the dinner.

 Just for fun:

I actually bought and wore cowgirl boots and a hat! We had a great meal and wonderful conversations, and watched great friends receive well-deserved awards.

6/20: We packed up and left the hotel and brought Rodrick and Dana out to breakfast before dropping them off at the hotel.  We then went and picked up our two little angels from Grandma's house.  They had so much fun with Grandma, Laura, Daisy, and Cody! Here are some pics that Laura texted me:

6/17: "Otter pops to cool off":

 "Bedtime stories read by Daisy. They are all tired and ready for bed.":

 6/18:

 6/18: "We are having smores cereal instead of real smores. Less mess ha ha":

 6/19: "Happily eating lunch":

Written 6/25: The twins didn't wake up until 9:00 this morning, probably because of their fun day yesterday. We went up to Jared's grandpa's house to cut his grass and visit him. The girls got to ride the lawnmower, swing on the rope seat swing (that also spins around), jump on the trampoline, play in a sprinkler, run around and play and pick flowers, ride on the 4-wheeler, and play in the ditch water. I watched the girls while Jared cut the grass and I sat with Grandpa for a bit; I also got to relax on the hammock for a little bit. On the way home, we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls and the girls waded in the water a bit, then we stopped and got dinner. They were so tired by the time we got home!

6/27: Fun at the Lehi Round-up. We ate at the Chuck Wagon Breakfast, then watched the parade and got lots of candy and stayed cool with Hawaiian ice, lots of ice water, umbrellas, and water spray bottles. My SIL, Laura, and her kids spent the night at our house last night and came with us. The cousins had fun together! Time for a nap now!

They loved waving at all the "princesses":

The Lehi band:

 The awesome Shane Lee Band!!! Shane Lee, the lead singer, and his wife (bass guitar player) are in our ward; Sis. Lee is my visiting teacher. The twins loved seeing Sister Lee on a float:

Water fight!: 

 

Avery getting tired and grumpy:

After the parade, we went home and everyone took a nap, except for me; I made sugar cookies for a party that night. We went to the Parker's house (in our ward) for an amazing pig roast/party! So much great food and awesome company, like the Hawks (the twins' friend and Primary classmate, Tate's family). The pig was delicious!!!!

6/30: Whiskers' 1st Birthday! We made him wear a birthday hat (just for a couple of minutes, ha ha), the girls each gave him a card that they colored for him, they each gave him a new toy that they picked out at the store, then he ate his "cake" (a special treat of soft cat food). Not sure he loved the hat or cared about the cards but he loves the new toys and scarfed down the "cake". :) This little party was obviously more for the girls than it was for him; they've been asking for months when he was gonna be one year old. :)

Written 7/3: This is what I saw when I came upstairs from my craft room late last night. Apparently, I had forgotten to turn on their lava lamp and, when they woke up in the middle of the night, they decided to go and lie down in the hall where there was a little bit of light streaming in from the living room. Kids are so funny!!!!

7/3: Whiskers loves playing in the back yard, especially under the willow tree, where he plays with the hanging branches and leaves. [This was while we were watering the garden and picking raspberries.]

 Written 7/4: So the twins did this yesterday. That is scratched into the wood, not just written on. They used a mechanical pen in which the lead was out, so it left that scratchy metal tip at the end. This bedroom set has lasted four and a half years with very few marks or wear on it and they go and do this right as we're thinking about selling it and getting a new set, ha ha. Stinkers! They got punished and Jared broke that Hello Kitty mechanical pen in front of them. Let's just say they were pretty upset, ha ha. The neighbors probably heard them screaming.

7/4: Our Independence Day...
We did a lot of nothin' all day (so nice!) until we went to a neighbor's (the Roberts') fun party that night. Makenna said it was the best party ever. Lots of great food and company; snappers, glow sticks, sparklers, and popsicles for the kids; a great fireworks display. When we got home, Jared lit a few little fireworks for the girls and they did sparklers and even Roman candles! It was 11pm before we got them into bed!! They did NOT want to get up for church the next morning, ha ha.

7/5: My birthday (42yo! Yikes!)...
After church, I took a long nap (kind of--lots of interruptions by the twins, mostly asking me if it was time to go to Kiki's house yet), then we went to Kiki's house. She cooked a steak dinner (so good!) and Jared brought a strawberry shortcake layered cake and ice cream and we all had lots of fun. :) Thanks, Kiki!! I LOVE YOU!!

Written 7/9: I am going to be a self-made widow if Jared doesn't stop tying those freaking string poppers to my bathroom doors and scaring the hell out of me!!! He's been doing this for almost a week!

7/9: This ad was in a magazine I was reading. I showed it to Avery and asked her, "Is this baby cute?" She gasped and covered her eyes with her hands, ha ha ha!

7/10: We had a little girl time this morning. Took a while to paint their nails, since they wanted them all painted differently. I also put nail stickers on their fingernails.

"Look at Whiskers, Mommy!"

Written 7/10: We ate our first zucchini of the summer from our garden tonight. I sautéed it with butter and garlic and added chopped chicken and cheese. Avery and Makenna loved it. Avery said she loves my cooking and I'm "the best cooker ever".

This past week was a little rough, especially for Makenna. She woke up screaming in the middle of the night Monday night (Tuesday morning)--not the most relaxing way to wake up!  She had a really high fever and threw up just a tiny bit.  She was fine the next day and begged to go to dance class, so I let her. She had a fever again that night and the next morning, so we didn't go to the aquarium that day like we were supposed to.  Wed. night, she had another fever and threw up a little more, so we all stayed home from gymnastics on Thursday.  She was fine by that afternoon, she was just coughing quite a bit the next two days.  She woke up with yet another fever Sat. morning, so she stayed home with me while Jared and Avery went to a car show in Hoytsville with Grandma, Jason and a friend, Laura and her kids, Katie and Colleen, and Spencer and his family.  They all went up to Jared's Grandpa's house that evening for a weenie roast, except for Jason.  Makenna was SO SAD that she wasn't able to go and kept saying she felt better and asking if I would take her to Grandma's. It was heart-breaking.  She did feel a lot better by lunchtime, though.  We promised her a special date with Daddy Monday night.  Here are some photos of Avery and Daddy's fun day:

Avery said her favorite part was playing with Katie. :)

Jared and I both woke up today (Sunday) not feeling well and Makenna was still coughing a bit, so we all stayed home from church.  I got up a few times to get breakfast for the girls and do a few other things for them, then Jared got up to get them some food for lunch.  I pretty much stayed in bed until almost 3pm!  I did feel much better after that, though.  Hopefully we will all be back to good health this week!