This week we went to two of Blayne's softball games, Splash Park (it has tiny little water slides for small kids), and our neighbor's birthday party. Thank you for free entertainment!

This is Darek and his friend Jaxon at Splash Park. Darek thinks Jaxon is the greatest thing since popsicles.
 

Just chillin' with the iPod
 

His new thing is "I wanna smell." So he sniffed the flowers (which Blayne got me for my birthday :) all day.
 

Over the weekend

I think that the best thing about summer is that I don't watch the clock as much. Between playing outside and going to the zoo or the park or any number of other activities, time just passes leisurely by and I love it. This weekend we went to the Summer Festival everyday. Darek loved the train (Idaho Falls style), the horses, the music, and I loved the fair food (you know what I mean, the fattening, fried, and chocolate dipped stuff).

Yep, this is the train:
 
 

This is what Darek wore to church today (I got the picture of him walking out of nursery). I call it Choosing My Battles.
 

Baby Girl

This is a quick video of Mia just being her darling little self. It seems like she's getting big so much faster than Darek did. She's a sweet, happy baby and we're absolutely in love with her.

This week there's a Summer Festival in our area that Blayne helped out with a little bit (and where he'll be promoting TheDressList.com and the Idaho Health Guide). It's basically like a state fair with tons to do, so that's what we'll be up to this weekend. It opened last night and we spent hours there. A little country band played music and Darek sat on the floor as close to them as possible. Everytime they finished a song he'd yell, "Again!"

God Bless America

On July 3rd our wonderful neighbors invited us over for a BBQ and fireworks. It's so fun and relaxing to be able to just go hang out next door. Darek loved running around with all of the other kids and did not want Blayne and I embarassing him by checking on him. However, he gave us a run for our money before we left our house. He had wanted to put on two shirts followed by a zip-up sweater followed by a zip up sweatshirt and then one more shirt earlier in the day. Keep in mind that it is July and so I wanted him to take it all off before we went to the neighbors. He did not want to. You may notice that he also has on two hats and two pairs of sunglasses at his neck. It is his daily uniform to wear a hat, watch, and sunglasses (but only at his neck). He's a hoot!
 


On July 4th, Blayne's cousins came and stayed with us and we had a ball hanging out with them. Did we enjoy fireworks that night? No. We put our kids in bed by 9pm and watched Dateline. I absolutely love fireworks on July 4th, but I'm a pansy about dealing with an over-tired 2 year old.

 
Darek and his 2nd cousin Maxwell

I love July 4th and I really am Proud to be an American. Sure we've got our problems, but what a great day to show gratitude for our freedoms, for our countrymen, and for the blessing it is to live in a country where we can believe as we choose and have hope for the future.

 

 
 

Forget the dirty laundry, dirty dishes, unorganized everything...these babies need to play.