Random July Fun

There's been so much that happened this summer that I thought I'd just do a collective post to review some of it. 

The kids had so much fun while staying with their grandparents.

Grandma and Grandpa Morton took the kids to Hogle Zoo for a fun day with all of their cousins.

They had so much fun seeing all of the animals and spending time with some of their favorite people.

One of my favorite things to do is to hop online and peruse the Pinterest site.  I got on a PVC kick one afternoon and Matt and I made a bunch of fun things including these marshmallow shooters for the kids.  

They love them and have had several marshmallow wars.

We also made this bike rack for our garage.  This thing was so badly needed and I have LOVED it!

Our final project (well, final for that afternoon) was a photo backdrop.  I like to take my own pictures of my kids because it's way too expensive to get them all into the studios each year and I really wanted a portable backdrop.  This was the perfect solution and I've already used it a few times!

So after a nice relaxing vacation in beautiful Hawaii, we came home to this!  118 degrees!!!  Crazy!  (You can see the kids with their swimsuits in the background because all we do is swim when it's that hot.)

Abigail got to go to a fun birthday party for her friend Madison at the Build-A-Bear Workshop.

This is the cute little bear that she made and she named it "Sherbet".

The boys decided that they wanted a bit of a change so they both got Mohawks!  Porter is still sporting his but Bridger's didn't last more than a couple days before he decided it was too much maintenance.  (Look at their different skin tones - it's hard to believe they are brothers!)

Everyone who knows me or my kids knows that we LOVE cake pops.  I finally broke down and bought the "As Seen on TV" Cake Pop pan and it is fabulous.  

The cake pops aren't as moist as the traditional method but they are still super-yummy and so much faster! 

I held my first Pinterest Party at my house in July and a bunch of friends just got together and we all worked on some fun project that we had seen on Pinterest but never had the time to do.  All of our kids played and stayed out of our way and we got a lot done.  I made these DIY canvases of my kids and I loved how they turned out.  In fact, I'm in charge of a Super Saturday project where we are making "Follow the Prophet" ones with a picture of Pres. Monson.  

Summer just wouldn't be the same without drive-in movies.  Our friends, the Gammetts, hold a drive-in night in their backyard once and a while and it is so much fun! 

 The kids play "Just Dance" until it is dark enough to start the movie and we all bring treats to share.  On this night we watched "Mirror Mirror" and our kids really liked it.

There was a great turn out of friends and the kids have not stopped talking about it since!

We also went to an actual drive-in movie and saw "Ice Age 4".

Some of the kids favorite friends were there so they had so much fun. 

It was like a huge play date for them. 

 They all dispersed into their friends cars to watch the movie.

Bridger and Reagan claimed the back of our car.  

Lyndsee and Tate didn't watch much of the movie but they had a lot of fun running around, stealing everyone's food, and playing in the dirt.  :) 

This was our first drive-in as a family and I'm sure it won't be our last.  (Except next time I'll be sure not to leave my air conditioning running so that my battery dies! - Thank goodness for the Schroeder's and Croppers being there to save the day!)  

The kids had a request to go to Build-A-Bear when Daddy got back in town so he was happy to oblige and we headed down to the mall.  We told them they could each get an outfit only but Bridger decided he wanted this little puppy dog instead.  

Abi picked out this cute little outfit and beautiful wig for her bunny.  

Porter found the perfect thing - a Titanic captain outfit.  He was so excited!

Tate also found the perfect thing - Lightning McQueen shoes for his bear.  Now his bear looks just like him!

This summer was also filled with lots of fun GNO's and one of them was to celebrate my good friend Amanda's birthday.  We went out to Lucille's BBQ and had a great night of being with the girls! 

(Left to Right - Jenny Barrowes, Rachelle Abbott, Lindsay Cropper, Emily Bradshaw, Susana Abbott, Cydnee Schroeder, Kim Brown, Amanda Ainge, me, & Jenny's friend from Idaho.)