Dirt track...

There's an area in the city that's been set aside for kids to build dirt jumps for their bicycles and Jack's been wanting to go. So we packed up some bikes and went over there. Mark and Mikayla kind of had a hard time. Jack did the best jumping and riding. Juliet didn't really want to go so she didn't bring a bike and I sat in the car. Towards the end Juliet got brave and wanted to ride Jack's bike. And then I said okay let me have a turn. I got on the bike but it was still too small for me and I was dragging some pedals and I went over a little hill and on the way down, I was going too fast and I grabbed the front brake too hard and totally went over the handlebars. The bike was all on top of me and there were some punk kids there and one of them said, "Dude that was gnarly!"  It felt gnarly.  Fortunately I only hurt my pride.  

Summer...

Everyone loves summer!

Julie went with Daddy and Ryan Rosenberg and his daughter to California for some work/play.  They went to the beach!

The rest of us at home went to get ice cream at the new ice cream place in Hurricane called Good Times Creamery!  They have hard pack ice cream, which I prefer over soft serve.  I had the homemade blueberry cheesecake and it was delicious!

Little Zion hike...

Merril wanted to take the kids out for a hike.  Maxine had to work so we went without her because she works almost every day and when she gets home, she's tired and doesn't want to do anything.  I feel like we got there early but each time the tram came, it was already full.  So we decided to start walking on a trail down by the river.

After a while the trail ran out and we started walking on the road.

The wind was doing crazy things to my hair.

After walking 2 bus stops, we got to an actual trail that was super short and finished it quickly.  Then we went home. 

Maxine's first job!

The Hurricane City Pool hires 14-year olds during the summer to act as swim aides.  Swim aides don't actually teach swim lessons but help the swim teacher and be a second set of eyes in the pool with the little swimmers.  Maxine REALLY wanted this job!  We found out about it and made a resume.  I made her dress up in her Sunday best for her interview, which she said was completely unnecessary.  *raised eyebrow*  I said, "We don't know people at the pool, or city of Hurricane.  You have to show these people that you want this job more than any other person.  You show up to an interview looking professional.  I don't care if it's for turning hot dogs, you need to look nice.  It will make an impression."  Maxine got the job!!

Maxine got sunburned like crazy for the first 2 weeks.  Merril and I made her wear this hat, which is super doofy, but kept her face from getting sunburned.   

These are the other kids that swim aided.  

Update:  I asked Maxine about her job later and she said, "It was a lot of work but it was a good first job!  And I liked the people that worked with me for the most part."  Bonus:  She made a ton of cash over the summer, which was a lot of fun!  She went to the mall and bought Converse high tops with her own new debit card, because Mom is too cheap to buy them for her. :)

Juliet is double digits! 10!

She's waited and waited and begged and begged and finally became old enough to get her ears pierced!  We spent 20 minutes in the salon, trying to get the dot on her ear just right so that the piercings would be even.  (I've never liked how my ears were pierced so I'm probably more picky than most about it.)

Julie's birthday was a late-over.

Good times and fun!

Summer lovin'...

Lots of summer fun going on! Juliet wanted to do a lemonade stand. She actually made quite a lot of money because she had cookies too. 

We went to the library. Good to keep the kids reading during the summer. For some reason Mark had this on his head. It makes him look like Mikhail Gorbachev.

We went to a movie! We went to Cars 3, which was as good as the first.  I was never a huge fan of Cars 2 and Cars 3 felt more like the first one. Mark is so close to being able to go to a movie but he still wants to jump up and down for the last half of the movie. He wants to sit on my lap, and still needs to go to the bathroom a lot. Probably one more year and we can go to a movie and it'll be easy.

Anniversary Vacation...

Merril whisked me away for a night in Vegas.  

On the way down, there was a crazy wreck!

We stayed at the Bellagio.  Fancy!

We went to the "O" show, by Cirque du Soleil.  It was fantastic!  There were several acrobatic/swimming things going on at the same time on the stage.  It was hard to know where to look!  Great show!

Then we walked around the Paris and watched the Bellagio fountain show.

The next day, we had a sushi lunch and headed home!  Seventeen years together!  It's been wonderful!  Every year gets better and has gone by so fast!  I can't believe that I almost lost my man this year!  I'm happy to spend many more years together!

Building the perfect cake...

Poor Juliet. She loves to bake, especially to make cakes.  She's become so proficient at it, I rarely even help her in the kitchen anymore. Unfortunately the last four cakes that she made stuck in the pan and would not come out. When the fourth one didn't come out, she burst into tears and was so upset that I decided that I would get in the kitchen. We got the ingredients for a delicious strawberry cream cake and I set about to help her. I also purchased a cooking spray that comes with the flour already in it to make the cakes come out super easy. We sprayed the pan and I told Juliet that we needed to really really spray the pan a lot! She was sure it was way too much grease but I was certain that it was the right amount. We made the cakes and they popped right out of the pans. Then we made a delicious whipped cream and fresh strawberry filling and finished with a strawberry buttercream.

She was very very pleased with the results and she was able to pipe frosting along the bottom edge, which she loves to do.

It was yummy!