Early July and Tony's first two days off

We spent July 4th mostly hanging out at home and then celebrating with a barbecue at Tony's parents'.  The Monday afterward, we went to Toy Story 3 and then watched the Layton City fireworks.  We parked just off Main street, got out our chairs, and watched from there.  Great view and quick exit! 

Because I'm a terrible mother, Faith loves Lady Gaga.  Here is the outfit and makeup she came up with to lip sync a music video.

Christian has gotten much better at drawing figures.  Here is his self portrait done on a dry erase Micky Mouse learning book I got on clearance at WalMart.

On the 16th I got to go to lunch at the Olive Garden with my friend Ann while her husband Mike watched the kids.  He made them a giant slip-n-slide!  They had tons of fun, but I think the moms enjoyed their time even more!!

I sold the majority of my baby stuff on KSL classifieds and made over a hundred bucks!  Hopefully I won't need any of it in the future. . .

On Monday the 19th Tony started his summer week off work and we headed up to the Uintahs for some camping and fishing.  I'm not sure what's happening in this picture.  Apparently, Faith's a tree-hugger and Christian is up to heaven-only-knows-what.

Buddy was much more of a firebug this year.

Faith was obsessed with fishing!

That first afternoon we hiked around to the opposite side of Butterfly lake from where we were camping.  We were having fun fishing even though we weren't lucky enough to get a bite, that is, until a massive swarm of mosquitoes descended upon us and ATE US ALIVE. 

I knew it was time to go when I swatted Faith's calf and squished six of those buggers in one slap (that was a gross, bloody mess). I had doused the kids with repellent and used super "most deet  allowable by law" spray on myself (I don't use that kind on the kids for fear that it will cause them to grow cancerous tumors or a second head). Mine did an okay job even though mosquitoes tend to love me more than anyone, but Faith's was a total fail and she apparently inherited tasting awesome from me.  Tony, on the other hand, was annoyed by the bugs biting him, but didn't get any itchy bumps out of the ordeal!  Christian got some, but didn't fare too badly.

After reapplying bug spray in a big way, we went back to fishing, but closer to our camp.  Tony caught one and let Christian reel it in.  Buddy loved that thing and told me "I not want you to dead it!"  He came around after it was cooked and enjoyed eating him, but shed a tear the next morning because "him family will miss him!"

The other tragedy besides Faith being made into a giant, itchy lump (I have never seen so many mosquito bites on one person before) was that I forgot the marshmallows.  We brought plenty of treats, though, so the kids were somewhat satisfied by sticking anything else that they could think of in the fire.

The next morning I had to cook our breakfast directly on the campfire because the new mini propane tank that we brought to hook up to our camp stove was a dud and the metal grate was broken off our fire pit.  I thought our plastic handled frying pan was done for, but it survived!

Right next to our camp parking spot, we spotted this nest of baby robins directly at eye level.  We kept checking on them and even got to see the mother feed them.  We really needed some baby birds in our lives to heal our hearts after the satellite dish nest incident earlier this spring.

That morning even before breakfast (but after applying half a tube of anti-itch ointment), Faith headed down to the lake, by herself, to fish.  Our campsite was practically on the lake, so we could keep a good eye on her.  She didn't catch anything until coming back after breakfast, but then--success!

Tony removed the fish from her line, and on her very next cast out, she immediately caught another one!

And what, do you ask, was Buddy up to while Faith and Tony were fishing? 

And let me tell you, he got waaayyy muddier than that!  I had to strip him down and wash him in the cold spigot outside the outhouse.  Hopefully the fun was worth it!

Here is how great Baby is at casting this year:

Faith went on to catch two more before we left later that afternoon, and Tony only managed to reel five nearly onto shore and then lose them.  Tony's ego was a bit crushed because he loves a good competition (and you should hear Faith trash talk, by the way), but he sure was proud of his little girl!  We ate these guys for dinner at home on Tuesday, not too shabby, huh?  Way to go Baby Faith!!!

We were thinking about watching a video that night, but we were just plumb exhausted.  Tony and I learned that we are far too old to sleep on the ground in a tent anymore!