August 2013

On August 1st, my luck with getting my hair colored at the DATC finally ran out :( I went back on the 2nd to get the crazy big patches of white blonde, too dark roots, and orangy intersection fixed by another student who had the reputation for being amazing with color.

It ended up very cute!

August 5th I wa working all day (like 10 hours), so my kids went with my parents for their stake Lagoon day. Lots of cousins were there, and Tony even met up with them after work.

 

We went to the farmers' market on the 8th.

 

  The next day, the kids set up Faith's trundle bed for Christian to sleep in while our Chinese college student (who will be interning in Buddy's class) is living with us for three months. They went all out, as usual!

That afternoon the kids had one of their famous lemonade/popcorn/snow cone stands.

August 13th my mom held a special tea party to show us some family history photos and heirlooms, and tell us about our grandparents and great-grandparents. We got to wear some fab hats! 

Christian even got to stick around (he was actually sad that he wasn't originally invited) instead of going to McDonalds with grandpa and some cousins  because Noah didn't come and Brandt was very late due to Joy's car battery needing a jump.

Even Skittles dressed up for the event.

 

  This was Grandma Quinn's doll from when she was little. She played with it for many years and the china head, arms and feet were never damaged.

  When I moved to my own room downstairs when I was twelve, Sarah had this doll on a shelf above her bed as a decoration. Not for long, though, because Sarah was sure that it would sometimes move or make noises!

Mom put out a beautiful spread: chicken salad croissants, fruit, deviled eggs, cupcakes, and chocolate dipped strawberries on grandma's china dishes.

Some of grandma's thimble collection was set out as decoration and the kids got to pick several as a favor.

Here are just a few of the pictures.

Grandma & Grandpa Quinn

Leah (Grandpa Quinn's mother)

What a special event!

 

On the 14th I took a few hours off work and I took the kids to the Davis County Fair. They got free stenciled tattoos.

We loved the petting zoo, as always.

We think this is the camel we petted as a tiny baby two years ago!

We also loved the prize winning rabbits and chickens.

We ate snow cones while watching dogs compete at the long jump by diving into a swimming pool.

Christian, after being reminded by me of his regret last year after wimping out, and after being goaded by the young man behind the table, finally held both a scorpion and a Madagascar hissing cockroach!

The kids both won prizes at this table after successfully leveling the scale with three pieces of candy. Only one of the six kids preceding them could do it!

 

On August 15th we went back up to the condo. It was Tony & my 21st anniversary, but Ton had to work the next day, so he stayed home with Skittles. I called him that evening and he was having a candlelight anniversary dinner of Mo' Bettah Steaks, BY HIMSELF! Heehee :)

Of course there was excessive swimming,

shopping, a big dinner at Ruby Tuesdays,

and more swimming. The girls worked on their diving, and Christian worked on his cannonball.

Grandpa got to snuggle baby Evie.

  Tony came up Friday night and got to do some shopping at the outlet with me. We even got some delicious relishes from Harry & Davids.

At home with our Skittle-poo and Dusty on the 18th, Faith had some crazy hair going on!

We celebrated Tammy's birthday with her. I thought it was funny how the cake looks positively ablaze in this picture! I gave her the gift of addiction to Downton Abbey :)

 

August 21st found us at R.C. Willey's to get a new twin mattress. We figured we needed a nicer one for the Chinese college intern who is supposed to be coming to live with us for three months. The kids preferred this expensive adjustable bed and enjoyed using the remote control to fold it up like a taco.

 

On the 22nd, we found that our teeny-tiny tadpoles (which I had ordered off eBay) had been delivered and were sitting out on our porch all day. Updates to come!

 

We finished setting up Buddy's room as the guest room on the 24th.

 

August 26th was the first day of school! Sixth grade for Faith,

and first grade for Christian.

Faith even did fancy notebook-inspired nail decor.

 

The kids started the new soccer season on the 31st.

That afternoon we did some shopping at Farmington Station Park and Faith found these groovy glasses at the candy store.

I was going through some school work from last year and found this cute picture by Buddy.

 

End of July 2013

Christian was employing his chef skillz again on the 20th with some tie-dye colored pancakes.

Later that day I caught Skittles snoozing.

 

On the 22nd, we enjoyed produce from our garden and from Day Farm. Our pico de gallo included sunsugar & sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, green onion and jalapeños from our garden and only cilantro and kosher salt from the store. The zucchini bread had lots of garden zucchini, and we enjoyed fresh beans and peaches from the farm. Faith made deviled eggs, just for good measure :)

I was cleaning out my dresser and realized that I never got a picture of my 2012 Mother's Day gift that Christian made me at Miss Kelly's preschool. 

I love that the craft was supposed to be rolled construction paper rosebuds on top of straw stems, but Buddy got tired of making them after completing a few, so for the middle he just drew flowers on a bigger paper and taped on a bunch of staws. Priceless!

 

On the 22nd of July, Tony started his week off from work. We just relaxed that day, but on the 23rd we used a Christmas gift card to try out Buffalo Wild Wings. We tried six or seven flavors and loved them!

 

On Pioneer Day, the 24th, we started our two day Salt Lake Connect Passes. We usually do this with Joy's family, but she was a bit busy with her new bundle this year. (Haha, bundle of Joy)

We started the day at This is the Place. Tried out the olden day stilts,

inspected many animal pelts and got to guess what they were from,

and see lots of the houses and buildings which are normally closed when we are there.

We also panned for gold (still the favorite), 

visited with some children in traditional Native American dress inside a teepee,

bought some tonics from a traveling "pharmacist" (snake oil salesman), and collected the spoils from the candy cannon.

Next, we visited the zoo and saw the bird show.

Enjoyed all the animals and statuary :)

Then we drove up to Snowbird and rode the tram up the mountain.

 

The next day, we confused the departing time for the Frontrunner, and had to race it to Farmington after spending too much time grabbing breakfast from Carl's Jr!

We got off at the Thanksgiving Point stop and found that it was MUCH farther away from the Museum of Ancient Life than we thought. We didn't have much time, so we speed-walked over there in the heat. 

Had a fun, albeit short visit and especially liked this air tube in the science exhibit.

After grabbing a quick bite to go from the deli (of course Faith's favorite pasta), we jogged to the station and rode to the planetarium. We saw a neat 3D movie about Monarch butterfly migration and the kids were excited to eat nacho flavored freeze dried meal worms from the gift shop. They liked them!

We took Trax to Taffy Town,

then over to Temple Square. 

We ate at the Lion House and then saw a live star show at the planetarium where we learned about robotic exploration of space.

We were even the first ones to try out this brand new exhibit demonstrating tornadoes!

We had a little mix-up with the train times, so we blew some of our extra time riding on Trax. Buddy kept hanging off the hand straps :)

 

We spent the day at Boondocks on the 27th. We bowled, did laser tag, and played at the arcade. Tony even splurged on bowling pin slushies.

 

On Sunday the 28th, mom was showing us this picture of Eric & Joy from a trip years ago that Christian had loved when he was staying over. 

Mom said that when they had returned from this vacation and she was showing it to Grandpa Quinn he said, "Nice picture! Now remind me, which two are yours?"

That afternoon Faith finally got to hold Baby Evie <3

Silly times were had on July 29th.

 

And on the 31st both kids were in the middle of a week of swimming lessons. While watching Faith's, Christian had this fly guy "pet" who would keep landing on his hand and arm.