Birthday Weekend

My birthday is on July 21st, and Scott's is July 24th. For three days, we are the same age, or as Scott likes to say, "For three days each year, you are my equal." I've put up with it for years, and anticipate I will have to tolerate it for many more. The plus side of having our birthdays so close together is that we can have one celebration for us both. The Pioneer Day holiday allowed us to have a whole weekend of activities to do with the kids--the best gift of all!

Scott and I got a really great surprise gift this year from the kids, who have been stealthily (is that a word?) planning this for some time. All week last week, we kept looking around for a missing pillow from one of our family room love seats, but couldn't find it. Come to find out....Lauren and Richie stole it, took it to Logan so they could match the colors for this beautiful ottoman they made. From scratch! In their little apartment! We were so tickled that all the kids conspired together to do this! We love it, and are so impressed that Lauren and Richie would tackle this project. (And that they returned the pillow!) It's beautiful! Thanks everyone!

Our Saturday morning started off with breakfast....

Followed by a drive up the canyon to Brighton for some "Extreme Strollering" at Silver Lake

We walked around the lake and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Little Lily enjoyed her first hike with mom and dad.

And took proper precautions to protect her perfect complexion.

After the hike, we stopped at Porcupine Pub and Grill for yummy lunch, including my favorite--the Chocolate Porcupine.

That afternoon, all the boys got to work setting up dad's new desktop computer on the other end of the office counter where I spend much of my time, so the two of us will be able to surf side-by-side....romantic, isn't it? After the boys got it set up, we got to do a "Google Plus Hangout" with Jim, Kathie, Gavin and Griffin.

Saturday night, we put on our hats and boots and headed to the Days of 47 Rodeo. We had a great time watching all of the events--this might become a more frequent tradition!

The rodeo gave Landon a chance to wear his real, live, honest-to-goodness Texas cowboy hat that he wore home from San Antonio about a year ago!

Even mom pulled out the old straw hat! (And it didn't escape my notice that Scott is looking an awful lot like Johnny Cash tonight).

Sunday, it was nice to have Lauren and Richie stay and go to church with us, then all the rest of the kids came back for burgers, Brats, and Nana's potato salad.

Monday, all the men hit the garage to start the big Camaro Transmission Transplant project. Scott was so excited to have Richie and Landon (two of the best problem solvers on the planet) stick with him for the whole day. They made a lot of progress.....There was a lot testosterone going on in that garage, so, suffice it to say that the girls stayed away.

But we found stuff to do. Lauren completely dejunked and organized (and by organized, I mean color coded and alphabetized) my jewelry box. It was long overdue and so nice to have done. Then, she said, "Mom, let's redecorate the bathroom today." So, she went to work stripping the dragonfly wallpaper, took down the purple shower curtain, and removed all the towels, rugs, and decor. After a trip to Target, Hobby Lobby and Lowes....voila!

I think she did a beautiful job! She has great taste and totally overhauled the main bath in one afternoon, and didn't break the bank in the process! Thanks, Lauren!

Thanks to all of our wonderful kids for creating special, memorable times for our family!