The Walkers

...I'm pretty sure I'm Idina Menzel . We went to see her perform with the Utah Symphony last night and I was blown away. I was also riddled with envy. Seriously, how cool would it be to get paid to sing show tunes? Accompanied by a full symphony nonetheless? She sang a few songs from Wicked and Rent but most of the show consisted of really cool arrangements of old songs. It was interesting to watch her completely transition from song to song, really interpreting each song's meaning. The result was truly emotional and unique. I'm so glad we went. It was a perfect summer evening in Park City with some of my best friends. Thanks guys!

I got my back to school letter from my principal yesterday. It's the worst mail I receive every year, bar none. Why does summer pass so quickly? And who's the liar claiming that summer is three months long? Once August comes around, I'm done for. I will begrudgingly return to work in - count 'em - 16 days. Ouch. But what do you do? I can't complain too much about getting paid to hang out with the two best kids ever every day for the past two months. We've had a lot of fun this summer and there are lots more exciting events on our autumn calendar (our anniversary, a trip to San Fransisco, and Brett & Robyn's wedding to name a few). Anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any to capture this summer on film... er... whatever the terminology is for digital pictures. I'm happy with the results, but both Kaiya and Ben look so old; it makes me sad. Check out Ben's stud pose with his legit man-tie. Kaiya was less than cooperative until the photograp...

Brad was out of town all week sweating in Havasupai . I'm jealous of the sites he saw... not so much of the blisters and sunburn he received. Anyway, we kept busy while he was gone by watching fireworks with Nannie at Aunt Lisa's, playing on the giant slip n' slide at the Walkers', swimming at Jen's parents', and going to the zoo. Of course, I only remembered to take my camera to the last outing. We had fun hanging out at the zoo with the Walker cousins. I don't think I'd been to Hogle Zoo since my kindergarten field trip. Seriously. It was way too hot to be traipsing around with seven kids, but we had fun. I love how Ava and Kaiya are such good buddies. These photos are from today. Kaiya made this choo choo train for Ben and herself. Ben has just recently figured out how to pull himself up to the standing position. He is pretty darn proud of himself. I could figure out which of these I liked best, so I'm pulling an Alicia and posting them all :) Ch...

We haven't left the house in three days. Kaiya has been doing this... And getting these... In hopes of earning this... We've met with moderate success, but I know we still have a ways to go. I just can't believe my baby girl is old enough to do this already! This video is kind of weird and possibly gross (considering the subject matter), but hey, it's cute when it's your kid.

We finally made it up to the splash pad at North Park last week. Kaiya was fearless. I had a hard time keeping track of her in the sea of kids. Most of the time, I just caught fleeting glimpses of her ruffly bum. She's not the most sensitive to others' feelings. Here she is laughing at her cousin Vance. Ben was super curious, but I kept him on the outskirts. Next time, I'll have to wear my suit so that I can take him in. I have a feeling we'll be visiting this park often!

In the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up." School ended. We went on another roadtrip to the Great Northwest (this time with the Carters ). I turned 27. Ben can now crawl like a wounded soldier. Ben now has one tooth. Kaiya will start potty training next week (wish us luck)! We've spent the last five days watching the Lillywhites' kids. Five under the age of six. It's been loud. Back to that roadtrip... We crammed all eight of us--four of whom are in diapers--in our Sequoia for the 16(ish) hour drive to Camas. We are nuts. But surprisingly, I would probably do it again. Once there, we had fun hanging out with DeeDee and PopPop and bumming around town. Here are some shots from my parents' front yard, you can see in the background that they were pouring a new front porch. It now has a really pretty red brick trim that matches their house. I love it! Ben was having a blast playing with the leaves of this tree. I snappe...

Ben is getting bigger and bigger and cuter and cuter every day. He's getting pretty good at this sitting thing too.