Fun With Family

   So I've discovered that having four kids all home all summer long keeps me busy! I just haven't found the time to blog since school got out. But now that both the girls are back in school and I only have two kids at home in the mornings, I WILL get caught up on blogging. I have some many pictures and post to share! Let's start at the beginning, I like to blog in chronological order.

 

   The week after Lexi's birthday, we had lots of family come to Utah. My sister-in-law, Val, and her three kids came a stayed with us at our house. Our kids were SO EXCITED! Since we've always lived in a small little apartment, visiting family never stayed with us. So my kids have missed out on cousin sleep overs.

 

First are pictures of all the kids before church.

 

 



Eli was so excited to have Devin visiting and sleeping in his room.

 





 

After church we went on a walk.

Val had never been to Tooele so we took everyone up on the hill so they could see the valley.

 







Lexi loved showing her cousins her pet bunnies. They were a huge hit.

 







We went to a park one afternoon.

 





 

 

Another afternoon we put sprinklers under the tramp.

 



 

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows one evening.

 





I bought mini sparkling cinder bottles for everyone and they were a huge hit with the kids.

Eli LOVED his.

 







We went and played at the huge field at our church building by our house.

They kids ended up getting soaked running through the sprinklers.

 



This is what I get when I ask everyone to smile and look at the camera...

 



 

 

Later that night we had a little birthday party for all the cousins with summer birthdays.

Half of all the Christensen grandkids have a birthday within a few week span.

 









That night Justin impressed everyone with his trampoline skills.

 







 





 

 

Devin was so good with Ruby. He's such an awesome helper.

 

 

For some reason Lyla thinks that Ruby's name is Rosie. That's what she called her all week.

 





 

 

Later that week was my nephew Parker's baptism.

We all got together before hand and a family dinner in Michelle and Justin's backyard.

 





 



I love this picture I took of Devin and Eli together right before the baptism started.

 



 

Here's all of the grandkids minus Harrison with their grandparents.

 



After the baptism we ate ice cream sundaes and hung out in the field behind the church.

Val snapped this picture of our family.

 



 

 

The day after the baptism was the annual Christensen family reunion. I didn't take a single picture.

The next week Josh came over to our house to visit.

The kids loved jumping on the tramp with him.

Later that week Garth and Kristi came and stayed with us for a few days.

Sean and Garth got some little projects done around the house.

Kristi and I did a little bit of shopping for some decorating ideas.

And we played lots of games.

 



And then after all the family and fun. Things calmed down again for a little bit.

Lexi's 7th Birthday

 July 6th was Lexi's 7th birthday.
She was so excited for her birthday.
She wanted to open her presents as soon as she woke up.
 

Lexi really wanted a Razor scooter.

When we showed her presents she couldn't figure out which one had the scooter in it.

The chevron bag had a clue. She went on a scavenger hunt.

The last clue said that he gift was in Sean's clothes.

She ran to her dad and started pulling up his shirt.

I told her that the clue meant in his side of the closet.

 



She was so excited when she saw the big box with the scooter in it.

She instantly wanted to go ride it.

 



For her birthday she also wanted a wallet, puzzles, and some new books.

 



In this next picture she's opening a homemade present from Avery.



 

The girls helped me make and decorate Lexi's cake.

 



I can't believe how much older Lexi is looking.

She's growing up so fast.

She's not my tiny 6 lbs. 2 Oz baby anymore.

 



 

Lexi is 44 lbs. (20-25%) and 47 inches (40-45%).

And here's her birthday interview.

 







We Have a Front Yard!

 When we bought our house we asked our builder to put in our front yard.

We didn't say by the date we moved in, I just assumed.

Well that was stupid.

Right before we closed we asked about the yard and they said they'd put it in "soon"

 but they couldn't tell us when.

I tried for weeks to get a hold of someone

and then I kept getting told that I needed to talk to someone else.

Finally at the end of June, a landscaping crew show up and dropped off their tractor.

Then they didn't actually get started for almost another week.

And then they look much longer than expected to finish.

But it's done now and we're so happy to have grass!

...

When we first moved in we mostly had just dirt and rocks.

Then it rained for a month and the weeds grew like crazy.

I don't have a great before picture but you get the idea from this next picture.

 

The youth came one night to our house looking for a service project

so we had them pull the weeds in our grass strip. Some were taller than Lexi.

So this next picture is my before picture but this is after we weeded some.

 



The kids were excited about the tractor, especially Eli.

But apparently I just took pictures of him with it on my phone so I don't have any of those right now.

Eli loved watching the landscapers dig trenches with the tractor.

 



Here are the trenches. They were deep!

The kids ran through them one day and called it a maze.

 



And here's our yard with trees and top soil.

It looked like this for days while we waited for our sod.

 



And finally our sod came!

 



We still have lots we want to do in our front yard.

But it will take time and money.

For now we're loving our grass!

 



Lexi all excited...

 



And now it's time to figure out our back yard. That we have to do ourselves.