summer 2008 banner

color theory 101

I saw something kind of like this on a craft blog and loved the concept not because it was educational and something to do together, but because it makes NO MESS!


Place primary colors in ziplock bags.


Mix. Ellie was amazed at the colors that we created.


Cut a tiny hole at the corner and using the bag like a frosting bag you can make some awesome art!

just peachy

Ellie, Kelty, Arch, Vince, Cody, Levi




Nice moves!


Am I rasing a drama queen?


Vince and Ellie are so cute together, I wish they could have hung out more this summer!




Ellie's middle name is Peach, no really, it is. So how perfect is this?!

enchanted garden

There are a few places that I just LOVE here, Amish country, Linvilla Orchards, and Winterthur. I am actually pretty sad to leave, because I know that most likely we won't ever be back, this summer has been incredible. And not just because of all the things we have seen, for some reason we just needed to be here. I've gained a fresh perspective on raising my family, living day to day, family, and friends. All the girls out here are just amazing mothers and women and I have just loved being around all their positiveness.


I love this picture - notice the words in the stones.




As promised, Cody's gay guy shirt. Jess said he looks like an APX salesman. Ellie called him, "My King."


Talking to himself again.


Have you ever seen such scrumptious little birdies? Cody and Kelty in a giant birds nest.


Kelty, Luke, Ellie, Archie, Levi. Missing is Vince (Archie's brother), Walker (Kelty's brother) and Cody.


A real life frog on a real life lily pad! This place truly is enchanted!

lancaster

Justin has been selling in Lancaster which is about 1.5 hrs away. Neither of us are very patient when it comes to driving so he was going nuts driving 3 hrs a day by day three. So we decided to make a little trip out of it. I took the kids to a theme park/ water park called Dutch Wonderland last Wednesday. So many people out here have told us we have to go, and the kids just loved it. Jess, Erin and Tammy also came and took their kids.









That night we stayed in hotel room in Lancaster and Justin met us there. In the morning we saw Amish country. I was going nuts over the farmers markets, the Amish children being pulled in red wagons, the laundry on the line, the horse pulled tractors. I kept telling Justin, "I just NEED to hold an Amish baby." We went on tour of an Amish home and farm and learned about their day to day lives. I'm going to steal some facts off of Erin's blog because I have no ability to retain any informatin I learn so I have already forgotten everything:

*Amish is not a religion. It is a way of life. Most of their "rules" or customs are not a matter of righteousness, just lifestyle. Some things, like resting on the Sabbath and not taking pictures (graven images), is religious belief. All Amish are protestant.
*Amish are very much a part of the community. Only 1/3 farm. They can have any regular job, and use whatever they need to for their jobs (cell phones, etc.).
*There are fewer rules than I thought. These are the basics: They can ride on public transportation or in the car with other people. They just can't drive a car themselves, and they can't have electricity in their homes. They can shop wherever they want and buy whatever they want as long as they don't have electricity in their homes. They have to marry an Amish person, and there is no divorce. They aren't educated past age 15 (8th grade). If someone goes to college, they can't be Amish anymore. Therefore, there are no Amish professionals. The rules are black and white, the tour guide said, and if they don't want to live the rules, they can't be Amish.
*If people decide they don't want to be Amish, they can "leave" (i.e. not be Amish anymore). However, only 6% leave being Amish.
*The Amish are not out to convert anyone else. It is their lifestyle, and they rely on us for our lifestyle. They need professionals. They use our hospitals and doctors, and other professions that they don't have because of their limited education.


This little schoolhouse was so cute. Ellie thought is was so fun to pretend she was in school, telling me all the letters and numbers.







We stayed a second night and shopped the hundreds of outlets there. We found the cutest childrens clothing store called Pampolina. It's a European brand and they were having a sample sale so we got tons of clothes for Ellie for $8-$15, regularly $60-$100. We also got Cody a sweet gay guy shirt which you will see in the next post.

she swims, she rides, she runs, she ROX!

Well, I finally did another triathlon! I was so so nervous because my last tri was in 2005. Ellie was 4 months old and hello - what was I thinking? I have been scared to do another one ever since. But this is my first summer in four years that I haven't been pregnant or nursing so I figured I better do something to celebrate. This sprint tri was an all women race and it raised money for Ovarian Cancer research which is why I chose to do it (Justin's mom was diagnosed with this cancer last October). I started training about a month before so I was pleased that I got at least 25 out of 212 in my division. I can't wait to do another one because I know there are so many things I could change that would help my time.

Anyway, it was a great day and my "fan base" was there to cheer me on which was awesome.


I'm somewhere in this picture. My age group was the second to last wave which means I didn't even start until the first woman had finished! It was kind of fun to start in the back though because I got to pass a lot on the bike which made me feel fast even if I wasn't.


My fans. We got them out of bed at 6:00am.






I'm standing here because with 1/2 mile left in the bike I hit a pothole and my seat fell all the way down. I'm so lucky it didn't fall down until the end because I didn't have any tools.




You can't beat this welcome.


And thanks Kami (our cousin) for all the advice and moral support via email! She is an amazing athlete and actual wins her races! Imagine that!

so worth it

Tonight while Ellie was in the tub I asked her to give me 5 reasons why she loved me.

"One is because you wash my hair,
Two is because Jesus gave you your body!
Three is because you get my toys so I can reach them,
Four is because you make the couch,
Five is because you make your bed,
and One Two Three Four Five Six is because you wipe my bum!"

a time to keep

I just realized why I love Linvilla Orchards so much. It's because I feel like I'm living in a Tasha Tudor world. This was one of my favorites growing up:








Photos courtesy of Erin

valley forge

A couple days ago I took the kiddies to Valley Forge. It's only about 30 min from here and Justin and I have been watching the John Adams HBO series about the Revolution so this was really cool to see. I couldn't believe how huge it was. There is a 6 mile paved multi-use trail that goes around the entire park and lots of people bike and run on it. I brought the bike and burley to pull the kids in but realized after hooking up the bike, getting the kids all settled in with snacks, and putting on my biking shoes, that I didn't have any pedals! Arghhhh! I was so frustrated - I had forgotten that I had taken them off my bike earlier in the week. So I unhooked everything and just pushed them for about 2 miles, it was still pretty cool but I hope we can go back with Justin - he would love it.

5k

Last wednesday night four of us "wives" and Bo ran a 5k together in Wilmington on the riverfront. It was fun to have a big group there and everyone did awesome, except me who had to take a potty break in the bushes by the freeway (fun for everyone who saw me though).


Jess made these cute signs for the kids to hold and Vanessa and the Megans watched all the kids.


The race people found out we were from Utah and took this picture to put on the website. They were really excited we had come all this way just to run in their race! With all these kids running around combined with the sign that read, "Go WIVES!" I wonder how many people thought we all had the same husband!


Mr. T has trimmed down a little! I saw this guy at the start of the race and told Jess we had to find him after - he really ran in all these chains and huge wool socks!

7 loooong years! haha, just kidding honey

We celebrated our anniversary in style this year, ice cream at the Wawa! Maybe next year can can go to Wal-mart.

Now for a little wawa pop-culture history - I bet you didn't know we live right across the street from some of our nations most important history...at the local wawa!

(picture of Joh**y Kno******e removed, half my traffic was coming from searches for him)

Joh**y Kno*vi**e sporting a wawa tattoo. If you don't know who this guy is you are better off, but still - kinda cool.

Contemplating what the next seven years has in store. Just is such a great husband and father, I am so blessed - thank you for working so hard for us! I would marry you seventy times seven! Oh, wait - I did!

And if after reading this, you are thinking: Court must be really bored at night. Well, I am. It's 11:14 and I'm still waiting for Justin to get home...but he will be so proud of all I've accomplished! :)