Poolin' Around

In the beginning of August we finally got our community pool open after over 4 1/2 yrs & we have LOVED it. We have been there several times and love to go early mornings because we get the pools all to ourselves. It is impossible for us to go swimming for only a couple hours, we usually end up staying for 3-4 hrs at a time. Josh is my highly timid one when it comes to water, but some neighbor girls actually got him to jump in he pool which is a flat out miracle in my opinion. Cami has a perma smile on her face from the second we leave until when I make everyone pack up to head home.  She has no problem going under water and in fac LOVES to be thrown up in the air to be tossed in the water and asks for it over and over. Sophie is content to sit on the kitty stairs and swim as long as she doesn't have to get in the kids little floating boat she can't stand anymore. Phoebe is absolutely in love with the pools and is highly grateful they are heated so she doesn't freeze her guts out in them.

I am sad that we finally just got our pool for the last summer we will live in this community, but at least we still have many friends that live here so we will probably be back to visit it next summer.

August's "To Die For" Date Night

In August we had originally planned for a romantic movie night, but the the Hunger Games was released last month and both Cory and & I really wanted to see it so we decided instead to have a movie night to die for. We Googled Hunger Games date ideas and found 2 really great ones, plus some fun printables! We chose the simple dinner for the movie night and saved the one with more preparation for our Sunday meal. I have to say Cory and I liked but did not love the movie, however we both LOVED this meal it was SO yumm-o!

The next night I prepared the more time consuming Hunger Games themed meal & it was WELL worth the time to make we LOVED it as you can tell by Cami licking her plate clean. If you can't remember how this fit into the book here is the little excerpt.

"Cinna invites me to sit on one of the couches and takes his place across from me. He presses a button on the side of the table. The top splits and from below rises a second tabletop that holds our lunch. Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey."

Okay so my roll isn't very flower shaped, all I had was a star cookie cutter I tried to make work. and instead of pudding we had the worlds best apple sauce I found on Pinterest, but it worked because was still honey colored. It was a fun date night and I having easy yummy themed food all makes the stay at home date nights 100% more fun!

Two Buck Tuesday 2012

As we do every August we made our annual homage to Thanksgiving Point for two buck Tuesday. This year we made it to the gardens and the farm. We haven't been to the gardens for a couple years so it was nice to get to go back and it wasn't too hot outside which made it even that much better. Cami LOVED the gardens and we had to get after her several times not to pick the pretty flowers and she refused to stay in the stroller so we had to keep a close eye on her. Cami just enjoyed running a twirling on the paths as we walked, which you can sorta see in the picture below.

All the kids enjoyed seeing all the koi go crazy for the tiniest snip-it of food, I even enjoy it because I never seen so many fish in one spot before.

One of the best parts of the gardens is letting the kiddos run loose at the end up and down the huge hill in front of the largest man made waterfall as we sit and relax, we always save this bit for last we we need a break from pushing the strollers a couple miles around the gardens.

After the gardens we made our way over to the kiddos beloved farm to see all the animals and ride the horses. This yer we rushed a bit through the other animals because all were just eager to get to the pony riding.

Unfortunately, this year it was a SUPER long wait (30+ minutes)so the kids just one ride each. The twins LOVED riding for theor fist time and would have loved to go again. Phoebe on the other had was so excited to go but when it was her turn she didn't get the horse she wanted and she came UNGLUED! She screamed and cried the whole time because she was on a boy horse with a mustache and she wanted the girl horse with pretty purple reins and a braclet. Side note: he "braclet" as Phoebe called it  was really a muzzle for the horse that must be a nipper)

Well in spit of he HUGE tantrum Phoebe through I think the farm is still their favorite place to see and we will most likely still come back to it every year.

Our Real Life "UP" Encounter

A couple weeks ago we all attend a balloon glow. It is something we never knew occurred and it was only down the street from us every year during the the Sandy Balloon Festival. About 8 hot air balloons are laid out in a large field and blown up. My kiddos LOVED watching them slowly being filled up.  To make the event even more fun we were joined by grandma/pa Fergy and Uncle Davey. We had tons of candy and sat across the street on some blankets playing, listening to the live music, watching the beautiful balloons being inflated.

Phoebe and Josh were running around "flying like hot-air balloons" , which look more like airplanes to me and Cami was just thrilled (can't be over emphasized  to keep pointing out all the balloons right behind us over and over.

When the balloons were all inflated and it was dark you could see all the beautiful balloons glowing in the night sky as they lit their flames periodically. they didn't picture well, but they really were beautiful.

The most fun part of the even however was the fat that all the balloon operators were letting families climb in the baskets  for pictures.  We waited for a while for our turn and right as we got to our turn Josh decided that he was too scared to get in so unfortunately, Cory just had to stand outside the basket with Josh. Cami even got to push the handles for the flames to shoot up, but unfortunately we didn't get pictures of it, but sh loved it.

This is a REALLY fun family event that will definitely be a new every year tradition and I can't say it enough that you really should go next year if you are in the area!

Lullaby and Goodnight

I took this picture of Sophie one day at lunch she was so tied she couldn't even managed to stay awake to finish her Dino nuggets which is big for her because they are one of her most favorite meals.

Even though the twins are very much in the middle of a TERRIBLE twos phase of life they still manage to be sweet enough at night to show how much they love their twin as they fall asleep with arms linked together.

Jus Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

About a month ago we had our 2nd annual Willard Bay Fergy clan beach frenzy. We all gather together and spend the day swimming, playing and eating with our families. Phoebe was in heaven she is our natural water bug and only spent very few minutes out of the water the entire day. Josh our overly "cautious" child tried out the water here and there but instead chose to spend most of the day eating EVERYTHING & playing in the sand instead. Miss Sophie had mixed feelings on the whole day, but pretty much stayed happy as long and she was n-e-v-e-r put down or let go of .

Cami was lovin' this day she loved the freedom to swim around freely with her new life jacket on and she LOVED that Megan and Uncle Blake brought their canoe and took several little exertions out, which she managed to get to go on every time.

Towards the end of the day Cory and I took the kids out just as our little family and paddled around the bay.  We got to see several herons and I tried explaining that in Oregon they are blue in color, but Phoebe remained unimpressed and said she would prefer them if hey were rainbow colored.

This was a petty fun day in which for the most part I managed to avoid major sunburn which is always a plus for me. We even saw 2 other churches doing their variation of baptisms in the lake while we were swimming around so it was quite spiritual as we all sun bathed & lounged the day away. We are definitely all looking forward to the 3rd annual trip next year!