Emily had a brilliant idea for an activity at her house. The kids could paint the walls on their unfinished basement! Their attention span didn't last quite as long as I expected, maybe we needed more music from Kim, but I'll post the pictures of their work. The lure of a beautiful day was just too great, even with rooms full of blank canvas.
Makenna beginning "the Allen's backyard".
Isaac starting with abstract.
They used big lids and paper plates for palettes
Emily wins the "real artist" award. Stay tuned to see the finished product. Sam would dance when a good song was playing.
Lucy is starting her castle. Jess is starting her soccer field.
Later Isaac picked a new wall and did a battle scene.
Jess finished a soccer game--see the goalie jumping and missing Jessica's shot? Underneath is a Corvette. If you look close, you can see the crossed flags on the hood.
Makenna showing us the "homestead", the garden, the chickens, swing, grass. . . .
Emily did the princess, sunflower, butterfly. . . .
I added onto Lucy's castle so the rainbow had somewhere to land.
Kim and her dragon.
But wait, we did more than paint. 6 of the kids spent one night in a tent in the backyard. Isaac enjoyed helping set it up. Oh, he also got to try his hand at mowing lawns. He is definitely his father's son--making sure to keep the lines straight. He finished the whole backyard! Poor kid had to wait for a vacation to learn to mow cause we haven't had our own grass since he was 4. He also got to mow at the Muellers a little later.
Jess is worried because she just saw a bug. Hyrum joined the group a little after the picture was taken.
The girls very favorite thing was creating and playing in their "homestead" out back.
The Allens have a big backyard. You can't even see the huge grassy area, the big garden or the chicken coop in this shot. This is where they want to keep their future horse! The "homestead" is under the roof behind Makenna and Kate.
This is where they cook their food.
Jess dug a well. They have a bucket with a string for fetching water. The dirt is a lot softer than Las Vegas--it didn't take three days to dig!
Swing around the tree.
There is a place to collect and store the stone eggs.
Here is Lucy climbing out of their shelter. It's a "dugout".
Or you can climb the tree.
There is a normal swing too. Lucy is on it. Kate is about to swing around the tree.
Here is Jess in the house.
Grinding wheat.
All of us loved playing with Mac. or is it Mack? He grew a lot during the few weeks we were in Utah. He could curl up and take a nap in one of my hands when I first saw him. By the time we left he was almost double. He is a playful, friendly puppy. He was an early birthday surprise for Hyrum. Emily has already taught him to sit and stay. Now he just needs to stop thinking all of Lucy's fancy dresses and skirts are chew toys.
Just before dinner our second night, grandma Terry came in. We wanted to take her back to the Thanksgiving gardens. The girls and I had loved it so much. I was sure Isaac would like it too. So we went again, but just to the main garden this time, sorry Children's Discovery Garden. Once again we spent the majority of our time in the secret garden.
They found a frog!
Jess wanted to try to catch a fish. It didn't work. "Fish are harder than flies."
The kids loved these Koi fish and sacrificed some of our food to watch them fight and squirm all over themselves. Gross.
Our toes matched the lilies!
Shade was sometimes hard to come by. So we took water breaks whenever we passed by some. Once we got the to the Secret Garden, we properly cooled off.
Makenna was not one of the wetter ones. Surprised?
Isaac liked helping Tommy walk. It was sweet payback for Emily who spent HOURS walking baby Isaac around.
This was too funny. Rough love.
The kids quickly found that by blocking one or more of the fountain outlets, they could make the others shoot farther. They used that knowledge to shoot each other. All the kids got wet, some got soaked.
Sisters. We three had a "first" two nights before this was taken. It was the first time we had a hanging-out-as-sisters night. I was married before Kim quite turned 8, we never had a chance. Now we are all grown-up! But with me now out of the country and Kim leaving on a mission soon, I don't know when the next one will be. It was so fun to stay up way past midnight laughing and talking. We also went to get pedicures together in honor of Emily's birthday. We have a resolution to do that again the next time we are together. I feel bad that I had to wait so long to enjoy that.
Sam supplies a never ending stream of quotables. He is a smart, funny, opininated kid.
Worn out at the end.
These last few pictures were taken a few days later, the hour before we left Utah. My mom came to pick us, and all our STUFF, up from the Martins in Pleasant Grove and we went for breakfast at the Allens once more. Brian and Hilary were in town for the weekend and Ben came down too. It was Hyrum's birthday that morning and Lucy's was following close behind. We gave Brian and Hilary Isaac's camping gear to take back to Vegas and attempt to shove in one of our storage units. Ahh, less stuff for the minivan.
Hilary tries the swing.
Tommy liked me by the last week and would sometimes even pick me over Kim! He is showing Ben something.
Brian tries to climb the tree?
Good-bye homestead.
Hyrum's puppy.
Makenna especially loved having a cousin dog to visit.
Hyrum pushing Isaac.
It was hard for all the kids to say good-bye. They also had to say good-bye to the Martins just an hour before. It was pretty amazing to not only see all their cousins, but sleep over at each of their houses. Farewell Utah.
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