July Jumble

We have kept very busy this July. Here are a few things that have been happening that either don't need a full post on their own or I just don't have enough pictures to do them justice. I like this first sequence of three photos. I was trying to get a picture to show that all the boys, including Tyson, have been very in to Rubiks Cubes this summer. But lately Zac has been having some trouble with his smile. He just can't seem to figure out what to do with his face during pictures. He has a great smile naturally, but when asked to smile for the camera the end result can be, well....a little forced. So after we had tried to take several pictures and each was worse than the last, Tyson started trying to physically show Zac what to do with his face. It was pretty darn funny, but I'm not sure it really worked. Maybe this is just a phase?! In other Rubiks News Drake has learned how to do the 4x4. He can now do 3x3, 4x4, Pyramid, a Circle Cube and the Mirror Cubes (they have three different shapes instead of different colors and look incredibly difficult to me!) Garrett has now managed to solve the 3x3 at least once and Zac is working on mastering the 4x4. Tyson has mastered the 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, and recently the 6x6. He has become somewhat addicted!

On the 4th of July we went to Energy Days at the Fairgrounds. First we ate hotdogs and chips and then we watched the Comedy Magician Show. After that the boys played a couple rounds of laser tag. I don't have many pictures because it was raining pretty hard off and on and I didn't want to get my camera wet. We ended up standing in a down pour to get Coldstone Ice Cream and then went home after that. Normally we would have stayed for the fireworks, but I'm pretty sure my kids were embarrassed to be seen with their mom, who looked like a drowned rat! And I had tried so hard to look halfway decent before we left, but the rain decided to spoil the fun!

Tyson and I were able to spend five days without the kids (Bill and Susan had them.) So we went to Cedar City to the Shakespeare Festival. Wednesday night we went to the Green Show and then The Three Musketeers which we both loved. It was so funny and the acting was incredible! We had really great seats as well, in the brand new Engelstand outdoor theater. We stayed at the new La Quinta in town which I honestly chose because I liked the purple walls and the funky curtains. Thursday we went and hiked the Kannarraville Falls trail. It was so pretty and it was cool to walk through the water for most of it (and by "cool" I mean my feet were blocks of ice by the end! So cold!) Tyson took lots of great pictures. It was a beautiful hike through slot canyons to cute little waterfalls, with ladders that you had to climb to get to the next level. That night we went to see Henry V which is one of Shakespeares history plays. I was glad I had read up on it a bit beforehand or I probably wouldn't have understood a lot of it. It was really good though. Very good acting and directing. It was nice to be able to spend some alone time together. Does that make sense? "Alone Time"... together? How does that work exactly?!

Since I haven't mentioned Lexi in this post I need to share that she has been really interested in playing the piano. She keeps finding sheet music for popular songs and then teaching them to herself. Every once in awhile I play it for her to help her figure out fingering or something, but mostly she is doing it on her own. She is getting very good! She really likes the song 7 Years Old that's on the radio a lot. I'm not sure about the appropriateness of the lyrics though where it says "smokin' herb and drinking burning liquor!" The instrumental version is much better. She is also playing some Enya and just got the music for the theme song to the Sherlock TV series.

On a sadder note (see what I did there?) Tyson's grandma Katie passed away on July 7th. She lived a great 94 years and was relatively healthy and active the whole time, which I think is the best way. In fact, it was only a few years ago that her children had to tell her that she couldn't ride her bicycle to the post office to get her mail anymore! Today we were able to go to her funeral in Loa. It was nice to catch up a bit with some of the cousins who we don't see very often.

While we were in Loa today, Tyson's parents gave him a whole bunch of his toys that they have been storing for the past 30 years. He was pretty excited to see all his He-Man action figures and Garbage Pail Kids collectible cards. The boys got right to playing with the He-Man stuff when we got home. In fact, I'm not sure, but maybe Tyson is playing with that stuff in the basement right now, even though the kids have all gone to bed! Hmmm.....perhaps I should go check on him?