"Okay, fine"

Johnny's favorite phrase is "okay, fine."  He says it in every tone and scenario imaginable, and to most requests, despite his plans to complete the request or not.  He is such a fun kid.  He turned three this week!  He fills the role of BABY so perfectly.  He loves hugs and kisses and the more snuggles the better.  He'd rather be carried than walk and he is making potty training so difficult that he confirms the decision to be done having children. He didn't really get the birthday thing and I took advantage by allowing it to be one of the more laid back days of the summer so far.  He did get plenty of extra attention and his birthday gave us an excuse to play all week.

My mom has been giving the grandkids a candy bar lay for their birthdays this year.  Of course they love it.

Johnny was a pro at blowing out his candles.

Yet another temple has been built here in Utah so we took the drive to Payson and made a day out of attending the open house.  Josh's brother Gabe and his wife Alexa had their first baby so we stopped in SLC to see their cut little newborn. We then headed to an awesome dinner in Provo.  We decided to brave it and take the kids to a Brazilian Steak House.  The results were shocking.  The most shocking is that Andy was an adventurous eater for the first time in his life.  He loved it and tried many things.  He has NEVER done that before.  Caleb whined and complained the whole time that it wasn't the kind of meat he expected.  (Not a surprise.)  They were very well mannered.  It was fun to share that experience with them.  

The temple was amazing, of course.  It was the last day of the open house so the crowds were huge, but always worthwhile to make the effort to show our children the inside of the house of God.

Our neighborhood is so wonderful.  We love having children always available to play, but to enjoy family time we have to make a concentrated effort to get away which is what we did one of the first sunny days of the summer.  (May was incredibly rainy.  Like it felt like the rain never stopped.)  We enjoyed an evening campfire and talked about some goals and calendaring for the summer.  Josh was a great sport and spent the night in a tent with Cara, Andy and Ali.  (Caleb had early morning basketball so he didn't stay.)  It is especially fun for the girls to get out and camp.  It seems like they don't get as many opportunities as the boys.

We have already taken advantage of our Lagoon Season pass many times! "To celebrate Johnny's birthday" we went to Lagoon-a-beach.  The water was cold, but it was fun to be out in the sun and enjoying time with our friends, the Campbell's.  It is fun to have the kids growing up so these types of activities are possible with one parent.  Don't get me wrong, it is still a ton of work, but it is at least possible.

It was an extremely busy day at Lagoon so we didn't hit may other rides, but this was my "log" of beautiful children on the log ride.  I'm happy to report that we are creating many happy memories!