While I know there are no captions for the majority of this post, something went haywire while posting so this is what I am left with for now...I will have to fix it later.
Ellia's birthday theme this year was the Louisiana Swamp, with a little princess touch from Tiana! Goody bottle had glow in the dark spots to resemble fireflies/lightening bugs, and was filled with a stretchy sling frog, a gummy frog and of course some kisses.
This was a little hand me down dress I remember Anna wearing last year! By the time it was really warm enough to wear, Quincy was almost too big for it.
Three little girls all in a row. It's movie night!!
A little fruit for breakfast on the 4th.
Ashlyn's holiday hair.
Ward 4th of July pancake breakfast and old fashioned relay races.
Ellia letting Ashlyn help open her birthday presents. (Ash got a gift too)
We had very glittery paper that left everything covered. You could definitely catch any culprit trying to unwrap presents too early!
Gifts from Grandma Laura!
Ellia's favorite dinner, chicken pot pie, for her birthday.
Runner girl!
New fashions.
For fireworks we watched them over the river! It was a distance from where we were parked so Ellia said she kindof liked it...since it wasn't as loud. We had shakes and made it just in time to climb up on the car and see the show.
Birthday party food! Swamp punch, Frog tongues, a gater cupcakes, frog fruit and frog legs for the main course (chicken strips).
The moss wasn't as big of success as I was hoping, but I still think it turned out cute!
Jeremy votes the anything on anything banned from any future parties. He thinks it's a dumb game. I argue that it is easy and very customizable for any theme.
Ellia and Ellie.
Pool lily pads!
Pool side food service.
Mardi Gras take home masks.
What a way to have a cupcake! We were so lucky to have decent weather! It was pleasant enough for the adults to watch without needing to jump in themselves!
All the partying wore us out!
Trying out the new birthday games with Ashley and Joseph for family night.
Swim team medal ceremony.
Quincy acted like she was just one of the team!
Packing up for the trip to Utah!
Waiting in the airport. There was a pretty long delay so I was really glad to have Jeremy there to help.
Of all the preparations I made and things to entertain Quincy I brought, she chose goggles.
She also took the liberty of peeing on me. I don't know how it escaped her nearly dry diaper....
Trying to get comfortable on the car ride from the airport to my parent's house.
Arriving in Midway was so nice! My mom has been redecorating and I felt like I had a little retreat all my own.
Meanwhile Jeremy informs me that something has eaten my tomatoes.
Play Unplugged in Mandeville made the paper in Utah!
Naps with Grandpa.
The night after I arrived I got to go with some of my high school besties (the D.I.S.H.E.S.) for a kid free overnighter in Holly's cabin. It was good food and great fun. We stayed up late talking about anything and everything, shared some great embarrassing moments, and then tried to go to bed but stayed up even LONGER talking, or did we ever go to sleep? At some point, pregnant Holly jumped out of bed and said, "I'm going to go have the rest of the jumbo!" She meant gumbo and there was only a Dixie sized cup worth left in the fridge.
When Emily woke up in the morning she has black smudges all over her face and arms and her white tank top was died black too! She had worn some cheap black pajamas her mother in law had given her for the first time and all the die came off! The rest of the morning it was hard to take her seriously because she couldn't get the die off over her upper lip!
Celebrating birthday's together. We got to be there for Jace's party, and Ellia and Ashlyn got to open cousin presents too!
Oh, and of course there was a cake for them!
Visiting Grandma Betty. The girls love it there, and Grandma Betty sure didn't disappoint. She had a birthday present for each of them.
Dad sending Ashlyn a picture to let her know he was taking care of "bunny."
Later that afternoon we went to the newly opened Children's museum near Thanksgiving point. It was quite the place! Best one I have ever been too. The fun started right off the bat with a Quincy size door that she kept going through over and over.
I did this for Ellia (the right way) and no one saw before I could rush down to tell them to look (and the next kid took it down.) So later when Ellia did it herself and I happened to look, it was fun to see.
Hold on as long as you can! Compare your time to a sloth...I tried it and was pretty proud of my score, though it was nothing compared to a sloth.
This was the coolest spot EVER! Sit the kids in these chairs that go THROUGH the water table and let them play, play, play! She was entertained and CONtained forever, but did get soaking wet.
Rinsing off after swim lessons in Heber.
Quincy was much easier to watch during the lessons this year. A few times Holly also had Kit there so they spent some time looking at each other.
I wasn't sure if the girls would dare jump off the platform, but they both did!!!
Touring our old college grounds. Part of my single girl apartment in Provo changed from a Real Estate office to a burrito shack. I think the smell and convenience of that while living there could have been dangerous for me.
Lunch at the Creamery on 9th. I still love their cheeseburgers and fries. YUM.
Then on to the Bean Museum. It's Shasta the Liger! I remember seeing her at the zoo while I was growing up. She was dead and stuffed then too.
Going to Cole's Lacrosse game. I discovered Lacrosse is very fun to watch!
Picking plums at Mallary's, and feeding their Desert something tortoise. They had to adopt it and have someone come check out where it would be living...serious stuff!
Ice cream and fun at the Filler-Up station.
Loved helping my mom make this for my dad on their anniversary. It's so nice that they still do fun things like this for each other. Thanks for all your hard work in making a successful marriage mom and dad!
Traditional Gillespie trip. Got some fun cabins at Fish Lake this year and had some nice weather to boot!
Liz entertains the kids with Bubble bubble gum in a dish.
Quincy gave us a bit of a hard time sleeping when we wanted her too, but the laptop and some Baby Einstein made it tolerable.
It got pretty warm one day so it was nice to play in the lake a bit.
Ellia is getting big enough to try some of these things on her own. She liked the stand up paddle board and really liked the kayaks.
Beautiful view of Timp near my house.
Another view in Midway.
Quincy loves throwing rocks, we just have to remind her to aim for the water!
Quincy also really liked the strider bikes, hmmm, she does a birthday and Christmas coming up.
Went for a little picnic lunch one day. More beautiful scenery.
The girls really started to enjoy fishing while we were there and were much less afraid of the fish (including touching them) by the time we left.
We were very glad Mallary brought Gage's trucks to play with. They were the source of a lot of entertainment.
Quincy and CJ.
Quincy acted like she really wanted to ride the kayak, but when we actually tried she really disliked it.
Someone else enjoyed the strider bikes too.
I feel somewhat confident on the paddleboard so I have no idea what was happening here. I want to say Jeremy was trying to hard to help...but that sure isn't what it looks like.
By the time we headed back home the girls were exhausted and got a nice rest in the car...well most of them.
Hiking the Y. I remembering it being a lot harder, which was nice! The girls did amazing and had a lot of fun. It is also fun to things the view, and now how much things have changed since Jeremy and I lived in Provo.
John and Carol bought a great piece of property in Provo with a lot of vegetation and fruit trees. They invited everyone over while they irrigated and the kids had a blast playing in the water.
We love when Aunt Liz does our hair.
Playdate with Grandma while we hiked and played at John and Carol's.
We had some change of plans for the 24th but what we ended up doing was just right. During the day we spent time at Utah lake. A little bit on the shore, but mostly in the boats after it got kindof windy.
I was so excited to see the girls ride the tubes! Travis was a great driver and they seemed to really enjoy it for the most part. There was one time Ashlyn used the "stop" sign quite nervously as she had to let go to make it.
And of course, kids make the best flag holders!
Quincy zonked out and I loved the chance to cuddle with her.
Jer and I got to try "surfing" a little before it got too windy.
My favorite part was the volleyball game!
Quincy rode the tubes for a very short and slow time, but she rode!
Mall's tortoise.
Our setup at Utah lake.
Dinner on our Girl's Weekend.
Jeremy took the big girls hiking in the Uintah's again this year. It's always so fun to hear about all their adventures.
This year Addie, Gunner and Laura joined in too.
While this is the only time everyone was engaged in social media on the trip, it DID happen. We were actually sending each other the pictures we had just taken...of ourselves!
The typical Girl's weekend smorgasbord. It's lucky I wasn't in a super munchi mood or this would have been trouble! It was unlucky that the chocoloate coconut covered macadamia nuts got leaked on in the cooler. It was also unlucky for Emily and Sara that they were sleeping in the loft and our dear mother and her sister are goofy. I'm not sure how many m&m's got thrown up to the loft onto their bed before they realized what was going on. And what did they see when they finally looked over the edge? Not my mom and Sandra who ran into the kitchen, but ME guiltlessly laying on my pull out bed. - which by the way everyone was pretty surprised I could move by myself!
I made Jeremy promise to dress the girls cute for the reunion that I would miss while I was on my girls trip. He went the extra mile by having Aunt Liz do their hair super cute!
Ellia and Nellie. She is starting to love babies.
Clegg family reunion.
I heard all about this candy cannon!
Dress up parade.
Aunt Jean.
Apparently Jeremy won two of the "guess how many pieces of candy are in these huge jars" games. He had his choice between Swedish fish and sour gummy worms. He let the girls pick and gummy worms came out ahead. We did make it to the bottom and it was one big gelatinous gummy mess.
Learning horse shoes early.
It's Derby time! As usual Jeremy was a little concerned that our three tickets weren't really anywhere near each other. (this thing sells out in 45 minutes people, it was lucky I even got some). It all worked out in the end though.
Some great crashes over the burm and some beautiful scenery.
Jeremy trying out pickle ball at Travis's house.
A typical dinner scene at Laura's...with ALL the works!
Helping us feel at home by serving up some Beignets.
Last summer I bought a Classic Skating Water Park Groupon and didn't use it. This summer I was determined to use it! Mall brought Gage and it was the perfect size for my girls. We had a lot of fun. (We found out later that just as we were leaving, Danny Haslauer and his family were starting his birthday party there! I can't believe we missed them.) Ellia tried the bigger slides once of twice after some coercing, but Ashlyn was loving them! I even went down with her once and at the bottom I couldn't find her. I looked around for a minute and thought, "I bet she went down again without me." I turned around and saw her walking along the grass toward me. When I asked her if she went again she looked guilty but didn't answer. I finally got it out of her...she had gone up and gone all by herself! While I was disappointed that she didn't listen and patiently tried to warn her about staying by me, I was secretly proud of her and excited that she seems to share my affinity for thrills!
Ellia was perfectly content with the whale slide and the blow up slides. Even those were pretty high and steep.
Ashlyn was the only one up for going to the free party in that park later that night. She had a lot of fun and it was much easier to just have her to watch. It was a bit rainy but nice overall.
The first place we lived in Midway. (Obviously it was a house when we lived in it). They tore it down in stages so at some point there was a question if they were going to rebuild or remodel, but at this point, I don't think so.
Mommy and Me hair do day!
Sleepover with Jace. The girls would hardly let him go to sleep.
reunion.
derby
SO tired!
What Jeremy got home too.
Before and after pictures of the makeup my friend Missy taught me how to do. THAT. WAS. AWESOME.
I need to learn how to take selfies...or do I? I guess it's not a skill I care to have because I don't care to be in pictures that much. Anyway, I was sortof making fun of myself for not knowing how to take them when I snapped this beauty...and I kinda like it!
Messy!
Traditional hot dog roast in the back yard.
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