Let Freedom Ring!

Nati with Uncle Dustin and Gavin.

Brax with his many necklace's.

Nati & Grace with their glow necklace's.

Waiting for the fireworks to start.

The 4th of July weekend was jam packed with lots of fun stuff for us. We went and watched the fireworks on the MTC/Temple lawn. The kids love doing this every year. We also went to a BBQ with Jason's family one night and with my family another night. I was all "fireworked" out but the kids (Carter men included) loved every second of it and wanted more. I bought a bag of fireworks while on my trip to Idaho. Apparently I should have gotten at least one more. It was a great weekend to celebrate our freedom!

Road Trip

Oldest brother, Chris & his family. Lewiston, Idaho. 12 hour drive. Long overdue trip. Never been there. 5 days filled with fun. First road trip for Dylan & I. Super fun. Coeur d'Alene. Eating way too much food. Running along the Snake River. Seeing Chris' offices. Shopping in Spokane. Wishing Forks was closer. Laughing so hard over silly things. "Boating music" in the kitchen. Air drums to Phil Collins. Telling our kids about when we were kids. Making treats. Attempting sleep in the same hotel room as mom. So sad to leave. Long 12 hour drive home. So glad we went.

McKenzi & I just before we left.
Dylan & Kenzi chillin.

I got such a kick out of crossing a bridge one way into Lewiston, ID and the other way into Clarkston, WA. I really wanted to get out in the middle of the bridge and straddle the state line.

Pure bliss for the tweens. Waaay too much time spent there.

Mom, Dad, Chris & Myah on the path alongside the Snake River.

Mean mom that I am, I made Dylan go for a run with me. It was such a pretty run along the river.

Cute, little Myah had issues getting too close to Grandpa. This was about as close as she would get.

Little cutey. By the time we left she let me hold her. I hate missing her grow up.

While shopping in Spokane, Dylan and Chris thought they were quite clever. Silly boys!

Dylan and I on the pier at Coeur d'Alene. Such a beautiful place.

Enjoying a walk around town.

At a candy store in town.

He was in "Kiss" heaven.

The heavens parted for Dad to get a Schlotzsky's. They aren't around in Utah anymore so he was super excited.

One of the offices that Chris works at.

Cancer Free Day!!

Whew!! Ready for a 44 oz.
Hard at work.

The 100 year old garage.

Us Lee's like to celebrate Mom's victory over cancer. It was 2 years ago that she had surgery to kick cancer's rear. It's so crazy that it's been 2 years. I still remember every detail like it was yesterday but I honestly can say I'm so glad it's been 2 years. So to celebrate this momentous day she and I decided to spend the afternoon together. I was hoping for a day of shopping, lunch and just being together. She caved - you see, Grandma has been telling everyone she could possibly tell that we were getting her yard looking better and (I stress AND) painting her 100 year old garage. So, instead of girly stuff, we painted the 100 year old garage. We waited until Ned & Betty left for lunch, which usually takes a few hours, and went straight to work. We cranked it out in a couple hours. We ended up laughing, a little sore and a little sun burned. Betty was excited to have it painted and we ended up having a great "Cancer Free Day".

Art City Days 2011

Four generations of parade watchers.
The hot air balloons landing a street away.

Nati & Brax tolerating the little kids ride.

Braxton & Cameron being brave.

Born and raised in Springville, I have been to almost all of Springville's Art City Day's parade's. Partly because Grandma Beth is pretty insistant that I take her every year and partly because I like to see old friends and acquaintence's from my high school days. I admit, I am eager to see who is larger than they were and who is missing some hair. It's awful, I know, but.... This year during the hot air balloon launch, while I was getting ready for the parade, I heard quite the commotion outside and glanced out the back window to see a couple of the balloons landing in my neighbor's front yard. Had I known they were going to give free rides to kids before trying to take off again (which didn't happen - they had to pack them up right there) I would have taken the kids over. Nati, mom, Betty & I went to the parade. I asked the boys if they wanted to go and got the following response "I saw a parade once." Jason has them trained well. It was fun all the same. Betty, in true form, yelled "Play something" to the different bands. We took the kids to the carnival on family night, which is so awfully crowded but they had a good time. Good times!!

Red, Blue & White.... Devils - let's fight!!

It was Art City Days again and time for Nati to cheer for good ol' SHS. She looks forward to it for months. It is so fun to see her and 80 other little 5 year olds shake it and cheer with all their little hearts. The funniest thing was that she went to the practices followed by the Cheer Spectacular and kind of forgot about it. Then a couple of weeks later we were driving down the road and she yells "Red, blue & white.....Devils let's fight." Yup, she's the future of SHS cheerleading!

Rainbows on her face

It's amazing how so many colors look so AMAZING on one little face. Natalie got into my very old make-up - the one I use for Halloween and any other dress up events. She got into it and went to town!! I have a lot to teach her before the teenage years.

Lost

We live in a day and age when a computer and the internet is needed to function in life. I don't consider myself a computer junkie - yes, I check my email daily and yes, I check facebook daily and yes, I might google a bit as well but I don't spend hours on it. I do what I need to do and move on. Well, that being said, I have come to realize how much I need it. About 3 weeks ago, while I was on vacation no less, Jason called me and said that we had a virus that had taken down our main computer and his laptop. I had my laptop with me but as soon as I got home it was infected too. Oh the sadness!! I have been going days without checking email. It has been torture. I have girls camp coming up and have needed to google ideas (a perfectly legitimate cause) and haven't been able to. A good friend has let me come over and use her computer - thank heavens because my parents (love you) have dial-up and it takes a while to find stuff. Just when Jason thinks he has it fixed it comes back with a vengeance. It is one bad, ugly, mean virus. We have had 2 friends who I consider to be computer genius's look at our virus and one of them now has it on his computer. Jason has been spending hours everyday trying to get rid of it. I get a little angry at people that start these things. Surely there are better things to do than ruin others computers. So - with great sadness, I don't have any pictures to post. I have lots to tell but need pictures to show you. We have been so busy this summer doing such fun things but until the evil virus is gone I can't do more than this. Keep checking back and maybe if we all cross our fingers our little problem will be fixed soon.