New Eyes

About a year after Jared and I got married, we took a trip to Virginia. While we were there, I noticed that I could not read the signs on the side of the road. I hadn't noticed at home, maybe because I was just so used to things and knew where I was going, but in Virginia, if I had been in a car alone, I would have gotten lost. The road signs were all a blur!! After we got back, I made an eye doctor appointment, and found out that I needed glasses. What a difference they made! I could see leaves on trees!! About a year after that, when I started working at the Vision Center at Walmart, I decided to try contacts. I didn't think I could put something in my eye, but since I had to know how to teach others to do it, and since I could get free contacts, I decided it was time. It turned out to be quite easy for me, and I started wearing contacts from then on. Over the years, there had been a few times that I had thought about Lasik, but it just seemed like so much money, and contacts weren't a big deal, so I would quickly forget about it. Well, a couple of months ago, my contacts really started bothering me. I went through a whole box of Acuvue in a week (when usually I could make a box last 2 months atleast!) I went back to glasses, only to discover and remember how much I disliked them. My sweet husband suggested that I look into Lasik. I was so excited... until I started pricing. Yikes! I think Jared became less excited at that point as well, however, we agreed that I should get it done. So on July 7, I got "new eyes!" I am so amazed at technology and what doctors are able to do!! I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm not wearing contacts. I can get up in the morning and just see!! I love it.

Thank you Jared for being so supportive, and even though you say you'll never get it done because it costs too much, I'm going to start a secret stash and save up for YOURS... it may be many years, but someday!!

I made my family pose for a few family pictures in our Red, White and Blue for the 4th of July... and they are the LAST PICTURES OF ME IN GLASSES!! It has truly been worth every penny, and I'm grateful every day that I can see.






BYE BYE GLASSES!!

Whew!

What a week! I just got back from girls camp, and WHAT AN ADVENTURE... complete with the most AMAZING thunderstorm I've ever, EVER seen. Nothin' like tenting it!! Anyway, our computer has returned from the dead (FedEx just dropped it off) so be expecting a whole bunch of posts SOON. YAY :)

Technical Difficulties!

Well, Friday came and went... and our computer is still in a coma! I have SO SO much to blog about! We've had a birthday and a bunch of other adventures, plus I realized that I never blogged about Bryson playing baseball this year!! I'll be adding Girls Camp next week, and if I don't get this computer issue solved ASAP, I may pull some hair out! It's pointless to blog without the millions of pictures being held hostage on my camera card (and on my sister's hard drive!) Anyway... hopefully in the next week (my fingers are crossed so hard that it hurts) I'll have my computer back from the dead. If not... well, I don't even want to think about that!

Wet 'n' Wild... the rest of the 4th of July!

My poor computer :( We've only had it for a little over a year, and it decided to die on us. We are still trying to figure out the problem... and I'm going a little crazy. Luckily my brother-in-law was able to rescue and back-up all my pictures. Unfortunately they are on HIS back up hard drive, and I can't access them. It has been making me crazy that I can't get to them, or add all the millions of pictures I have on camera memory cards. Luckily, I remembered that I had already uploaded the rest of our 4th of July pictures onto blogger. I'm using our "kids" computer when necessary (it is slower than slow... and I definitely don't want to use it for pictures. The monitor is kinda pathetic). Hopefully by Friday we'll at least KNOW what's wrong and whether it's fixable or not. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Until then, this is all I've got.



So, when the 4th of July is on a Sunday, we here in good ol' Utah have our choice of celebrating on Saturday, or Monday... or all weekend long, I guess. I already blogged our Saturday activities (balloon launch, backyard swimming with daddy, fireworks in P.G.). Sunday was low-key. Church, naps, yummy dinner, and we may have even played a few games since Jared's sister and her hubby were in town... then came Monday. We headed over to my parents' house for some more splish-splashin' fun with all the cousins. My dad rigged up quite the slip and slide on their little hill in the backyard. They also have a slide that we put a hose on for a little bit, and of course a couple of little pools full of water. The kids had a blast! It was fun to watch them. Then we had a yummy BBQ, visiting, and more getting wet... and our own little fireworks show put on by Corey and Jared (unfortunately, I wasn't in the photo mood, so there is no photographic proof, but the fireworks were as great as Utah-store-bought fireworks could be :)

The kids had the best time sliding down the little hill.

Little Harlie had a great time, too. She's so stinkin' cute!

More slip-n-sliding!!

It's so fun to have all the cousins together! :)

Jared's sisters and our bro-in-law Jeff.

Run, Justice!!

It was a pretty fun day :)

4th of July Weekend: Part 2... Swimmin' with Daddy!

I'm sure this pool looks very familiar, since I did a post of my kids swimming with their cousins and friends not too long ago, but this time was different. DADDY decided to swim with the kids! After we came home from the balloon launch on July 3rd, Jared said "Hey. Why don't you fill up the pool. I want to swim with the kids!" I headed right out and got it all filled. The kids were so excited that daddy wanted to come out and splash around with them. It was quite entertaining!!

Fun in the sun!! Hayden wanted Daddy to try out the goggles!

The kids demonstrated their "water bending" abilities. We were having fun taking crazy pictures.

... like this one. I told Kaitlyn to hold REALLY still while the boys ran around her. I set the shutter speed super slow so they would blur.

We dared Jared to stick his head under the water and peek through the clear part of the pool. The water was SO COLD!! Kids don't seem to mind as much as adults. It took him a while to get brave enough.

I had a wider lens on, so I wanted to take some pics that looked a little distorted. Hayden was a great subject! He was so funny... when he pushed the front of his hair straight up, he said "Now THAT'S a hair-do!"

Bryson kept shaking the water off, so we decided to get a funny picture of him doing it.

B was super brave. He was the first one to peek through the clear part of the pool in the FREEZING water :)

And just to prove that I do indeed exist, Eryn took a couple of pictures of me :) I'm not sure why we didn't get any of her.

That night, we met my whole family over in Pleasant Grove to watch fireworks. I left the camera at home :( We had a great time snacking, playing on the playground, and watching the fireworks. It was only scary for a minute when some fireworks shot straight into the crowd. The kids were a little shook up, but we reminded them that THAT is why we sit in the back! Hopefully nobody was hurt. The rest of the fireworks were great :)

4th of July Weekend: Part 1

I love the Freedom Festival in Provo. It's such a huge event, and there are always such fun things to do and see. This year, we decided we would go and see the Hot Air Balloons. They do it three different days, and we decided that Saturday sounded perfect. It was supposed to start at 6:30, so we decided we would get up, get ready and leave by 6. Too bad I shut the alarm off when it started buzzing. I woke up at 10 to 6 kinda freaking out. Crap! We were supposed to be up a little earlier so we could get ready. Oh well, PJ's would have to do. We quickly dragged the kiddos out of bed (actually, they were excited enough to pretty much JUMP out of bed) and we literally headed out the door. Somehow, in the hustle and bustle, Hayden actually managed to get dressed. Not sure how, but he did it!

We arrived to see that we were pretty much the only crazy people still in their jammies. Good thing I decided not to care! LOL. But we headed over and found a great spot right by one of the balloons they were laying out.

We soon learned, that they get constant weather reports from several different levels, letting them know if it's safe to launch. It was a bit windy... some were still filling their balloons, but nobody could launch. I guess they had the same problem the day before as well. At least we got to see some all blown up. There were some cool ones.

The boys were pretty excited to see Smokey the Bear, and decided that they needed to go say "hi." I remember meeting him when he came to visit my Kindergarten class. I've been a big fan ever since ;)

I couldn't resist snapping a pic of Hayden's sweet 'do.








We thought about trying to go again on Monday, but decided we would just wait and go again next year. Even though no balloons actually launched, we had a really fun time. We talked to some of the balloon crews and learned quite a bit. It seems that conditions have to be pretty much perfect... and even though it wasn't the perfect day for a balloon launch, it was perfect enough for us.

We had a busy and fun 4th of July weekend, and there is MUCH more to come. I take way too many pictures, seriously. They'll all be on here eventually :)