Gingerbread and Jammies

I LOVE that someone super smart came up with these things awhile back - they have made my life much better. We always do these "buy it and build it" Gingerbread houses every year, and every year my kids just LOVE it! I love it, because you really can't mess it up - it is pretty darn easy. This year my fun sister Cindy got to help and the kids couldn't have been happier - they LOVE their aunt Cindy! We were able to have her stay with us for a whole week while she is on break from school and we had a blast. We love her and we love being with her - especially ME! She truly is my best friend and I miss her a ton! We also had our Summerhays Christmas Party this last weekend and it was a blast! Danny and Em planned it and it turned out FABULOUS! Every year Spencer's parents give all 21 of the grandkids matching jammies and they love them. Fun times!!!




Beautiful CIND!



The Finished Product


Jammie Time


Danny being "Santa" for our Party


All the Kiddos with their Jammies

A Kendalyn Day

Kendalyn was able to get Baptized last week and it turned out to be such a great day. My parents drove down early that morning (they left at 5:00am - ugh) and my brother and his fam drove down the night before. Most of Spence's fam was there besides his parent's and a couple of brothers. And my grandma came as well. We had a fun Brunch after with breakfast casseroles and donuts - yum! I am with my cousin Lisa on not loving the whole dress thing that Kendalyn chose, (Lisa didn't love her daughter's either) but it was her day and I wanted it to be completely her choice. She ended up looking beautiful and I actually like the dress a lot more now. I really am so proud of her decision to be baptized and of the great girl she has become - We LOVE you Sweetie!!!

It's GREAT to be EIGHT - Kendalyn's BIG B-day

At our B-day family dinner - Applebees - Kendalyn couldn't eat because she was too excited for them to come and sing to her!




This CUTE cake was made by my sis-in-law Heidi!


Wow, I can't believe I have an 8-year old kid - it is too crazy to think about! She is such a great girl and I am so lucky to have her as my daughter. When our kids have a birthday, we always tell them the story about when they were born and I LOVE thinking about those days/nights - they also LOVE hearing it. Kendalyn is our first, so the memories are a little more clear than the others, because it was such a traumatic/great experience, but I just remember how EXCITED I was to have a baby at that time. She was such a welcome little bundle of JOY! She is such a great help to me and - although I don't want to sound braggy or anything, - she is so smart and is always striving to learn more. She makes me laugh all of the time and is SOOOO beautiful. I love having her in our family and hope she always loves to be here as well. I LOVE you Kendalyn - have a GREAT 8th Year!!!

THURSDAY

Yea for Thursdays!!! Not only is Survivor AND the Office on, but Thursday is also Kendalyn's piano night, which means I get 1 WHOLE hour to myself to do whatever I want - I LOVE it. It's not like I never get a night out - Spence is pretty amazing at the whole dad/husband thing, - but it's an hour that I HAVE to be out for. I usually go to the mall or run weird errands that I hate to take Grady with me on - but I find myself smiling and REALLY enjoying myself. So, YEA for piano,and YEA for Kendalyn, because without them, Thursday just wouldn't be Thursday!!!

I'm Thinking PRIVATE

Okay, so I really have resisted the "private blog thing" for as long as I could, but I can't anymore! I don't know if you all saw the report on KSL news a few weeks ago about blogs, but it scared me good.
Here is the link if you missed it: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4699330 - you can click on my title to view the report as well!
I just want to have one extra precaution when it comes to pics of my kids - so sorry out there to all who hate private blogs, but I have to do it.
I would love to have anyone who wants to continue reading this blog to do so, so if you don't think I have your email, either make a comment containing your email address, or send me an email personally to juliesummerhays@yahoo.com! I will officially go private next Monday - the 24th! Have a great day!

Halloween = Happiness

Seriously, we LOVED Halloween this year, especially Grady. He thought his costume was so funny and he loved wearing it! My girls did not really enjoy Halloween like they should have at 18 months, but Grady made up for them. Spence took him around our neighborhood and he practically ran to the doorstep of every house. The girls of course got super loaded up with candy and LOVED every minute of that too. Some of our friends hosted an "After Halloween" party which is tradition every year, and Spence and I got to get in on the action as well. Our neighbors wore the Incredibles a few years ago and they let us borrow them - too funny! Our pumpkins turned out pretty cute too. The girls always love doing this, as do I and I have such good memories of PUMPKIN CARVING when I was younger on FHE! We had to do the annual UTE pumpkin and it was a conversation starter as always (for good and bad - go UTES!)! Anyway, we had a great time - and my kids think Halloween is pure HAPPINESS!

Girl's Day Out - and the Train

So Saturday, the girls and I decided to go see HSM3 at the Gateway. They had been talking about the train (Frontrunner) for awhile and Kendalyn asked if we could ride the train to the movie - sure why not?!?! Now, before I finish my ugh train story, know that I do think it is a good idea for most people and this is only my opinion:) Spence and Grady dropped us off in Layton and we go buy our ridiculously overpriced tickets! I am not kidding - it cost us $16.50 just to ride the thing to the Gateway and back - ugh!!! But, the girls LOVED it and all the excitement of actually riding a train and on the top level and all. It wasn't a bad ride, really smooth actually, but soooo slow. I think we may have topped 60mph maybe once or twice, most of the time we went around 30mph - this bugged me as I am super impatient and was dying to go to Forever 21 before the movie. But at last we made it and the girls were even more thrilled when we got to take Trax right to our stop. I think I have forgotten what thrills you when you are a kid, because this really didn't thrill me, but it was cute to watch them lovin' it. We shopped and ate, and ended up at HSM3 - woo hoo - it was great. I know, I sound super silly, but I actually LIKE all of the movies and I have to say that this was my favorite - same goes for the girls. I felt funny, when I would catch myself smiling or laughing, because really, I think you should be between 4 and 14 to watch this stuff, but oh well. After the show, we went to catch our train, but alas, it wasn't coming for another 45 MINUTES!!! This is where Kendalyn decided it would be better to have our car - I couldn't have AGREED more! All in all, a great success for our GIRL'S DAY OUT! I'll just remember to DRIVE next time:)

A Funny Tag

My friend Tami tagged me on this one, and I was a bit curious to see what picture was the "4th picture in the 4th folder" - this confused me at first too Tami:) I love that it is my cute little ADRI (back in 2005)! She is so full of SPUNK and FUN, and this picture just makes me smile and remember what a cutie she is.

*I tag Jodie, all my cousins:), Lori, Holly, Britney,Rosemary, and Sonali - and anyone else - it's fun...

Back to LIFE, Back to REALITY

We just got back from a week of the most relaxing, fun, and yummy trip I have ever been on. We went to Mexico with my cousin Todd (also Spence's friend which is how we met:)and his wife Melissa. We stayed just out of Playa Del Carmen and Cancun in an ALL INCLUSIVE resort and it was FAB! Meliss and I usually hung on the beach while the guys kayaked, snorkeled, trampoline bungee jumping, and did a variety of other guy things that Spence loves. We visited Tulum which was really interesting and the ocean was so beautiful there. Once the Stettlers(Adam and Megan, more good friends who couldn't come until Saturday) arrived, we took the ferry to Cozumel and the boys went Scuba Diving. I got so seasick on the ferry that the whole day was kind of yucky for me, but I did snorkel for a bit and it was fun. The most exciting/yucky part of the whole trip was the Cenote we went to swim in. They have them all over and they usually cost to get in and are fresh water and completely clear Well, we decided to go to a FREE one, and it was filled with algae and the hike to it was muddy and disgusting! We were freakin (Meliss and I) but I guess it is something to laugh about now. Our car was sooo funny too. We got to the rental place and we had booked one of their cheapest cars - a Chevy Chevy. Well, they were so kind that they gave us a 4 * upgrade to some kind of Ford. While we were waiting for them to bring the car around, we were all picturing this big Ford Explorer or something, when suddenly our car pulls up, and what is it you ask, a Ford Fiesta! It is one of Ford's smallest cars, and it was a stick shift! Anyway, it was funny and we did manage to fit us and all of our luggage which is all you can ask for right?!? Such a fun trip and thanks to Todd and Meliss for planning and making it so fun and my cute mom who made it possible for us to go by watching our kiddos! Anyway, now it is back to no beach, cold weather, no room service, making my own bed, washing my own towels, and making my own meals - basically LIFE...