Summer Fun

It kinda goes without saying that this blog has been a bit neglected over the past year. Chances of me getting fully caught up is pretty unlikely. In order to get things up to speed figured I'd give you all a barrage of photos to sum up our summer. Unfortunately I forgot my camera 9 out of 10 times but it consisted largely of swimming, splashpads, swimming, childrens museum, and swimming. They're not in order but it gives a good idea of how we survived our first summer under the blazing AZ sun.

We made homemade GAK. Entertained them for HOURS!

 When they're energy reached too high of a level Daddy stepped in and restrained them.

 Even the baby wasn't spared!

 This guy turned 3 months!

 We discovered YC Mongolion BBQ. Making their own food, watching it get cooked and ending it with self-serve ice cream... they were in HEAVEN!

 We held birds

 Hit up the waterslides

 Recovered from wedgies from said slides

 I love these two handsome fellas!

 Honored our country's freedom

 They were in awe over the tanks

 World's largest Lego flag

 Remembered the soldiers who have fallen

 Sang and danced with everyone's favorite dinosaur

 Singing the gumball song

 Enjoyed some entertainment

 This cutie was in AWE over the fireworks. We was completely rivoted

 We were right under where they were setting them off. The ground was shaking.

 The boys were in heaven when we came across a real live monster truck

 We threw cheeseballs at each other

 I got to hang out with my boyfriend!

 We are blessed with the worlds most wonderful kiddos!

 We played so hard, some days we were too tired to fully get ready for bed.

 We passed out in the living room.

Brayden is always looking out for his brother, even in his sleeep.

 Daddy had a brillant last minute plan for a great covered wagon for the ward Pioneer Day party.

 An we took 1st place! How could you not with these cute pioneers.

 We painted A LOT of toenails, so much that we had to take naps in between coats

 Had some chicken wars.

 My parents gave us a pass to the Children's Museum. It was our saving grace for the days that were miserably hot and we needed some AC. This for some reason was the only picture we got all summer.

 Got haircuts to suit the weather, and then dressed as twins.

 The kids all became very proficient in swimming. Even Leilei is cruising without floaties now (only with very close supervision though)

 She let her brothers do her makeup

 We wouldn't be the Shum family if we didn't do a whole lot of dress up!

 All the heat can sure wear you out!

 Being catipulted through the air!

 When it's that hot out, everyone and their dog goes swimming (litterally!) In this case, everyone and 2 dogs. Bowzer was a champ at giving the kids rides around the pool.

 When Grandma comes to visit, you're always stylin!

 Double airplane ride!

 Dogpile Auntie Janica!!!

And then this chunky monkey hit the 4 month marker! Someone make him STOP!

Hope all of you had as fun of a summer as we did!!!

California Dreamin

The first 6 months of this year were some of the craziest most stressful ones we have endured in our marriage (I would dare say in our lives!) After all the being apart, packing, moving, and  unpacking we were definitely ready for a break. So for 4th of July we packed up and headed to Cali (gotta take advantage of the fact it's such an easy drive now!) My aunt and uncle were gracious enough to let us stay with them. I loved it because most of my 4th of July childhood memories were at their house. I spent most of my summer running around with one of my best friends/cousin Katie! It was great being back at their house watching my kids do alot of what I did for 4th of July! It was such a wonderful break, we came back recharged and renergized, yet wishing for more vacation!

World cutest 4th of July baby!

Tavita is really good at "standing" in water, we got two pics in just a few weeks of him entering the water mid-jump

Taiven with Great-Grandma Lila

Kalei was loving all the girl cousins to play with

Daddy and Vita hanging out

A lot of playing and being kids!

We forgot our camera for the fireworks. Brayden was the only one that stayed awake long enough to do the sparklers afterward

The next day we headed to the beach for a fun (but FREEZING) day with one of my besties Crystal an dher cute boys!

Taiven found safety in the tent

I have great memories of playing on this ship/zip line. It was so fun watching my kids play on it too.

LeiLei doing what she does best where ever she goes...collecting rocks!

Daddy was a good sport and braved the cold water so our fish boys could have some fun

Tavita didn't want to be left out

Whenever he got too cold, he'd jump on Daddy's back

The whimpy girls hiding from the wind in the tent.

The next day my cousin hooked us up with tickets to Legoland. We unfortunately didn't get too many pics because we left the camera in the car or the 1st half of the day then the bettery died shortly after we got it out of the car. It was so fun to spend the day with her and her cute family.
The 4 older kids felt so cool they got to go on a boat alone.

Then the ride broke down and they were stuck, suddenly it wasn't so cool. Their dad's on the other hand were having a romantic cruise of their own, crammed into one of the boats by themselves.

Little bathing beauty at the splash pad

ENORMOUS water playground, I have never seen so much water going at once.

Hanging out with good old Chewy

The had a TON of really cool replicas

Hello Mrs. Witch

Leilei couldn't go on some of the rides, but sitting with the princess was sooo worth sitting out!

Getting ready to shoot some mummies!

Taiven was a champ and was like this ALL day. Such a good baby!

Leilei and Chike having fun on the frog hopper while sitting out on another ride.

And then our camera died and no more of our trip was captured. It was a wonderful trip spent relaxing with family and friends. We were even introduced to geocacheing, something we're going to have to make a habit of it!