I know this may sound crazy, but I am beginning to wonder if I would rather live with the scorpions than deal with the wasps.  I knew how to keep the scorpions at bay by keeping the bugs in our yard to a minimum and the scorpions didn't bother us, too much ;).  Here, however, the wasps just seem to penetrate our living space--they even built a nest inside the girls little play structure and I knocked down 6 nests from the eaves of our house.  Seriously, how do we get them to go away.  I guess I should just be grateful we haven't had a stinging incident.

I cannot pinpoint one thing that has made this particular summer seem a little more crazy than usual, but there is definitely a combination of factors like: 
(1) our first summer in this house and we are working hard to get the lawn to come back, put a garden in, and organize the garage (2) we are closer to family so we have more opportunities to spend time with them (3) Steve is doing some team triathlons we have to plan around (4) it is Ellie's first real summer out of school and we have a lot of activities like unlimited gym classes (the girls spend around 7 hours at the gym a week), a weekly art class that she loves, story time at the library, and swimming lessons at the end of the summer (5) I truly wonder if I feel so much pressure because the weather is so nice and I have all these things I want to do . . . in Tucson we could spend a little time outside year around so I never felt the summer craziness . . . whatever the reason we are enjoying our activities even if it means the inside of the house gets less attention. :)

Here are some pictures from Ellie's first art class:

So we went to Idaho this weekend for Steve's first team triathlon, the Murtaugh Magic Man.  My Dad did the swim, Steve did the bike, and Marcee (Jake's girlfriend) did the run. It was a small crowd which was nice for Steve's first experience. He hasn't been out on his new bike much so he wasn't for sure what to aim for.  He was hoping to complete his 13 miles in less than 45 minutes and he did in about 35 minutes.  Dad had a good swim and did his half-mile in about 18 minutes.  Marcee, the anchor to the team (as they kept calling her), was still recovering from a 50 mile run a couple weekends ago and still managed to do her 3.2 miles in 24 minutes. They all felt good about their performances and I know Steve is grateful for the experience before the Spudman next month. They were edged out of third by about 20 seconds.

























We then spent the afternoon in the boat, relaxing, and hanging out. Sunday we went to church, visited my Grandpa Buckley's grave to say Happy Fathers Day, went and visited my living Grandpas and wished my Grandma Merrell a Happy Birthday with some Miami Beach Birthday cake. It was a fast and furious weekend, but we enjoyed it. We bought Steve a bike accessory kit before the big race that came with a pump, bag for his seat (to hold a spare and tools he needs to fix it), water bottle, chain, lights etc. and then on Sunday we gave him a couple of shirts. The girls were cute, they carried the package into the room and Lila says in her cute little sing song voice, "We have a present for you." Happy Father's Day!

 Lagoon is 10 minutes down the street and a lot of our neighbors do season passes. We decided we would take the girls for a day before we considered season passes and Venessa's stake had a $15 discount today so, today was the day. We hadn't told the girls where we were going--we just told them we were going to have a "day of fun". Mimi and Grandpa drove down to spend the day with us. So at 10:30am we loaded and headed to Lagoon. As we were heading down Lagoon Drive the girls started squealing and chanting "day of fun! day of fun!"  Lila told Grandpa that this was going to be the best day ever. Grandpa paid our entrance fees-THANK YOU! And in we went. The first thing we came across were the bumper cars. Ellie and Lila really enjoyed it--even though Lila spent most of the time going in a circle (ok after watching the video again Ellie spent a lot of time doing a reverse circle too ). :)


We then went on the Pirate ride with Izzy. Lila was gripping Steve's arm and leaning into him so much that we then realized this may not be Lila's thing yet (it is so ironic to me because Lila is pretty brave and we'll try almost anything at least once, and Ellie you have to convince to try anything new, but she loved the rides and poor Lila's week stomach just did not make her happy).


Ellie wanted to do the Ladybug Drop with Daddy so I took Lila over to this Willy the Whale ride or something mild. She watched the people before and said she would do it. The picture does not capture the essence of her terrified grip and screaming the whole time--I felt like an awful Mom.
















Ellie loved the Ladybug Drop and wanted to do it again so she convinced me and we did the Dino Drop because the line was shorter. I like the kid rides--just enough thrill. :)


 Izzy fell asleep for a short nap so the girls drove the car around the track a couple of times since it was something Lila could do. :)   
















Ellie wanted to do every ride we passed and poor Lila was traumatized from the whale she wouldn't try anything else.
























After the boats they went and road the Carrousel with Izzy and Mimi and Grandpa. The classic Roller Coaster was right next door so Steve and I hopped over there and the last 5 cars were open and I remember as a kid always wanting to get in the last car so I told Steve we should do the last car--whoa we got thrown a round a bit, but it was fun to do a classic ride with my honey. We got back just as the girls were getting off the Carrousel so I hopped on with Lila for another ride and then we had lunch.



We rode the train which is still powered by steam (Steve spoke to one of the conductors and he said they use propane to make the steam). The ride took us past a lot of neat animals including the below pictured bangle tiger.













We then ventured into Pioneer Village and Mimi took Ellie on the Log ride which I think got to her a little, but she wouldn't admit to it later.


We also hit RattleSnake Rapids which Lila enjoyed.  Ellie was upset we didn't put our swimsuits on first--she didn't want to get her clothes wet.


So we decided now was a good time to hit Lagoon-A-Beach. We changed and blew up the girls tubes and went to the lazy river. The water was frigid and after about 15 minutes all of the girls were shivering so we laid them in the sun and Grandpa and Steve got a couple of tubes and hit the slides. When they were done with the tubes we took the girls on the lazy river in the larger tubes. We acquired another tube and Mimi joined us. At one point in the river there are these fountains that shoot water and Mimi was trying to protect Ellie from the water, but instead she capsized them so we took a break and laid the girls in the sun again. Then Mimi, Steve, and I decided to hit the slides with the tubes. We had fun and the girls came over and watched us do the last slide. We changed and headed back for some more rides.
















After a ride on the large Ferris Wheel (that Grandpa sat out with Lila because she refused to do it) the rest of the crew left since Grandpa had to work the next day. Ellie and Steve then went on the Paratrooper (imagine a Ferris wheel at an angle and as the ride picks up speed, it repeatedly gives riders butterflies as they experience the feeling of parachuting). Steve was a little woozy after that and I had promised Lila we would do the train again. So we rode the Sky Ride to the other side. Ellie was tempted by the Wild Mouse and was sorely disappointed when she was a couple inches too short (I don't think Steve was too disappointed that he didn't have to ride it with her). So on the way to the train we told Ellie she could pick one more ride before we left the park. As the train ride started Ellie said, "My tummy hurts. It feels like I'm going to throw-up." Mommy said, "No more rides. Let's go home. Eat something and go to bed." Of course on the way out we passed the bumper cars again and every ride Ellie said, but we didn't do that one or that one. We got in the van and I gave the girls some water and a snack and they said they wanted a hot dog and pasta salad when we got home, but when we got home they were so tired that they went straight to bed. It was a wonderful day of fun. I think in a couple of years Lila may be ready for the rides a bit more and Ellie will have grown those couple of inches and we may just get ourselves some season passes. :)

When Steve got in the rental car after successfully defending in November One Republic's Good Life was playing and it has kind of been our theme for the last 6 months.  Life is good!  

Ellie had her last day of kindergarten today which means she is a 1st grader now and I cannot even think what I will do with her gone all day next year so I'm gonna focus on what a great day we had.  I picked her up from school we had lunch and talked and then we met my sister for a quick trip to Sam's club and Sumo Snow cones.  They took a nap while I went to Activity Days (Steve was working from home).  I came home, they went outside and played with the bucket and sponges I had used for a water game.  They happily played for 2 hours and then came in to tell me they were hungry so I sent them outside with frozen Gogurts while I made the requested Mac & Cheese.  They ate outside and played for another hour before moving inside and using Daddy's tape measure to measure the whole house.  We turned on a My Little Pony to help them unwind a little and then made this divinely rich mug cake which the girls thought was awesome and we should make it every day (I agree with them, but I don't think I spend enough time on the treadmill for that).  They must have been so tired because we just heard a crash and went to check on the girls--Lila had rolled out of bed and not even flinched she was still dead asleep on the floor.  Steve picked her up and put her back in bed without waking her.  It is a good life!