Teeth

 

Big fake old rotten teeth are never un-funny! Caleb has enough real dental problems that we probably shouldn't jix ourselves by joking around with these.

 

Cake Decorating Camp

Of all the summer camps that Cali participated in this summer, cake decorating would have to be my favorite. Every day she brought home a baked good that she had decorated, with the final project being this delicious cake. Between all the birthdays and treats from this camp, we were in cake heaven for several weeks. She did a great job with all the icing techniques, which she is displaying here. 

Caleb's Wrestling Camp

Caleb participated in a wrestling camp sponsored by the high school and college. He loved every second of it, and tried to get in a few extra matches with kids twice his size. He attended the camp all week, and then there was an exhibition match on the football field at the end of the week. He got to wrestle the other two kids in his weight class, which just happened to be his good friends Max and Carter. During one of his matches he turned to me and said, "Take 'em down, right mom?" I instantly looked like the crazy wrestling mother, and I think Caleb has found his sport of choice.

Cali's Surprise Cake Boss Birthday

For Cali's 11th birthday, I threw her a surprise party. I planned for weeks to have a cupcake/Cake Boss inspired birthday party for her. I bought a bunch of cute bakery-type favors on amazon, and sent text messages to the parents of several of her friends.

 

While she was at cake decorating camp the friends gathered at our house to help decorate and blow up balloons. At the appointed time I picked up Cali from her camp and brought her home. When she came in the door all of her friends yelled, Surprise!

 

She was so surprised and excited. It was fun to see her so happy and feeling so special that her friends were all there.

 

We all had fun decorating cupcakes, which I judged and gave awards for.

 

She received so many thoughtful and cute gifts, these girls really know the way to Cali's heart... nail polish, nail, polish, and more nail polish.

 

 

Cali loved the surprise and it was fun to see so many nice and thoughtful girls gather together to make her feel special on her birthday.



 

Noor Majeed, Maddie Pugmire, Stella Carlson, Cali, Meagan Zotti, Brecken Hunsaker, Bradlie Hunsaker, Kenady Nacey, and Naya Majeed.

Everyone got to take their cupcake home in a cake shaped box, and I gave each girl an award for their creativity in cupcake decorating.

 

Later that night Cali chose to go to Applebees for he birthday dinner. She scarfed her favorite dinner food, ribs.

 

Carter and Caleb picked out a cake and some candles for her too, and we all sang Happy Birthday to our favorite 11 year old girl!

 

Switching Clothes

This probably won't be able to happen for much longer, but it's funny while it lasts. Cali and Caleb can wear each other's clothes, shorts and all!

 

Bedtime Stories

Carter is such a good brother and a good reader, when these two things combine, you get brother reading bedtime stories. On this particular night while reading about Spiderman, Caleb fell fast asleep while sitting up. Carter didn't even notice until I took the picture. I think I'll have Carter do this every night!

Sushi...Not a Friendly

Well, she tried it...

Cali's Birthday Celebration {s}

I can't believe that Cali is already 11 years old. Carl and Vicki stopped by to spend the day with her and to bring her some lovely pre-birthday presents. She was so excited and picked to eat her birthday dinner at Wingers.

Happy Birthday to Me

Oh man, I turned 34! It doesn't feel much different that 33 and, to be honest, for most of the year I thought I was 34. So, it was no big shocker when I was actually 34.

 

One good thing about getting older, is that your kids get older too. Old enough, in fact, to make a birthday cake for you while you're at work. Cali and Carter (with the help of Dorothy), made me a birthday cake and surprised me with it when I got home from work. It was very thoughtful and very delicious!

 

I also went to lunch with some nice friends, and received some thoughtful and heartfelt gifts, which I very much appreciated.

I also got these lovely pictures professionally mounted and framed. They were my grandma's and they hung in her house for years, I got them when she passed away. They've been hanging in my entryway for about a year, but they needed to be updated. So, for my birthday, I had them professionally framed and matted. It was a great birthday!

Throwing Fits and Doing Projects

Caleb refused to take another step at the family fun run 5k, and he was not kidding. He literally would not move his legs any longer. I had to call Christian to come and pick him up so that the rest of us could finish the race.

 

Christian and Frank started, what turned out to be, the summer-long project of adding an RV pad to he side of our house and ripping up and replacing the existing concrete.

Fourth of July, Pollastro Family Reunion at Cherry Hill

Cherry Hill is our favorite place in the whole world. We try to go once a year, and wish we could go more. We'd tried to get there several times, but it didn't work out until I suggested we go there for a little Pollastro summer get together. Vicki wanted something fun to do, and it worked out that we could all get together on the fourth of July. So we met at Cherry Hill!

 

We spent the night at Bethany's and Christian flew in that same night from somewhere he'd been. We all met at the Pollastro's in the morning, and it was time to get our Cherry Hill on.

 

We went down the water slides and laid out in the sun until we were so hungry we broke into our lunch coolers!

 

Cali had a fun time doing all the slides and helping the younger cousins.

 

Carter never made it down the Double Dragons, but he floated the lazy river and played mini-golf until he nearly passed out.

 

Christian and I got sun-drunk, and tired from keeping up with the kids!

 

I broke out my hat from Mexico just in time for some afternoon snuggles with Carter.

 

Ahhhh, in my life!

 

Brock took a nap with Old Uncle Dustin

 

Old men sat around and talked and ate.

 

Everyone got a turn chasing Caleb around the lazy river.

 

Cali was fun and fearless.

 

And around 5pm it was time to home, as we all started feeling a little like Brock in this picture. It was a great day, and a possibly a family tradition has been born. Even Carl said he liked it, which is kind of a big deal.

Temple Square and Sleepover at Bethany's

 

The Pollastro's wanted to have a little family get together on the 4th of July, so we went to SLC a day early to stay at Bethany's apartment. We hadn't been to her apartment since she left Rock Springs, so a cousin-sissy sleepover was in order.

 

We started our night by getting ice cream at City Creek and then touring around Temple Square. We tried to get a cute pictures of the cousins, but none of them could cooperate at once.

However, this one of Carter and Cali turned out pretty well. Carter was unusually quiet and said that he needed a few minutes to say a prayer, it was really sweet and a little unexpected from the boy that rarely holds still.

 

Brock and Caleb insisted on running away on several occasions, so picked them up and put them in the window of the Tabernacle, where they would be nice and safe. This was also the same night that Caleb insisted he was a man inside a little boy's body. This revelation came when I asked him not to run in the road on S. Temple St. He declared that he was a man in a little boy body and that, "mans can do a lot of things that little boys can't". He also told me to leave him alone. This kid...

 



After an exciting evening of touring around Brock's city we cozied down in Bethany's apartment. The boys piled in Brock's bed, Cali slept on the couch, and Bethany and I cuddled in her bed, just like the good old days.