Summer Has Begun!

* This post is picture-heavy. Consider yourself properly forewarned.

Here at the Bingham home, we kicked off the summer with preschool graduation. We got Pomp and Circumstance. We got diplomas. We got Josh and I snickering as they played a cheezy country song about the tenderness of children. It's preschool, folks. While we were aiming for this:

We got a lot of this:

Once we got through this tremendous milestone, another celebration followed right behind. It was Josh's birthday. I can't say it was our best birthday effort ever. We did get to go to The Cheesecake Factory thanks to the kindness of our friend Chanel, who promised to not hate us if our children were terrors. He got some cupcakes and some priceless gifts from the children. From Noel, a polar bear bookmark. From Jonah, some zombies.
But let's be honest. I could've fed Josh grass clippings for his birthday dinner and he still would've loved me because I got him this:
That's his Amazon Kindle and he loves it more than the children.

The next week, the Binghams boarded a plane for Salt Lake City. The baby was the big concern. We shouldn't have worried. I enjoyed the plane ride seated next to a stranger, my sleeping baby in my arms. Josh got to watch over the boys, who wanted to fight over the window seat. . .and then the ipod. Kids these days!

We started the week at a classy indoor amusement park called Jungle Jims. The excursion came to a close shortly after Jonah walked off his third turn on the spinning bugs ride, pale-faced and sweating. We knew when to call it a day.

Lila was skeptical of the "amusement" part of Jungle Jims:


We then attended the family dinner for the wedding of Josh's brother, Joel. Here's a great photo of all of his brothers and sisters. That's Josh kneeling on the right, in order to avoid having his head cut off by the tree.Lila spent some quality time with her lovely great-grandmas. And by quality time, I mean she laid there like a lump.


We attempted to take some professional-like photos of the boys. These were among the best. I wish I was kidding.

And finally, the wedding. It was a beautiful event all around.

These Bingham boy cousins don't at all look like they're in cahoots.More lump-like business by Lila.
I'd become increasingly frustrated with the photos that we were taking at the wedding. Noel had a bit of a cold and his photos were coming across as a bit "dead in the eyes." So here's his response to my request to "Look fierce!" I think Tyra would be proud.
We then took advantage of the family weekend to bless our baby with all of our family in attendance. Here's a pirate-baby Lila in her blessing dress. This is my "I welcome any opportunity to have my picture taken 5 weeks after I have a baby" face.

My parents threw a fabulous after-blessing bash. Such good food.
And good company. Some more grandparent time.
We stopped to pose for a photo of all the Bingham women. I request that, next time, all of the rest of the ladies try not to be so skinny. A very strangely posed photo of Lila with her cousins.

We spent the rest of our vacation spoiling our kids into thinking that fabulous activities should be routine. Like fishing with their Aunt and Uncle:
And spending quality time with grandma and grandpa:
And becoming obssessed with your female cousin's leotard, insisting you put it on, and then refusing to take it off.And here's Lila looking cute.

We capped off the trip with a 4th of July celebration to remember. We started the night before watching the fireworks from Granite High School. They were all bravado to start:
Not so much once the fireworks began:

We finished with a 4th fireworks display not to be forgotten. Until next year, when we refresh our memory with the exact same fireworks from the same Costco pack. And it will be just as fun.
Thanks to the Bingham family and the Peterson family for making this trip such a great memory. We love you all!