Summertime in Utah

Here is our new home. The front yard has a great view and the back yard has a great view too! Look at those mountains! I can't wait to see them with fall leaves and snow. We are living in my brothers home while they live in France for a year. You can email me if you want our new address and phone number at mcdflory@gmail.com.







We arrived in Utah just in time for unloading, a little unpacking and celebrating the Fourth of July. My uncle Greg was in town and so it became a fun day of hanging out with family and food. Grandma made all the girls cute matching dresses and we did our traditional cousin show and fireworks on the front lawn. We couldn't get over how green and cool the grass was. Louis wasn't quite sure what it was at first, but then became an expert at crawling through it.


















We brought our cousins little Madeleine dolls and the movie to help get them excited about france. They liked the movie and impressed us with all the French they learned so far. We had a few movie parties with popcorn (mostly so mom and dad could unpack with no interruptions.) We did a sleepover one night and painted our nails and did our makeup too. Carter is missing his boy cousins, but learning a lot about girls too!






Here are some random pictures as we adjusted to our new surroundings including hanging around the house and enjoying cool weather on picnics. Plus, in the few short weeks that we've been here, we've celebrated four birthdays. We had a fun party at ChuckECheese for our cousin, Maisy. Then we went to our twin cousins birthday Pinkalicious party, and finally celebrated Carter's 8th birthday at a fun place here called Pirate Island. He may be growing older, but he was still a little kid pretending to be a pirate, with a balloon parrot on his shoulder, an eyepatch, an earring, a sword, a hat, and lots of loot. He really thought he was a pirate. His face was hilarious in a mean snarl as he said, "Arrgh, you scurvy dog!" and "Swab the deck, me harties!" He was very entertaining. We came home and made him a king chair and opened presents followed by brownie, earthquake sundaes. We used sparklers instead of candles which quickly melted the whole sundae, so never try that at home.
















Doug treated me to a great reading conference that I wanted to go to, but you'll have to check my other blog for info on that. It was very fun! mpflory.blogspot.com

That's all for now. I'll be more consistent on my posts without a hundred pictures from now on. I am really enjoying not working right now, though. I feel like I am staying busy and haven't been bored yet. I wish I had a huge family inheritance or something so I could be at home and yet, still have money in the bank. We are currently job hunting and just enjoying our time as a family. Having only a month or two of hot days and cool nights is perfect for us, though. We are just now starting to get into activities since school here doesn't start till the end of August. We've got everyone registered but I'm sad that there is no band or orchestra in the schools here. The kids began piano, I'm going to trade that by teaching cooking class and tutoring and Carter wants to learn guitar. I'm trying to find a gymnastics place for Haleigh and we may swim a bit more. Tonight we plan to drive into the mountains a bit and get lost a little. Perhaps we'll try some smore's by a lake. That might be fun. Tlll then...