yesterday I finished my back porch, but I didn't have my camera to take a picture so I did it today. It's nothing special, but it beats what we used to have.

Yesterday was the big Summer Party at work. On the way there we stopped to get A.J. a haircut and he was none to happy with that. He came running out of the place with no shirt on screaming. His hair did get cut though. He was able to enjoy himself at the party at least. Laura talked me into getting colored hairspray on my head since her and Analise did. A.J. saw our hair and looked at us with this look of plain disgust like he was going to punish us and send us to the naughty corner.











We had Chinese food for our dinner.






A.J. had a blast playing on all the blow up slides and "jumpalines" as he calls them.

Here is part of our project on our house. We started our new back poarch. The stairs are started, but we are lacking a few boards.


This weekend we went camping with the Otterstoms from our ward. Analise was a little stinker and got into Laura's purse and ate 2 packages of gum and two chapsticks. She proceeded to vomit all over Laura and then keep us up all night once she was feeling better. Next time we leave the kids at home ;).

Earlier this week Laura took the kids and Grandma up the canyon for a hike.





Saturday night Laura and I had our date night. It was a fun evening. We went to Tepanyaki for dinner. We sat next to a bunch of people we didn't know. Luckily the couple that sat next to us were really cool. The guy had just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago from a Motocross accident. He broke his neck and was in a brace. The food was good and the company was good. After that we headed up the canyon to where Laura had taken the kids hiking earlier in the week. We hiked up for about a half an hour. When we were coming back down the trail we noticed some guy in the bushes and when he heard us he hurried away and got in his car and took off. When we got down by the car we found a bag that had been gone through. It looked like there had been a video camera in it. We call the Sheriff's office to at least report it.

the 4th of July was fun. We started out the morning with a childrens parade. Then we had breakfast at the park. It was so hot outside, I was sweating to death. Later in the day we headed down to Andy's house to continue with the 4th of July festivities. We had some good food and good company. In the evening we had a small fireworks show and the kids played with sparklers.

I'm very grateful for the freedoms that exist in the USA and look forward to celebrating this freedom every year.

Saturday we took A.J. to Lagoon for his first time. He had a blast. We spent the first part of the day at Lagoon-A-Beach. While going down the lazy river I had a little boo boo. I got on the tube and lost my balance and went over backwards and scratched my head on the bottom of the river. I'm sure it was quite the site to see.

After that we took AJ on some rides. He was having such a good time. He was so excited. Here are some pictures from the day.

Today I went to the house because I had someone at work that wanted to see the house. When they realized where it was at, they didn't want to come anymore. oh well, I used my time wisely and took off the back porch. That thing was ugly!!! Now I need to get my friend Jared to help me build new steps to the back door. Here is some pictures of the demolition.

Last night we stopped by Carls Jr and picked up some burgers and headed to the park. AJ had lots of fun playing. When we got home everyone was ready for bed so Laura and I stayed up and watched National Treasure 2 while the kids and Grandma slept.

Here are some pictures from my Grandma Halladay's house.

I forgot to mention that one of our rats died the other day. The other one looks like it is on it's last leg. Our next pet is going to be a bunny, since that is what Laura wants and she put up with my rats.

We finally got our cupboard doors on our cabinets. I feel pretty good that they turned out so well. I have to give thanks to Jared from our ward, he is amazing. He helped me route the doors and paint them and he put them up. Laura is finishing painting the kitchen and getting rid of the ugly yellow paint we had up. The house is looking good.