The 2011 Golden Summer Awards

For the past few years now, I've had a tradition of completely and totally neglecting this blog for the entire summer.  

This year, that tradition continued. 

And, as in years past, now I have a million pictures, a hundred awesome stories, and countless memories that absolutely must be documented.  

And so they shall.  

So without further ado, I present to you the...

2011 GOLDEN SUMMER AWARDS

The first award is the "I'm So Afraid To Have A Baby" Award which goes to Brooklyn and Aubrey for almost smothering Grandma Lori's 1 week old baby kittens on several different occasions and being physically unable to let go of them for more than 3 seconds (except to see if they could balance on Grandma's enormous exercise ball). 

I'm very, very worried. 

 (Side note: At church on Sunday, Luke and I looked over and Brooklyn was laying down on the bench on her side and Aubrey was arranging their 3 stuffed puppies exactly like this:)

 So. so. so. awesome.

The "Flashback Award" goes to these two:

(and the "Maybe I Am Getting Better at Photography" Award goes to me...)

The "Monkey See, Monkey Do" Award is all Aubrey's, who while touring the newly remodeled BYU-Idaho campus apparently witnessed one-too-many undergrads displaying public affection.  She grabbed Brooklyn and insisted on a quick little impromptu smooch.

The "Up, Up and Away Award" goes to Aubrey for being entirely unable to keep her feet on the ground.     

The "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum" Award is all Vicki's.  She had to eat about 18 pieces as punishment for getting almost every bridal shower answer wrong.  At the end of the game, she spit out a wad of gum the size of my fist.  It made me gag a little.

The "Competitive Much" Award goes to Aubrey.  She really, really, really wanted to catch the bouquet. 

 

The "My New Favorite Temple Picture" goes to this one:

The "Best Most Boring Baseball Game Ever" goes to the Anaheim Angels for barely showing up to play.  The game was scoreless until the 10th inning.  It was OK though, since I was only there for the food and the fireworks.  And those, at least, didn't disappoint. 

The "Best Worst Picture Ever" Award is owned by this one: 

(I cannot get over how there is not one person that looks half-way normal.) 

The "We Pretty Much Grew Gills This Vacation" Award goes to the entire family for spending every spare second in the pool.   

The "Where's Braden?" Award goes to Braden for his tireless patience in being endlessly stalked by two girls who unconditionally adore him.  (They adore Brendan too, but I somehow got no pictures of that...)

 

The "Oops, I Did It Again" Award goes to Luke and Ashley for once again forgetting their Anniversary.  

2nd year in a row, friends.

 

 

The "What The *&$#&@^$)!" Award goes to the OC Fair food.

First of all: Chocolate Covered Corn Dogs.  Why?!  

Second of all: Chocolate Covered Bacon.  WHY?!

Third of all: Deep Fried Butter.  WHY, WHY, WHY?!?!

The "One More Thing Could Not Have Gone Wrong" Award goes to the OC Fair

We took the wrong exit.

We parked in the wrong parking lot.

We got dropped off at the wrong entrance. 

We stood in the wrong line.  Several times.

We got harassed by security. 

We lost our free tickets in the car (2 miles away)

We had a blast.

The "Way, Way, Way Too Amazing To Not Get It's Own Post" is for our weekend getaway to San Francisco.  It will be forthcoming... 

The "Picaso" Award is for both girls who now think that painting on the windows is something we need to do everyday.

The "Quit Your Day Job" Award goes to Aubrey for her Oscar-worth performance as my dental hygienist.  She was better than my real one.

The "A Little Bit Fishy" Award goes to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific for a really cool day.

 We watched the animals,

 touched some enormous sting rays,

played with some sea lions,

 pet some jellyfish,

and almost swam with the sharks.

 (A random stranger caught Brooklyn by the belt loops as she was falling into the tank.  Why must my children fall into every body of water possible?  Seriously, why?)

The "Givemee S'more!" Award goes to Brooklyn who against all odds (and three different attempts) finally got her S'more. 

The "Really Could Not Have Been Any More Amazing" Award goes to the Summer of 2011.