Father's Day Weekend

Last week felt like an abnormally long week in the Briggs home, so we were ready to celebrate when the weekend arrived!

We started celebrating early by breaking out some sidewalk chalk on Friday afternoon and going at it. 

Okay, maybe I was the only one who "went at it".  Leah liked to pick up the chalk and carry it around, though. 

...and she got a little bit into it.  That right there in the picture is about the extent of what she drew, along with maybe a couple other scratches. 
This is probably an everyday activity for a lot of toddlers, but I'm not great at pulling out activities that I know are going to end in a mess - especially since I'm trying to monitor Dallin during the whole thing (ie keeping him from putting everything in his mouth).  But I do need to be better about giving Leah more creative experiences...goodness knows she has tons of creativity in her!

I got a little freaked out when I went to put Dallin in the grass and saw that thing crawling right where I was about to set him.  This picture does not do it justice.  It was huge.  And creepy.

So I ended up letting him crawl through all the sidewalk chalk while constantly pulling the chalk out of his mouth.  His pants ended up looking like a rainbow by the end of the afternoon.  But he loved it.

That night we took the kids out for Chinese food (yum!!!!) before putting them down to bed.  Saturday morning we got up and headed out to Lowe's to buy Dave's father's day gift...a grill!  And wouldn't you know, I didn't take a single picture of the grill, or of when we used it to make his father's day meal.  But you can take my word...we got one and we're excited about it.

Handsome, handsome!  That pretty much says it all!

"Peek-a-boo!"

"SOOOO big!" 
I apologize for the dirty mirror in the background.  I debated whether or not I should bring it up because I didn't want to draw attention to it, but I figure it's so glaringly noticeable that I owed an apology.  Sorry again.

Dallin doesn't love this game as much as he used to.

Saturday night we got babysitters while Dave took me to the mall to buy a new dress for an early birthday present.  Then we went back home and watched a redbox DVD, "The Vow".  It was interesting...there were things I liked about it, but overall I just felt like it was an okay movie.

Sunday we had Tyler, Jen and Eliza over for a Father's Day BBQ...and the inaugural run of the Briggs Family grill!  We made hamburgers and just enjoyed hanging out. Leah and Eliza are such a hoot together - it continues to be so fun to watch them play:

I love that they're both playing with their elbows.

Please ignore the mess on Leah's face.  I don't think I bothered to clean that off until bath time.  (I swear I'm not always so neglectful). 

Dallin was anxious to get in on the action.

But then he got a little too involved in the action when the girls piled on him for a three-way hug...he really wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Still not sure...

...it took a little convincing...

...but he eventually began to enjoy it!

Next stop: pile on Mom/Katie!

Pure fun!

The fun, as it usually does, had to come to an end.  The girls said their good-byes but we hope it's not too long before we get together again!  Thanks for a great afternoon!

And Happy Father's Day!