Reunion photo...

Here is the family photo from our Worlton reunion last month. Notice anyone missing?

Ellla was napping, Abe was having a tantrum and Matt was trying to help stop the tantrum....so most of our little family missed out on the (once every 10 yrs) Worlton family photo. Oops!

Making pizzas....by Gavin

Me and Mom made a pizza and I called it a smiley face pizza. I think it is the best. I named it David. We didn't eat it yet, but I think it is gonna taste good. Mom made the crust and I spread the tomato sauce, I sprinkled the cheese on it and I made a smiley face made out of pepperoni and when Mom came back she put pepperoni made into eyebrows. We took a picture of it.

Hot in the city!

We have had a relatively mild summer so far, but this week we got some heat! It is only in the 90s, but before our Arizona friends and family laugh out loud at those low numbers just remember the humidity..... oh the humidity! It has actually been ok for us though because we spend most of our time here....

or here....
Yep, we love us some water park. Luckily, we have a really great one in our park district and can get there most afternoons. It is a lot of fun. Gavin slaps on his swim goggles and swims underwater grabbing people by the legs. Abe compulsively slides down the baby slide that he spent 2 weeks mustering up the courage to try. Ella on the other hand is a bit of a wild card. We have discovered 3 things about Ella since joining the pool....

1. She is absolutely fearless in the water. She will walk right in to the 5 ft deep water if you let her and when she nearly drowns before you grab her out of the depths, she comes up smiling and giggling about it. Her latest thing is standing at the edge of the pool, putting her arms above her head and walking right in without a care. I've never seen anything like her. I don't think the lifeguards have either because she puts quite a look of fear on their faces.

2. She has little to no stranger anxiety. Occasionally, she will meet someone who freaks her out, but most of the time she loves new people. She doesn't want to play with me or her brothers at the pool. She wants to play with every other random man, woman and child. She has a little sand bucket that she walks around with and she loves to see how many people she can get to fill it for her. It is funny, but also a little scary!

3. She is fiercely independent. Abe, who is 4, wants me to hold his hand or watch him the entire time we are there. Ella doesn't want anything to do with me. Her favorite game is "escape from Mommy". She won't let me hold her hand or even sit next to her. Keeping up with her is a good workout though! 

Caterpillar

We found a cool caterpillar in our yard today. We love finding interesting insects! The eyes are false and are meant to scare off predators (they do make him look quite fierce!). He also has slimy orange "antennae" called osmetrium that he sticks out when he is scared. They omit a horrible smell that also wards off predators. This guy will turn into a beautiful Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly soon. They like to live in our yard and feed off our Ash tree. Hopefully we can see him in his full glory soon.

Compliments?

Gavin has been learning about giving compliments in his summer school class. 

The other day he was playing outside with Abe and decided to hit him in the head with a stick. I made him come inside for a 6 minute time out (who watches SuperNanny? I do).  After the six minutes were done he got up and said "Mom, you're so mean, but I love you anyway!".

Later that afternoon we were driving in the car and arguing back and forth about something to do with the plants in Gramma Worlton's yard and Gavin stops and says "Oh Mom, you think you're always right, but I love you anyway." 

The next day his homework was to write about 2 compliments he had given to someone in his family. I bet you can guess what they were! 

Fourth of July!

We had a great Fourth of July! We started things off with the Wheaton 4th of July parade, always a family favorite for us. Tons of great floats, politicians and fire trucks.

Guess what Abe's favorite part was.....

Then we headed off to Gramma and Granpa Worlton's house for a family BBQ.




We coordinated our outfits in honor of Gramma West. We love you Gramma!

We even stayed awake late enough to watch the fireworks. We thought Ella would crash (she usually goes to bed at 6:30pm), but our little party girl had a great time!
We love the 4th of July!

Making cookies...

It might not be so exciting for the average family, but we made cookies for the Fourth of July...and they didn't fall apart.....and they tasted great....and they were gluten free. If you've ever tried to make gluten-free anything you know this is amazing! I just had to share!

Heritage Fest

One of our favorite things about summer in Illinois are the town festivals. Almost every town has a street festival during the summer months and we like to hit up as many as we can. Our favorite is the Downers Grove Heritage Fest. We've made it every year since we moved here and this year it was bigger and better than ever with tons of street food, amusement rides, bands and odd politcal groups handing out flyers. What more can you ask for?

The boys got to ride ponies.....

and eat snowcones.....

and ride the rides.

Family Reunion

We had a great family reunion last month (sorry about the late updates, we've been busy playing) at Grizzly's Jack's in Starved Rock, IL. My parents, my brothers and their families were all there. Most of us live close by, but it was so nice to have 4 whole days with nothing to do but have fun together. Mike and Beth flew in from Arizona with their 6 kids and we got to meet their 3 foster children for the first time. Anna, Jose and Fabian are so cute and fit right in with our crazy family. The highlights of the trip for us were watching all the cousins run around together, creating a giant chain of Worlton's in the lazy river (almost all 27 of us linked together!), late night chats, the Worlton talent show and lots and lots of good food. Unfortunately Matt and I had so much fun we forgot to take pictures. We did get a couple from the last day when we hiked in Starved Rock with Mike's family.

Karen, Matt, Ella, Abe, Gavin, Mike, Spencer, Amber, Anna, Jose

Matt with all the kids

Beth and Fabian

Vacation Song.....

Matt's boss wrote him a little going away song for our vacation next week. To be sung to the tune of U2's "One".

It’s time for Matt’s vacation
Time to get away
He’s been working so hard, now
He’s earned a chance to play

Yes he’s Matt West
needs rest
His wife is Karen
and she ain’t sharin
him with us
next week … ooohoohyeah

Will he take her shopping?
Or maybe to Grant Park?
Will they get a baby sitter?
And stay out after dark?

Well, he’s Matt West
the best
And he’s takin
Paid Time Off
to go and play golf

You say:
“I need a slogan”
“I need a Power Point”
“I need a memo”
“Matt, don’t leave this joint”
You ask Matt to do it, but he just turns and says,
“I can’t keep doing work
when PTO is here”

“I’m Matt West,
the best
and I’m takin
Paid Time Off
So you can piss off”

Pretty Girl

Summer Plans

Monday was Gavin's first full day of summer. He woke up bright and early and said "Mom, what are all the fun things we are going to do this summer?" Luckily, we do have some great things to look forward to this summer. 

This week we are just kicking back and enjoying not having to do anything. Next week is our Worlton family reunion at the Grand Bear Lodge in Starved Rock, Illinois. It is a great indoor waterpark resort and all of my siblings and their children will be there. We are so excited!

 Gavin will continue to go to social skills classes everyday for 2 hours in the morning for most of the summer. He is also taking swimming lessons at the local pool (Abe opted out this year). We are hoping to spend a lot of time at the waterpark close to our house because we are a family who loves the water! We also love parades and are super excited for the Wheaton, Il 4th of July parade, our favorite parade of the year. At the end of July we are heading out to Seattle to visit the West/Paterson clan. We have not been out there in years so that will be an exciting trip. After we spend a few days visiting there, Matt and I are heading to Hawaii for a vacation with my parents. Gavin, Abe and Ella can't wait to get rid of us for a week and spend some quality time with Gramma and Grandpa West. We get back just in time to get ready for the new school year to start August 19th. All in all is sounds like the perfect combination of family, water, sun and parades ! That adds up to one fun summer!

What Matt does at work.....

What does a Vice President at a cutting edge employee communications practice do all day?



Creates 3-dimensional objects out of old business cards and then challenges his coworkers to a build-off!

Matt's is the Minivan and he took home the trophy!

Gavin's wife

Gavin is a man who likes to have a plan! He pretty much has his whole life mapped out. Elementary School, Middle School, High School, mission (to Mexico), college at BYU, 1 year sabbatical to live with Gramma West in Washington, get married, work as a toy maker, then a police man and finally an engineer. He even has his wife all picked out. Her name is Ariana. She is in our ward and is also in his social skills class at school. He says he loves her because of her beautiful dresses, her curly hair and her pretty voice. He has convinced her to go along with his plan and, according to her mom, she even has the wedding colors all picked out. Yesterday at lunch he says to Abe "Abe you need to pick a wife." Abe says "Ok, how about my friend Tyler?" Gavin says "No, it has to be a girl and she can't be in our family." Abe says "Ok, then Gramma." Gavin says "No, Gramma is in our family." Abe says "Ok, then Aunt Marci." Gavin says "Nope, she's still in our family." Abe says "Oh I give up." Gavin just walked away shaking his head.
Procrastinator!

da Zoo

Last Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day in Chicago, so we decided to take a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is a great little zoo downtown, right next to the lakefront. We had never been to this particular zoo before and, since I am a zoo aficionado, we were excited to give it a try. I gotta say, I think I have a new favorite zoo! It is such a beautiful setting and I love a smaller zoo where you can see it all within a couple of hours. One of our favorite animals were the beavers. I never knew they were so friendly, but these two really liked our family!
I think Ella might like the zoo as much as her Mommy!

It was a great day!