July 31, 2016

July Happenings

The first week of July was full of family.  Both my brothers were here and we had an extended family barbecue.  Here is Whitney with her 2nd cousin and 1st cousin, they decided that since they were all pink that they were team heart.  Whitney is obsessed with socializing and was in heaven. 
 My Aunt DeeAnn set up a water fight for the kids, but all of the adult men ended up taking over.  Here is my only picture of Jason during the week! (and Ben).
My aunt also set up a guessing/counting game and Tommy was very proud to win the money jar.
 After the water fight they started playing football.  Vic is the one hiking the ball.
 We needed to take this pine tree out of the front yard of our 4-plex and to pay someone else was around $3,500 so Vic decided to do it himself.  Here he is WAY up there.  This tree was probably one of the biggest in Idaho Falls.  It was HUGE!
 Here it is half way about a month later... it took us several trips to the dump, raking, and cutting!
 Vic took the bigger pieces up to the cabin for fire wood in the winter.  Look at my muscle man!!
 I had Tommy sit on a stump so you could see how big around they are!
 We did a few trips to the zoo and one time a volunteer was there to let them make a craft. That was a nice surprise for the kids.  They love that kind of stuff.

 Our other surprise was baby ducks.  They were all over and they were really cute.
 The rides at the zoo are old and pathetic, but the kids love them!
 Backyard fun with friends over.

 Vic had a work party at Blacktail.  I hadn't been there since I was a teenager.  We rode the jetski and one of his coworker's speed boats.  It was a nice afternoon.
 Whitney was obsessed with the speed boat.
 Our neighborhood has a ice cream and rocket party every year so we went to that again.  The kids keep begging for us to make a rocket shooter too.  The guy just uses his air compressor, but not sure how to make one so they probably won't be getting one any time soon!
 Vic had another work party at the Chukar's game. He is always so ridiculous when the free stuff comes out.  He jumps up and down and gets something from half the games we go to.  This time he got a frisbee, a foul ball, and $5 consession coupon.
 Our family at the game.
...and somewhere on one of those chaotic days Tucker decided he was hungry so here he is making himself some bread w/ butter and jam! (We just smash our fresh raspberries right onto our bread in the summer for extra yummy jam)
I took the kids up to Rigby Lake with my friend, the Drapers.
 Whitney is never brave when Vic is around, but I finally talked her into going down the slide by herself this year.
 Tucker went down by himself too.  He's an adventurous brave little guy always trying to keep up with our family!


July 24, 2016

Utah Day 4: Hike

On the last day of our trip we went up Cottonwood Canyon to the Twin Lakes trail by Silver Lake.  We had a nice picnic in the mountains.  The kids had fun watching the very un-shy squirrels come grab any of our crumbs that dropped.
 Tommy is loving his new power to read and stopped at any informational signs.
 He still loves climbing and posing on big rocks!
 The hike was beautiful the entire way.  We love being able to get a few pictures of just the two of us!
 The top 1/3 of the hike was quite rocky and steep the whole way!
 The lake was really beautiful at the top.
 This is "Twin Lakes".
 As we were trying to get the above pictures a stranger came and offered to take our family picture, but then she asked the kids to make a silly face so this is the only family one we got at the top!
 It was so green and beautiful!!
View of Silver Lake
 Awesome trail we got to hike.
 On the way back Tommy begged to climb these rocks so we took a rest while Whitney & Tommy explored.

This trip was by far one of my favorite mini trips in a long time.  We had fun the entire time and came back happy and re-energized instead of more worn out than when we started! :D

July 23, 2016

Utah Day 3 Museums

On Saturday we went to the Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  The kids loved it.
 Tucker had a lot of fun exploring everything.




 ...but he loved the elevator the best!
 Tommy had fun playing as well....

 ....but he is at an age where he is always trying to figure out how things work so he spent a lot of time analyzing and tinkering. 


 This zip-line outside was pretty great!
 Who says that children museums are only for children?!  These two had just as much fun!

 Look at my Whitney... 85 mile an hour winds and still trying to look cute, that's my girl!
 Tommy's favorite part of the trip was of course the dinosaur museum!
 He really liked the fossils...
 and realistic looking animals.


 These long necked dinosaurs were HUGE


 There was a lot of ocean life exhibits as well, which was perfect, as that is Tommy's 2nd favorite interest.


 The other kids had fun playing wherever they could.
 We spent a long time trying to get this puzzle together, it was four different dinosaur bones mixed all together...
 ...and everyone gave up except Tommy and I!
 Put these two together and you get double trouble!
 Digging for bones.  The kids had a wonderful day and then we all spend the evening at the Frost's house.