Hogle Zoo

All the kids LOVED the Hogle Zoo. The cousins kept commenting on how the Boise Zoo did not have this or that and "ours" did. What can I tell ya "Utah is where it's at!!" HA!



Grace and Everett are 2 months apart and they were having fun during one of our breaks to sing and do the actions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Well Bryan looks a LITTLE bit bigger than the average ape...good or bad?!?! And Evers has got a ways to go.
Madi loves to jump in on pictures to get her beautiful face in on the action!!!





The carousel was a big hit. "more, more, more."
Evers, Madi and Kyler looking at the tiger. Wow, they do exist. I still can't get over seeing a tiger lift up its tail and spray to mark its territory....I only thought skunks did that. I must have missed that day of school!!!

We also went to the Bird Show. I was a little hesitant to do this with my kids because you aren't supposed to take food in and that is what can keep Everett and Reis intertained if they get bored or upset! But.....Everett LOVED it...watching the birds fly right over our heads. They were entertained the whole time. We sure do LOVE the zoo!!

Jumping Jacks

So, my brother Brett and his family came down to Utah to visit family and for Alicia to run a 1/2 marathon--you GO girl). They came to our house and Kyler and Madi went straight for the backyard to play. They were only at my house for 15 minutes when we heard LOUD crying...Madi had been stung by a bee right between the eyes. It was SO sad. We have SO many wasp nests around and a bumblebee hive and we are ALWAYS outside and have NEVER gotten stung! Madi and her luck!! She was TOUGH though...even with a homemade remedy of Baking Soda and water on her forehead!!!

We headed off to Jumping Jacks where I would go 20-30 minutes without seeing Everett! I find it scary as Everett gets older to let him go out of my sight but at the same time I am glad he is finding his independence. Anyways, he had a BLAST running all over with his cousins climbing and going down HUGE slides!! Thanks Kaitlyn and Kyler for taking Evers everywhere!! Reis had a great time in the little kids section.

4th of July

The 4th was the bomb this year...Aunt Ashley and Uncle Shawn and Grandpa came to visit us! We did SO many things...the Heber Creeper train ride, swimming, feeding the ducks, Kiddie Kandid pics of the kids, and can't forget a lil shopping!

Heber Creeper


Well, we almost didn't make it to the train. Bryan, Shawn and Bill got to Heber first (I went on the highway to miss some traffic...obviously wasn't faster) and held the train for us...the kids!! We made it and it was a BLAST....cuz Evers LOVED it (Reis enjoyed it too). It was beautiful. Afterwards we went to get burgers and milkshakes (a 4th of July staple).

Everett was fascinated with the train! He was entertained the whole time.

This pic is funny cuz my kids love men and here Reis is reaching for his Uncle Shawn. Don't get me wrong, they LOVE their Aunt Ashley...but Evers could not say Ashley but picked right up on saying the name Shawn. Sorry Ashley..we are working on it!

Reis and Aunt Ashley taking a lil rest...getting ready for the next activites....homemade bombs and fireworks!

Fireworks at the House

The fireworks were great. Everett kept wanting to see more "stars" as he calls it. Then he was introduced to Pop Its. How cool. Aunt Ashley was in charge of giving them to Everett. He would get 2, run to the sidewalk, throw them down, laugh and run back for more. Kept him entertained!

Here is Everett with his sparkler trying to give me a closer look of the "stars." How kind of him!The homemade fireworks (bombs) were a little scary and loud...especially cuz 2 different cop cars came driving slowly by. Luckily the dry-ice bombs did not go off during their drive-by. AND glad no one got hurt...never again!!

Firework Show

We drove to 2 different places to see fireworks. The 1st place we went to was in Springville, thinking that they would have fireworks...no go. So then we decided to brave the traffic and go in to Provo on the bench to see the Stadium of Fire's fireworks. It was great. The kids had fun...Reis fell asleep.

Feeding the Duck

On Sunday we wanted to go see Kara and show Ashley and Shawn her dorm room. She then took us up to a pond where the kids could see the mama duck and her lil ducklings.


We had such a fun filled weekend. Thanks for spending the 4th with us! Can't wait till we see you guys again...xmas :-(

Scott's Homecoming

SO...this happened OVER a month and half ago the last weekend in June...but here it is.

Bryan, the kids and I headed to Colorado for Scott's homecoming. It was GREAT to see him.
This was all the people who came to Colorado to see Scott. The majority of the peeps are Scott's Mom's side of the family who live in Nevada.


So the adventure began with the plane ride to Colorado. The kids did AMAZING!! Although Everett kept kicking the seat in front of him...luckily it was a little girl but she didn't like it one bit. Sorry. I eventually just had to hold his feet down.

Daddy and Reis. This was Reis' 2nd plane trip. He is a champ.So, we got to the Colorado airport that evening and knew we were going to be waiting for about an hour until Scott came in from his flight from Russia. Kara went to Scott's gate so she could be the first to see him:-) Bryan and I proceeded past security cuz Nana would not have it any other way (plus we wanted the help :-) ) Thank goodness we did...we were in the airport over 3 hours. We did not get home until 11:30 PM. Yeah...and Everett stayed up the WHOLE time...he was a champ but a gotta keep busy or I will fall asleep kinda of a champ!!
You think it would be hard to keep a 2 yr old and a 9 month old entertained for 3 hours in the airport? Daddy kept up with him (meaning Everett) though. They did LOTS of fun stuff like ride in the luggage cart while it was still on the rack and going round and round and round the huge water display!

I had bought a kid leash (yeah, so what?!?!) and put it on Everett when we got off the plane while I was holding Reis and Bryan was in none else the bathroom. Everett is a smart little boy. He quickly realized that wherever he went, I had to follow. So, he was taking me under rails. We haven't used it since!Reis went to sleep just like he was supposed to...8:00! It was too funny getting the kids ready for bed (pj's on, teeth brushed) in the airport bathroom!We had such a fun weekend listening to Scott about his Russian adventures. Here we are relaxing in the hammock before we were headed BACK to the airport.While we were getting all our things gathered up to go I realized I didn't know where Everett was. No one did! So this is a BIG house we are in. I start yelling Everett's name as I go upstairs then downstairs then back to the main level while Nana has gone outside! My heart is RACING! Someone went in the garage and found him in Nana's convertible Lexus sitting in the driver seat reaching for a drink she had in the console. Who knew he knew how to open car doors?!?! Scary thing was I don't know how he even got into the garage (the door is heavy) plus the garage was open!!! AAAAHHHH!

So we got to the airport in PLENTY of time just to find out our plane was DELAYED a whole hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were already on the late flight (bad idea cuz delays are a GIVEN) but it was nothing Mc'D fries couldn't help pass the time. SO, we finally got on the plane and Evers again was kicking the seat in front of him (being in his carseat he was much closer to the seat). We were telling him NO and holding his feet when the college age girl turned around and said "Could you please have him stop kicking my seat?" What do you think we were trying to do! It didn't bother me cuz I knew I was doing my best. Evers FINALLY fell asleep the last 10 min of the flight. We head down to get our luggage. I must mention we checked Reis' car seat but took Everett's on the plane with us. So....we get our luggage and the carseat did not make it!! ARGHHH! So, Bryan had to go and WAIT in line (many people didn't get their bags) and fill out info and finally we got to borrow a car seat so we could go home. It was now 1:30 AM. Evers fell right to sleep in his carseat while the fiasco was going on.
We finally got home at about 2:30...carseat was delivered to my home at about 2 in the afternoon. Great short trip! We always love to see family!