October Catch-up

 We took a tour of the Conference Center while we were in Utah for Mae's wedding.

 The kids really enjoyed it.

 Except for Ty. At this moment.

 The visitor center

 A cool fountain across the street from Temple Square.

 Briggs started basketball. He did pretty good!

Ty making cookies with his Nana.

Fourth of July

A visit to Nana and Papa's on the fourth means:


...a trip to the hardware store (Papa about had a heart attack when I staged this shot. He was afraid he would go home with 3 ride-on lawn mowers. How fun would that be, Papa?!)


... a visit to Larry's produce to get all the fresh fixins for the family BBQ.


(was it easier to carry Ty in the wheelbarrow along with 50 watermelons and 90 ears of corn? Maybe yes. Maybe no.)



... UNO with Aunt Lynn.


... and always some kind of craft with the cousins (not to mention one killer water fight started by the dads that didn't quite make it on my camera roll).




Thanks, Mom and Dad for all of the hard work you put into this tradition.

Camping

This was the year I decided I was going to brave a camping trip with the kids. The idea of camping with a baby or a toddler was one I was not willing to wrap by head around.

So my baby is 4 and I decided it was time to take the plunge.

Well. More like dip my toe in.

So we chose a campground that was 20 minutes away and stayed for only two nights. but the car was still packed to the brim! I've realized that whether you are going for one day or a week, you still need to pack a whole kitchens worth of supplies!

(Duh, Kate...)



So we had a fun time and learned alot.

We learned that, at this particular campground, we were sorely lacking in the Boobs, Beer and Boombox department.

You get what I mean?

Not exactly a lets-get-back-to-nature kind of experience. More like where's-the-next-kegger?

But we decided, all night parties or not, we were going to enjoy ourselves (despite the 2 inches of brown water backing up from the drains in the bathroom that people were still wading through!)





We played UNO, read books, drank hot chocolate, went for a little hike, and even enjoyed an afternoon and the lake.



At night we were gently lulled to sleep by monotonous Mariachi music and awoke to the great smell of bacon cooking in the outdoors.

We had a good time and are looking forward to choosing a more rural campground in the future!

Visiting Friends in Mapleton

After St. George, we spent some time in Mapleton with friends, Jeremy and Anna. Jeremy and Brian were friends before their missions (which they both served in Brazil) and were roomates before we got married. Even though they live in Utah, Jeremy still works at the bank with Brian, via -telecommuting.
They took us to a bounce house gym, which was something my kids had never been to.





I think I must have been tired by this point and not pulled my camera out as much, but our kids had a great time with their kids. They spent the time making up plays and performing them for us. The next morning the kids were so excited to wake up toa a "Winter Wonderland!" as they called it. We were only there for a short time, but we had a great time in their beautiful home.

Snow weekend

We went to the snow this past weekend. The kids have never really played in the snow.
We spent two great days up in Shaver Lake. One day, it snowed the whole time we were there. Luckily we were prepared with really warm snow clothes. We have a lot of great friends that lent us everything we needed.
Briggs was the champ of the weekend. He loved sledding and tubing and kept going up and down the hill. He'd do a flip in the air, land flat on his face, and just stand right up again. (It only took me once to see this and remove his glasses... poor kid.)
We got a video of Brian and Briggs on a pretty good tube run, but I can't figure out how to embed it into the blog yet. I'll have to wait for Brian's help (as usual...)

Knotts Berry Farm

When things get exciting around here is when things get busy. And when things get busy is when I don't post as much. Which is a shame because then the exciting stuff doesn't get documented. So...



Knotts Berry Farm!

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Mark and Aunt Lisa and Kamden. The kids always have a good time here because it's not too crowded and the kiddie section is great.



Ty talked about this ride for weeks.



Getting tricked by Uncle Mark



Brothers, deciding if they are up to a challenge. A...

SOCCER CHALLENGE!







The kids adore their cousin.





The next day, we went to a spot right by LAX where the kids could lay on the grass and watch the planes fly right over their heads.



They'd all lay on the ground looking up. Then...



They'd all flip over, laughing and watching it fly away.

Lake Cavanaugh, Washington

Our wonderful vacation with Brian's family. They have a beautiful house right on the Lake. It was blue skies, green grass, pebbled beach and refreshing cool lake, right in our front yard! Thanks, Linda,Denny, Larry and Caroline for inviting us!


Dinner on the beach whenever the sun was out...


The mountains at the end of the lake...


As modeled by the cousins, the view from the front deck.

More on the lake to come!

On the fashions of Hollywood

Do your kids ever do that thing where they turn a 4 hour drive into a 12 hour drive by asking every 3 minutes "Are we there yet?"

Ours do. In case you were wondering...

To try and pass the time, they ask which city we are in (as if they know the difference between Thousand Oaks and Sherman Oaks.) When we told them that we were in Hollywood, Briggs replied rather nonchalantly, "Oh. I bet a lot of men in this town have mustaches."

Apparently, he is correct. Thank you, my little random and inciteful child.

More on the Knotts Berry Farm trip later. I'll give you a little teaser by saying it involved a lot of rain, a sign saying "AMUSEMENT PARK CLOSED" and Brian asking a man in a yellow rain slicker "What does that sign mean?" to which the man replied (a little impatiently) "It means the park is closed."