Dinosaurs

This last week, all the grandkids (except Aidan and Andrew, who were with their Mom) headed to Thanksgiving Point to see some dinosaurs. They were having their birthday party so they had some other activities as well. They also have an exhibit show about light. This was the best part by far. It was really fun for the kids and reminded me of the hands on experience at museums such as the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. We watched a reptile show and he had a snake over 13 feet long, which decided to pee on him, which the kids loved, of course. London loved it and I could barely get pictures of her because she was running everywhere.

At the reptile show wearing Cousin Frank's hat.


Waiting for the show to start.


Uncle Joseph holding a snake.

Cousin Isaac holding a snake skin.

Petting the 13.5 foot snake.


She just kept running back and forth so I couldn't get her to stop and smile for a picture.

He is so cute, there is no way that shark will eat him.

Playing in the dirt and water.

Digging for Bones

Little tattoos of a dragon and a fairy.

4th of July...and the 3rd and 5th

This year we celebrated Independence Day over 3 days. It was a lot of fun to do that because Shane loves this holiday for the fireworks. This year the weather was WONDERFUL!!! It was even chilly at times. On the 2nd, Max started the party by having cousin Millie sleep over. These two are two peas in a pod! They had a ball and then put on a show for us in the morning before we headed out for a balloon job that afternoon.



On the 3rd we went to see some friends and Shane's brother's family. We had pizza and did fireworks. Lots of fun. Poor Max hurt his foot with a water gun.



On the 4th we had church. I had London wear her dress just for church so she could wear it the next day. I am super proud to say I MADE HER DRESS! Wahoo! She looked so cute and I even convinced Max to wear a matching bow tie that I made for him. I forgot to take pictures before church, so please excuse the crazy hair.

On the 5th, Shane and I were going to be in the parade with BYU, twisting balloons. But, communication was lost and the day of they found out they couldn't hand anything out. So, we watched the parade instead. I have to say, the Freedom Festival Committee needs to change this. The parade was SO BORING. We actually had kids asking to leave. They want to get stuff at the parade. The only exciting thing was when I was attacked by the Blaze mascot, Harley. This was because I do know him. But I was NOT expecting that. In the picture we look like we are hugging. Don't be fooled. He grabbed me and spun me around, I was hanging on for dear life and praying my new camera wouldn't fall out of my hands. Crazy! After the parade we had a swim party at my sister's house and then came home for fireworks. Fabulous day! Also, for our shirts, we made our own tie dye shirts. The red went a little orange, but still fun. We made them with all the kids earlier in the week, so the older boys match, even though they weren't with us for the 4th.

Max Swimming Lessons 2010

This summer Max did swimming lessons again. I need to sign him up for a second session. Oops. Anyway, he did great and loved his teacher. Here are a couple cute pics my Mom got. One is really great of him in the air after jumping off the diving board.

Lehi Rodeo

So we were looking for something to do and asked the kids. Aidan was convinced we needed to go to the rodeo. I was hesitant because it is so darn expensive and I don't even have a cowboy hat, which is a necessity at a rodeo. So, I told him that we would go if I could find tickets near the center that would be easy to get in and out of for London. The tickets also had to have 5 seats together. It was late on Friday night, a very popular night at the rodeo, so I was pretty sure this would be hard to come by. So, wouldn't you know it, there were just 5 seats remaining, dead center, on the 3rd row, with easy access out. So we were off to the rodeo! It was really fun and all the kids loved it, including London. I didn't have to take her out once.

Summerfest 2010

We had a great time at Summerfest this year. Because of the rain, there weren't many at the rides, which was perfect. Then, the rain was all free and clear for the parade and it was a great temperature. Here some pics from the events. Aidan and Andrew weren't there because they were on their cruise, but we took Uncle J and Aunt Sarah for some of the events. This doesn't always flow right, so I will explain the pics here.

First, we somehow we got Max on the Gravitron with Aunt Sarah. He loved it. Then we went and got on a few other rides including the ferris wheel.

On Saturday we went to the parade. Everyone chilled before the parade and then both kids LOVED it. They loved all the candy, breaking boards, free balloons, etc. etc.

In the evening we went to see the fireworks. We hung out in the back of the van to watch them.

I Love This

My friend had a link to this on Facebook. I think it is so true. We are so focused on NOT being racist that often we are racist in the opposite manner.

Summer Week 1

Yes, I am finally writing about our first week of summer! Wahoo! It was very eventful and fun. Here are some of the things we did.

We started the summer with one of our favorite traditions...the summer movies. Shane got to go with us because we decided to do the movies on Mondays, so the first movie fell on Memorial Day.
Tuesday started out pretty normal. The kids were all able to play with the rabbits and Grandma's house and loved that. Then we did our first craft of the summer. This year we decided to avoid boredom by having at least one craft/experiment per week. With the movie, swimming and other site seeing adventures we have planned, we should avoid most cases of boredom and I can fill the rest with housework should they ask :). The first craft was a summer mural to kick off summer. We took paints and all got a part of an old sheet to paint. Then we put our hand prints on them as well. ..ok the kids did their hand prints. We all had a good time and it was fun to do something out of the ordinary. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing (while I did the laundry, which can be relaxing until folding time). In the early evening we went to dinner with Alex because he would be moving to live with a new family for next school year. He was going to a high school not in our school district, so he will transfer to a home in the area of the school so he can be closer to school and friends. He is currently back home for the summer and then we will see if we get a new student for our school.

On Wednesday the boys decided to have a different adventure. After the library and the park they played Oregon Trail. Remember the old computer game we played in Elementary? Well, they did the live version. My parents have a handcart they borrowed from my Uncle. The boys decided they needed to play "Oregon Trail" around the neighborhood. They played for literally hours! They made fake names for themselves. Aidan was Alberto, Andrew was Larry and Max was Frank. They gave a couple other kids rides as well. They packed snacks in the handcart and went on their journey. Aidan kept a journal like the game does. I have a picture of it, but I just thought I would share the highlights:

Broken Axle, Fixed Axle, Frank got bitten by a snake, adjusted speed to strenuous, Frank is well...These kids kill me!

Thursday was one of our more slow days. We didn't have much going. Aidan took it easy and caught up on sports while Andrew, Max and Uncle J played "The 3 Ninjas." They, again, changed their names. Andrew was Colt, Max was Rocky and Max was Tum Tum. These names they got from the movie. Andrew chose Colt because he is fast. Uncle J chose Rocky because he is rock solid, and they had Max be Tum Tum because he plays hard then eats, then plays hard and eats, etc. Too funny!


After Ninja time we all took London to the doctor for her late 15 month appt. We waited until almost 16 months to get on our new insurance. She is still tiny and only weighs about 18.5 pounds still. She is 30 inches tall though. Her head was in the 20%, her height 25% and her weight about 4%. We will be working on fattening her up in the next little bit. After the doctor all the boys headed out to go swimming with Dad while I stayed with London who needed a nap after all the adventures of the day.

At the end of the day Aidan and Andrew left with their Mom for a vacation. They had a lot of fun and the little kids and I did some fun experiments while they were gone. We also did the summer movie, went swimming and other stuff. I'll post some pictures of some of our other summer activities later.