Utah Sate Fair

We had such a fun day out at the fairgrounds. The kids loved the animals and the rides. The little farm that they had was so cute. Michael loved planting seeds and riding on the John Deere tricycle. He couldn't reach the pedals, but that didn't stop him. The deep fried foods didn't temps us, but my fair favorites are the frozen lemonade and the kettle corn.

Zoo Babies

Okay so for those of you who haven't been to the zoo this summer, you need to go. With my zoo pass (thanks Chris) we go at least twice a week. This summer has been so fun with all the baby animals. The elephant is just about the cutest little thing ever. We watched her roll in the mud and push around the ball this morning at her debut, and it wasn't crowded at all. We also love the three tiger cubs, baby snow leopard, and the baby giraffe. Michael loves all the animals, but climbing on the statues and hanging on the railings are probably his favorite part.

Labor Day Weekend in McCall

I would like to tell you that you do not want to go to McCall because I don't want it to get too popular for selfish reasons, but it's simply too wonderful to pass up. Did I mention that it's an 8 HOUR drive from Salt Lake, maybe that will scare you away. When Lindsay invited us to their gorgeous cabin, we didn't hesitate for an instant. It is absolutely worth an 8 hour drive, even with a toddler, and those of you parents know that is saying a lot. We had such a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Here are a few pictures of their amazing cabin, Linds I hope you don't mind. The woodwork is amazing & the staircase is my favorite. I also love the humongous trees surrounding the cabin.

My favorite thing to do is to bike the 19 1/2 miles around the lake.

Mikey would have been happy to stay and play on the Ranger the whole time. It was definitely his favorite.

It is so nice to have the boat at their dock so we could go and ski whenever we wanted. The water was a little chilly for my preference around 65 degrees, but you could get decent water almost any time of the day, so it was a fair trade-off.

Mikey loves the "wa-wa" as he calls it.

Our first morning in McCall we went to the Pancake House for breakfast. Andy and Lindsay ordered a sweet roll with their meals, not expecting it to be so large. "I believe I ordered the LARGE sweet roll, Hello!" Thanks guys for a wonderful weekend.

Lake Powell- take 2

So starting this year, we will be going to Lake Powell in both May & August every year instead of rotating between the two. I know what you are thinking... what a rough life. This second trip was quite different this year because the water was choppy most of the time, so we did very little skiing & we spent a lot of time in the water because of the heat.

My boys

Mikey's favorite thing is to push people off the back of the houseboat. Thanks to all of the good sports for letting him push them in over and over again.

Michael is warming up to tubing. He holds your arm against him while he goes to feel safer. I think he is still a little afraid since our near tumble in Flaming Gorge.

The Aqua Roller= a workout.
We had so much fun with our new toy. It definitely looks easier than it is. Camie and I hold the record for 5 rolls in a row.

Johnn and me on the wave runner. Johnn had fun trying to throw me off. We don't own wave runners, so having one this year was quite the novelty. We all had so much fun.

The ladies dragging

"Double, No Triple, Knee Boarding!"

I love that the little boys made hats out of the empty boxes. Who needs to buy actual toys?

Todd eating it while surfing behind the wave runner.

Johnn- high speed dragging. I think he looks like a superhero.

We had such a fun trip & are glad to say that no babies were born on the houseboat. Becky was 36 weeks pregnant and has always come early. We welcomed baby Lily just a few days ago.

Also, my favorite quote of the trip, little Kylie came up to me while I was laying out on top of the boat & tapped me on the shoulder and said very concerned,

"Monica, you're getting very white!"

I asked her if she meant I was getting red, as in burnt, but she said again, "No, your getting very white right there (pointing to my stomach where I had my tankini pulled up)".

I just love how kids can be brutally honest.

Bear Lake with the Hansens

Okay, so believe it or not, Johnn and I had never been to Bear Lake. Shocker huh! So we were very excited when our good friends Josh and Amy invited us up for the weekend.


First night there at the rodeo. It was very entertaining, even though most of the participants didn't do too well. My favorite part was the horde of kids chasing the calf trying to get the ribbon off his tail but were too afraid to grab it when they got close.


We stayed at the Shaw's cabin, which was very nice of them to take us in as strangers, & Michael thought that their riding lawn mower was pretty cool. The best part was that when we got home he tried to ride on our regular lawn mower. It was hilarious!


Me & Michael



Jaxson & Michael on the 4-wheeler. Doesn't that look like a happy face? Michael does not like getting his picture taken. We just tried to get his picture taken at Kiddie Kandids and it was a joke.


The boys picking fresh raspberries. The raspberry shakes at Bear Lake, I would say, definitely lived up to my expectations.


Michael


Jaxson


With how low the water is, you would go in up to your knees for a few feet, then back to your ankles before it started getting deeper. It was perfect for the little ones.


Josh & Amy... going, going, gone!


Thanks Hansens for such a fun trip.

Flaming Gorge

Okay so I am finally posting pictures a month later, but that's what happens when you are busy moving and don't have internet. Anyways, we had a blast with the Miles family up at Flaming Gorge over the 24th of July. I could not believe how high the water was. Your legs dragged in the water on the rope swing and most of our beach was underwater. We had a great time. The kids did a lot of tubing and playing with these great dump trucks. We definitely need to get Michael one for his birthday. Johnn had school so he met us up there half way through. Without him there I didn't take very many pictures.

Living the High Life

We had such a fun 4th of July weekend up at the cabin. The weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We had a blast 4-wheeling, hiking, making smores around the bonfire, playing games, and simply hanging out together. We were so glad that the Elggrens were able to drive over for the weekend now that they live in Colorado. We are looking forward to more cabin adventures with them now that they are not as far away.

The hikers- Notice there is no Johnn in the picture. He stayed back at the cabin to do homework. Sorry honey, but I am proud of you for going back to school to get your MBA.

Cute CJ and Brooke

We had such a nice walk over in the national forest, which borders the back of our property. The kids collected every different kind of flower that they found to look up in Nanny's flower book. They are getting to be pretty good with a lot of the names, probably better than I am at it already. The picture with my parents and the tree is what they did for their wedding announcements when they got married. I wish that I had a copy of it, because it was so cute.

The Whitmores

Michael loves 4-wheeling. I love that he will climb up on them and make engine noises. He is such a boy. He Just learned how to push that gas, which he is super excited about. I also love that he grabs your arm to hold around him.

4-wheeling pictures. The bigger one on the bottom left of the Elggrens is where they came in and clearcut the forrest a few years ago. It's so sad to see when you know just how beautiful it used to be, but new trees are starting to grow. For now there are just a bunch of cows there that the kids like to chase.

I just thought this was so cute. Nanny took Michael out on a 4-wheeler ride and he fell asleep while they were going. It was his only nap for the day since he refuses to sleep when there are fun things going on. The poor little guy gets so tired, but he cannot miss a minute of being at his favorite place.

Somethimes I just don't know how I ever functioned without a digital camera. We were trying really hard to get a good picture of the three little ones (Michael, Noah, and Claire), but I seriously took 30+ pictures trying to get one. I couldn't imagine having to pay to get a role of film developed only to end up with a few good pictures. These are a few of my favorites. Michael kept taking his hat on and off, Noah was worried about protecting his can, and Claire was more interested in everything else around her than looking at the camera. They definitely are cute little cowboys, even though we never got a picture with all three smiling at the same time. I might need to try a little photoshop magic, but they tell the story this way.

This Is the Place Heritage Park

The train is one of our favorites.

Petting zoo- Michael definitely isn't as shy with the animals & cute Tyler just had to pick all of them up.

Pony rides- Michael did much better this time around. Last time he would not even get on the pony, but this time he wanted he rode and even wanted to go again.

Playing in the schoolhouse