Bear World

Brandon and I thought we better do some kind of family trip for the summer.  So we packed up the kids and headed up to Bear World on the recommendation of some friends.  It was a fun weekend together!

We stopped at Idaho Falls for dinner and to see the temple.  Here are our boys in front of the falls!

 We had a fun night at the hotel swimming and watching a movie.  Then we got up the next morning and headed to Bear World!  Here's Brandon with the kids in front of the park.

 There are my four little bear cubs!

 There was an awesome petting zoo.  The chickens reminded us of Nanny and Papa!

 Brandon and Jacob got a real kick out of petting some deer.  There was also a moose (to see, not to pet), turkeys, ducks, fawns, sheep, and goats.  And LOTS of animal droppings!  Watch where you step!

 Hope we never meet one of these!

As we drove through the park the bears were just off the side of the road.  We were told not to stop driving so the bears didn't climb on the cars.  Scary!

It was SO fun to watch the baby bears play!

They even had rides!  They had to shut this ride down because Jonah was freaking out so badly!  Oh well!  We tried!

 We paid a little extra and got to go on this truck to feed the big bears!  It was so fun.

The truck drove around and stopped.  The bears recognized the truck and came running, standing up on their hind legs to be fed.  We fed them stale donuts and sweets.  It was really fun!

The park also has a rare white elk.  Cool, huh? 

 On the way home we stopped at an awesome park to play.  We stopped at a grocery store, bought a box of popsicles and ate the whole thing!  It was so hot!

Jonah had fun playing!

Looks at THOSE guns!  How lucky am I?  It was such a fun, easy trip.  We'd recommend it to anyone!

Happy 7th Birthday, Sarah

Our little princess turned 7 this year!  At our house odd birthdays mean friend parties!  She chose to have a Candy Land party!  It was so fun!

 Here's Sarah with her cake.  Do you like her dress?  She made sure she dressed appropriately for the theme of the party!  I love the girly fuss over the details!

 Here's a closer look at her cake.  I'm not the most amazing cake maker, but I try my best.  This is a no-fail cake that's always cute.

 For decorations we just got colored products.  So easy!

 We had to have a few colored game spaces leading from the front door to party central.

 This is what the kids got in their goodie bags.  It was great that Walmart had a bunch of "Sweet Shop" items for cheap.  We used a bunch for game prizes too.

 We had a game for each Candy Land character.  It was so fun.

 Here's Sarah with her friends and gifts!

Grandma gave Sarah some darling play dresses and her #7 doll statue.  Her brothers gave her a cute hat.  And Mom and Dad gave her an art kit.  We love our Sarah!  She has a rare gift of love and acceptance that blesses the life of everyone around her.  I have no doubt that she was sent to our family to be a special instrument in Jonah's life.  And I have no doubt that Jonah is so high functioning because of Sarah's influence in his life.  Sarah loves to sing, dance, cook, play with friends and serve.  We're SO happy to have her in our family!

Pioneer Day

I love Pioneer Day.  It's my birthday!  Brandon gets work off, we get to spend the day together only doing fun things, and I don't have to cook any meals!  What's not to love?

Here's some of our crew at the parade!  It was a LONG parade this year, but we had lunch at Roosters to look forward to and we were happy to be together!  

 Here's Nathan - just because he's cute!  He loved the music, but didn't love not being able to run into the street.

And here's my birthday gift!  A Ninja!  Hi-ya!  It's the best chopper EVER!  So easy to clean, affordable, comes in fun colors, and the job is done in seconds!  We did all the regular Pioneer Day stuff too:  Fort Buenaventura, a family barbecue, and fireworks.  Brandon even make sure I had a small box of chocolates to eat while I read a good book.  Life doesn't get any better than that!

4th of July

Another year and another 4th of July!  We love all of our traditions and spending time together as a family!

 This year I asked Jacob if he wanted to run the city's 5K race with me.  He jumped at the chance.  I was worried about him.  We hadn't done any training, it was hot, and he's still little.  I told him to let me know when he needed a break, thinking I would need to take it easy on him and walk several times.  Boy was I wrong!  He totally outran me!  I couldn't believe it!  While I wasn't in the tip top shape of my life, I had been running for several months.  Jacob's such a sweetheart.  He would run ahead a ways, then stop, walk back and get me, run with me for a little bit, and then run ahead again, always coming back for me.  I told him to just stay with the pack and he wouldn't get lost and to go ahead.  I felt so badly for holding him back.  I just couldn't run as fast as he could!  I don't remember what our final times were.  He was ahead of me.  I know it was around 30 minutes, which is normal for me.  He was pretty sore the next couple of days.  I can't believe how much I underestimated him!  I'm already looking forward to next year's race, although Daddy might have to run that one with him . . . if he can keep up!

 Brandon found us a nice, shady spot to watch our small hometown parade!  Everyone got to choose their own flag shirt colors this year.  

And we finished off the day with a barbecue and hometown fireworks.  Here's my handsome honey with his new Father's Day grill!  We've never had a grill until this year!  Can you believe it?  Doesn't he look manly like Tim the Toolman?  He was grunting up a storm he felt so studly!

Nathan's 1st Hair Cut

I begged Brandon to let me wait until after Nathan's 2nd birthday to cut his hair.  His hair is a lot thinner than the other boys, and I have never been able to bring myself to cut off those adorable curls!  But it was past the point of looking cute anymore, so I headed to my friend's house for his first cut.

 Here's a "before" shot.

 He did a pretty good job holding still while Jami cut his hair.

 When he got a little antsy Jami turned the spray bottle over to him to keep him occupied.  Spraying Mommy  is pretty fun!

And here's our "after" shot!  Still cute, still curly, and he looks more like a boy.

Jacob's 1st Cub Scout Camp

This summer was Jacob's 1st opportunity to go to day Cub Scout camp.  I was lucky enough to fill in for a leader last minute and go with him (thanks to a really great sitter who was able to watch my other kids for an ENTIRE day on VERY last minute notice).  It was a very pleasant day weather-wise and so much fun!

Here's the group of boys we took!  Jacob is in the back on the left with the black ball cap on.  It was hilarious as I drove the van to listen to their conversations!

Cub Scout Camp had all of Jacob's favorite things!  He loved learning how to do archery.  The Scouting program is so great!  It was fun to watch some boys that really struggle in school excel at everything they tried at the camp!  It was their moment to shine.

The BMX bike course was fun, except that Jacob got stuck with one of the smallest bikes available (he, he)!

Ahh, Jacob's dream come true!  He's counting down the years until he can go on the deer hunt with his dad!

I was proud of Jacob for doing the rock climbing wall.  It was hard and some boys wouldn't even try it.  There was a little extra time, so they allowed any of the leaders a try if they wanted.  After I got the poor staff kid to swear he wouldn't drop me, I gave it a try.  It's a good thing we didn't get a picture of that!

Our last station was the zip line.  There goes Jacob!  He loved it, but then admitted he had his eyes close the whole time!  What a fun day being with my son and his friends.  I would do this every year!

Jacob's 2nd Grade Program

At the end of Jacob's 2nd grade year the entire grade put on a wonderful program.  It was fun to see what they had learned all year.  They did some darling songs which had Jacob giggling so much he could hardly sing!  So fun to watch!

Jacob is in the front row right in the middle smiling right at me.

Jacob was thrilled to have his buddy Colby in his class this year!

For his animal report Jacob chose . . . deer!  Surprise, surprise!  It's amazing to me his fascination with deer has lasted this long.  Most of the other kids chose more exciting, exotic animals.  After the kids presented their reports their peers could ask them questions.  Jacob came home after his report a little disappointed and said, "Mom, nobody asked me any questions about deer."  Hmmm . . . deer are a little boring when you see them all the time on the side of the road and other kids are reporting on cheetahs and pythons!

Nanny and Papa are always great to support the grandkids!  Thanks for coming!  It meant a lot to Jacob!

Nathan's 2nd Birthday

I really do want to make another attempt to get caught up on my blog!  So here it goes!  Nathan celebrated his 2nd birthday this summer.  I can hardly stand to watch our baby grow up!  We had a little family party for him.

 I made a puppy cake with paw print cupcakes.

Nathan loves treats, but he didn't love the party hat for very long.

We invited our wonderful neighbors over to celebrate with us.  For whatever reason they LOVE Nathan!  Lindsey is Nathan's favorite friend, babysitter, and he knows she'll spoil him no matter what.  They've been such a blessing to our family!

Nathan got a bubble blowing leaf blower, a lawn mower, Magformers and a golf set.  He is obsessed with mowing the lawn, even more so than our other boys were.  We love our little Nathan and his curly, curly hair!  He brings so much joy and fun to our family!  He loves "mowing the lawn," suckers (Lindsey keeps him well supplied), Daddy's car, wearing big shoes, playing with his siblings, the show Caillou, and above all his daddy!