Life is Fun!

Just catching up.

My sister and I have always talked about having a sister's weekend. A weekend without kids or husbands. Just the girls. So my husband finally said "If you want to do this you are going to have to plan it. So just do it!" And I did. We decided to go to Park City. We had so much fun. We made such yummy breakfasts every morning and then ate out for lunch and dinner. We went shopping at the outlet malls and found treasures to take home. We got the best pedicure ever with shiny toes and jewels. We had sushi, subs, mexican, and fancy food. Just hanging out with my sisters is the best.
Mom and littlest sister came up on Saturday to do fun stuff with us.
Standing in line to ride the Alpine Coaster. Court is anticipating the ride ahead. It was so much fun. Doing this ride again for sure!!
We went to a nice restaurant Saturday evening. To get there we rode a funicular up the mountain to the top where the restaurant was.
Here we are inside the FUNicular. All dressed up!!
The food was great and the company was even better!!!
Great conversation too!!
Just had to take a picture of the shoes. Look how cute. Britt's shoes were super shiny and the picture doesn't do them justice. Tiff's are very animal like....grrr. And I only wish I had smaller feet to wear all of Brandee's shoes she brought up.
I think my littlest sister(who is now taller than me) had fun and we hope she did. I wanted her to feel like a big girl even though she is only 14. Loved having you and mom up for the day. It was surely a special day for me :)
Just after dinner and riding the funicular(that is such a fun word to say) back down we got a valet guy to take our picture. I just love my family. I think all of my sisters and mommy are just beautiful. It was one of the best weekends I have had!!! Let's do it again!!! (can you tell which girlie is my mom?)

In September we finally went to the zoo. I have been promising the kids we would go there since we moved here and it's only taken me a year and half. The kids and Jared had the day off so we took off!!! The zoo was not crowded at all and the weather was really nice. Unfortunately the animals were all "resting". But there were a few that were up for the day. These monkey's had everyone's attention.

We stayed at the monkey house for about 30 minutes. It was so fun to watch them play.
Playing on the steel sculptures.
This wolf was up and putting on a show for the passerby's.
And the petting zoo was fun. But Lauryn was the only one who would pet anything. She's not afraid.
In August we had a visit from Jared's sister and her little family. It was so great! We love to have our family and friends visit us. Their little boy Michael was such a joy to have in our home. He and Lauryn played so well together.
We took them to the Children's gardens in Dayton. The kids were playing in a giant nest.
This nest was so cool. It was a maze of branches. The kids could have played in there for hours. Wishing I had one in my backyard.

Still at the children's gardens playing in the water. Michael has what looks like a heart monitor strapped to his chest. It's a camera from a little boys eye view.
Thank you so much for visiting us!!!

No I did not have another baby. This is my 3rd baby Ethan and he turned 5 just recently. How come every time one of my kids has a birthday it always seems like they were born just yesterday. Time goes by too quickly. Sob :(

Now that Ethan is 5 he is all of a sudden a very big and brave boy. He can suddenly do things that he was afraid to do before. He was terrified of the water before when he was 4. Now he goes in without his water wings(where he can touch the bottom of the pool), jumps in the deep end(with the wings on, of course). He is now saying things like "I can do this by myself because I am 5." What a big boy.
And a big boy gets a big mountain of cake for the monster truck to climb up.

Our Trip to Utah

We spent the first 4 days hanging with Jared's family. We played at Grammie's pool for a few hours. And the kids played on Jared's boogie board that he had when he was a kid. It was the favorite pool toy. Even Lauryn was wanting time on it.




We spent a day in Salt Lake. We had never been to the conference center so we did the tourist thing and took a tour. Way cool place! And we were accompanied by Jared's sister Cheree and her family.

Below is a pic I took of all of us in the mirror. Kind of small but you get the picture :)
Jared's sister and her family, also Jared's mom was with us too.
Below is the only family picture we took while we were there. On top of the conference center.
Having older cousins means lots of attention when you are a little boy. Renae and Mindy had no problem catering to Ethan's need to be swung while walking.
Beautiful Salt Lake Temple
Lauryn and Daddy chillin at the reflections pool.
Jared went on a trip with his dad which meant I got to have one on one time with my sisters. I spent a day at Shanda's house.
Of course we went to get ice cream after dinner. Something we have never tried before was soft serve ice cream with a slushy on top. It was yummm!!!!
Little Lauryn got just a cone. But made a big mess.
Literally chillin with the cousins. It was fun to have time with them.
We spent an evening at Bridal Veil Falls. We told Ethan that we were in the mountains but he did not believe us. He did not feel like it was high enough. But the kids had a blast climbing in the freezing cold water. I thought their feet were going to fall off from frostbite. But they did not even seem to notice.



The kids and I took a morning to visit the cousins on the Bunker side. We played at the park and had muffins and juice(from Grandma). Then we went and fed the ducks the leftovers. Lucky Ducks!!!
Later that day we went to the "bowl" which is a big lawn bowl to catch runoff flood water in the spring. So we played there and the kids floated down the stream.

Grandpa saving the day and catching the runaway child.
Uncle Marshall is the coolest uncle (according to all the kids) because he plays with them and takes them for scooter rides. And Amanda says he can skip rocks really far.


Well we had to show Ethan a mountain. So we drove to the top of one and had lunch. He believed us after he saw how high we were.
A trip to the Dinosaur Museum with all the cousins!

And my great brother took an afternoon off of work and took us 4 wheeling up the canyon. But the little kids loved the water cooler. They must have felt like big kids drinking out of big cups.
Daddy, Amanda & Ethan getting ready for a ride.



Close to the end of our visit we went to the water park and children's gardens. It was lots of fun!


I guess water on the bum must feel good because a lot of the kids were doing it.


The night before we left we got together with almost all of Jared's family. And only a few people were not there. It was good to see everyone!!!
Well, that is just about it. We really had such a good time visiting our family. Thank you to everyone who fed us, let us sleep at your houses, and just for being with us and making us feel special while we were there. We miss you all so much already. But we will be back next year. Love to all!!!!