4th of July

We had a very relaxed 4th of July this year. Tyler is at a difficult age to be out late, so we didn't even try. Danny had Stadium of Fire tickets, but neither of us felt like going far from home and fighting crowds. So we spent the day at home visiting with my sister, Marjorie, and her family. Then when they headed out for Stadium of Fire, we went to a park and played Frisbee golf. As it got close to getting dark, we headed home and put Tyler to bed, and then took the girls into the front yard to shoot off our own fireworks. We have never done our own fireworks before(besides sparklers) and the girls loved it. They especially loved the ones that shot up high in the air.

Bobby, Jesica, and Breanna Visit

A couple of weeks ago, we got a surprise visit from Danny's oldest brother, Bobby, and his family. His wife, Jesica, had never been to Utah, so we showed her around. We went up to Sundance and rode the ski lift up to the top. Alyssa loved hanging out with her older cousin.

Here is a shot of Alyssa on the ride back down.

It was fun to see them and to get to know Jesica a little better.

Splash Days

We went to this family carnival for Saratoga Springs Splash Days on Saturday. The girls got to do some really cool activities. They got to joust(although those sticks were way too big and heavy for Ashley).

They got to zip line. They said it was super fun.

They got to go inside of these huge balls and roll them around.

By far, the favorite was this walking on water bubble. I wish I could figure out how to post the video of it because I have never seen anything like this.

We went with the intention of staying for a couple of hours. I was finally able to drag them away after 4, only because everything closed down. They asked me afterwards if we could get one of those water bubble things for our backyard.

Tyler's First Birthday

Tyler had a great first birthday. It took him some time to understand how to unwrap presents, but he caught on by the third or forth present. He loved his new gifts(this sports court, a new book, stacking cups/ balls, a leap frog talking puppy, a ball popper, and a miniature chair).

I made him his own personal cake to dig into, and that is exactly what he did. I posted the series of pictures to show his progress.

I felt bad for him when he got it up his nose and in his eyes. Here are the three kids in their chairs.

He has his doctor's appointment tomorrow, but I would guess he is around 20 lbs and about 24 inches. He is a little guy for one year old. He has his two front bottom teeth, but that's it. He is crawling and standing up to stuff and getting into plenty of mischief, including this cupboard

We have had such a great first year with him. He is such a good baby and so fun to have around. We sure love him.

Thanksgiving Point Children's Museum

Last week, I took the kids over to the New Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point. They had a blast! I just wish it wasn't so expensive or I'd take them back often. Tyler enjoyed the baby areas...

and the baby water table.

Ashley loved the water room too. I love the boots she is wearing.

She also had fun building and knocking over this tower.

And Alyssa built her own personal house.

It was a fun day. My only regret being that I should have allowed like 3 more hours to really give them enough time to explore everything.

School's out for Summer

The girls finished school last week. Ashley's last day was on Thursday. It was a field trip to a couple of parks, the first had a pioneer cabin for them to tour, and the second was to play pioneer games. Here she is on the playground after the games.

Alyssa's last day was on Friday. It was an awards assembly in which she got recognized for excellent phonograms, math, music, and hula hooping(she had to go for 10 minutes to earn that one). She was sure sad to say goodbye to her teacher, Mrs. Carver. 

She was also sad to say goodbye to one of her two best friends, Brooklyn. Her other best friend, Lucy, wasn't at school on the last day so I wasn't able to get her picture.

It has been a good year for both girls, but we are all ready for the break.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, we went up to a cabin in Island Park, Idaho, with Shannon, Adam, Gawbie, and Grandpa. It was beautiful there and so nice to get away. On Saturday, we spent a good part of the day on the ATV's that Shannon and Adam brought along. Here is a picture of Danny and I driving the two seater Razor.

Here are the girls in front of the Razor.

Those ATV's were super fun, but also got us quite dirty. The girls couldn't get enough of them.

On Sunday, we headed off to Yellowstone. We opted to observe the Sabbath by observing Gods Creations. It was a good day to get away from our cabin, too, as we woke up to no power or water. It wouldn't have been very fun to spend the day in our cabin like that. Here are the girls in the car ready to go.

Our first stop was to get a closer look at this river.

Our second stop was to see this herd of Bison. There were bison everywhere we went. These were just the first ones we saw.

Next, we got to the geysers. They ranged from some that looked like a normal pond, to some that actually boiled, and then of course the ones that spouted into the air. This is a boiling one.

A colorful, but calm one.

A spouting one.

And then, of course, we saw Old Faithful. That was awesome, as expected.

Monday, we headed home, with a quick stop in Rexburg to eat lunch and see my old stomping grounds. The campus has changed, but there was still a lot that has stayed the same, including my old apartment at Royal Crest.

The whole weekend was great. The only down side was Tyler running a fever Saturday and Sunday, and having him throw up all over me. I also hurt my back on Sunday night and had a hard time moving after that. Fortunately, Tyler is better now and my back is almost back to normal.

First Haircut

Tyler's hair was getting a little long. We were worried that people would start telling us how cute our baby girl is. So we got some haircutting advice from our friend who has three boys(we weren't sure how to cut a baby boy's hair) and went for it.

Before

After

He did pretty well with it. We planted him in his high chair in front of the sliding glass door(Alyssa and Ashley were right outside the door drawing chalk pictures) in hopes that he would be entertained by his sisters. It didn't work. So then Danny tried to distract him. Also didn't work. Then Danny gave him the spray bottle and that kept him busy for most of the haircut. We've been admiring our work for the last couple of days and we are pleased with the results.