Pajama Party

Josie is lending a hand, brushing BriAnna's hair.

Bedtime Beauties!
BriAnna, Jocelyn, Emily and Lyndsay.

Thanksgiving Point

Thanksgiving Point was running a promo for $2 Tuesdays. With so many critters to pay admission, that sounded like good, cheap fun for Ryan's afternoon off.

Overlooking the Gardens.

These great gardens are quite an anomaly out in our Utah desert. You can see the natural sagebrush at the top right.

Everyone rode the ponies in Farm Country. Bri, Lynds and Em were all smiles. Josie also rode a pony, but didn't enjoy it until it was over. Mom thought she would enjoy it because she was pointing and hooting at the horses while waiting. Josie even tried to sneak in under the fence. Perhaps riding the horse was a little too close for comfort.

The posted sign behind Emily and Lyndsay says it all. These city folks don't have a clue about the goings on out in the country. I thought chasin' chickens would be fun. What do I know?

Summer Vacation!

Some people go to Europe, some people go to Disneyland, we went to IDAHO! We headed north for our summer vacation and to visit Ryan's brother Justin, Kari his wife, and their family. They had just moved out from dental school to set up shop in Twin Falls.

The first stop on our grand vacation was the dinosaur park in Ogden.

Graphic portrayal of dino attack!

All of the dinosaur sound effects made Josie a little nervous as she studied the park map.

Dinosuar digging.

After five takes, we determined that three out of four looking at the camera ain't bad.

Family portrait in front of "Marshosaurus." Our stranger with the camera got the fam but missed the dino.

Our next stop was the Golden Spike National Historic Site. We watched the movie in the visitors center which showed the history of the golden spike. The kids were not that impressed with the movie, but loved the air conditioning.

Joy poses with the girls in front of "Jupiter."


Ryan poses with the girls in front of the "119."

Here is video clip of the "119" actually moving and blowing it's whistle. Emily nearly peed her pants when the whistle went off.

Our final destination of the day was Twin Falls, Yay! After all of the day's activities and the drive time, we were very excited to get to Justin's house. Now for the cousin slumber party!!!

It may have been against fire code, but we put all six kids in one bedroom.

It was a WILD, underwear on your head kind of party???!

Actually, it's just two potty training cousins.

It wasn't all crazy times, we were able to attend the open house of the new Twin Falls Temple. The girls really enjoyed being able to see the inside of a temple. BriAnna and Lyndsay especially liked the Celestial Room and the baptistry.

Most of the family in front of the temple (Josie was back at the house taking a nap and Emily was just about to take her nap on Mom's shoulder).

Picnic at Dierkes Lake near the falls.

Cooling off in the lake.

Photo op in front of the falls.

Jocelyn's First Birthday

Today we celebrated Josie's first birthday. Being our best little dirt lovin' chicky, she got a cake resembling the great outdoors. Her dirt cake had crushed Oreo cookies for dirt, chocolate rocks, and candy flowers. Josie had fun making a mess of her piece of cake. We all laughed that she was probably thinking, "Yes, this is what dirt is supposed to taste like!"

Mom, BriAnna, and Lyndsay had fun making little flowers out of Air-Heads candy. Emily tried to help but her hands were too sweaty, making it a very sticky job.

Naturally our little star had a very Happy Birthday!

Click on the video above.

Being Goofy!

We got these goofy teeth as a party favor and thought they would give us a great photo op. Emily could beg to differ, she didn't want to have anything to do with them.

BriAnna

Lyndsay

Jocelyn

Lyndsay Turns 7!

Lyndsay's birthday is in the summer so that means we can play lots of games outside, hooray! We had a beach monkey party with relay races and water balloons, and general craziness. My good friend Rachael was kind enough to help with crowd control, since Ryan couldn't be home. Thanks, Rach! We had a lot of kids there. It used to be the more the merrier, now I wonder.

Love the homemade cake. That's supposed to be a monkey with sunglasses on.
No fancy cake in the budget when you plan fun party favors for 24. Thankfully, we only had about seventeen.

Miniature Golfing Fun

Mom and girls

Emily is an excellent golfer, great form!

If you watch the ball, it travels to the hole better.

Girly Golf