Fair Week

Fair week in our county is huge. At least in my town it is. Everyone goes multiple times and some live there all week long. Sadly their have been years where RB and I haven't even gone. We are trying to get into the spirit more and we actually went twice this year. The first day we rode the rides. We opted to skip the parade so we wouldn't die from the miserable heat and go straight for the rides. That was a perfect idea! The lines were short and we were just finishing up when it started to get crowded. We eat some good fair food for dinner and headed home.

RB and I both rode this ride. We agreed the funnest part about the ride was not going all the way around the circle but when you hung upside down when the ride was gaining momentum.


Buddy Boy hanging out. He did so good even though he was hot and miserable. He HATES being hot!








The next day we went back to look at the animals and the booths. Once again it was HOT and miserable. We walked around everything once and called it good. We had fun and even though the fair is still going on we probably won't make it back. Maybe next year we'll make it more. We'll see. :)

August (Some of it Anyways)

Summer is sadly coming to an end. Like my sister said, "Now Friday's will have meaning again." We are trying to fill the rest of our summer with fun family times. RB watched the kids one day so I could go to the temple with my sister, mom, and some friends. It was so much fun to see them again and go to lunch. It was a good day. Thanks RB, I love you!


MJ loves rolly-pollies. That is what we call them anyways. She dislikes every other creepy crawler around, but will cover herself in rolly-pollies and have the biggest smile on her face because of it.

MJ is excited for first grade. Her teacher was a kindergarten teacher last year who moved up, so she is excited to see her again.

I love watching my girls eat watermelon. It is like candy to them! We have really tired hard as a family to eat more healthy and be more active. So far we are doing pretty good and the watermelon is only helping.


Buddy Boy (aka Little Rat) is getting so big. He doesn't show it on the charts though being below 5% on weight, height, and head size. But to us he needs to stop growing!!! He cracks us up every day with new things. He still likes mush which is new because my girls hated the stuff, and he sadly is already learning to fight sleep. Here he is in the high-chair. Yep, one pacifier just isn't enough any more. :)


He also loves his jumperoo. He bounces like crazy in that thing.


Okay, so maybe this next part isn't a fun family memory but it needed to get done. We finished the bathroom in the laundry room. We put in a shower, and finished the last wall needed for that shower. Yea! It is done!



Church today was really good. The high council man and the RM talked about making righteous decisions in our lives. How we can be blessed when we do make good decisions, and how we should not pass judgment on those around us. I was able to really feel the spirit today as wonderful ward members took Buddy Boy. Thank you! It feels like it has been awhile since I've gotten anything out of church, so today was great. Well, I have really enjoyed my summer and even though I do look forward to my class it will be sad to say goodbye to warm weather, and lazy days! Good luck everyone with the beginning of a new school year!

The Aquarium

This last week we decided to go to the aquarium. It was pretty cool. We were a little sceptical of it but was surprised with all the cool things they had to look at. The girls had a blast!

An octopus.


The girls looking at frogs. MJ was so entertained by the one being squished up by the top.


The sea horses were really cool. They started out with big ones and then these ones were super tiny. Amazing!


The penguins were fun to watch.


The girls looking at the eels.


The turtle in his tank was also a favorite. The first time we went by you could barely see him off to the side. The second time he was swimming around.


After the aquarium we went to a cousins birthday party. Fun in the water, good food, and then Hollywood planet for some fun rides there.


Good times!

Nieces Baptism

After vacationing in SD we went to my nieces baptism and confirmation. RB had the special privilege of performing both ordinances. It was a very special day. My niece was so excited and nervous. My parents gave the prayers, and my other sister gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. I lead the music and then MJ, Lil, and I sang When I am Baptized. We had been practicing for about 2 weeks. MJ was shy at first but got louder as the song went on. Lil did so good too. She sang every word she knew and stood quietly at the parts she couldn't remember. When we went up there Lil goes I don't want to be up here, I don't want to sing. (She wanted to play the piano instead.) Both girls did such a good job! I am so glad we were able to be apart of that special event.




So after a week of resting at my parents home, almost a week in SD, and then my nieces baptism it has been a good long two weeks of traveling and making good memories. It is good to be home even though responsibilities are back now too like bills and house cleaning. We did come home to a nice surprise though.

Our garden looks like a jungle! Our poor peppers and strawberries have been taken over! Oh well, at least we will have plenty of tomatoes. We are sad our summer is coming to a close but we have a few more summer plans before school starts again. Should be fun!

South Dakota

The last week of July we went to South Dakota. When people found out we were going to SD they always asked, "What are you going to do there?" Well here is what we did:

Activity #1 Mammoth Site in Hot Springs


We learned to much at the mammoth site. RB took a ton of pictures too since he teaches about fossils in 4th grade. Now he can use the pictures to help teach next year.







Activity #2 Jewel Cave outside of Custer

This was on our way to Jewel Cave when we saw a whole herd of buffalo walking around. Way cool!


It looks like the USA.


Sadly, this was the coolest thing in the cave and we got to look at it for about 2 sec. They call it the bacon slice.


It was a little bright in the cave for RB, hehe.


Crystals in the cave. We didn't see that many crystals for being Jewel Cave, hmm. My family all agreed that Carles Bad Caverns in NM was far better than this one.


MJ and Buddy Boy did not do the cave with us. MJ was freaking out!!!!!!! So our guide took her back up with my mom and Buddy Boy. It was probably a good thing because there were over 700 stairs we went up and down, and my mom doesn't do stairs very well anymore. I do wish MJ would have gone through though. We had about a 2 hr wait and she was fine up to the point where we were going to go. Oh well, maybe next time she won't be so scared.


Activity #3 Presidential Slides in Keystone


MJ was scared to do this too even though we could control how fast/slow we went. I made her go and we went SLOW!!! The lady at the top started up right after RB and Lil. Then she must have waited a long time before sending the next person because they didn't catch up to us until the bottom.


Lil on the other hand wanted to go fast! She took RB's hand and pushed down so they were cruising down the slide.


You can see 3 of the 4 presidents heads up at the top of the slide but I didn't post that picture. This one is just of Mount Rushmore as we drove past it getting to Keystone.



Activity #4 Bear Country outside of Rapid City

There were about 6 different types of animals before you drove to the bears. I didn't want to post all of them.


The bears were funny to watch. This one was in the middle of the road. Another followed us up and around the road for about 10 min. until the feed truck came. That was a sight to see. All the bears went crazy. They all took off after the truck waiting to get fed. Really cool to see!




After the drive area they had a walk around area with even more animals. Once again I didn't post all the different pictures I took, just some.




The baby cubs were sooooo funny to watch. They have a super amount of energy!



Activity #5 1880's Train in Keystone

This was a three hour event that was very beautiful and relaxing. My dad is huge into trains and he loved this along with all the grand kids. MJ took about 50 pictures of the trees too. What a funny girl.









Activity #6 Reptile Gardens outside of Rapid City

Reptile Gardens was kind of a downer. We were expecting a lot more that what we got. It could have been because were were all tired at the end of the day too I guess. They had some cool things though like two giant pythons that were very interactive with anyone outside their glass. Lil has no fear of animals. She wants to pet and hold as many as she can including a giant Tortoise.


MJ was too scared to put her head up the hole to see the prairie dogs.



Activity #7 Water Park attached to Hotel in Rapid City


MJ really liked the lazy river and the hot tub.




When asked, Lil says this was her favorite thing about our vacation (my brother called it the toilet bowl and it stuck)






There are a million different things to do in and around Rapid City! We already have 4-5 things we want to do if we ever go back up there. It was all random things too. If you ever want to start up a museum of some sort, about anything, go to Rapid City. We had a blast!