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Buddy Boy insisted on wearing his tie to church. I couldn't help but take a picture for RB who wasn't able to be at church that day. He sure is a handsome little guy!

MJ decided she was a unicorn at dinner. Of course Buddy was monkey see, monkey do. I got a kick out of the uni"corn". Hehe. 

RB's i-pad has mirroring on it. Because of this we can play any app on his i-pad and project it up on our big screen. For a FHE activity we played some games and the kids had a great time. 

More harvesting from the garden. Buddy even helped pick the beans. 

The Wind Caves

It is amazing to me how I can run 11 miles without walking but hiking up to the Wind Caves just about killed me. The Wind Caves is a 1.3 mile hike that does rise 900 feet in elevation. Yes, I did carry one or another child up and down some of it but not nearly as much as RB. Now on the other hand RB cannot run 11  miles and he thought this hike was a cake walk. Either way we had a ton of fun going with RB's brother and two of his kids. 

Lil did a piggy-back ride for most of it. This did explain why I hadn't heard any whining as we were hiking up. 

After we went to second dam to eat lunch and feed the ducks. The kids played hide-and-seek, and waded in the water too. 

We had a great time! Too bad we then had to go school clothes shopping. At least we are done with that now too. :)

Aug. Happenings

Aug. has come and is almost gone. It feels like yesterday we were celebrating the new year. Weird. 

Buddy is full of funny faces and expressions.

At the parade during Fair Week RB was handed this shirt. Since it didn't fit him, it is now mine. He took a picture of the back and sent it to a co-worker as an inside joke that not even I know about. 

The girls got bored one day so I let them do impressions in clay. They had a great time! 

They even painted them afterwards. They dried bumpy but otherwise they turned out really cute. 

I am training for a marathon this Sept. Since I often start my long runs before the sun is up I get to see a beautiful sunrise. I love it!

Have a great day!

Fun at the Grandparents

We decided we needed to make one last trip home to see my parents before school started. Once that happens it is harder to make it down to see them unless it is a major holiday if the weather is decent. So we went. It was a great trip. I went walking with my dad every morning, and one night (early morning) we got the girls up and went outside with my dad to watch the meteor shower. The girls loved watching the shooting stars.

A red moon. 

The power went out one night. It was fun to play games with the lantern. Right when I was just about ready to fall completely asleep the lights came back on scaring me half to death. 

It's great seeing family and I'm glad we were able to go one last time before school starts again. Hope you all had a great summer too!
 

MJ's Baptism

Aug 3rd, 2013 was a blessed and beautiful day. MJ was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had every member of my family and RB's family there. Plus some extended relatives and close friends. It was a nice relaxing day filed with smiles, love, and good memories. 

Here is MJ in her baptism dress.

Before the baptism we let MJ open her gifts from us. We gave her a church bag, a white hair bow, a CTR bubble ring, pens, a journal with testimonies in it of family members, and her own scriptures with her name engraved on them.

The before pics. We have a dear friend of ours who had a dress for her granddaughters. She let MJ wear it and MJ LOVED it.

After we had lunch at our house. My nephew and Buddy Boy had a great time reading books together.

Since we had all but my sisters husband here we had to take family pictures.

My sister being a great example for the younger children.

See how influenced they are by her. hehe.

I'm so grateful my brother and his kids were all able to make it. We haven't seen them for almost a year and it was great having them here with us.

Once family had left we went to the hotel my parents got and swam in the pool. Buddy freaked out for awhile. RB finally got him in the pool and playing for a little bit. Ms M on the other hand LOVED every minute in the water. She laughed, smiled, and had a great time.

It was a great day and I'm glad we could share it with so many.

Lagoon & Hogle Zoo

After MJ's baptism my sister and her kids stayed with us for a few days. We had such a good time. On Sunday we had a chocolate fountain that we pigged out on. On Monday we went to Lagoon with my brother and his kids, and then on Tues. we went to Hogle Zoo. It was so much fun having them stay a few extra days. The cousins LOVED playing with each other! 

Lagoon

I didn't get quite as many pictures at Lagoon as I too was riding some of the rides. 

 

Buddy HATED this ride. In fact they stopped it to let him off and then started it again. 

 

However, he LOVED this ride. He would even ride it by himself, over and over and over and over again. 

Waiting for his favorite ride with sister. 

 

We had a tough time getting MJ to ride many of the rides. Daddy convinced her on some of them even though they were kid rides. That's okay though eventually she may want to ride more. Lil on the other hand was an adrenaline junky. She rode on Wicked and there was no stopping her after that. She loved all the big rides she rode on. 

If you ever want to know what it feels like to be clothes inside a washing machine ride this ride. 

Lagoon Souvenirs.

Hogle Zoo:

 These little displays they had, that I got pictures of throughout this post, are all made of Lego's. Really cool!

The polar bear was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It kept making the same rotation in its routine and the kids would run back and forth trying to follow it. It was probably funner watching the kids more than the polar bear for me. 

Buddy has the cutest and weirdest run.

Buddy would dance to the music, and then run off. Stop, dance, and then run again. Very entertaining!

 

I don't think I have ever seen the gorillas so active as they were this day. One ran right up to the window and then sulked in a corner. Another ran and banged on the wall. Then another banged on his chest like you always see in the movies. This area kept us busy and entertained for awhile for sure. 

 Ms M stole sisters gift shop toy as they were going potty. She didn't want to give it back either.

Buddy playing with his Hogle Zoo train. He didn't end up getting the jeeps like we wanted. But he loves his train.

 

 

 

This is how the kids were every night. Exhausted!

We had so much fun playing and being with family!