Yellowstone

To celebrate several family birthdays, we decided to head up to Yellowstone.  We always say we should go there more often since we aren't that far away but for some reason it just always gets passed over. Addy turned five and this is the first time she has ever been.  We headed up on Friday and spent the night in West and had fun swimming with cousins and then headed into the park on Saturday.  To bad we chose a weekend with horribly cold and rainy weather. It was still fun to drive around looking for animals and the kids loved playing in the backseat. We just didn't get out and walk around as much as I would've liked.

Not long after we entered the park we came across a herd of elk.  I wasn't quick on getting to the camera which is a bummer because one of the bulls was huge. Oh well.

We did get out at Norris to see and smell all the hot springs.

Shortly after our stop, we drove passed this random buffalo.  We easily could've reached out the window to pet it.

see the baby eagle in the nest

I believe this was Tower Falls.  This is what happens when I get four months behind in my posting, I forget too many of the details. I do remember that this little lady was super grumpy and cold.

We finally got a smile after aunt trish bribed her with a treat.

Taking a lunch break in the rain before heading to see Old Faithful. The kids loved dragging sticks and making a path around the picnic area.  I think they were finally bored from being in the car all day so the cold and rain didn't bother them as much.

We had the best timing with Old Faithful. Seriously we walked up and within minutes it erupted.  Which was a blessing because we had some pretty cold kids who would not have enjoyed waiting much longer than that. It wasn't quite as impressive with all the cloud coverage. It sort of just blended into the background.

After a whole day of adventure these two crashed while waiting for everyone at the visitor center!

Hopefully we will make it back up next spring when it is warmer and to see all the baby animals!

Rigby Lake

Thanks to my cousin inviting us to tag along, we got another thing crossed off our summer list.  We love being spontaneous so when they texted to let us know they were headed to Rigby lake for the day, we quickly decided to join in the fun.  We borrowed a few tubes and packed up the sand toys and headed out for the day.  It was fun for Addy to have kids to play with, while us adults visited in the shade.  Mitch even got a nice nap while holding Brayden, which meant I got to float around a little on the tube and help Addy build an awesome sand castle.  I'd say it was a pretty great day!

Cousin Love

The kiddos and I headed down to Utah for a week while Mitch was at scout camp.  I wasn't to excited about spending the week alone with two kids so we went to visit family.  Addy loved spending so much time with her cousins and it was a great break for me to have her busy all day.

I love that we have two boy cousins so close together.  They could cause some serious trouble as they get older!

These two girls LOVED taking care of the babies.  I just can't wait for a few more years when they can actually do it on their own!

It was a hot afternoon and he just fell right to sleep completely sprawled out!

Oh boy! You are so loved!

As you can see I only pulled the camera out for one day.  We also spent some time shopping including us girls going down to City Creek and out to P.F. Changs which was so tasty.  My dad also took us all to see the movie 'Monster University' and then cooked us up some delicious hamburgers. We also spent some time over at my brothers new house helping to paint and rip out carpet.  It was a great time with two little babies.  The week went by quick and I was once again reminded of how wonderful it is to be a part of such a great family.

cousin fun

My sister was such a great help while she was here.  She even cleaned up the dog poops so these girls could play with the slip n' slide.  That is true love.

It was so great to have Addy occupied and having fun with her cousins instead of bored with me!

We even enjoyed a little of the warm weather.

Sun-bathing...I'm guessing they learned this from my mom!

Rigby Lake

I've been saying all summer that I wanted to take Addy out to Rigby lake because she loves to swim but even more than that, she loves to play in the mud.  We have a whole bunch of river rock under our deck in the backyard and she has cleared out a whole section this summer so that she can dig in the dirt.  It drives me crazy cause she is always filthy but I try to remind myself that she is just a kid and I would've wanted to do the same thing. 

This is seriously heaven for her!

I also love that she has no fear of the water...as long as she has her life jacket on.

why do my pictures always load sideways? This is such a cute picture that I just put it on anyways.

Cousin Week

In August, we had Gracie up for a fun cousins week. Sadly, I didn't take hardly any pictures of our fun adventures because my camera was acting weird. So I just have blurry ones from my phone.

For the most part they had lots of fun together!

happy faces

silly faces

On Monday, I had lots of errands to run and our first stop was the Verizon store.  We ended up being there two hours which could've been miserable with two little girls but turns out a camera is a great distraction and they were great!  When I went grocery shopping, they held my list with a pen and took turns crossing off all the stuff we got.

Seriously these two are such cuties!

The next day we went to the summer kid movie which was the chipmunk movie.  They spent lots of the movie dancing in their seats since it has lots of music in the show.

Wednesday we went to the pool.  Gracie was swimming and playing all over the place and Addy was so exhausted that she just wanted to sit in the chair and watch.  

Just before we left, she totally fell asleep in the chair.  I was amazed because she never does stuff like this.

 Another day we went to the zoo.  These girls loved it so much that we spent most of the afternoon here.  I just remember having to run Addy to the bathroom every half hour.  Apparently she was well hydrated that day!  There favorite animals were the goats.

The lion even though he spent most of the time asleep.

And who doesn't love the monkeys.  Especially when they come right over to the glass and stare at you!

We also spent a lot of time playing at the park and going on bike rides around the neighborhood. And since I was also in the middle of painting my bathroom, they were great to just play around the house too.  By the end of the week they were so tired that it was good to have a break from each other!