Work Party

Every summer, Brad's work hosts a pretty fun family party.  This year they rented out a baseball field and there were jump castles, water slides, lots of food, and this little train thing (these contraptions seem to be really popular around this area...never seen anything like them before I moved here...or maybe it's just because I didn't have kids then!) The kids had a blast and the bonus was that one of W's friends Dad works with Brad so it was like a really fancy playdate for the boys. 

G1 & G2

W & his friend L



The train contraption...give a guy a four wheeler and he
will find some excuse to drive it is all I can think.

Like Mother, Like Son

I do not like public restrooms.  And it seems like kids learning to use the potty are just drawn to them...well, at least my kids are!  Maybe I am crazy in my thinking, but I think a lot of people flush public toliets with their foot.  Am I way off base here?  Anyway, G2 apparently has really taken to this foot flushing thing.  It cracks me up.  He loves to hang off the bar (if one is available) and then hoist his foot up to flush.  Cracks me up enough that I took my camera into a public potty to capture the moment.

Please don't loose your shoe in the toliet

Visiting Friends

The Kids...only missing one little guy in this pic

One of my friend's that I met in Charleston is from SLC, so when I heard she would be visiting this summer, I didn't want to miss the chance to see her and her three kiddos.  After driving by myself from Nebraska a few weeks ago, I apparently feel invincible in my solo parenting skills so we were off for a day trip.  We had a great time hanging out with Alix and her three kids having an early lunch, spending a couple of hours at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, and then splashing around in the Gateway Olympic fountain.  Thanks Alix for making time in your super packed summer schedule to spend an afternoon with us!!

Back yard fun

Looking back over my pictures from the summer has made me realize one big, sad thing.  I have barely taken any pics of our daily adventures.  We have been so busy this summer doing fun stuff and I have very little of it captured.  Now that naps are a thing of the past around here, we have been going non-stop.  Park play dates, activities, lessons, swimming, dance, camp, golf, story time, hiking...you name it and we have done it.  I love the ages the kids are at now.  We have a ton of fun.  But I still have a two year old that loves to run....run away from me that is....so I have to make sure I keep my eye on that little guy which takes away getting in a couple of good shots now and then.  I hope now that I have realized that I am lacking photos, I can make up for it in these last bits of summer and over the fall.  I do have a couple of fun shots of one of our favorite activities....playing in the water in the backyard.

Best Friends

 These two are together almost 100% of the time.  They are hilarious.  They love the same things yet at the same time love different aspects of things so they play together without fighting (for the most part!). 

W is really growing up

 W has really grown up a TON this summer.  He just seems older.  He does little chores for me quite well and I love how meticulous this little guy likes to be. 

My Girl

G1 has grown up a ton too.  First off, she is super tall all of a sudden.  She is fun to hang out with and she just seems, I don't know, different.  I love this girl.  I feel so blessed to have a daughter.

"Baby"

"Baby" as his Big Brother lovingly calls him is a hoot.  This little man has the cutest voice and just talks up a storm.  We have had so much  fun this summer with him.  Even though we call him "Baby", he can run around with the big kids and keep up most of the time.

Love these kids and all the fun we are having this summer!

Nebraska

This summer we headed back to Nebraska to visit our family.   Our stay was a bit longer this time around because we enrolled G1 & W in camps at Stuhr Museum.  Stuhr is a special place to me because I used to go there when I was a child.  All. The. Time.  And I used to wear my pioneer dress (that is me below in the brown dress) each and every time I would go there (hmmm....and I wonder where she gets it from!) I am pretty sure the train I am standing in front of in this picture is the same one my kids are standing in front of in the photo of all three of them below.  And G1 has on the same apron that I am wearing which was made by my Grandma Jencks.  I am digressing, but, needless to say, I think I was more excited about the kids being signed up for these camps than they were!  That is until they actually attended--they both had a blast!  G1 was in a class called "Kirsten & Addy" which was based upon the American Girl books that she has read a thousand times and just loves.  Each day they did a project that a girl from that period of time (around 1864) would do as a part of their daily lives.  W was in a train camp and each day he learned about a different car on the train.  Both kids had an awesome time and it would be super cool if they were able to do this again in the future. While in GI, we also had the opportunity to stay the night with cousins and grandparents and visit many family members.  Thanks to everyone who took the time out of their busy scheduled and made time for US!  Even though we live so far away it is really important to us that our kids know their family....and because so many people take the time to stop by and see us when we are visiting, this is able to happen.
 

At Stuhr Museum in front of the old steam engine
 I would ride on as a child (as a visitor to the museum...
not as transportation..I'm not THAT old!)

After spending the week in GI, we headed to Omaha.  Our days were spent going to the Henry Doorly zoo, the train museum, eating way too much good food!, making taffy, making homemade ice cream, swimming, visiting with family....I am sure I am missing out on something.  Grandma & Grandpa D always do a good job at making the kids feel so special.  Grandma D is great at making special time to spend with G1 which she just loves.  It can be hard for me to do one on one craft projects with G1 (a: because the boys are always distracting me and b: because I am not so great at crafts!) so this is really a special thing for G1.  We spent the 4th of July in Omaha and I will have to say that those Omaha-ians sure know how to party it up--WOWSERS!  We haven't seen that many fireworks in YEARS---I'm pretty sure I've never seen so many in my whole life.  The sky was just filled with large professional displays and just people lighting off HUGE things in the street.  Grandpa D had a stash of his own fireworks that we got to enjoy on the 4th as well....I think we kept things legal though.

In front of the house where
 Henry Fonda was born

G1 in front of cabin where
Kirsten & Addy camp was held

G2 and I would wander around the
Stuhr Museum a bit each day and explore.
Mostly nostalgia for me.
He liked to pump the water.

Next stop was Filmore County.  I always love visiting my Grandpa & Grandma Kaiser at their house because it is where I spent a lot of time when I was a kid.  It's pretty much the same and I can find trinkets, pictures, and random toys in the same spots where I would have played with them 20-some odd years ago.  My kids love going to visit their Great Grandma & Grandpa.  And of course, Grandma & Grandpa V. live here.  We had such a great time doing the activities they planned for us.  We went to Homestead National Monument which was very interesting and was right up G1's alley of interest.  And, Grandpa V. arranged for us to ride on a real train engine.  I do not think the kids understand the awesome magnitude of this....for sure the boys don't.....but it was pretty cool.  I mean, we were riding on a real live train engine that is going to be used to haul grain (from what I understand!) through the cornfields of Nebraska.  We got to blow the whistle and everything.  WOW!  Very cool stuff.  We also went to the water park in York which I think is just the most perfect water park.  My kids love it.  I love it.    It has something everyone can enjoy and it has not been crowded anytime we have gone.  We had such a great time we ended up shutting the place down instead of leaving before dinner as planned.

At the Henry Doorly Zoo going on a
train ride

Out in some real prairie at
Homestead National Park

BFF Jessica who called and talked to me for 3 hours during the part of the drive I was most nervous about due to getting up early to drive.  And then my Mom talked to me for a long while too to get me through my after lunch drowsy time.  My kids were incredible.   Never, ever underestimate the power of DVD players is my travelling motto.  And when the DVD player breaks....well, call your husband and have him hook you up to the nearest Wal-Mart (45 minutes out of the way by the way when you are in the middle of Wyoming...but it was well worth every minute of delay as it made the remaining evening hours pass by without much complaint!)

Big excitement....we actually got a train ride on this
REAL engine.  Pretty. Darn. Cool.

Well, this is rather wordy and probably getting hard to read, but we had a great time in Nebraska if you cannot tell!!  Thank you to everyone who made the time and effort to see us.  And thank you to everyone who made the special effort to plan activities that my kids would love and enjoy.  Because of you, they think Nebraska is the ultimate vacation destination!