Walking the dog!

One of our MOST favorite things to do at Nana's was to walk the dog. Seriously? I don't know what it is! They would ALL fight over who got to do it. Tears would be shed and sometimes privileges taken away from the arguments that would happen over the dumb dog....that we all love so much. BUT look at how happy he makes them all! This particular time they ALL got to go walk the dog/ride in the wagon! Safety first....Dash! Darby is a good sport. I think she was taking on the chore of getting them out of my hair and settling the fight over who's turn it was to walk the dog. Every one's turn.
Juliet opted out of riding in the wagon to get to hold the all coveted leash! Look at her dirty little "I got leash neener neener neener face!"
Here is the reason for all the fighting! Bingo is his name-o! How would you feel if I told you he doesn't even like kids!? He sure did like all the walks though!

Dragonfly catchers

An evening event that all the kids like to do this summer at Nana's! Apparently the best way to catch a dragonfly is in the middle of the street in your diaper! Not embarrassing at all.

learning to ride!

While we were in Utah Max learned to ride a bike! He is kind of a nervous Nelly on a bike and it has taken him a while but he FINALLY learned and he really liked it! He still needs to practice and gain some confidence but for the most part he learned how and we all got to be there to cheer him on! GO MAX GO!!!
YOU CAN DO IT!!!
GOOD JOB MAX! We live in L.A., not Utah. I wish that he could just go outside and ride to his hearts content but it is just not so. We will have to find a place that we can practice at home. It was still fun to cheer him on and have the whole family there to watch him with this big accomplishment! Now if someone could just potty train that droopy diaper baby in the back that would be great!

playing in the rain!~

When you are out of money on summer vacation what do you do? We played in the rain! I LOVE to surprise the kids and walk outside with no umbrella and stomp in a puddle. Curtis yelled into Darby and said "Your mom said we are going on a walk RIGHT NOW! She is soooo cool!" It's not that often I am so cool so I will take it when I can get it! Here are Max and Dash AFTER the walk in their boxers waiting for some hot chocolate! The girls still enjoying the dancing and stomping in the puddles!

Uncle B and Curtis hugging after a lovely wet walk!
The "cool" mom!

Pink Floyd Chooses the Right?

This is the poster that hangs in my little brothers room. It is a Pink Floyd Poster of all his albums or something like that. I'm not cool enough to know the logistics of it all. 2 summers ago my hubby locked himself in my brothers room for a couple hours for a little secret project while my brother was at work.............. This is what was there when he came out. My brother has left it up. It is a one of a kind Pink Floyd "re-make". Brandon made them a little more.....how do you say.....modest! :) enjoy......

. I like Brandon's version better!b So funny!

Bennett's Birthday Party!

Bennett had a super fun Ninja party while we were in Utah! There was a cool kicking/punching contest where you got to show off your sweet ninja moves! What 5-8/39 year old doesn't like to show off his sweet ninja moves? My favorite part was that all the best friends just happened to be in Utah that weekend! The Thomas', The Jeffords and The Sanfords! Just like it was supposed to be!
Go birthday boy!

There may have been a surprise visit from Darth Vader! Because what Ninja party doesn't have Darth Vader? (Bennett really likes "Star Hores" so I made Vader come thinking that would be AMAZING!)
There was music and light sabers and it started out VERY cool and excited.......(just look at their faces....amazed and excited and not at all nervous...or scared....or worried.........).........

......and may have ended in a lot of tears and running away! It seemed really real! So the moral of the story is that Ninjas and Darth do NOT mix! BUT if anyone wants a REALLY good REALLY REAL Darth Vader to come to their "Star Hores" party, I totally know someone!

SURPISE!

We surprised the kids with a quick visit by Brandon! He flew in with out them knowing. I told them I had a doctors appointment and went to pick him up. We had been in Utah all ready about 11 days. Here is Max just realizing daddy was here! Then there was the mad rush!
and no one wanted to let go! Surprises are the best! I love Juliet's hand on Darby's face. So sweet!

Classic skating!

Classic Skating? This isn't the Classic that I grew up with! This is a whole new ball game! They have a whole lot more. While we were in Utah I got a killer groupon deal that gave us 4 entries into the water park part of classic, 50 tokens for video games, and a large soda for 20 bucks! YES PLEASE!!!!! We bought 2 of them! That got all of us in and we had plenty of food! We set up camp and made a day of it!
Even Uncle Ryeley had a good time! Hard to believe!
This is the dance off they had! None of our kids won but they danced their booty's off!

Juliet and Dash soaking in some rays!
so cute.
she stole Uncle Rye's hat while she was eating a slim jim. Only she could get away with that!

The Hogle Zoo!

While in Utah we got to go the Hogle Zoo! It was a special night because it was Kennecott night. All Kennecott employees and their families were free and everything in the zoo was free! (Except the gift shop stuff of course.) It was soooooo much fun! "mom can I ride the train? YES! Can I ride the carousel? YES! Can I ride it 50 more times? YES YES YES! Can I have cotton candy? YES! Can I have popcorn, Slurpee's, soda, pretzels, nachos, and any other carnival food you can think of? YES! BECAUSE IT'S FREE!!!!!!!" Now that is just a fun day at the zoo! They just opened a new dinosaur exhibit. Pretty cool!
Free Kennecott hats too while we eat our free Dippin' Dots.



Enjoying our FREE face painting......





for even the moms!

The only bad thing about EVERYTHING being free and saying yes to everything is that when you leave the zoo and all the kids ask to go in the gift shop just to "look" and they ask to buy something and all of a sudden you have so say the word NO! Wow. No one wins then! Thank you Papa and Ryeley for working at Kennecott and taking us to the free day at the zoo! Thank you Juliet for acting like the dinosaur below when I said NO to you one time at the zoo!