Provo: Day 3

On Day 3, Trent's family all went back up to Olympic park, and we stayed down in Provo to see my dad's side of the family.

 Before we met up with the fam, we took a jaunt up Provo Canyon.  It's so beautiful through there.

We found a stream to skip rocks in.

Love the tongue sticking out of his mouth.  He is so related to my mother.  :)

We  found a park by the stream.  I had no idea Preston could do the monkey bars all on his own until that day.  I don't think he did either. ;)  After watching his bigger siblings do it, he must have decided he could do it too, then he just went and did it!  He is like that with so many things.  He has to watch and study it first, then he just goes and does it!  Funny boy.

A rare picture of my sweetheart and I together.  I'm usually the one behind the camera.

After Provo canyon, we went to meet up with my extended family at a park in Provo.  I often wonder if Jilly will ever realize how fortunate she is to have Vivi for a big sister? 

 

 

 The boys wasted no time jumping in the stream by the park.

 After waiting around for a while, and no one else showing up, I gave my mom a call, and sure enough, we were at the wrong park!  Go figure.  Good news though; the park we were supposed to be at was only a few blocks away. ;)

 We had a great time at the park catching up with my family.  I haven't seen them all in so long!  All of my cousins have grown up so much.  

Jilly found herself a patch of dirt and was content to sit there for quite a while and get nice and dirty.  Thank heavens for wet wipes!

We played a whole bunch of games.  My aunt Carma is the game lady.  She always has tons of game ideas.

We played WAH!, Ninja, and missionary tag.  And the boys spent several hours throwing drumsticks at one another's feet to see who could go the farthest into the splits without falling over.  I opted out of that one.

 Preston had the best time having so many other kids to play with.

 Jilly enjoyed meeting everyone and getting lots of extra attention.  This was the first time my grandma Guercio has seen her in person.  My grandma has had some health complications the last few years and hasn't been able to come and see us like she used to.

 In the back is my uncle Mike and his wife Melissa, then there's Carma and Kepi in the front.  These are some of the greatest people around!

 In the front on the right is my cousins Karanda, then Brett, grandma Guercio, my cousin Kiersten and her boyfriend, then my cousin Derek.  On the left are Carma and Kepi again.  It was great to see everyone.  Loved catching up with my grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I wish we could see them more often.

We were at the park from 4:00 in the afternoon until just past 11:00 that night, and my kids still hadn't had enough.  They all wanted to stay longer.  I guess that means they had tons of fun!  It was great to see all of the Guercio clan.

Provo: Day 2

Day 2 had us heading up to Park City to visit Olympic Park.  We spent all day alpine sliding, zip lining and hanging out on the obstacle coarse.  I don't have very many pictures since we were so busy all day.

 Here is one on the chair lift on our way up to the Alpine Slide.  I always had Preston for a buddy on the slide, and he thought he was the one that needed to be in control of the brakes every time we went down.  He would slow down ever so slightly before coming up to a turn, then as soon as we would hit the curve, it was full speed ahead.  I'm a little nervous for when he gets his driver's license.  I'm just saying.  He was also my buddy on the zip line.  He was woo-hooing the whole way down the mountain.  Vivi loved the zip line too.  She and Taryn got to go together several times.

After Park City, we cruised back to the hotel to get changed for a wedding.  It just so happened that the week we were in Utah was the same week that Trent's darling cousin Libby was getting married.  I wish I would have thought to snap a picture of the bride and groom.  Cutest couple you have ever seen!

Instead of bubbles, or rice, they had tons of balloons for all the guests to let go of as the bride and groom ran to the honeymoon getaway car.  So fun!

Here's the crew.

 Colson, Tristy, and Trenton.

Taryn, Colson, Trey and Ry.

 And of course, the inseparables, Taryn and Vivi.  Vivi asks me all the time when we can move to Texas so she can see Taryn all the time.  They sure have a good time together.  6 days just wasn't enough for Viv.  :)

Provo: Drive and Day 1

The first week of August, we took a little trip to Provo with all of Trent's family.  I can't tell you how many times, as a kid, my family and I made that same trip.  My parents got the drive down to a science after a while.  We would make one pit stop (the same place every time; a little gas station by the name of Gay Johnson's, just before Grand Junction) and that was it.  During the drive, we listened to a lot of music, played the ABC game and the license plate game, studied the scenery, and my brother and I would spend much of the time reading.  And we always got to our destination in no more than 7.5 hours, usually less.  Well, the drive Trent and I took with our five kids was much different than those of my youth.  I think we stopped at least four times, there was a movie playing constantly to keep the kids entertained, and it took at least 9.5 hours.  My dad would have croaked!  While the kids weren't into looking at the scenery, I sure enjoyed it.  It has been so long since I have taken that drive, I forgot how beautiful it is.  Here's a little snap shot from along the way.

Beautiful!

The first thing we did when we got to the hotel was run up to Steph and Ryan's room so we could meet our new nephew/cousin Teague.  They adopted him from Russia, and brought him home in June.  We had been waiting on pins and needles to meet him!  He's such an adorable, sweet little boy.

Our first full day in Provo was spent at Seven Peaks water park.

Vivi was so excited to be with her cousin Taryn again.  These two have the BEST time together!

Taryn, surfing on grandpa's back.

Jilly, looking a little ornery and ready for a nap.  :)

 Trent and the kids battling the waves.

 Two of the cutest girls in the world.

Trey and Colson, after a full day of water park fun!

Asian Tropics

Back in July, the kids, grandmas and I went to see the new Asian Tropics exhibit at the zoo.

 They did a beautiful job with the exhibit.  They now have room for 12 elephants!  They don't have 12 elephants there yet, but they hope to in the future.

 The kids all got to try out the elephant ears and hear like an elephant does.

 

 This girl is too cute for words.

 Even great grandma Chapman got to go with us.

 This little girl is so lucky to have such wonderful older siblings.  They all take such good care of her.

 We headed in to the Lorakeet adventure and got to feed the birds.

Jilly was so happy every chance she got to get out of her stroller and cruise around.

It's never a real trip to the zoo without getting a picture on the bronze hippos.

 Pretty birds.

 This little monkey was dancing for all the onlookers.

Cutest sisters around.

We had a perfect day at the zoo.

Summer Fun

I can't believe summer vacation is over.  It seems like every year it goes by faster and faster.  We have had the best summer, and of course I am behind in my blogging again, so there will be lots of posts to come.  (Just warning ya!) Here are a few quick blurbs to get started.

Trenton went to Scout Camp.  I guess it was grueling.  They hiked 7 miles to get to their campsite, with an elevation change of 2500 feet.  With hiking packs on no less.  The boys all did great though. 

 

 They got to see some beautiful scenery along the way.

Here's the lot of them.  They came home covered in dirt from head to foot.  I didn't even bother to ask Trenton if he changed his socks or underwear in the five days he was gone.  I didn't want to know.

Trent is such a good dad.  He hiked up with Trenton (with a 100 pound pack no less), stayed for 2 days, hiked out, came home and got showered, then repacked his pack and headed up to camp with Colson.  He was really tired by the time he got home with Colson the next day.

 

 Colson had the best time at camp.  It's amazing what they can pack in in just a couple of days.  He came home with all sorts of things he made, and talked about tons of things he learned.

 Making rockets.

And the best part, shooting guns.  And yes that is a tissue hanging from his nose.  Poor little snap got the WORST bloody nose while he was there.  It took a good 45 minutes to get it to stop bleeding.  He came home almost as dirty as Trenton did.  I was tempted to take a hose to both of them before they stepped foot in the house.

Another highlight of the summer was when Trent and I got to meet our friends Bret and Arianne for lunch while they were in town.  We always love when we get to hang with them.

We visited the splash park, and Jilly bean LOVED it!

We also went to one of the free concerts at the outdoor mall by us.  My boys got down and boogied in front of everyone.  It was awesome.  I wish I had taken a picture!

 Jilly had fun dancing her pants off too.

We had a great time until the concert got rained out.  It was fun while it lasted!

We also went to the zoo to see the new Asian Tropics exhibit, took a trip over to Provo, the boys went to Cowboy Camp, and Viv went to Fairy Camp.  More on that in other posts.