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.

Strawberry Cheesecake Yummyness

 Yes, another cupcake post.  Preston chose Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes this week.  Yum, yum, YUM!!!  The cake part has real vanilla bean in it.  Very tasty.  They are also filled with strawberry jam.  Add that with the cream cheese frosting and crumbles of brown sugar/graham cracker crust on top and this makes for one scrumptious cupcake.

Yum!!!

Last week was Trenton's turn to choose the cupcake.  I have to say, this was my absolute favorite so far.  It's a good thing we gave so many away, or I would barely be squeezing into my pants this week.

Andes mint cupcakes.  

Trenton made them all on his own too.  All I did was pipe the frosting on top.  He did amazing!

Here is the link.  They will not disappoint.

Independence Day

We had a very fun and busy 4th of July.

 Trent and Trenton started their day super early and went to put American flags up in the yards of those who participated in the scout fundraiser.  They were up-and-at-em at 5:30 that morning.  After getting all the flags up, Trent headed over to the church to start flipping pancakes for our ward breakfast.  I got the kids up and ready, loaded their decorated bikes and selves into the car, then we went over to the church too, to scarf down a yummy pancake breakfast.  Afterward, all the kids hopped on their bikes and rode around in the parade.  There was also a fire engine there for the perusal of all.  The best though was at the end when they opened up the fire hose and everyone got to run and play in the water.  My kids were all drenched from head to toe!  They loved it!

 After the breakfast, we headed home to gear up for some fun at the pool.  I didn't get any photos while at the pool, but after about 4 hours there, Buds was exhausted.

Next up was the Rapids game.  Had to get a photo of Trenton next to Trenton St. :)  Jilly was in a kissy mood at the game.  Buds always loves to cuddle up to grandpa.

 We ended up getting to go down onto the field for the fireworks.  We've only ever gone to the Rockies games to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, but this year we decided to check out a soccer game instead.  The fireworks after the Rapids game were every bit as good as the ones at Coors Field.

 Jilly was fascinated for the first couple of minutes, then she decided she had seen enough.  She was a good sport though, especially with the long day we had.  After the game, we ended up sitting in the parking lot for close to an hour, just waiting to exit.  We got home around midnight.  I wish I had taken a picture of all the kids in the backseat.  They were out like lights.  It was wonderful being able to spend so much time with our family for the holiday.  And we never complain when Trent has a day off.  And boy are we ever thankful to all of those who fought, and still fight for our freedom.  We are so blessed to live in a country where we have so many freedoms.

Family Pictures

My mom's ward had a service auction a couple of months ago for their YW camp fundraiser.  There is a photographer in my mom's ward that auctioned off several time slots for photo shoots.  My mom ended up snagging one of them.  This was the most painless photo shoot I have ever been to.  This lady was awesome.  We were in and out of there in 20-25 minutes, and my kids loved her.  Here are just a few of the shots she took.

 All of us... and I am happy to say that my brother was very good about looking and smiling at the camera.  (I just have to give him a hard time because he's my little brother.)  ;)

 Preston's smile in all of these pictures cracks me up.  I love it!

 Just the boys.

 The whole family again.  We got just a few minutes where it stopped raining long enough we could head outside.

All the kiddos.

 My sweet hubby and I.

My bro and my mama.

It has been so long since we've had any family pictures taken.  The last time we did was when Buds was just barely 2.  It was high time!