Tons of photos....

1st of all, a completely random side note: Hyrum is starting a Farmer's Market on Thursday nights. They begin Aug. 4th and run from 6 pm - 8:30 pm. My understanding is that they will go through September and possibly a few weeks into October. Yes, I have a booth - hence, the side note.

Another random side note: We've decide we're going to baptize Samantha & bless Brookelyn on Saturday, Sept. 10th. We don't know what time yet but will send out formal invites when we do know. So, plan to come!

Disclaimer: My kids are too photogenic & I can never decide which photos to buy or post. So, there are a lot of pictures in this post!

Last night I put Brookelyn in the tub. She's finally getting to where she doesn't scream like a made woman every time I put her in the tub. In fact, she gets one leg kicking and it never stops the entire time she's in the water! In this picture she's looking at Nash. She sure loves that boy. She won't take her eyes off him when he's in her line of sight.

She's also gotten much happier much more of the time. I'm always thrilled when I can catch one of her cheesy grins on camera.

Last night I took all 4 of the kids and Sam's BFF, Jolie, to Willow Park. We got out of there just before the rain started. It was nice though because it had rained earlier in the day so it wasn't too hot. The playground was boiling, burn your bum on the slide hot but nothing was wet either. Brooke enjoyed the stroller ride (mostly)...

Travis and the boys were talking about hunting the other day. They've decided they're going to shoot a bear and a moose. Then, they're going to do full body mounts on both of them and put the bear on the moose so it looks like the bear is riding the moose like a cowboy. Oh and the bear will have a cowboy hat but not boots, because that would be dumb. Despite the moose and bear talk, they were still thrilled to see "TJ" (the name of the elk on our wall).

Here's why I say Brooke mostly enjoyed the stroller ride...she was mad when we started and mad when we finished, but she was happy in between!

This past Sunday I took all 4 kids to church...by myself so Trav could finish studying for his final that he took on Monday. All the kids looked cute, but Brooke was the only one I got pictures of. It's crazy to think Sam wore this dress after her blessing!

After church I took the kids down to my mom's house to get in her pool. Caleb has been terrified of the big pool all summer long. Recently he's started getting a bit more use to the idea of it. Two times ago he climbed on the ladder and put his toes in. Last time he hung onto the ladder while he floated in the water. This time he miraculously let go of the ladder, held onto the edge and bobbed in the pool! I even have a picture to prove it! He was extra excited when Grandpa got in the pool with 6 of the 7 grandkids. Unfortunately my camera batteries died so I have to get those photos from my mom.

Brooke had her first "bob" in the pool the other day as well. She loved it as much as the tub! She was sad when we made her get out because it was getting cold. It's a good thing her Grandma will get in the pool with her because mom doesn't (eczema is too broken out).

While Travis was home I went to Make It With Mandy Craft Night. I had ordered a few projects to do. I convinced my sister to go with me and Samantha decided she wanted to come along as well. It was fun to have a girls night and do something I wanted to do. Sam was great at painting and I've signed up for next month's projects too. If you want to check them out go to the Super Saturdays with On the Avenue link on the left under favorite links.

I let Sam pick a project to do for my mom. She had wanted to go but had to close at work. Sam did this one all by herself for Grandma. Grandma was impressed and so was I!

They give away some door prizes at this shin dig as well. Sam won a free haircut from Fringe Saloon & look what I won:

And how stinking cute is this baby girl? She was being super smiley and happy yesterday morning & I was able to catch it on my phone. I was thrilled when I was able to email the photo to myself!

We were at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris's house the other day with all the cousins. Not everyone is looking at me, but, no one is crying!

This week while Trav's home we are visiting different places close to home for our family vacation. On Monday we went to Hogle Zoo. We haven't been since Caleb was Brooke's size. There are a lot of things that are different at the zoo since we were there last. And, they are adding a huge section onto the zoo. We will have to visit again next summer to see the new addition to the zoo.

We got to see the baby elephant:

The dinosaurs that they use to have in a special section you had to pay extra to see are now spread throughout the zoo. They also have some fossils and fun things about dinosaurs in one of the bldgs. This is a giant fossilized footprint:

This is how everyone should do the zoo:

After we left the zoo we went down to The Gateway. We had dinner at the food court before heading over to the Planetarium. Travis hasn't been there since we went on our honeymoon. They are in a different bldg now than they were then. The kids haven't ever been to the planetarium before. I've been a few times on school field trips. The kids loved this contraption:

My boys on the moon:

The kids on Mars:

We watched the Led Zepplin laser show while we were there. I wouldn't recommend going to the laser show. They didn't use the lasers much. The laser show Trav & I saw when we visited on our honeymoon was much better than the one we saw this time. The IMAX shows are awesome. I've seen those when I've been with the school. Brooke loved the laser show because of all the lights and sound. The boys got bored pretty quick. Trav was disappointed because of the lack of lasers. Sam was kind of indifferent. I thought it was ok.

Tuesday we stayed home because the kids had summer camp & Nash had an appointment. Tuesday night Travis & Nash went into Logan to rent movies from Hastings. Sam & Brooke & Caleb & I went down to my mom's house. Brooke put her feet in the pool for the first time:

On Wednesday we went down to Ogden to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. This park is amazing! I would definitely recommend taking your kids here. Don't skimp out on seeing what's inside the bldg. In fact, go in there first! It's better than outside in my opinion. There are lots of huge dinosaur fossil skeletons. Here's the wooly mammoth:

If you pay a little extra you can let your kids excavate for polished rocks, cut a geode open or pan for gold. Sam & Nash chose to excavate for rocks (Caleb helped) and Caleb opened up a geode. His geode is awesome. I need to get a picture of it. They were all thrilled with their rocks though.

Some of the fossils:

Outside there are tons of dinosaurs placed throughout the park (8 acres). They don't move or anything, but they look quite life like:

They had quite a few of this cutouts for photo opportunities:

This dinosaur fossil is left in the rock because it's got gold in the rock as well. Not sure if it's fools gold or actual gold - I didn't get a chance to read the whole placard:

The Flinstones!

This one of Caleb cracks me up:

World's Most Dangerous Creature:

Brooke did the dinosaur park the same way she did the zoo:

There's this sandbox that has fossils in it that the kids can excavate. This little boy came up and started talking to Sam. She told me when we left that he told her he liked her. She was like, "He doesn't even know me!"

After leaving the dinosaur park, we went to Sandy to The Living Planet Aquarium. It was better than I thought it would be:

We stayed home today so Travis could study for his finals. We'll be home tomorrow because Travis has to take a test & we are celebrating Caleb's birthday tomorrow night. I've got to get that Diego cake made!