Zooing It With Nancy

Kenny's Aunt Nancy was in the West for a few weeks. We liked to think of Nancy and her husband Bruce as our east coast grandparents when we lived in Virginia. They live in Delaware and we often went to their house to see them back in the day. Nancy happens to be one of my favorite people so we wanted to make it a point to see her while she was in town. On Saturday August 15th Nancy and many others from Kenny's family were going to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. We have wanted to go there since moving back so we thought we'd tag along. The kids had a blast and it was so nice to see so many of Kenny's family.

Gracie with Nancy's Granddaughter Juliet. They're only 2 months apart and they enjoyed playing with each other.

Ben and cousin Travis sitting on the trunk of the big elephant.

The kids and I looking at the elephant with Grandma Newbry

Ben and Hannah watching the Rhino's with Uncle Michael, Aunt Sarah, Travis and Trent.

My cute little baby Daniel.

Another cute picture of Dan. Isn't he adorable?

Ben and the giraffes.

We stopped at the McDonald's in the zoo and got the kids an ice cream. They were BIG!

Father Son Campout

Friday the 14th was the father son campout in our ward. We were going to the zoo in Salt Lake the next day so Kenny wasn't going to take Ben. Ben was NOT happy about this and promised if Daddy would still take him then he would be a good boy at the zoo and he wouldn't be tired at all. Well, Kenny has a hard time passing up a camping trip and who can say no to such a cute boy, so around 5:00 they headed to Rire Reservoir.

They had a wonderful time. First they went on a hike. Ben said it was a very dangerous hike and they could have died on it. I doubt it, but to a 5 year old it may have been more intense. They went down to the water, but didn't get in. There was too many other things to do. They ate a lovely hamburger dinner, did a little wrestling, and Ben got to play with the new twin 5 year old boys in our ward, Gavin and Ryker. They watched the sun set, apparently Ben had never watched the sun actually set behind the mountains and he thought this was really, really cool. When it got dark there was a campfire where the boy scouts put on a skit and sang songs. Ben was in heaven as he loves to sing and be goofy. Kenny said it was a wonderful campout. Ben got to do whatever he wanted with Daddy and he loved it. The next morning they got up early to cook the pancakes, Kenny's the best pancake cooker I know, and then they headed home so we could go to the zoo. I think they'll definitely be going back next year.

While the boys, minus Dan of course, were at the campout, the girls and I were having some girl time. We had some lovely mac and cheese casserole for dinner, yummy! We made brownies (a very girly thing to do) and played the ducky game on the PlayStation. Around 8:30 I put the little girls to bed and Sarah Kate and I stayed up to play Princess Monopoly Junior. It was actually a very fun game, well if you're playing it with your kids, and I would recommend it if you have girls. Sarah learn how to play it quickly and she won both games that we played, though she tried very hard to let me win the last one. After that we went through the school supplies to make sure we had everything and then it was time for her to go to bed. The whole thing was good for our little family. It was nice for Ben to have some one on one time with Daddy and for me to have some time with my girls.

'Blue Hat, Green Hat'

Have you ever read the book 'Blue Hat, Green Hat' by Sandra Boynton? It's a board book that's been a favorite book for all of my kids. It show 4 different animals wearing different color articles of clothing on. Three of the animals have their clothes on right, but the poor turkey just doesn't know how to wear his clothes. He stands in his hat, puts his shirt on as pants, puts his pants on as a hat, and so on. My kids think it's hillarious.

So, recently they've been acting just like the poor turkey. Their favorite is to put their clean underwear on their head. They come out of their bedroom naked with their underwear on their head. It's very, very funny. The other day I told Hannah to go get dressed. I was in the kitchen and she came in with her skirt outfit on completely wrong. She had the cutest little smile on her face that I just had to laugh and take a picture. I love the silliness of little kids. It reminded me so much of the book I just had blog about it.

Hannah with her clothes on funny. Skirt as a shirt and shirt as pants. She thought she was soooo funny.

Yellowstone Again

A cool shot Kenny took at one of the geyser's as it was getting dark.

When it comes to Yellowstone I'm beginning to compare us to Kenny's family when it comes to Disneyland. They all love Disneyland and go there a couple times a year. We've found ourselves doing the same thing only with Yellowstone. Sunday evening, after we got back from Salt Lake, Kenny got a phone call from his friend Andy. He, his brother Jon, and their families were in town at the Walmart. They were on their way to Yellowstone and wanted to stop by. Luckily I had just had one of those crazy Mommy moments when I made the kids clean up because I couldn't take it any longer. That meant when they came over the house was already clean. :) Jon and his wife Allison where here from the Netherlands and the two families wanted to go to Yellowstone. We were so glad they decided to stop by. It was so much fun to visit with them and to catch up. They ended up inviting us to go to Yellowstone the next day.

Gracie looking at the mud pots at Artists Paintpots

The group, plus a few others, looking at the mud pots.

Hannah and Andy's son Bryson headed back to the car.

They drove on that night to West Yellowstone while we stayed home and drove up the next morning. We all spent Monday in the park seeing as much as we could. It was a lot of fun to see the park with friends, some of who haven't been to the park since they were kids. The kids really enjoyed playing with friends and just having other kids to hang out with. We were so grateful they invited us.

Ben and Jon's boy Chase playing around at lunch time. They're only a few months apart and it was fun for Ben to have so many boys to play with.

The adults watching the kids play near the river after our lunch picnic.

The older kids!
Sarah, Chase, Jaxon, Ben, Bailey, and Dylan
This picture is missing 5 kids; my 3 youngest and Jon and Andy's youngest.


It was a long day and the kids were tired. Hannah looked so cute I couldn't resist taking her picture.

The kids looking at mud pots at mud volcano.

July 24th

Gracie learned to LOVE floaties. She swam all around the pool and was so sad when it was time to get out.

We had a wonderful 24th of July weekend. We headed down to Salt Lake on Friday the 24th and found ourselves hanging out with Kenny's family. My sister-in-law Mindy invited everyone to her house for the weekend and was nice enough to reserve the neighborhood clubhouse where we were all able to swim. We spent most of the 24th at the pool enjoying swimming and visiting with family. Everyone (except April and JJ because they also live in Salt Lake) went to Mindy's house to spend the night. We put the kids to bed and Kenny and I stayed up playing cards with my Sister-in-law Sarah and Mother-in-law Helen for awhile.

Sarah and Savannah eating outside the clubhouse.

Ben serving Trent out the clubhouse window. The kids loved serving each other.

Hannah being silly eating dinner with Cadence.

This is how baby Dan spent most of the weekend.

The next day was a hot day and we were very grateful for the pool. Before swimming we did a little shopping and then met the family at a nearby park for a picnic. After the picnic we went to Gardner Village to feed the ducks. By the time we were done feeding the ducks we were very, very hot so we all went to the pool to cool down and have some fun. We were originally going to go home that night, but both Kenny and I were really tired. We thought it best to stay one more night. We headed out early Sunday morning. Overall it was a great weekend with the family.

Feeding the ducks at Gardner Village.

Sarah, Hannah, Zack, and Cadence watching the ducks.

Hannah riding the rocket with Aunt Mindy.

Sarah spent most of the pool time jumping in.

Ben LOVED the rocket.

Gracie playing with baby Carlie. Their only a year apart.