Family Vacation...take three

Tuesday was Jake's birthday and I already blogged about most of that day. Here are a few more pictures...

The kids spent a lot of time sitting out on the porch in the hammocks. It was so nice to just hang out and relax.

Max and Will laughing at each other!

Nathan and Jack came out with the exact same bathing suit and rash guard- gotta love Old Navy!

Max's nickname on the trip was "Max-a-moose!" He's quite the chunk!

On Wednesday we drove through Yellowstone and saw elk, bison, a couple bald eagles and a moose. We walked to this look-out point where we could see the Upper Yellowstone Falls. Jake really liked looking at all of the animals and seeing the waterfalls.

Stay tuned...(yep, there's still more to come!)

Family Vacation...take two

On Sunday we went to church with my grandma and then Jon thought it would be fun to ride Trax into Salt Lake and walk around Temple Square. We told the boys that we were going to ride a train and they were pretty excited!

Jon held them up so that they could hold the handles on the top. They had fun trying to stay balanced as the train jerked around a little.

We hadn't been to Temple Square in a while so it was fun to go through the visitor's centers and walk around the grounds. It was a little hot outside, but everything was so pretty this time of year. I can't wait to take the boys when they are a little older and will really appreciate it.

We then rode the Trax back to our car and drove up to my parent's cabin in Island Park, Idaho the rest of the day.

Monday was spent just hanging out and getting things set up at the cabin. Jon took the boys out 4-wheeling and they loved it!

Monday night we went into 'town' better known as West Yellowstone and ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Buckaroo Bills. They have the best pulled pork sandwiches and the biggest scoops of ice cream I've ever seen! We then went to the Playmill and saw "Hello Dolly" with Wendy and Derek. The rest of the family saw the earlier showing so we left our kids with them. It was such a fun play and even more fun to be there without our kids!

Stay tuned for more exciting details about our vacation....

Family Vacation...take one

We had such a fun time on our vacation! I took a ton of pictures so I think I will break this up into a few different posts.

We started in Utah where my grandma had a little reunion for her side of the family. This was the first one they have ever had and it turned out really well. It was fun to see cousins that I haven't seen in a long time.

Grandma Mary and Me- I had pink eye so I had to wear my glasses for a few days. Also, I copied my outfit from Andrea since I thought it was so cute when she wore it (hope you don't mind!)

Grandma with my Aunt Debbi and my mom

My Grandma's descendents (and there a quite a few missing!)

Nathan enjoyed doing the little craft. He's getting pretty good at writing his name, but sometimes the 'n' is backwards!

Jake loved when they brought out the snow cone machine. He kept going back and getting a new one just so he could get different flavors!

My grandparents lived up the street from me growing up until they moved back to Utah about 10 years ago. It's sad that I don't get to see them very much anymore. My grandpa's health is not doing well at all and so it was nice to be able to visit him in the hospital while we were there. We also got to stay at their house so it was nice to be able to visit with my grandma. I love them a lot and am so grateful that they were there for all of the important events in my life growing up. I couldn't ask for better grandparents!

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Jake turned five years old today. Here are five things that I love about Jake:

1. He is innocent. He might hit and push other kids, but most of the time he is not trying to be mean- it is hard for him to control his actions.

2. He is very expressive. If Jake is really excited about something, you'll know. If he is upset about something, you'll also know!

3. He is sweet. When someone gets hurt (even if he's the reason they are hurt) he'll pat them and tell them it's okay and try to make them feel better.

4. He is great at giving hugs and kisses. We love 'Jakey hugs'!

5. He is a good brother. Although he and Nathan seem to fight a lot, they really are great friends. The first thing Jake asks in the morning is where Nathan is. He also loves Max, though he expresses his love in a somewhat rough manner!

We had fun celebrating Jake's birthday today. We are at my parent's cabin right now (more pics to come) and so he got to celebrate with ALL 14 of his cousins on my side of the family!

He started the day with his birthday balloons in bed when he woke up. It took him a minute to figure out what was going on, but then he got excited about all of the balloons.

We then went rafting down the Snake River. The rapids were a little bigger than normal which was really fun. Jake kept wanting Jon to go backwards and turn circles in the raft!

Later that evening we had a barbecue and then opened presents. Jake got lots of good stuff including Hungry, Hungry Hippos and this Fridge Farm toy.

He also got a new scooter from Grandma and Grandpa Warnick. He was pretty excited about it!

Carli did her birthday spotlight that she does for everyone's birthday. One of the things she said was that the person Jake admires the most is his dad. I definitely agree with that!

It was also my dad's birthday so Carli did a spotlight for him as well. It's always so fun for Jake to celebrate his birthday with his Grandpa Bob!

We ended the day with a letter 'J' cake! Jake was really cute trying to blow out his candle. I think everyone was a little apprehensive about eating a piece anywhere near the candle! A little saliva never hurt anyone!!!

We love our little Jake and are so glad that he is part of our family.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, America!

Last Monday night for Family Home Evening I tried to teach the kids about why we celebrate the 4th of July. I told them that it is America's birthday and that we are so lucky that we get to live in a free country. Nathan then asked me what 'America' was. I replied that it is where we live. I think I really got through to him. While we were watching the fireworks he pointed to them and asked, "Is that America?" How do you explain this holiday to a 3 year old?!!!

Despite the confusion, we had a great day!

We started the day at our ward's anual flag ceremony, breakfast and bike parade. I teared up as patriotic songs were played and sung- I have always felt a huge sense of pride and appreciation that I am an American (those of you who saw my house in Vegas can attest to that!).

The boys helped us decorate their bikes for the bike parade. Jon spent about an hour decorating Nathan's bike- I think every part of it was wrapped with crepe paper!

The boys loved riding their bikes around while everyone cheered for them. Jake even snuck in and went around twice!

After the ward party we went out to my mom's house and went swimming. My parents are in Arizona this weekend helping Becky who is in the hospital again (for more details on that go to her blog) and so we got the pool all to ourselves! I forgot to get swim diapers in Max's size so he had to wear one of Jake and Nate's. The sad thing is that it's not even that big!

This was Max's first time swimming. The water was a little cold so he didn't really love it!

Jake has started trying to dive in. It turns out to be more of a belly flop, but he loves it!

Nathan loved having Jon throw him up in the air. He's getting a lot braver in the water this year.

After swimming we headed back home and decorated star sugar cookies. It's a tradition in our family to decorate sugar cookies for every holiday!

We then went outside and played a little football and baseball in the backyard.

It's also a tradition to make this flag cake every year!

Max was all smiles wearing his flag outfit!

We went to Holly's house for a BBQ later that evening. The food was all delicious and it was nice to have a smaller group for a change. Jake does much better when there's not so many kids running around.

We ended the day watching fireworks over the lake. Carli is staying at our house this weekend so she got to hang out with us through all of the festivities. Jake is still deathly afraid of the loud noise that fireworks make so Jon took him up to his office and let him watch fun kid's videos on You Tube. Nathan and I watched the fireworks together and he loved them. It was such a great show!

I've decided that the actual day of the 4th of July is my favorite holiday since there are so many fun things to do and I love the reason for the celebration. Don't get me wrong, Christmas will always be my favorite for the whole holiday season, but there's just something about the 4th of July that I love. I'm so proud to be an American!

Matching Boys

What can I say? I know I'm cheesy, but I like to dress the boys alike. I figure I gotta do it now while they don't have an opinion about what they wear!

Will and Max had matching blessing outfits!

Matching faces!!!

I was so bugged- I bought these matching outfits a few months before Max was even born and I was so excited to get a picture of them together. Unfortunately, this is the best one we could get... little stinkers!

The family picture turned out a little better!