Making the most of our "un"vacation...

Since Karl won't be able to make it on our real vacation this week, we decided to have our own mini vacation before the girls and I left. We spent the rest of the weekend in Logan and enjoyed the holiday festivities with Lacey and her girls on Monday. The little girls have always been best friends but I think their relationship has actually gotten stronger since we moved away (they say absence makes the heart grow fonder right?) We had a lot of fun enjoying the parade, riding the big blow up slide, eating snow cones and even riding a horse.

You can tell these two are going to be best friends one day as well. They are so cute to watch together. I know they don't do a whole lot yet, but they are already special friends.

Monday night we went back home where we were able to join my family in their holiday celebrations as well. We had delicious BBQ ribs and dutch oven potatoes made by my brother Robbie. (He is a good cook if you weren't aware.) That night my parents even let us put the girls to bed at their house and then go out on a date! We finally got to go see the new Harry Potter.

Tuesday we got to enjoy an extra day with Daddy! Usually he has to work but since he had already arranged everything to have the day off for our vacation, he got to stay home and play some more. We even got to go swimming again at my sister's house, which is always fun. Oh and you can't forget the delicious dinner we ate at Kneaders Bakery. If you haven't eaten there yet, I highly recommend it.

Although our family vacation ended up being a little different than we originally intended... we really enjoyed spending time together as a family- which that's what a family vacation is really all about anyway, isn't it?

The Vacation... that almost was

(since I don't have pictures to go along with this post, I am just going to include some random pictures I have on my computer.)

Yesterday was the day we had all been waiting for. A family vacation at Yellowstone. We had been planning this trip for over a year. (trying to get everyone in the families schedules to match up is quite the chore sometimes...)

The cars were packed.

The kids were excited.

We finally pulled out of the driveway and were on our way.

We stopped in Idaho Falls along the way to pay a little visit to our favorite restaurant affectionately known as "Pizza Planet" (which used to be called Craigo's but is now called Pizza Pie but is called Pizza Planet by us because we love Toy Story). We loved this restaurant and visited it often while we lived in IF. They do have one in Logan now... and if you haven't tried it yet, you should.

After lunch we continued our journey up to Yellowstone.

After 6 hours of driving, we were finally there.

We went inside to check in.

We were quite shocked to hear that our reservations were not actually until NEXT Saturday. This wouldn't really be a problem if you didn't have to book your rooms a year in advance. They were completely booked. The next available date they had for a room was in NOVEMBER.

So what do you do now?

Turn around and drive back home of course.

Now one may ask how this happens. Well, as I said before, trying to get everyone's schedules to align can sometimes be quite tricky. When we had originally booked this vacation we started out with the 24th as our starting but soon discovered this date would not work for everyone... so we switched our starting date to the 30th.

I guess we forgot to change the date on our calendars as well...

On the plus side, now we can grab all those random items we realized we forgot the first time.

Well I guess I better go so I can do some unpacking... so I can be ready to pack again this weekend. :)

Summer Fun...

They say that summer is a time for having fun. Well we've been doing just that. We have been quite busy.

For family night this week, we went to Willard Bay with our friends Cache and Mandi (also known as Mash and Candy) We roasted hot dogs and ate a wonderful dinner on the beach then played in the water and watched the sun set before heading home.

We also were able to catch Aubrey's first real smiles on camera. That's always fun.

 And today my friend Laura and I got together for one last play date before her little baby boy arrives next week. We wanted to go to lunch but found the idea of taking 5 kids - 3 and under - by ourselves - a little daunting. So, we enlisted the help of my sister Katie and I am so glad we did. After all it was free pie day at Village Inn. Who can say no to free pie?

(And it doesn't hurt that 2 of my 3 kids slept most of the time we were at the restaurant.)

Thanks Cache and Mandi for taking us to Willard and Thanks Laura for coming to play and Katie for actually choosing to come help us crazy ladies :)

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

How about you?

Today was yet another perfect day for a trip to the zoo. Lacey, Steve, Ivy, Violet and Katie decided to join us.

What a fun day. Thanks for coming to play with us today, and for letting me take a million pictures.

The Tom Sawyer moment...

When I was younger my dad and I read the book Tom Sawyer together. One of our favorite parts of the book was when Tom convices his friends to paint the fence for him by making it look fun. So whenever we had to do something we didn't want to do, we would always try to pull a "Tom Sawyer" and get the other person to do it for us. Well today I guess you could say my dad and I pulled a "Tom Sawyer" on the little girls.

Remember this "coolest playhouse known to mankind" I told you about a while back? Well the project has been moving along quite nicely. The siding has been hung, the shingles are being laid and the painting has begun.

This is what the playhouse looked like a little while back...

(thanks mom for these pictures)

 My dad is a real craftsman. He hand made these wood shingles just to give the playhouse that extra touch.

See I told you this house is going to be pretty awesome!

Anyway, back to today.

First, we showed them just how much fun painting really can be...

 Then we just let them have at it.

 It was enjoyable... or at least it was until Brooklyn tried kissing the wall she had just painted. hehe. I love this picture.

I think it's safe to say they would do it again. Any day.

I just love them...

... Especially when they play so well together, without even fighting.

Pure bliss.

Swa... swa... swimming!

My sister's just bought a town house about 2 minutes away from us that just so happens to have a swimming pool. So of course, we had to go try it out.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the first 1/4 of the pool was only 1 foot and 3 inches deep (kind of a random number but cool none the less) so the girls could run around and play all on their own.

 Little miss Aubrey got to enjoy the pool from the side. She didn't seem to mind too much.

 We got these new life jacket's for the girls that made it so Maddie could swim around the pool all on her own. She absolutely loved it. I still haven't had her take swim lessons yet but I think she is finally ready. She did awesome!

 Despite the life jacket, Brooklyn chose to stay at the shallow end of the pool where she could roam free but knew she would be safe.

 We had so much fun and used so much energy swimming that the girls were so ready to eat lunch. When we got home I told Brookie she had to eat lunch before she could take her nap and before I knew it she disapeared. She kept yelling at me to come to her and when I did I found her waiting in her high chair for her lunch... If you know my girls you would know that they rarely are begging for food. Usually food is just something slowing them down from doing what they want to. But I think it's safe to say, today she really enjoyed her food.

It was a fun little outing. Thanks Katie for taking us swimming and thanks Michelle for letting us use the key. :) We were sad you weren't with us but we will gladly do it again soon when you can go as well.

day 4 of 4...

...Continued.
My parents ward does an annual 4th of July breakfast so we decided to join in on the fun this year. The girls really seemed to enjoy it.

They used to do a parade around the neighborhood on your bikes for the kids... nowadays they just hold flags and march around in circles on the stage. Maddie loved it.

 ...Brooklyn wasn't so sure about it.

 Aubrey just slept through it all.

Sparkley sparklers.

It was a good holiday with lots of time with the family and great food. My sister Michelle found a recipe for some really delicious Hawaiian chicken sandwiches that we will for sure have to try again. Thanks again mom for letting us invade your home all day and the rest of you for spending the time with us. We love holiday's!