Weekend Summer Fun

We are wrapping up a great weekend that included dinner with Grandpa and Bubba (along with root beer floats), sidewalk chalk, the park, a visit to Nate and Brynn's, and a trip to the zoo. 

Some pics...

Saturday morning playing "go night night", which is a new favorite game.  They drag all their blankies, pillows and dolls around the house and lay down with them, tucking each other in.  

Practicing their gymnastics skills at MountView park.  The weather was great this weekend.  After four straight days of 100+ degrees, we finally had some cooler, cloudy weather. 

Josie wanted to see Uncle Nate's motorcycle, but notice she brings her blankie up there with her.  They love visiting Brynn and Nate's house because they have a kitty (Cache).  Unfortunately, the feelings aren't mutual and Cache is terrified of them. 

 Riding on the merry-go-round at the zoo. 

Brett Naisbitt brought his kids down and met us at the zoo.  We had a great time.  Josh and Brett - still BFFs. :)

Brynn's baby shower and Anna's baptism

It was a busy weekend!  We had Brynn's baby shower here are our house on Saturday.  We are all getting very excited for Little Dude's arrival next month and it was fun to celebrate.  I can't wait for the girls to have another little cousin and to be here in Utah to be part of it. 

Have you ever seen a cuter pregnant girl?  This is the diaper cake my mom and I made her. 

 Very excited grandmas!

 Four generations of moms and daughters. 

Later that day, we joined the Jones family to celebrate sweet little Anna's baptism.  The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins.  Here's one of the Jones family at Jim and Rebecca's house for dinner afterwards. 

 See that red stuff all over Mia's face?  Grandpa decided to let her try out some strawberry sauce!!

 Amanda and Allison with Josie. 

America's Birthday at Snowbird

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July this year.  Last year, Josh was laid up in bed all day after surgery, the year before the girls were too little to do much of anything, and the year before that I was pregnant with scary complications.  So this year was fun!  We spent the morning with Brynn and Nate up at Snowbird enjoying their pancake breakfast, a ride up to Hidden Peak on the tram, some fun in the bounce house and a trip down the Alpine slide. 

These pics were taken at the top of Hidden Peak.  I worried the whole time that the girls were going to fall off.

 Enjoying the bounce house and the big slide.

 The Alpine slide was so much fun.  Both girls absolutely loved it.

We came home after lunch at Chipotle and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out at home and trying out some sparklers (which they thought were kind of scary). 

The girls recently learned about America's flag at school and they were so excited to see flags all over and talked a lot about "America's birthday".  I think they wondered where the birthday cake was though. 

Daddy and Uncle Jim Got Muddy

Josh completed the Spartan Beast race a couple of weeks ago with Jim.  It happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary of his back surgery.  I was so proud of him. The Spartan Beast race is about 12 miles and 25 obstacles up in beautiful Midway, Utah, ending in a big old puddle of mud.  It looked hot and hard, but they say it was a good time.  And I can't get him to write this blog post, so we'll have to leave it at that.

The girls and I had fun spectating and they have been talking about "daddy and Uncle Jim getting muddy" every day since the race.  Here's the group of them that did the race - a bunch of friends of Jim's. 

The girls played at the park area while we waited for them to finish.

One more picture of him right after finishing.  It really has been a long year for Josh with this back surgery recovery.  I think there were quite a few moments when we weren't sure he would be able to do this kind of thing again. 

Camping in Challis

We got back Saturday night from a great camping trip in Challis, Idaho.  It was technically a "work trip" for Josh.  The area Marine Corps recruiting stations all get together for a week in Challis for some training and also some good family time.  The training was really just one morning and a couple of hours one afternoon.  The rest of the time we were free to do whatever we wanted.

This was the first time we have taken the girls camping and Uncle Jim was nice enough to let us borrow his trailer for the trip.  We were a little worried about how the girls would sleep in the big trailer and sharing a bed (they just recently got the hang of sleeping in their toddler beds).  The first night, we made up their little shared bed, and they fell to sleep holding hands.  Too cute!  There were some rough nights and the girls each took some turns in our bed, but overall they thought it was pretty cool.

Camping girls

 All three of our little ones splashing around in the Salmon River. 

 We went "hiking" which was basically a little walk.  The girls thought riding in those backpacks was the equivalent of riding rides at Disneyland. 

 Stopping to give daddy some hugs

 We hunted for rocks (and threw them in the river)

 And we got REALLY sticky roasting marshmallows over the fire. 

We all came back tired and dirty on Saturday.  The girls slept from 8 pm to 9:15 am the next morning and then took a three-hour nap! 

We hope to have more camping trips soon.

Golfing, Hiking and Firetrucks

We are having a fun (and busy) summer so far in Utah.  Most of our weekends are jam packed and I have a hard time remembering to take pictures and blog about everything.  So, here's a recap of some things we've done lately.

Father's day: We went out to a local cafe for breakfast and ran into an old friend from high school (and junior high, elementary, etc).  Robert was one of Josh's first friends and is now a fire fighter with one of the local stations.  He showed the girls around the firetruck and made them some balloon chickens.  It was fun to catch up.  Later that day, we also went up to my parent's and had a delicious lunch with my family, but I forgot to take pictures. :(

A week or so ago, I took Blue boy out for a quick hike in Ferguson Canyon on my lunch break.  The trail head is just about a mile from our house and there are some incredible views from up there.  Blue had fun being off his leash and running after all the other doggies.  And I am so happy to be home in this lovely little valley.

Golfing!  The girls have been mini golfing with grandpa twice now.  The first time Uncle Scotty came, and the second time Bubba came.  Now whenever we pass a golf course they say "I golfing with grandpa!". 

Last time they played golf, they got their first cart ride around the golf course.  I have many memories of riding around the golf course with my grandma at Mick Riley where my grandpa was the pro.  As we would pull away from the clubhouse, he would yell after her not to let me drive the cart.  As soon as we were out of eyesight, it was game on.  I took the wheel and tore around anywhere I wanted - up on the greens, down into ditches, way off the cart paths.  Maybe the girls will get to drive soon. 

Wheeler Farm Farmer's Market

It's officially summertime here, which means its time for the farmer's market!  We decided to try the one at Wheeler Farm today and it was a fun way to spend the morning. The highlight was definitely the pony ride for the girls.  Piper got right on (her pony was named Gil) and looked mildly amused the whole time.  Josie was either laughing or crying hysterically unless daddy stayed right by her side (her pony was Midnight).  Sometimes I wonder how these girls are even sisters! 

 Checking out some lambs and "easter bunnies" and enjoying a pancake breakfast.