Trip To Utah

Wesley is the advisor for the 16-17 year olds at church and they went camping for a few days a couple of weeks ago - which meant I would need to find a place to go as well! Most people that know me know that I hate being home alone when Wesley is out of town. Before Jake turned 2, it was easy to travel since Jake was free. Yeah, not anymore - AND I have another child as well. So I went to Utah to visit our parents, both live there now which makes it more convenient! But this was probably my last trip alone with the kids - not just because I have an extra ticket to buy, but you all know how much harder it is to travel by yourself with kids. The plane rides were fine, but it's just so hard not being in your own home with your own beds and toys and schedule... aside from that, it really was a fun trip. We spent the first few days at Wesley's parent's house and the last few days at my parents house. It was so great for Jake to have playmates that week.

At Marilee's house we went to the Treehouse, Cavern's Cove (a farm) and we pulled out the GIANT water slide/pool to play with. It was so much fun, Jake enjoyed all of it!

The Treehouse

Playing in the backyard with Karli

Playing with Alex in the little pool (wish I got pictures of the big pool)

Cavern's Cove - riding a horse

Tractors

All the kids

Then we were off to my parent's house - we were able to go to a parade, an amazingly yummy Mexican restaurant, and my first

rodeo!

this is the view from their backyard, simply gorgeous! Jeremy and Brooke (my brother's family)

were there, they are in the process of moving to Utah so we got to see them

Brenden and Jake

Alex playing flight simulator with Jake

Caden and Jake eating a snack

Lita and Cooper

Ashlyn and Cooper

Grandaddy, Ashlyn and Cooper

At the stock parade

At the Mexican Restaurant

Dallen made swords for everyone

Jake and Gabriella

Sleepovers - all 11 of them!

The rodeo - everyone having a blast!

The rodeo - after the rain started coming. It's hard to see now, but we were able to get 9 people under that umbrella.

Boy did it pour! We left early because the babies were getting too wet and started shivering. It was a lot of fun though!

St. Louis

Wesley had to go to Missouri for work so I went with the boys to visit my sister, Lea for the week.  There was father/sons campout on Friday so I went to St. Louis with just Cooper Friday night and Wesley came with Jake on Saturday.  Here's Lea, Abby and Taylor with Cooper

We went to see UP  in 3D, it was cute and fun to watch in 3D

The kids all slept in Mason's room in sleeping bags on the floor.  Jake thought it was the coolest thing!

Hanging out

We went to the pool one day

The theater had 'Horton Hears a Who' for free one morning

We all did some gymnastics one morning - well, handstands and somersaults  but the kids loved it.  
   

The kids watching intently
     

The kids taking turns
       

       

We went on a couple of walks

Pulled out the slip 'n slide

While mowing the lawn, Sam found a turtle - boy was it feisty!  It kept trying to throw it's head back to snap at Sam

We went to the Magic House

Construction Zone at the Magic House

Jake in the tractor

Playing with the water area
        

Holding hands at the zoo
       

Dress up - Spiderman!

Here's some photos of us in the last few days.  I realize I haven't posted very many pictures of Cooper.  He's such a sweet boy - he's been very easy baby for us so far and getting bigger and bigger.  He is just barely 2 months old.  He fits into 3-6 month clothing really well and will grow out of them soon, I'm sure!  He smiles so sweet - one of these pictures below is of him in mid-smile, I thought it was  a really funny picture.  I think he looks so much like Jake when he was a baby!

Rock Climbing

We went rock climbing with some friends on Memorial Day.  Well, Cooper and I just supported everyone by watching the rock climbing.  It was a lot of fun!  Wes did great!  Here's Jake and Wes on a huge rock.  Jake was so sweet, he kept coming up to us and giving us hugs and saying "Fun!".  He more than enjoyed being near the rocks and dirt and all that.

Jake got a turn rock climbing.  He saw other kids climbing and wanted a turn.  He didn't enjoy it as much as others did.  He kept saying "Down, Down!"  with a panicked voice so we brought him right down.  
Oh, by rock climbing, this is what Jake looked like.  He held on to the rope while he was lifted up.  
Here's my hubby climbing.  He was great!
Celery and ranch break.  Oh, the ranch would be that stuff all over his hands and face.
They also made a zip line for the kids.  Jake wanted a turn so bad and got all set up.  We took a video of him going down - it wasn't very far but when our friend was there to stop Jake, it was kind of abrupt and Jake started crying for Wes.  it was a bit much for him I think.  

Tornado in Denver

I wanted to tell you about our little excitement on Sunday.  We were at church and there was about 15 minutes left until church was over.  It started to rain and someone heard the tornado sirens go off and went to ask the bishop if we should all go into the gym or something.  Before she could walk away, a man walked in and said for everyone to go in the gym b/c there was a tornado outside, he could see it from a distance.  So we got everyone in the gym.  Wes went to take a look and he said he could see it.  Then we heard this really loud banging noise on the roof.  Someone came inside with a golf ball sized piece of hail - it was pouring golf balls!  Thankfully, the tornado passed by without touching down in our area and we were safe to go home.  Not without leaving a mark from the hail, there were dents in lots of cars, including ours.  Funny that on the day we took separate cars to church that this would happen.  And we noticed our windshield on our jeep has a big crack - but we weren't the only ones.  The scary part is that just 5 minutes away at the outdoor strip mall it touched down for 30 minutes, damaged some stores and lifted up cars.  We were so lucky that it didn't come our way and it stayed over there.  I'm so glad that I don't shop on Sundays - I do enjoy going to that strip mall, we were just there the day before, too!  But all is safe and sound and it made for quite an exciting day!  Here are a few pictures that I got from my friend Tracy's blog:

We recently took pictures of the boys and I found an outfit of Jacob's for Cooper to wear.  It was an outfit that Jake had worn in his 3 MONTH pictures and this was Cooper at 5 WEEKS.  Take a close look and see how the jeans are already small on Cooper in the picture.  He's getting so big!  COoper is on the left and Jake is on the right.  

Rachel's Birthday

My friend Rachel just had her birthday and we had her over with her kids for some play time and Qdoba for lunch.  I love being able to visit with friends and have adult conversation.  We had such a great time and it was fun to hang out.  Here's the kids in our backyard eating lunch.  If only we could get them all to look and smile at the camera at the same time, this was the best we could get:

Cooper's Baby Blessing

We blessed Cooper on May 3rd.  For journaling purposes, I am including who participated, etc.  In the circle were Bishop John Jensen, Sam Miller, Clint Edwards, Chris Olsen, Barry Croker and Gary Dixon.  And thanks to Sari for taking our family picture at church to document this!