Summer 2009

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by. Cody's already back to work full-time and Riley will be starting Kindergarten next week!

We started this summer off by going to Yellowstone with my family (Robyn and her family, Hope and her family, my parents, and Scott). It was definitely a long three days in the car, but we did get to see some really cool things, including 6 bears!

The Grand Tetons

Old Faithful


Mammoth Hot Springs



The Falls


One of the bears we were able to see


The buffalo we got stuck behind. He decided to walk in the middle of the road, he wouldn't go right because he'd fall of the cliff, and he wouldn't go left because it was straight up. Luckily he finally moved to the yellow lines so we were able to squeeze past him or we might still be there following him down the mountain.

After Yellowstone we went to Lagoon. It was probably the worst day to go, only minutes after we got there, it started pouring. Since I'm pregnant, I obviously didn't go on any rides. Thanks to my brother living in Farmington, Robyn and I got in for free and we just watched Riley and her youngest, Cole, ride the kiddie rides. We weren't there very long until we all decided to head back home and dry off. A few hours later the rain stopped and we were able to go back and get a few more rides in. Riley had a blast riding all of the little rides, then we had Cody come join us (he had been riding the rides with the bigger kids) and he was able to go on a couple rides with the little boys. I think Puff still scared Riley to death, he is not a roller coaster boy. Then the boys decided they wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel. Robyn and I were a little nervous that they were going to get to the top and freak out, but they ended up loving it. Who knew!

You can see in the picture how wet it was. Poor Riley, he looks like he's freezing.



Riley looking a little less than thrilled with Puff, but trying to smile while he holds on for dear life.


Our brave boys on the Ferris Wheel.

A Successful trip on the Ferris Wheel, they loved it.

The next week we were finally able to close on our home and move in. We got everything moved to the new home and started the unpacking process. All of you that have moved, especially with kids, know how long that process can take. I'm just glad we only had one kid to move. How on earth do we accumulate so much stuff? My real question was, where in the world did we keep all of this stuff when we were living in our tiny condo? I have definitely decided that we will NEVER move again. Luckily we bought a house that we really could stay in for the rest of our lives. After being in our home for only a week, we took off to Idaho.

We spent a week in Idaho having a family reunion with Cody's immediate family (Carma and her family, Ty and his family, and Cody's parents). We were able to get family pictures done, go to the zoo, and go boating. The kids just had a blast being able to play together!

We were boating for 8 hours and the kids could've just kept on going but the adults were wiped out! All of the kids enjoyed riding in the tube. Here's Riley with his cousins Cade and Gabe.

Just having fun with cousins Cole and Nathan (Yes, Riley has cousins named Cole and Nathan on both sides of the family, we also have two Zachs.)

We came back home to finish unpacking and now here we are, the middle of August and the summer is over.