Tootling around

My dad taught Ammon how to drive the lawn mower. His legs were just barely long enough to use the clutch. Next summer I hope he can actually mow the lawn for Grandpa. I think that would be so great....he certainly won't learn how to use a lawn mower where we are now since our grass is plastic. Thanks for being a cool Grandpa, Dad!!! This concludes our Idaho adventures. We all can't wait to go back and visit again....it won't be soon enough.

Dirt, funny kids, and sleeping

Kids love dirt, and all three of them spend a significant amount of time playing in this awesome pile. More than once the first thing Gid wanted to do when he got up was go play in the dirt.

My niece is hilarious! We all slept over at my sister's house one night so they could get up early and go to a dr's appointment in Pocatello. When I finished getting ready for the day I came around the corner to see Chloe on a chair in front of the stove. She was squirting sweet and sour sauce on a plate. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she had pushed the right buttons on the microwave for chicken nuggets. She had three on a plate for her and three on a plate for Gideon. What is even more hilarious is she gave him the pink princess plate and kept the Cars plate for her. I told her all morning she couldn't have a snack until after lunch because she didn't finish her breakfast....so while I wasn't looking she made herself and Gideon some lunch. After finishing, she promptly asked for a snack...go figure. Gideon never eats chicken nuggets, but this time he ate all three...more nuggets than he's ever eaten in one sitting.

Alayna got the cool aunt award for the day because she filled up water balloons for the kids after they came back. My kids could throw those things all day long.

This cute nephew is a whole three weeks older than Ayla. He is ginormous...or Ayla is a shrimp...it could go either way :)

 One night to get out of the house we took a detour to Smith Park and played for a bit before heading  to Arctic Circle for some delicious shakes and kiddie cones.....I wish someone her in Vegas would make kiddie cones like them and hand them out for free. I got to finish off Ammon's oreo shake.

 On the way home we had a 12 hour drive. There wasn't a time when all four kids were sleeping, but here three of them were passed out. I was amazed how long some of them slept with his noise the whole time.

And this was just too funny. One time the little kids woke up and bawled. Ammon was also pretty grumpy....but Zenock was laughing.

Tauphus Park Zoo and some pizza

They loved the giant tortise.

With the cousins!

More tortise. He was walking around and coming toward Gideon. He thought it was neat to see the thing move. 

Checking out the alligator.

Some alpaca's that he was getting so excited over. He loves horses and cows, so maybe he thought these were some? Either way, it was quite entertaining to watch him with this exhibit.

All the kids loved this! Zenock asked me if he could chase the bird around....I think the bird would have ended up doing the chasing if I would have let him :)

Zenock's favorite animal, the snow leopard. It's in the shadow under the tree.

The tiger was Ammon's favorite animal. He's up the in top of the picture in the shade.

Best part about the zoo is sitting on the tiger.

 

She loved seeing the zebras. She was hanging on the fence and bouncing up and down, almost laughing with delight.

Cutest picture ever of my sister and Gideon.

 Later that night was another fundraiser for Lot at Pizza Pie Cafe, formerly known as Craigos. This is the only picture I got. Two of my sisters, her three kids, and Ammon are in the picture. Lot must have been at the table behind Alayna. The food was delicious.....much better than Cici's Pizza, the pizza buffet here in Vegas. It was fun to have dinner with a bunch of people supporting a good cause. We all love you Lot!!!

Demolition Derby!!!

The derby was at Madison County Fairgrounds. We picked up Brady's dad and also brought my sister, Kalina along, but I left Ayla with my parents so the noise wouldn't bother her...and I didn't feel like I could handle 2 babies at the same time. I have to say how excited we all were to be in Idaho for this derby. We loved going to them when we lived there, so it was nice to experience it again. It's one of the things we miss about living in Las Vegas...the "redneck" fun isn't as readily available :)

Brady's Dad

 Kalina

 Sooo excited about the forklift and the tow trucks :)

Popcorn in a bowl...almost nothing better than that for this kid.

Mini photo shoot at my parents house...nothing to do with the derby, but still cute kids.

Playing at the park in Pocatello

I took the kids to go see my friend from high school, Dawna Hawkins. She has three girls and a baby boy. We all went to a park in Pocatello to play and eat lunch. Then the kids played in the sprinkler at her house for a bit and we mom's got caught up a little. I'm sad that I never got a picture with our kids together...or of us...I don't know why I don't think of these things in the moment....it's becoming a bad habit.

Before we left the boys remembered last time we came they slid down the stairs on sleeping bags. Of course, we had to keep tradition going, so here they are, at it again. It's so funny the simple things they remember from one or two years ago.

Our 4th of July in Idaho

I introduced my boys to having the sprinkler under the tramp. They loved it. Of course, who wouldn't love jumping and water mixed together?

The parade in Rexburg

Brady's dad and step-mom, Dee, at the parade with us. In the back right is my mom's cousin's daughter and her baby and Dee's granddaughter Jill....who is getting married next month. Yea Jill!!

This is the float made by Sugar City. The smaller grain tower replica on the float is right by my parents house, and the water tower replica is on the property of their church building. I was really impressed with this float. Whoever made it did a great job showcasing the city.

This one was made by the Sugar City Stake. If that cake was real I bet it could feed hundreds.

Here's the boys watching for more candy. They really got quite the load...I guess it pays to sit at the beginning of the parade.

Gideon has SO. MUCH. CANDY! He kept getting into the bag and pulling stuff out to eat. He was calling everything gum and eating it wrapper and all....so funny.

Fireworks were loud...and scary for the little kids. Thanks Abby for taking one kid so I could hold the other!

She jumped every time...it was really funny.

We did a slip n slide at Brady's step-niece's house in Teton in the afternoon. It was really fun. I'm really glad the kids wore their rash guards because some of the other boy's stomachs were quite scratched up from going on the plastic and hitting the grass.

Gideon thought it was great to go with me. This time a little girl was in the way so instead of plowing her over I just grabbed her on the way down and took her the rest of the way with us. I don't think she was very happy with me....but at least she didn't get hurt. Thanks so much Koyle's for the awesome slide!!!!

The little ones hated the fireworks. Ayla jumped every time and then started freaking out. Gideon just screamed the whole time. I found it quite funny. Perhaps next year we'll do fireworks after they are in bed.

Water videos

Eating, playing, and more eating

Before I could make him breakfast, Gideon grabbed the step stool, set it up all by himself and helped himself to some brownies. He was sooooo proud he could do it without help. Brownies have eggs, milk, and wheat in them right? So it counts as a healthy breakfast :)

My dear friend Melane, from Nebraska, was visiting her parents in SLC so she drove the 3.5 hours up to my parents house to visit me for a couple of hours. She got to meet my kids and my parents. She's an amazing lady, whom I haven't seen since Brady was on his mission...about twelve years ago! We enjoyed some Costa Vita for lunch and some shopping at Deseret Book and Melaleuca. Thanks again Melane for the wonderful visit!! Hopefully the next one will be sooner than 12 years :)

My sister and her family, and my other two teenage sisters joined us at Rexburg Rapids for some swimming fun. Gideon missed it because he was napping at Grandma's. Ayla hated the water for the first hour or more, but then she decided it wasn't so bad and started splashing.

This kid loved the lazy river the most. He thought it was the coolest thing to drift along.

This kid wouldn't stay off the slide. 

Silly faces are hard to do when you're laughing

This is my sister, Abby, with Ayla. Ayla was crawling out of the pool to taste the water splashing into the filter thingy. Eventually she also loved splashing around in the zero entry part of the pool too.

Here we have delicious bananas for lunch. She can chow down a whole one in no time.

And what's better than cantelope all over your face and chewing on the bottom of a cup?