Star-Spangled Weekend!

The Fourth of July weekend was the best! Thursday, we went boating with extended family on my Dad’s side. We went to Pineview, and had a great time! Emma loves playing with my cousins (who are very young, it was like my Grammie had two sets of kids, they were spread far apart) and playing on the beach. Cal was on the boat for a long time, and he was a good sport. I rode on the tube a few times with some cousins and with Amy. We laughed so hard and got really wet! It was a great boding time with that side of the family. Then we went to my Uncle Lew and Aunt Jo’s house in North Ogden for pizza and to hang out.

Here we are on the boat!

Riding on the tube with the girls!

The kids and my Mom playing on the beach!

Kolb and Cal chilling on the boat!

Friday, we went to Wyoming, to go to Amy and Kolby’s parent’s cabin. It is in the Uintah Mountains. It was really pretty! They finished it about a year ago, and are still working on the basement and final touches. They built it together as a family, which I think is cool, and did a great job. We went down to the pond the first night, and caught a frog, and looked for other critters. We walked around a bit, and went 4-wheeling. Am and Kolb just got a 4-wheeler, so it was fun to go out together. Then, we cooked up some hot dogs, and made some s’mores with these giant campfire br and marshmallows that were awesome! Kolby’s younger brothers, Drew and Marty also came along with. They are cool and helped watch the kids.

Emma and the frog she caught in the pond!

Emma loved climbing the ladder...

Roasting mallows by the camp fire. We found the best marshmallows to take camping - Campfire brand! They are ginormous and yummy, too!

The kids had a blast at the cabin!

All of us getting ready to leave. Thanks, Am and Kolb for the fun weekend!

The next morning, we made pancakes for breakfast, then headed out to turtle mountain, to go wheelin’ some more. It was a good place for riding. Emma loves it more and more each time we go. “Faster, daddy, faster!” she says, she loves the hills and going fast. Dave is pretty tame for her, but she has that need for speed. Callahan was enjoying it too.

Am and Kolb just got a 4-Wheeler, a Wolverine! We're excited to go riding with them more!

Lovin' it!

Cal loved watching all of the 4-Wheelers go fast!

What a fun day!

Emma just can't get enough!

Then, that night was a BBQ and family party with the Stoddard side of the family. We had hamburgers and hot dogs at Aunt Lois and Uncle Keith’s house, and the Emma and Cal had so much fun with their cousins!

Then there were fireworks at Davis High. It’s my favorite firework show! It’s always long, they set the fireworks to music, and it’s just fun. We went with Dave’s family. We had plenty of snacks, played games before it started, and there were plenty of glow sticks, courtesy of Grandma Sue. It was a busy and fun day!

Monday, was more Fourth fun! We started the day off at the Layton parade with the Miller’s and their family. Tavin and Alec are so cute, and so are their cousins – Annica, Tiana, Jadee, and Kennedy. They’re all adorable and we had a fun time with them! Emma absolutely loves parades and has been asking me for a couple months when we were going to go to parades. Cal loved waving at everyone and everything, and loved jamming out to the music. Emma loved the candy they threw!

Finally, we had a cookout with the Ryerse’s, and then played, went on a walk, and did our own fireworks. It was great!

I’ve been reflecting over the many freedoms I enjoy. I am grateful for our country. This is truly a blessed land, and I know the Lord helped guide our forefathers to make America what it is. We shouldn’t have won the war with England to gain our independence. The north had little chance of over-powering the south. The unity and peace of our land was threatened many times. But miracles occurred, with the help of our Heavenly Father, that helped to make this land what it needed to be to help restore and establish the gospel. I am grateful for that, and that I live here. The home of the free, land of the brave!

Spokane!!

A few weeks ago, we went up to Spokane, WA to check things out. David was accepted into the Hospital Administration and Policy graduate program at Washington State U, so that was our reason for the trip. To see how we liked the program and the city. We are lucky to have family up there, my Uncle Dave and Aunt Suz live there, so we were able to stay with them and their kids Alex (who was in Utah visiting) and 6-year-old twins Morgan and Kyle. It was great being able to spend time with them, as we don’t see them as much as we wish! The kids did pretty well on the drive up. We got them light-up suckers (which kept them very entertained for a long time), brought plenty of books to read, snacks to munch on, and movies to watch. Emma did say “This is taking a long time” a few times, and Cal got restless a few times, but mostly they were great! Dave drove the entire time! I was impressed!

We got to Spokane on Wednesday night around 11:30 p.m., and both the kiddos were pooped! We put their pajamas on and they crashed. We talked to Dave & Suz for a little bit, and then we went to bed. The next day, Dave had a meeting and tour of the campus with the program’s dean. So while he was there, Cal and Emma and I explored the campus. It was a pretty campus and had plenty of things to keep us occupied!
Dave was very impressed with the program and the faculty. The dean answered the list of questions we came up with, and gave him a guide to the program and lots of helpful information.

After that, we went just down the street to the River Front Park, located in the heart of downtown Spokane. It was pretty crowded as preparations were being made for Hoopfest, the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world. The park was great! We saw the world’s largest Radio Flyer Wagon. We walked across the bridges to see the falls. We played at a park for tots. We at McDougherty’s, a yummy Irish pub (hey, everything’s a pub there…plus they had a sign outside that said “Family Friendly”, and it was!) across the street. We visited Boo Radley’s, a cool bookshop/gift store. We went on a tram ride overlooking the falls. We rode the carousel (and I got the golden ring, yahoo!).

That night, I ran to the store with Suz to get some groceries, we went home and made dinner, and we went to my cousin Kyle’s baseball game. He is quite the little slugger! Then we went back to their home and played in the back yard.

Friday, we went to Coeur d’Alene, ID, which was about an hour drive from their home. We ate Subway, visited this awesome park, and went to the beach. It is so beautiful there! I’ve been there once, but it has been years! The kids had so much fun playing together. Emma just loved playing with Morgan and Kyle, and they loved her and Callahan. That night, we went to the Noodle Bowl restaurant for dinner, and then to go get ice-cream. Then back to the house to play together, and when the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up and watched some TV and talked.

Saturday, we went looking at some houses and apartments for rent if we do decide to go up there. We did that most the day and found some things that would work. Luckily, the kids were way tired and slept most of the day. We also went to the Valley Mall in Spokane Valley. Saturday night, we went out to dinner and then drove to Missoula, Montana. We drove around the town, to see what they had, and then crashed at the motel we stayed at. Sunday, we just drove home the rest of the way. We drove a total of 1,500 miles on our trip. But it was a great time and I’m glad we went. Now, we just need to decide if we’re heading up that way or not. The dean told him just to let them know by the end of July. So I guess you’ll know then, too.

Family Day at the Zoo

Every year, we go to the Zoo, and this year was no exception! Here are some pictures from our "wild" day in June! Here we are waiting in line!

Emma ready to go to the Zoo!
Zuri the baby elephant, we had a great time watching her, she was so cute!

Stacy, Kaison, Me, Cal, Emma, and Tayla ride the train.

The monkeys! They're always my favorite thing at the Zoo!
What a great day together!