boyz

This summer started us out running full force! We only had a couple of down days before we had a cousin swap with our family in Denver. This is the first time that we've been able to do this since we've always lived far away from family and we were totally pumped!  It was decided that the girls would go north while the boys would stay south.  That meant that I was completely outnumbered by the male species in our home for four days.

We had a great time together, but I learned a few things about boys along the way.  Did you know that 7/8 year old boys are so giggly?  I had no idea.  These boys laugh all the time.  Now, I grew up in a house full of girls and the kind of conversations these boys are having are pretty funny.  One afternoon, for a good solid half hour, the whole conversation was about passing gas. I never knew that there was so much material concerning the subject!  And it all started with Caleb who said, "I know what rhymes with gas! Pass! Get it? Pass Gas?" {Insert giggling and laughing here}.

And the dinner conversations we had each night? Let's just say it was totally different than what I would have expected.  Some new vocabulary was defined and other curious questions answered.

Ahem.

I decided the best thing to do was to keep everyone busy.  Video games were played with restricted times and only on my terms (which surprisingly worked very well!). We spent a lot of time at the skate park while they perfected their mad skillz on the bike, scooter, and skateboard for hours.We hit the dollar movie theatre in town and they played lots of monkey in the middle all the while laughing about gas.  No joke.

We had a great time and all that giggling made me smile. I love how these boys have a special connection and love to hang out together. I think this may be the start of a new tradition. Except maybe next year, we'll have the girls. I'm pretty sure there will be just as much giggling, but perhaps a lot less gas.

Spring Break Fun

We had spring break a few weeks ago and finally got around to posting some (a lot!) of pictures.  We were able to go up to Denver to spend some time with family for the last half of our break, something we haven't been able to do for a really long time.  I guess that's another advantage to living closer to family now!  We had a lot of fun and Grandma and Grandpa and all our cousins made sure we had a great time!  We were able to go to the Butterfly Pavillion with Grandma one morning.  I was really impressed with Kelsie, Caleb, and Ryan who each took their turn holding Rosie, the tarantula.  Brandon really didn't want to do it but was so excited about all the butterflies!  It's always so fun to see them in their "natural" habitat and to see so many flying around.  They also had a great time running through the maze and trying out the zip line!  That night we spent time at the rec center swimming and sliding down the water slides.  That is until the pool was closed because some other kid had a diaper explosion, and not just the wet kind.

Clockwise from top:  Caleb holding Rosie; Brandon lovin' the butterflies; Kelsie smiling at the camera; Ryan holding Rosie; Mom and Isaac; Kelsie holding Rosie; Butterfly; Look, butterflies!

Clockwise from Top: Isaac chillin in the stroller; Ryan sitting on the big caterpillar, All of us standing under the giant praying mantis; 3 kiddos posing on the caterpillar; Ryan having fun swimming; The three girls smiling; Brandon and Ryan hanging out in the spider's web, Trevor and Caleb.

The next day we went to the Natural Museum of Nature and Science to see the Pirate Exhibit.  It was pretty cool to walk through the ship and see how pirates lived back in the day.  We also saw treasure (and lots of it!) and get sweet pirate hats at the end.  We also spent some time looking around the museum and had the most fun in the Health and Wellness area.  We were also able to take a tour of the capital building downtown and even got the VIP treatment from an old high school friend of Wally's sister.  The best part was going all the way up to the Rotunda and getting a birds eye view of the city.   

Out on the balcony of the Capital Building in Denver.  We had to climb out a window to get there!

We were also able to celebrate Grandpa's birthday while we were there and had a great time hanging out with as many cousins, aunts, and uncles as we could!  We ate homemade pizza cooked in Uncle Rob's super cool brick oven.  It's now on the list of things to have when we finally buy a house and have a yard to build one in! As, you may have noticed, those girls were glued together at the hip the entire time we were there.  It got even better with their older cousin, Aubrey joined the ranks.  She's so awesome and the girls had so much fun hanging out with their cool cousin! She even watched the BYU basketball game with Brandon, and he had fun playing with her ipod later in the evening.

These girls had a great time together! 

What's a party without cake, a trampoline, and a little basketball?

Grandma taught Kelsie and the other girls how to sew the simple skirt they are wearing in the photo below.  She took them to the fabric store to pick out the fabric and then spent one night sewing together.  They all did an amazing job and Kelsie is very proud of her work.  We're so happy that Grandma has the patience she has to be able to conquer such a feat!

All in all it was a great spring break and we were completely worn out by the time we got home Sunday night.  It's great to be so much closer to family to be able to make quick trips up north to see them now!

Cousins

A few weeks ago, my sister and her family came out to visit us for a few days. After a 20+ hour drive, they rolled into town just in time for pizza night (I think they were coming more for the pizza than us!). We were all so excited for them to come since we don't get to see them very often, let alone spend any lengthy amount of time together. The kids were especially excited to have some live-in playmates for a few days!

Being the ultimate tour guide that I am, we drove down to Chicago one day and walked around the city. It wasn't a particularly warm day, so we ended up in the LEGO store for a while and then had some lunch before walking back to the car. We also spent some time at a children's museum not far from here, played with some dry ice and liquid nitrogen with Wally up on campus, and just hung out together. We introduced them to a Philly Cheese Steak--at least the best one that we have been able to find outside of Philadephia. We even watched Bolt the night before they left.

We had such a fun time and my kids were spoiled by all the fruit snacks they got from their super nice aunt! We were sad to see them go, but all good things must come to an end. We loved having them here and can't wait to see them again!

Anyone in need of a jedi and a knight/police/swordsman?

Such pretty girls!

Just hangin'

Can you tell we're related?

Playing at the lego store

Pumping up the tires on the stroller.

Aren't they cute little monkeys?

Riding in style

Banana, anyone?

She loved the scooter!

Liquid nitrogen is so cool!

Say cheese!