Family Pictures

August 5, 2016

It's no secret that I love updated family pictures.  I know it is not a favorite activity for most of my kids, but I sure do appreciate their willingness to humor me, and actually smile! We went to a little park by the river in Idaho Falls.  It was a beautiful setting.  Thank you,  Macy and Mikala for being our photographers.  I think the pictures turned out great! It's never easy to get everyone there at the same time, let alone in a mood for pictures, especially with kids.  We missed Sydney!

The whole bunch.

Our sweet grandbabies. They are the light of our lives. Annie, Molly, Ryder, Clark and Maden.

Blake and I with our wonderful kids. Jared, Cindy, Brian, Randy.

The 4 amigos.

The girls.  Celia, Diana, Nikelle, Molly, Courtney, Annie and Cindy.

The boys. Ken, Blake, Jared, Ryder, Randy, Maden, Clark and Brian.

Blake and I

Cindy and Ken

Brian, Clark, Celia, Annie and Maden

Ryder, Courtney and Randy

Jared, Molly and Nikelle

The grand ones! (we took this later in our yard). Maden holding Clark, Ryder, Annie holding Molly.  

A Visit from Cindy and Ken!

August 1-5, 2016

Monday, August 1 - Cindy and Ken arrived about noon.  We went to eat at Tommy Vaughns for lunch, then went to Idaho Falls where Nikelle hosted a birthday party for Courtney.

Before we went to the party, we stopped in at Brian's house so Cindy meet and feed their new little kitten, "Tigger".  Courtney's party was great, good food and fun decorations. We love you Courtney!

Tuesday, August 2 - We spent some time at Jensen's Grove, and our house. It's just so fun to be together.  (poor Jared had to work)

Maden got really brave and jumped off the dock.

Lots of fun playing in the water and sand and resting in the shade.

Ryder and Molly trying out the water. Molly has become quite a little fish.

We always have to eat, then Annie and Molly had a little dance.

Wednesday, August 3 - Cindy, Ken and Blake played tennis, then we just chilled and watched a movie. Then we went to watch Maden and Annie at Crossfit Kids, then we went to Texas Roadhouse, then to get a snow cone, then some of us went to watch Blake play tennis.

First, they did some rowing, then some ring work.  Coach Ken watching Celia.

I'm not sure what this is really called, but it looks like monkey bars to me.  The kids are getting really strong.  Maden was really afraid of this, but went farther than ever.  

Next they had to step between these ladder rungs, then do a trick on the mat.  

Even Clark got in on the action.  Maden had never reached the top of the rope, but he did for us to see.

It was really windy while we had our snow cones, but we had fun anyway.

Thursday, August 4 - More tennis in the morning, then we went to Rexburg to Fat Cats. We played in the arcade, miniature golf and bowling.  After we were done playing, we ate at Wingers.

Just some of the arcade action. Nikelle was the biggest winner.

The miniature golf course was all done in black light, it was kind of hard and scary to Annie.  There were a lot of monster looking things in there.

Blake, Brian and Nikelle bowled in a black light setting too.  This is a cute picture of Annie, Cindy, Ken and Maden walking to Wingers.

Friday, August 5 - We did family pictures in the morning, then came to our house for food and fun.  There was a lot of swinging, basketball playing and games.

Everyone seemed to get in on the swinging action.

The little ones tried out the little slide, some did really well, others had a harder time of it.

Some of us played a silly game called "beanboozled". It's a really funny game to watch, but a little scary to play. You've got to have a strong stomach if you get a bad tasting jelly bean.   Brian became a horse for his kids.

It was a fun filled week, we love having Cindy and Ken come to visit!

Reed's Dairy

July 30, 2016

Blake and I were tending Molly and Ryder, so we took a little ride up to Reed's Dairy to get ice cream and see the baby animals.  Brian, Celia, Maden, Annie and Clark came too.

The piglets really put on a show for us, chasing each other around and squealing!

Brian liked petting the calf, but he couldn't talk Maden and Annie into touching it. Clark is just happy to chill out and watch.

The babies were not too sure about the goat, pony and donkey, especially when they would stick their heads through the fence.  Molly was very sure she liked the ice cream!

Squealers

July 23, 2016

Jared and Nikelle treated us to a day at Squealers in Rigby.  It's a small entertainment park with go carts, climbing walls, bumper boats (which were not running) miniature golf, batting cages and a couple of other little ride type things.  We took lunches and had a little picnic.  It was a fun day.

Jared, Nikelle, Brian, Celia and Annie all tried out the climbing wall.  Nikelle made it clear to the top, but I didn't get a picture of it. Then Jared couldn't be outdone and made it to the top, but again no picture.

Maden thought it was cool that he was big enough to drive these little go carts. He was a very cautious driver and kind of caused a road block, but he didn't care and had a great time.

We had a great time racing in the go carts.

The babies just hanging out in their strollers.  They were really good.

The batting cages were fun.

Maden and Annie had a great time in the little paddle boats.  I didn't get any pictures of miniature golf except this one where Blake got a hole in one.  It was a real fun day.  Thanks, Jared and Nikelle!

Billings, Montana

July 15-17, 2016

Blake and I took a quick trip to Billings, Montana. We decided to go the temple there, and make a weekend of it.  We left early Friday morning and drove to West Yellowstone and into Yellowstone Park.  We stopped for lunch in the park, then kept driving, leaving the park out of the East gate.  It was a long, winding ride.  We didn't even see much wildlife.  After leaving the park, we made our way to Cody, Wyoming.  We stopped in Cody and went to a little museum with cabins from the late 1800's and early 1900's.  We wound our way from Cody to Billings.  It was a long day traveling.  We stayed at the C'Mon Inn. It's a fun little hotel with fish in a little pond in the lobby.  On Saturday, we went to the temple, then just did some shopping and eating.  We got up early Sunday morning, found a Sacrament Meeting to attend, then headed for home.  We came home on I-90 and I-15, it was much faster.  It was a good little getaway weekend.

The buffalo was about the only animal we saw in the park. We saw the jack rabbit at the museum in Cody.  The fish in the hotel are huge! Blake thought the "please observe" sign in the bathroom in the park was very funny.  We are not very good at taking selfies.  The Billings temple is quite small, but very beautiful.

T-Ball

June & July, 2016

Maden played T-ball this summer.  I had never been to a T-ball game, and found it very funny and entertaining.  They don't keep score, and everyone gets a chance to bat and run around the bases even if they should be out! And, the last batter in the inning always gets a home run!

His team was called the Chili Heads.  (His coach is the general manager at Chili's!) 

They even had real baseball pants. Loved that he wore red socks and shoes and belt, so that we could find him!

Sometimes he played catcher, 1st base, fielder and 3rd base.  

He decided to slide into every base during his last game.  

Annie and Clark were great cheerleaders during the whole season.  It was a great season, way to be undefeated Chili Heads!

Yellowstone Bear World

July 11, 2016

Maden, Annie and I had the chance to go to Yellowstone Bear World with my parents (Grandpa Chin Chopper, and Grandma Beth) and my nephews Ryan and Samuel. We loved it, it was so fun.  

We saw lots of interesting animals and lots of Bears!

It was a chilly, windy day, but that didn't keep us from having fun at the petting zoo.  They thought it was way cool to feel the velvet on the deer's antlers.

We had to take pictures with all the bears!

It was great fun to feed the fish and ducks.  The beautiful swan didn't care about the food.

Everyone loved the rides that were included with the park fee.  

We went to Leo's place after going on the rides many times.  All children love Leo's place, we had good pizza, fun in the play land and the arcade.  On our way home, Maden asked if we could schedule the exact same activities every July 11th.  He thought it would be a great tradition!