Sunday, May 29, 2011

Mesa Falls

 Two fabulous things happened this weekend:
1-Vince and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary
2-My parents came up to Idaho for a visit.

We hated watching them leave today, but at least the kids only cried for 20 minutes instead of the hour I had planned on.

On our Anniversary we went to Mesa Falls, where Vince proposed. (Here is that story)
 I love this place!  You can stand basically right over the top of the falls and look down.

My mom was a little weary of the overhang supports.

You would think I would be the weary one...you know...being a whale standing on a ledge!
 I swear it was the shirt, I am not really that big!  I may be in denial.

The kids LOVE waterfalls!

And this one is just about as cool as they come!

The visitors center has a room with a bunch of dead animals you can pet.

Totally gross and disgusting.
I do believe I coughed up a hairball on the way out.

Our favorite:  The totally nasty bear on the end of the table.

Roarrrrrrrr!

Grandpa and Grandma come back!  We miss you already!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Quilt Market


Right after Preschool Graduation, I mean RIGHT after, we loaded up the kids left for Utah!
We stopped at McD's for a quick bite (which ended up taking an hour), and changed the kids into their jammies in the parking lot and we were on our way!
We got to Utah around 11pm and wouldn't you know it these two little poopers stayed awake the whole way until we were about 20 minutes from Grandpa and Grandma's house.
We are pretty sure we won't be doing anymore late night road trips with these crazies.

Twice a year, each Spring and Fall, there is an International Quilt Market where all the fabulous fabric and pattern designers show off their new stuff. 

This year it just so happened to be in Salt Lake, so we decided that we better see if it is something worth traveling around for.

It was!
 I was totally sick the whole time and didn't take any pictures at the show.  I had to steal these from another blog :) The top one is Riley Blake Designs' Booth

And this one was one of my favorites because it made me wish I lived by the ocean. Sigh...
 I was having labor pains, and feeling so sick, and I complained the entire time we were there.  Yes, Vince was man enough to go with me to this event. Poor guy didn't want to be there anyway and I complained the whole time, he is a trooper.  We were supposed to attend both Friday and Saturday, and I barely made it through Friday, so we skipped out on Saturday's appointments.  I don't regret it, I still bought up lots of fabric for the shop on Friday and we got to enjoy Saturday with the fam!

Saturday we went to Cabelas for some free entertainment


 I love this picture
 I think Jack had the most fun!

 We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and only waited about an hour to be seated.  Good thing my kids don't mind sitting on the floor with a sucker or two!
All in all, it was a fun business/family trip to Utah!


Preschool Graduation

 Jack survived his first year of preschool!

And lucky for him he gets to do it all again next year.  It was a seriously hard decision of whether to send him to Kindergarten and be the youngest in the class, or hold him back one more year and let him be the oldest.
This decision included lots of tears, not from Jack, but from me. 
I don't want to make these kind of life altering decisions for him. Did I really sign up for this? :)
 Although he is sad to say goodbye to his friends who will be going to Kindergarten this fall, he is really excited to attend preschool again.  
He LOVES his teacher Mrs. Thompson!

After the program was over, Brooke was DYING to sit on one those little chairs!

Great Job JACK!!!

Monday, May 9, 2011

West Yellowstone

My Mother's Day gift was a weekend getaway to West Yellowstone.

You know, because I am a super outdoorsy girl.

hahahaha. NOT!


We have gone to West Yellowstone for the past 3 years in the early spring, and this was the first time we actually went into the park. Normally we sit around the condo and just eat, swim and watch movies.  We decided to go into Yellowstone spur of the moment when we got there, good thing I threw some boots in the car last minute before we left so I didn't have to walk around the park in my slippers!
 These two little yahoos LOVE waterfalls, or "Waterfaults" as they both call them!
Too bad the big ones are still closed for the winter.

 We drove over to Old Faithful and the rain REALLY started coming down. We decided to get out anyway and WE GOT SOAKED! 
 We nearly froze to death, and the kids weren't too impressed by the geyser.  Maybe nextime.

Our little walk in the wind and rain wore Brookie out!


We saw sooooo many Buffalo!


Brooke saw a huge duck and wanted to say "Hi!"

 Jack was really mad at this stop because he thought the Buffalo were going to get him.
"Pinch his Bum" to be exact.

He liked them more from the car.
They were all over the road and came inches from the kids' windows, they LOVED IT!



SWIMMING!

One reason we love West Yellowstone so much is because we always have the pool all to ourselves.
Every time. 



 This trip was monumental for Jack because he took a huge leap of faith in the water and swam in the life jacket all.by.himself. Not holding on to anyone.  Even where he couldn't touch!

We are so proud of him!
 Brooke was so mad to leave the pool.

Jack got to sleep in a bed that came out of the wall, and he thought he was something special.
 I came out to tuck him in and he was laying like this.  He is so funny!

The kids sang me a  little Mother's Day song Sunday morning at breakfast and then it was time to go.

My favorite quote from the trip was from Jack.

Me:  Jack, keep an eye out in the park for all sorts of animals.
Jack:   What kinds of animals?
Me:  Oh, you know, bears, buffalo, elk, moose, and wolves.
Jack:  NO! NOT WOLVES!   They will blow our car down!

Vince and I laughed so hard.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Sunshine

No lie, the sun came out today!


 And the winds ceased for a few hours.


And we enjoyed every.last.bit of the day.