Trip to the beach

We decided to head down to the beach this week- since school starts tomorrow! AHH! We went with our friends the Browns. After Ashton decided you can have fun even without throwing sand on everyone- we had a good time! These two look like little miniatures of their dads!! (Aaron and Dylan)

Livia didn't quite know what to think about the sand. But she loved getting her toes wet.

Here's Marshall- he really had fun crawling around and exploring everything!

This was their "mud-hole" that Ella and Allyson made. Aaron and Ashton wanted to help too. :)

Even Max went. Yep. Wet dog, then sandy wet dog, then sandy wet dog all over the blanket. Gross.- I think we'll leave him home next time! But it was a great way to spend an afternoon with friends!

Fun at Steadman's

There is a really fun place to spend an afternoon not too far from our house. They have 2 long slip and slides that you go down on tubes, a zip line, a trampoline, a giant sand box and a fun swing set. Our church's youth group was going on Tuesday night, and since Adam is involved with that, we decided to make it a family affair! We had a blast. :) I love this picture! It was so fun to watch Adam have fun with his kiddos!

Terrible picture, yes- but this is just showing that I even went down. I didn't get dressed for the occation because I thought I would be holding Livia the whole time.

Livia LOVED the swing! We are going to have to put up a baby swing at our house.

Adam and Aaron getting ready to go!

Ella had so much fun! She even went down without a tube!

What being spontaneous can lead to.....

Adam and I had not been on a date in who knows how long (because our favorite babysitters moved away from us- you know who you are )- anyway- we get out and decide to just do something spontaneous- I'm thinking maybe a random movie or to go see the Parade of Homes that was going on- but no- we ended up buying a car. This is our new run around car. It actually seats 5 believe it or not.

And supposedly it gets about 50 miles to the gallon....we shall see....with the way Adam drives I really doubt that.

So that is what we did on our date. We ended up driving separate cars! Adam drove the excursion home and I got to drive our new little "golf cart". It is actually a VW Golf. Aaron came up with the name golf cart. :)

Our family reunion

We have an annual reunion with my dad's side of the family and this year it was at Yellowstone. This year was quite the year! We had rain/ sleet, freezing temperatures (in August!), dead battery in our camper -(no heat), and a run in with a very no nonsense, power tripped park ranger about a power cord, yes just a power cord- resulting in a $75 fine and Adam practically in handcuffs--really- it was all blown WAY out of proportion at 11:30 at night. Good times hehehe. Anyway- despite all this we had a pretty good time and definatly made some memories. The kids loved seeing the wildlife and getting lots of attention from everybody! And surprisingly- the kids did very well on on the trails surrounding the "boiling hot lava"-which I had been stressing about for months. So- enjoy the pictures! The family!

Very cool hike to Natural Bridge

Livia and Adam on the hike

At Artists Point

My mom and Ella and Aaron- yes I was a tad bit worried about the cliff behind them (understatement)- but it was beautiful.

Ella and Aaron Artists Point

Some "Boiling hot lava" as the kids would say!

Ashton and my dad. He loved the binoculars!

Grandparents and their grandkids. :) Do you notice everyone has a hand to hold- that was a #1 rule of the entire vacation!

Chris, Marla, me and the kids at Old Faithful. It was freezing!!!

The buffalo were fun to watch! They were "courting" as the park ranger put it.

We got stuck right behind a very slow moving buffalo. It was very entertaining for the kids. We followed it for almost a mile! And this is a video of Old Faithful.

Summer fun

We decided to get a little pool for our backyard to add to our summer fun! The kids have loved it-and I've loved having some entertainment watching them! Ella and her best friend Allyson

Ella and Ashton having fun!

That water is cold!