Cousins! And other fun events...

We were so happy to have cousins come visit us in August! We had a lot of fun playing at Thanksgiving Point. The kids all loved this awesome spiderweb in the children's gardens. Tucker climbed all the way to the top and I'm sure Halle would have too, but she was just a little too short to reach some of the ropes.

Sammy and some random kid in the background. If I ever edited my photos I could crop it because it is a cute photo of Sammy.

Blowing bubbles and Halle would dance to the music her cousins were playing.

The next day we did the dinosaur museum and of course the part with the sand is always the most fun. Tucker loves to bury his dinosaurs and turn them into fossils and Halle likes grabbing the sand and dropping it in another part of the sandbox.

We all had dinner over at Dahlia's house one night and had awesome chocolate fudge dipped ice cream treats. Tucker really loved it and somehow managed to still eat it all even after it was falling off the stick.

To get ready for our trip to Zion over Labor Day weekend we decided to do a little practice hike. We hiked  up to Donut Falls and discovered a few things that was good to help prepare us for Zion. Halle is the slowest hiker ever. She has to stop and look at every rock, flower, bee, leaf, and of course climb on everything. She spent most of her time in the backpack or on shoulders, or else it would have taken us hours to hike. Tucker is a pretty good hiker and good at moving along, although eventually he does get tired. For some reason, he only likes to ride on Sheldon's shoulders. I try to give him rides on my shoulders, but they must be too bony or something. So Sheldon often has Halle in the backpack and Tucker riding on his shoulders. It is pretty impressive that he can carry two kids. Technically I carry two kids as well sometimes, because I am carrying one in my belly.

Picnic when we made it to the falls! They weren't very big waterfalls, but Tucker loved throwing big rocks in the water.

Halle saying cheese with a bunch of food in her mouth. Kind of gross, but also kind of funny.

Someone was nice enough to take a picture for us at the falls and amazingly I think it turned out pretty good. Everyone is looking and smiling, that doesn't happen very often!

Tucker's 4th Birthday!

It is so hard to believe that Tucker is 4! He is just growing up so fast and getting so smart. He has now become great at letters and numbers and it is funny to see the kind of connections he makes. We told him the leaves change color in the fall, so now he asks me, "Do cats change color in the fall too?" He is always finding something to ask if it changes color in the fall. For his birthday we decorated the house so when he got up in the morning there were balloons and dinosaur decorations everywhere, we even got a special dinosaur balloon.

 For his birthday breakfast I asked him what he wanted to eat and he said the cereal with cookies. It was a  very special treat for him because we don't ever get him sugar cereals. After Sheldon got home from work we headed to seven peaks with Dahlia and Claytin. It was pretty crazy crowded since it was the Friday before school started, but we still had a lot of fun.

 For dinner we had Tucker's favorite Macaroni and cheese and I made a cool dinosaur cake (Ok, it actually wasn't that cool, but Tucker liked it and that's what counts) that I didn't even get a picture of. It was just a cake with green funfetti frosting and some little dinosaurs on top, but Tucker loved those little dinosaurs. Tucker was very nice about letting Halle help open presents up. I love when Tuck opens presents he gasps before every one and says "ohh, what is it?"

Tucker set up all his new dinosaurs on my stomach to read his new magic school bus dinosaur book. I think I have forgotten to announce it on the blog, but yes I am pregnant, not just chubby :) We are having boy due at the beginning of December!

Instead of throwing a big party for Tucker, we though he just might like to spend a day with his friend Avery. They play so well together and don't get to see each other very often since we've moved. They had a great time together at the dinosaur museum.

Avery was a little model, she loved taking pictures. She loved posing and asked me to take pictures of her.

Of course we had to go to Tucker's favorite place, Chuck-e-cheese! It was Avery's first time at Chuck-e-cheese and Tucker loved showing her all the fun rides and games. Avery's favorite games were the ones that took pictures. We let her take the pictures because she "wanted a picture to always remember Tucker." For dinner we went to In-n-out and had a great time eating hamburgers!

Tracy Aviary

Hopefully I can catch up on all the fun things we have done this summer! In August we had a fun time visiting the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake. It was such a fun place, we definitely plan on going back. Our favorite part was this area where you walked in a little house and the birds were just flying out in the open. Our favorite bird was the bird with crazy hair that had feathers that stuck straight up. Tucker said he needed a haircut.

 The crazy hair bird!

 Flamingos!

 The kids loved playing in all these flowers and climbing on the little log steps. After exploring the Aviary we had a picnic in Liberty Park. The kids had fun playing at the awesome playground there until Tucker and another kid collided at full speed. Then it was time to go home, but we loved it and Tucker still talks about the bird with the crazy hair a month later.