Summer's Already Over???

Okay, so maybe technically summer's not over, but it sure feels like it! No more lazy summer days, staying up late, sleeping in...now we have to get up early and get Brayden off to SCHOOL! She is now in 1ST GRADE and gets to be there all day! At least SHE doesn't care her summer is over - she couldn't wait to start school again! It's funny because even though obviously I'm not in school, I get all of the 1st day of school jitters for Brayden! It brings back memories of the nerves I had on my first days! Brayden told me that she was "excervous", her word for excited and nervous at the same time! But really, she couldn't wait, and even insisted on going to bed at 6 the night before her first day. I was able to push it to 8, but then she couldn't sleep until closer to 9 because she was so excited! My funny girl!

This year she gets to ride the bus in the morning AND afternoon! She thinks that is pretty cool!

I remember my mom leaving little notes in my lunch on my first days of school when I was little and I always loved it, so I wanted to do the same for Brayden. I was kind of worried she would be embarrassed about it, (since she's my little wannabe cool teenager) but luckily she loved it! I am so glad she is still little enough to let me do stuff like that!

One more year and both of my kids will be in school! It's so crazy to think Ashton will be in kindergarten next year! Time goes by way too fast!

Days of 47 Rodeo!

I don't even remember the last time I went to a rodeo, and I think I've only been to 2 my whole life! For years Mike and I have talked about going to one and just never have, so finally we decided this year to go the one put on here for Pioneer Day!

Kyle + Tanaira

So this is the summer of weddings! One kid from every member of my dad's family has or will have a wedding this summer! One cousin was in May in Portland, another in June in Denver, July was my cousin Kyle's and the first one we could make it to since they were getting married in Salt Lake with a reception in Pocatello, then of course will be my brother Cameron's in August!

Last week we first all got together at my parents' house for a BBQ to celebrate Kyle and Tanaira going through the temple for the first time the night before their wedding.

The guests of honor, Kyle and Tanaira! Ashton absolutley LOVES them and wouldn't leave them alone! I think I should let them keep him for awhile for their initiation into marriage!

The next and last couple to be married in our family this summer, Cameron and Aubrey!

Ashton loves my cousin Erin's cute little guy Cannon!

Then we drove up to Pocatello to go to their reception in American Falls a couple days later for a fun 2-day trip!

Blaine (Erin's husband), my cousins Erin and Brandon (siblings of Kyle's), and Blaine and Erin's baby Cannon.

My cute mom and dad!

We spent the rest of our little trip that night and the next morning doing our kids' favorite thing ever, SWIMMING! This time it was extra fun because they got to do it with Grandma and Grandpa! Then, the next day my dad planned for us to go to his favorite place to get pizza when he was growing up in Idaho Falls called Remos. They no longer have one in Idaho Falls, but there's still one in Pocatello so he was so excited to take us there! Turns out the pizza was the worst pizza we had ever tasted, and I felt so bad for my dad because it was no longer the wonderful pizza he had when he was a kid that he was so excited for us to try! Oh, well, it was still a fun lunch!

Our trip home was fun - Cameron was with us and on our way out we stopped at what the kids call a "candy store" (a convenient store!) to get some fun drinks, which to the kids was sooo exciting! I realized we had never taken them into a convenient store to actually buy something before then...usually it's just to use the restroom on long trips! I think it's now their new favorite place!

We had a fun little trip - I always love reasons like weddings to get together with family and friends we don't get to see very much!

CALIFORNIA continued...Days 3, 4, & 5

Day 3: SeaWorld
We weren't originally planning on going to SeaWorld, but right before we left for our trip I found an amazing deal online where the kids got FREE tickets and Mike and I got our tickets at the child's price! We couldn't pass that up and it was well worth it!

The first thing we did was went to see a circus type show. It started out with clowns picking out a few guys from the audience to have muscle competitions and they had to do goofy things the clowns told them to do. Mike was one of the lucky ones! Luckily he didn't win, because if he had, he would have had to be IN the whole show! I thought the guy who ended up in the show was staged, but Mike is glad he didn't have to find out!

They have this whole new Sesame Street themed play area for little kids with kiddie rides. We had to get that out of the way first so we didn't have to hear Ashton beg the whole time we were there! Sesame Street characters even come out to sing and put on a show. My kids don't even watch Sesame Street, so it's funny Ashton was so excited! Brayden told me she thinks Sesame Street is kind of freaky and creepy!

Finally off to see some animals, the reason why we were there!

There were dolphins behind us...I guess we didn't catch them at the right time!

Brayden with a beluga whale!

Us with Shamu!

My favorite part, the night show!

We met 2 of the nicest grandparent-aged couples while we were waiting in line for the night show. It turned out they were LDS. We sat with them and they bought our kids these glowing swords. The kids were so excited because we weren't going to buy them for them and they wanted them so bad! It was really sweet. I don't know what's up with Ashton's goofy face in this picture. It's so hard to get a normal picture of that kid!

Day 4: Mission Beach
We loved Mission Beach! It was a bit crowded, but there was plenty of room for us! And it is one of the few beaches in California with free parking, so that was a plus. I relaxed in the sun while Mike and the kids played in the water and built sand castles! Afterwards, we walked around at Belmont Park right by the beach. Belmont Park has rides, shops, an indoor pool, a wave pool, and all kinds of other things that we will have to check out next time! It was fun just seeing the sites and people watching!

Day 5: Las Vegas
I don't know what it is about Las Vegas, but there is such an exciting vibe there that you can't help but love it! Mike and I still haven't gone there without the kids, which we so need to do, but with the kids our place to stay is Circus Circus. Seriously, $20 per night in a room that is better than rooms we spend 4x's the price, being close to the strip, and lots of things for the kids to do including some free rides and games...can't beat that! This time we ended up on the 29th floor, the very top of our tower! We weren't sure how we were going to like that, but it was kind of fun and we actually had a decent view!

It was 112 degrees the day we got there, way too hot to walk the strip, even after the sun went down, so we decided to just go to Caesar's Palace and eat at the Cheesecake Factory there, our favorite new tradition now whenever we go to Vegas!

After eating we watched a show they do right outside of the restaurant every hour, which the kids loved, then we walked around for a little bit before heading back to Circus Circus.

Tired boy, but the night's not over yet!

With all of the amusement parks we had been to that week, the kids begged for cotton candy at every single one of them, so we finally decided to give in at Circus Circus, yes, even at 10:00 at night! But hey, we were in Vegas, right?!

When you stay at Circus Circus they give you 2 free ride vouchers and 2 free midway games, so we decided to use them that night since we were leaving the next morning.

They won these bears from the fishing game and we didn't even have to pay a penny!

We had a great vacation, but I don't think I have ever been so ready to come back home! We wore ourselves out! Now I need a vacation to recover!!!

CALIFORNIA Days 1 & 2

(Lots of pictures ahead so be prepared! I'm so bad at narrowing them down...and believe it or not, I did!)
Day 1: Legoland

Cities built out of Legos! Mike, Brayden and Ashton in Las Vegas, and New York City in the bottom left corner!

Rides!

You know you're not in Disneyland when...the princesses have to come up to YOU and beg for a picture...and then they bend over to show you some cleavage!

The kids got to go to driving school while we were there and got driver's licenses! I think Ashton thinks his is real!

Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland - my fishy kids!

The kids were so excited to see Mrs. Puff there! They are HUGE fans of hers on "Spongebob"!

Day 2: Hollywood

The first thing we saw walking onto Hollywood Blvd. was this Seattle Mariners Mickey of all things! I had to get a picture with my home team!

Hollywood sites!

Ashton found some new parents in Hollywood!

Charlie's Angels got some new members!

The Hollywood Wax museum was amazing! Ashton loved posing with all of the stars and pretended to be a wax statue himself. Brayden was pretty freaked out at first, but by the end she was loving it and made us walk through the whole thing again so she could actually enjoy it the second time around!

We also visited the Guinness Book of World Records Museum....lots of interesting things in there!

I love Ashton's eyes bugging out of his head in front of the tattoo lady! Oh, and that little lady, that was her actual size at the age of 19!

We rounded a corner and there's this giant Mario, no sign or anything explaining why it's in the museum...it was almost like it was there just for Ashton!

Later, after driving around Beverly Hills and listening to the kids tell us how bad they want to live there (haha!) we went to have a picnic dinner and watch the sunset on the Santa Monica Pier.

More pics to come of the rest of our trip! (As if there weren't already enough pictures, I know!)