...Cowboys & Indians...

Every summer our neighbors Jocelyn and Andy throw a fun themed party for our neighborhood - this year it was Cowboys and Indians! Here we are dressed up in our cowboy getups ready for the party! (Mike grew out a cowboy mustache all week just for this!)

 

At the party!

Mike riding the bull! I kind of regretted not riding it, until I saw all of the bruises on Mike's inner thighs later! :)

In jail with the beautiful host!

Mean game of tug-of-war!

I guess these cute girls aren't as innocent as they look!

Ashton was a natural on the bull!

Thanks to the Oliverson's again for an amazing party!!!

Brayden's NINE Year Pictures!

I had looked up some ideas for locations to take Brayden's pics this year, and I wanted kind of an urban feel. I saw someone online had mentioned Main Street in Midvale, and since it was fairly close, we headed there. As close as it was, I had never been there, nor even driven through there that I can remember. At first I was excited to see all of the neat little alleyways and old building walls, but then I realized, that place was a little scary. It made for some good pictures, but we got out of there as fast as we could! I guess I got what I wanted though, it definitely felt urban! :)

Then we went to Murray Park, which felt much safer!!

I had to get a couple with my favorite girl! I love this girl to pieces! Her birthday is still 2 1/2 weeks away, but I just cannot believe that I will have a 9 year old!!!

~Labor Day~

For Labor Day we decided to go to the zoo since it had been a few years since we last went. It was really fun, well, for Brayden and I at least! Ashton got bored after like a half an hour and kept complaining he wanted to go home, and Mike got a phone call for work and ended up on the phone with that a lot of the time. So, that kind of put a damper on things, but Brayden and I tried our best to make the most of it. We eventually left Ashton with Mike on a bench and got to go do what we wanted to. I think next time we go to the zoo it's just gonna be a girls trip!!

The kids' new friend! This is where Ashton decided he was glad he came to the zoo, but then it was downhill after that!

We were excited about the new Rocky Shores we hadn't seen.....

but this is all we saw of the main attraction.....he was asleep the whole time we were there! And we kept going back to check with no luck! Oh well, maybe next visit!

As we were leaving we saw a couple of zoo workers with kookaburras. The kids were excited because they know exactly what they are from their Nana who's from Australia where these birds are from. Kookaburras are pretty neat birds! It was fun seeing them in person and hearing the crazy loud sounds they make!

Mike ended up working for a big part of the day, but for dinner we went over to my parents' house for a BBQ and to roast marshmallows and make S'mores! Also, my parents have been storing our bounce house for us that the kids never played with, and my dad decided to set it up for them that night, and the kids loved it! It was so funny, I thought they had outgrown that! They especially loved that Grandma played in it with them!

I'm a little sad summer is over, but I'm looking forward to cooler weather, sweaters, boots, and all of the holidays coming up! Bring on the fall! :)

Girl Fun!

Lately Brayden and I have been trying to have more girl outings, because, let's face it, we both could use a break from the boys in our family! :) I love that Brayden enjoys doing a lot of what I enjoy doing, so we have a lot of fun together!

Last weekend we went to Gardner Village for some fun treats, shopping, and to check out the Farmer's Market. I have to say, Brayden out-shopped me, which is hard to do! She loved just looking at all of the cute little shops, and even at decorations! Her favorite stores of course were the candy shop, a store called "Just for Girls", and a cute little toy shop, where she fell in love with these things...

This week, I took Brayden to the Utah State Fair to see one of her favorite Nickelodeon stars, Victoria Justice from the show "Victorious" in concert! Brayden is always so quiet, so I never really know what she is thinking, but at the concert she was grinning the whole time, so I know she loved it! The concert was really good! And we had great seats on the side where no one was right in front of us. A lot of people didn't show up because there was a bad rain storm right before the concert, so we could have moved closer if we wanted to, but Brayden and I were happy not being in the crowd of crazy fans!!

Someone was going around taking free pictures they'd email to you as an ad for Victoria Justice's movie coming out!

A singer named Max Schneider opened for Victoria Justice. I had never heard of him, I think he has done some songs for Nickelodeon movies, but he was pretty good. Girls were going crazy in the audience for him, so apparently I'm a little out of the loop!

Victoria Justice put on a great concert! I've been to several Nickelodeon/Disney star concerts for the kids, and they always impress me more than I would expect!

They threw these giant beach balls into the crowd, which I think was Brayden's favorite part! I got hit in the head by them a few times though! Ha ha!

I love that Brayden and I can have fun and just hang out together! I can't wait for our next girl's outing!!