Dinosaur Museum

Bryan has been begging for months to go to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Every time we drive past it it's a big deal to call out when we see the dinosaurs, and even Matt has started to get excited. He says, "Scary!" with a great deal of awe in his voice every time. :) So with Grandma here, I thought now would be a good time to finally go!Both boys enjoyed playing in the water and sand as they simulated what might have happened to the dinosaurs during a flash flood. Or, at least, they enjoyed getting dirty and wet. :)They're favorite part was at the end when they got to dig for bones. Matt did more sand-throwing than bone-digging, unfortunately.After this experience, Bryan decided he wanted to be a "dinosaur investigator" in addition to being a State Farm agent. Then he just informed me today that he has enough money already, so he's going to skip the agent part and just work with dinosaurs. :) Whatever makes you happy, bud!

Family Barbecue

There's nothing like a good barbecue in the summertime! I especially enjoy the ones at my Grandma Willes' house because they remind me of the ones we had there when I was a kid. Yummy food, good company, and rousing games of croquet... what more could you ask for on a hot afternoon!Of course we had to get a sister pic. It's great that we live so close and get to see each other often!I love this picture of Ari and my mom. :)Bryan loved playing croquet! Bree and Cassity really got into it. :)My cousin, Allyson, and her family were visiting from Texas and we enjoyed seeing her baby girl, Aubrey, with Ari and Cambria. They're all about a month apart from each other.Here are Bryan and Matt with Allyson's other daughters, Abby and Tessa. Bryan was so excited to learn that he had more cousins!Matt managed to get two shirts covered in food and drool. He had marker all over his legs, too - what a mess! He was totally beat by the end of the night. :)

Gardner Village

With Grandma here, we've been taking lots of fun little day trips in the area. One day last week we visited Gardner Village, which I hadn't done in years. I loved all the cute shops, but of course the boys' favorite part was the petting zoo. Grandma and Bryan paid to actually go in with the animals, and the rest of us just looked from outside. It made for a fun afternoon! We all loved this tiny, little goat. It was only 3 weeks old!
Matt made friends with a chicken while we waited.I love his dorky, laughing face in this one. He got a big kick out of the chicken digging in the dirt. :)

Sweet baby girl

Ari's getting a little bit more photogenic as she's smiling more and more. :) Here she is right after church the other day. I love this little dress my mom brought for her. It looks so Spanish-y!
Just look at that smile!
Here she's all bundled up in the stroller for our morning walk. I like seeing how her eyes shine as she looks up at the sky.
This is Grandma meeting Ari at the airport! Mom was so excited to be able to hold both granddaughters together for the first time.
Cute cousins just chillin' together. If you look closely, Ari's licking Cambria's head, like a little kitten. It was hilarious. :)
Holding hands on the blanket. (I don't know why this picture won't rotate.) Cam's always a lot more interested in looking at Ari than the other way around, but I'm sure that will change soon. They're bound to be best friends!

Matty turned 2!

This past weekend we celebrated Matthew's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my baby boy is growing up so fast! Friday morning we woke up and went for a nice morning walk. Later we went to the BYU Bean Life Science Museum and McDonald's for lunch, and then David took the boy's swimming.

Matt took this picture at the museum himself. Not bad for a 2-year-old. :)
Since Grandma was coming to visit the following day we decided to spread out his birthday over the 2 days and save a few things for when she was here. So on Saturday we gave him his big present - a water/sand table for the backyard that both he and Bryan can enjoy this summer. He loved it!
In the evening we got to pick Grandma up from the airport and have a little family party at Heather and Jake's house. Matt got all his favorite things - tractors, trucks, and snacks. :) What he didn't enjoy so much was the attention he got when we brought out the cake! I'd worked hard to make a fire engine cake (my first fancy cake) but he was so overwhelmed by the singing and everything that he got really shy and insisted on leaving. I had to stand out on the front porch with him for a few minutes before he was comfortable enough to go back in. :) Silly kid.
Here's Grandma trying to comfort him during the happy birthday song. :)
And here he is after he'd calmed down a bit. At least he recognized that it was a fire truck! That's all I was hoping for. :)
Happy birthday, Matt! We love you!

P.S. It's now been over a month since Matt's b-day party, and he still talks about the fire truck cake! Not in a happy way, though. :) Every time we go to Heather's house, or any other person's house for that matter, he says, "No birthday cake. No fire cake!" Apparently it was pretty traumatic for him. What a funny kid!

First smiles

I finally caught Ari smiling on camera. She smiles the most for her daddy. :)

Road trip entertainment

I love this video, especially Matt's bobbing head in the background. There's nothing like having Javi and a ukulele to help pass the time. :)

St. George Trip - May 2009

St. George has become one of our favorite vacation spots. It's nice that it's so close and yet so different from northern Utah. This last time we went with Jose and Javi and stayed in one of our friend's townhomes. We did lots of swimming, hiking, mini-golfing (Bryan's favorite part), shopping, and just relaxing. We also spent a night in Vegas, but I have to admit that with the kids it was a bit of a nightmare for me. I felt like a rotten mother carrying my newborn through the casinos and past so much filth on the streets... But there were a few nice parts, and David and his brothers had fun at least. :) This little vacation was the last break for David before he opens his office next month, so we just really enjoyed spending time together as a family. Bree and her roommate, Cassity, came and joined us on the weekend too, which was a lot of fun as well. I wish we could have stayed longer... the week went by way too fast!

Here we are heading off in the car. Jose and Javi were such good sports! We all enjoyed seeing the gardens in and around the casinos in Vegas. Bryan says his favorite part of the whole week was playing mini-golf! And we can't go to St. George without visiting the temple. It's beautiful! Here's a slideshow w/ a lot more pics. :)

Ari pics

I haven't been very good about taking good pictures of Ari lately. I'm still getting used to handling 3 kids and not being completely stressed. Most of the time when I do think to take out the camera Ari's asleep, but she began smiling this week so I should be able to get a picture of a smile soon... I love how peaceful she looks when she's sleeping. And the picture of her and Tio Jose is precious. :) I also like the last pic of her sticking her little tongue out at David. She really does love her daddy!