Lagoon!!

Quinn's worked hosted a lagoon day for their employees and families last Saturday. We could not pass this up. It was Emma and James first time there. Emma loved every minute of it and rode every ride she could. James on the other hand did not enjoy it. We have now scarred him for life. The first ride we came to we stuck him on with Emma. He screamed the entire time while Emma laughed. So we let him rest for a little while. Then we tried another ride. We got on Puff and I rode with him thinking this would help. Again he screamed the entire and time and tried to climb out. We thought well lets go on the carousel because he has already been on that at the zoo and it was okay. He again screamed the entire time and tried to climb off. When we got on the train we started to scream until he realized it was hardly moving at all and you got to look at the animals so that was okay.

Emma loves rides. She loves roller coasters. Lagoon has a few new family roller coasters which she is just tall enough to ride on. So you know if you ever go on one with her she is one of those people that scream for fun at the top of their lungs. It was so fun to watch her. She also rode the Tidal Wave and lifted up her arms when she got to the top just like everyone else. It was so cute. We had a blast but boy was it hot. Thanks Mom and Dad for going with us and helping out with the kids.

James hating us right now.

Nice up the nose shot Quinn.

Cute right - giving James a hug. Don't be fooled. Just after this picture she pushed him off the bench.

Messing around in line. They really do love to play with each other. (We were going to try to get James on another slow ride with Emma.)

We did not succeed. I had him buckled in next to her and he just screamed and screamed so we had the operator get him out before they started. Quinn over heard some others parents standing there saying that poor kid.

Trying to get off the carousel!

Summer Projects

Where has the summer gone? This is just one of three book cases that I wanted to paint this summer. I don't know when I'm going to get to the other two. At least Emma has a very cute bookcase for her bedroom.

The before.

The after.

I used contact paper on the back.

So cute!

Zoo Week

A planned trip to the zoo inspired me to come up with fun ways to extend the fun of learning about zoo animals all week long for Emma. We got tons of books from the library about the zoo and watched a Signing Time DVD about the zoo to learn how to sign all the animals.

So on Monday we made zoo masks out of paper plates. She still won't let me take a picture of her wearing one though.

Tuesday we learned what continent certain animals live on and then matched animals crackers to the pictures. Emma had a lot of fun with this and looks at her map still.

Wednesday we went to the zoo with my friends Melissa and Jessica and their kids. Our first stop is always the big water ball.

Rhino!

We finally saw a tiger that was awake. He even walked down in front of the glass briefly.

Dallin, Emily and Emma in front of the T-Rex.

James and Lilly so tired, hot and upset that they can't get out and run around too.

The whole crew - James, Emma, Me, Emily, Dallin, Lilly, Melissa, Johnny, Daniel and Jessica.

Just monkeying around!



Friday Emma and I made binoculars and then went on a safari in our backyard.

Tons of fun.

Church History Museum

I took the kids to the Church History Museum by myself for the first time and probably won't do it again for a while since Emma was lost for about 5 minutes. She had been playing on Nephi's boat with some kids, I turned my back to chase after James and when I turned back around she was gone. I circled the rooms several times until I realized she wasn't there anymore. I finally found her coming up from the basement (I had been on the 2nd floor and had gone to the 1st floor to make sure she hadn't left the building). Another Mother had found her when she fell and got hurt on the escalator. So now I'm scared to take her any where. She didn't know she was lost and wasn't scared. She just wanted to keep playing with those kids. Now every time I try and talk to her about how scared I was and why it was wrong to leave my sight she cries because she remembers being hurt not lost. Oh well, I am supposed to go to the zoo tomorrow with friends. Hopefully we can keep track of all 7 kids.

Here are a few pictures. When will my children look at the CAMERA?

Emma got to color a picture of this stain-glass window

Fishing off Nephi's boat.

She is getting better at twirling that skirt.

Bear Lake

Well we survived another trip to Bear Lake with two kids in a tent. Emma was the best camper this year. She loved playing on the property and playing games with anyone she could. She even slept great. I guess the key was to wear her out let her stay up till ten and then let her crash. We we put her down she went right to sleep in her own sleeping bag and we didn't hear a peep out of her the rest of the night. Now if only James had been that way. We was also worn out but did not want to be in that tent in a playpen. He would only sleep for a few hours and then wake up screaming then finally fall back into a restless sleep with Quinn or myself. It was a fun four days but I am still needing to catch up on lost sleep. But what can you do, last year it was just the opposite.

So here is what we did:

Snacked all day long.

Played many many games.

Waited for it to get dark to roast marshmallows so we could eat again.

Drove to the north beach because that was the only beach left. played in the burning hot sand.

Emma spent nearly the entire time in the water.

James is still not fond of the boat and did not fall asleep but had fun holding his own orange flag for Dad.

Proof that Quinn still got it.

(I don't have physical proof just witnesses that I also still got it. I also got up on my first try on the wake board)

Emma and Aunt Carly were a perfect pair on the tube.

Too much hot sun and sand and not enough sleep.

Clean and tuckered out and the sun is still up.

Too tired to cook so we packed up and got pizza before heading home.

Watch out tired kid on the loose!

We also survived and 2 1/2 hour drive home with no radio (face plate locked in glove box to keep it safe) and 2 kids who despite being very tired did not fall asleep. So we got to sing a lot of songs on the way home - brings back memories.

Other unusual things about this trip : no wind and warmer water for having such a late summer season.