Hummingbirds

 

 

  Brandon loves his hummingbird feeder.  He makes a new batch of food for them every few weeks.  There are binoculars by the back door to watch those and other birds that visit our back flower beds.  I sat there this afternoon trying to capture the birds.  It is so much fun to watch them, especially when there are quite a few coming and going.

Demolition Derby

We have heard so much about the demolition derby over the years and this was the first year we were going to be around.  I wet my alarm the morning the tickets went on sale to be sure to get them, they sold out in 30 min!  Tabitha was acting funny as we walked over to the arena.  I sat out with her for a bit  having her drink some water, we thought maybe she was dehydrated.  We had been swimming most of the day with a couple that Brandon works with.  She perked up and we watched a round or two but then she got sick.  I got her out of the arena and she threw up twice as we were walking back to our car!  Emily, Brandon and Gabrielle enjoyed the rest of the night.  We will try again next year.

Pioneer Day

 Camille and I met early this morning and ran the Charleston 5K.  We made great time, it helps to have a running buddy to push me to run faster.  We also talk the whole time so it goes by really fast.  Later that afternoon we packed a picnic lunch and rode to the park.  We really have been biking a lot this summer, which has been fun.  I worked tonight.  With Brandon's job situation this summer I have been picking up a lot more shift than I normally would work.  Since today is a holiday I get double pay so I don't mind.

Fairy Gardens

 

My friend Ali mentioned these Fairy Gardens that were up Mirror Lake Highway at the beginning of the summer.  We got together today with friends to check it out.  It was so much fun.  Someone created these a few years ago and then visitors come and add to the gardens.  The girls decorated rocks to leave behind and brought a jar hoping to catch a fairy to bring home.  We tried to do a hike with Camille after but we got rained out.  Everyone except Gabrielle fell asleep on the way home!

Drive-In

We had fun at the Drive-In tonight.  I am not sure why there are not more of these around, we only know of two in Utah.  We went to the one in Riverdale but it was a week night and to late for anyone else to join us.  We saw "The Minions", which was OK.  It didn't start until 9:30 and we all made it through the show but the girls crashed on the way home.  I don't know how anyone does a double feature.  I remember going to the drive in when I grew up and my Mom would make caramel corn and so I made some for our night.

National Ice Cream Day

We had fun celebrating with friends tonight National Ice Cream Day.  I like to look at these days at the beginning of the year and plan a few that are fun with our family or friends.  The weather was perfect and the kids all played great.  We made Mint Oreo and Butterfinger and Camille made a fruit one.

Weekend with Grandma

 

 

 

My Mom got the girls tickets to Little Mermaid for their birthdays this year.  It included a fun weekend with her.  We went up Friday afternoon and swam.  We met up with Kathryn, Layni, Kristen and Everest and went to dinner and then facetimed Jeff and Tobi.  Saturday morning we played around in the yard and then swam for a bit.  The weather wasn't the greatest but we had fun.  We got ready and headed to Salt Lake to see the play.  We loved it!  The Hale Theater always does such a great job and the stage is so exciting to see what they will do with it.  The girls like to stay after and meet the cast but they couldn't come out this time because they were getting ready for another performance so we were super bummed.  Thanks Grandma!!

Feeding the Bears

 

 

We signed the girls up last night to have a feeding opportunity of the grizzly bears and the discovery center.  They were super excited.   They rotate the bears throughout the day so once the bears left the kids lined up with a bucket of food and got to hide the food for the next group of bears to come and find.  They loved it!

On our drive home we stopped in Rexburg at my cousin Kevin's house.  He had this fun zipline that he put in his backyard that the girls had fun with.  I tried it but it is meant for little kids and I dragged at the end.  

Yellowstone Day #3

We stopped for lunch along the river.

We just missed a wolf making it's way across this field and then across the street and up over the hill on the other side.  

Windy hike to Yellowstone Lake, Storm Point.

We got rained out the first day at Midway Geyser Basin so we stopped again on our way out of the park

We spent the evening Grizzly Bear and Wolf discover center.  We signed the girls up for a feeding tomorrow morning.

Gabrielle had kept her eye out for a sweatshirt that she wanted to buy.  She found this a few days ago but wanted to see what all her options were.  I am very proud of her for shopping around and for spending her own money.