Shopping with Jack

One of Jack's favorite things to do is go shopping. Not because he gets a lot when we go, but because he can sometimes push the cart. If we're not in a rush (which usually happens when we go to Cabella's or the farm/ranch store), I'll put him down and he'll push the bottom bar of the cart everywhere he can. It's really quite funny. I'm sure he'll get over the novelty as soon as he can walk. But for now, it really makes me smile.

The following video was at the end of April. So, you can see how early he's had this obsession with pushing things around. Ah...he's so cute.

Camping with the Collotons

What a weekend we had! We decided to invite some neighbor friends to go camping with us and we had so much fun, we're planning to do it again in September! Wow! We went up Diamond Fork canyon in Spanish Fork canyon to a small group camp area. There was a huge parking lot available (not that we needed it for vehicles) but it was great for playing glow-in-the-dark frisbee with the teens that came.

The kids had so much fun playing with other kids their age, and even some who were a few years older. That left time for Mom and Dad to socialize with some of the other adults, or clean up, or both! Anyway, the kids keep asking when we're going to get out the sleeping bags and tent again. It's nice to see they enjoyed themselves as well.

This is where Jack stayed pretty much the entire morning after we all got up. He was playing outside of it the night before, but we had so much to do to pack up that he got sequestered to his bed. Contain! We contained the baby! But he was a good sport about it.

There was also a small stream by the campsite and the kids loved wading it in. At one point, I turned around and realized I had at least two pantless children. Bekah and John both had clothes hanging on the fence post to dry...but they weren't finished with the water.

Happy Fourth of July

A very big Happy Freedom Days to everyone! In honor of the 4th of July, we take the kids to see the balloon festival every year. It's held in the baseball field behind the Utah Valley hospital and this is it's 26th year. They have lots of balloons, people, kids, and even an early pancake breakfast by the Kiwanis club. It's a good time!

We decided to see the balloon launch on Friday morning. I was hoping that there wouldn't be as many people attending the Friday session as the ones for Saturday and Monday. I was right. It was a LOT less crowded! It was actually more enjoyable this way. The only problem we/the pilots encountered was a strong crosswind somewhere overhead. There wasn't any wind on the ground, but it's been fairly windy for the past couple of days, and the atmosphere above us could be doing anything.

Anyway, we got to see the balloons inflate and one was even offering rides (I didn't check out prices). But it was an awesome sight to watch deflated fabric suddenly "balloon" overhead and then lift off of the ground! The kids loved it!

Thanks to Daddy's camera abilities! The panoramic picture is awesome, Shawn! I think the Coke bottle was a favorite of everyone's this year. John kept calling it "Dr. Pepper" but he finally figured it out when he could see the letter "C" on the huge label.

Amazing what they can fly? So...the unusual balloons this year were the bottle, piggy bank, and Smokey the Bear. Kinda fun to see something different in the sky.

Golden Spike National Monument

I am REALLY behind on all of this! We did this little trip back on May 10th on National Train Day (didn't know there was such a thing, did ya?). Anyway, we decided to take a day trip up to Golden Spike National Monument for the reenactment of driving the last spike into the first transcontinental railway. We had be worried that it would be rainy and miserable; but we were pleasantly surprised to find mostly sunny conditions with a cool wind.

It was so much fun to see all of the people dressed in 1860's costume! Several of the older people in the reenactment had a great sense of humor as they explained what was going on to the waiting crowd. The kids were pretty good for such a long drive and John wants to go back to see the trains again. Can't really blame him. The trains were impressive when they got moving.

The train on the left is a replica of the wood burning engine, Jupiter, from the Central Pacific Railroad. The train on the right is the coal burning engine from the Union Pacific railroad (I can't remember her name).

Did you count the stars on that flag? Looks a little different from the one we're used to. Back in 1869, there weren't quite as many states in the Union. Pretty cool arrangement for the stars.

Anyway, here's some video we got of the trains. Here's looking back in time...