Last post of Utah vacation!

 Sophia and Kate love to be just like each other!  Matchy-Matchy!

 For the first ride on the carousel she wasn't so sure, but after that she loved it!

 Helena loved the carousel and Emma was amazing and went on it over and over again with Helena!

 Nellie was so big.  She toddled around Lagoon and had a great time!

 They held hands just about everywhere they went!

 Swimming fun in Papa's backyard!    The kids couldn't wait for everyone to show up!

 Mimi rented a great big bouncy slide and slip and slide.  It was great fun!

 I love that the mountains are the backdrop... so pretty!

 Sterling and Nellie got to hang out together for a while.  Nellie wasn't so sure of all the kids and mommy wasn't so sure Nellie needed to be in the little pool with all the crazy kids.  Bubbles was more her speed!

 OHH!!  BUBBLES!!!!

 The little pool was full of warm water from the house, so the kids would warm back up in the little pool.  Some of the little kids never got out of the little pool!  

 James is not a fan of having his picture taken, but I finally go when when he couldn't help it!

Sterling started a great relay game.  They would time it to see how fast you could do certain obstacles and get back in the pool.  It got a little crazy to see who could go the fastest.   Daniel is on his way out of the little pool to start his relay!

 So cute!  Cousins are the best!!!

 Fun backyard time with all the cousins!  It doesn't get better than this!!

 Playing Mormon Bridge is one of my favorite past times!  I have a great family!

 We went to Hogle Zoo.  They had a Lego thing going on and had several animals around the zoo built out of Legos.  Daniel was in Heaven!  It was pretty cool!  The polar bear behind him is made completely of Legos!  

 James' favorite thing at the zoo is the bird show, and most of all the eagles.  They are amazing.  James really wants to own his own falcon when he is older.  

 Helena really wanted to give money to the bird during the show but they didn't choose her, so she got to give money to the cockatoo after the show.

 These little monkeys are also made completely of Legos.  They are pretty dang cute.  If they sold a kit of how to make your own monkey, I would have lots of cute monkeys all over my house!

 Lego Penguins

 The toddlers were so good and content most of the day riding in the stroller!

 Lego Gorilla Mosaic.  Pretty cool!

Sophia

 Daniel

 This is at 'This is the Place State Park'.  They had a small little village built for the kids to play.  My kids loved it!  Sophia kept telling me she needed a play house like this in our yard!  That would be very cool!

 Helena and Nellie didn't want to come out.  They loved dancing in the open space!

 Packer Family Fun Day!  Grandma and Grandpa Packer and Lynette and Alan and their kids plus our family.  6 adults and 10 kids all 10 and under!  It was a busy, fun day!

 They have a little petting zoo there.  The kids thought it was great!

 The best thing of the day was the horse rides!  Helena loves to ride the horses!

 Sophia also loved the horses!  She was very brave!

 Nellie Sue is our tricky one.  She didn't think she even needed to hold on.  Daddy got to hold on to her because she wasn't holding on for herself!  

 Feeding cows is fun stuff!!!

 There was a group of pioneer trek kids that came in while we were there...  It was amazing to see them come in.  I was crying (of course!).  It was so cool.  The workers at the park were shooting guns and yelling welcome to Zion.  It was amazing!  There was a group of over 100 that came in and it was very inspiring!

 My cute kids loved panning for Gold!  Helena just got in the water to splash around, but the rest had a great time seeing what they could find!

 Nellie got to sit on Grandpa's lap.  She wasn't all that happy about it but I didn't want her in the water.  She had a good time playing with grandpa and watching the kids.  She is such an easy going baby! 

 The girls were exhausted.  We got them back in the stroller and they crashed!  Sleepy girls!

Last but not least, James holding Beau and Jasmine, Blake's ferrets.   James loves animals of all kinds.  He really liked playing with them while we were staying at Papa's house.

We had a great time in Utah.  4 weeks of family is so much fun!

More Pictures of our Utah vacation June 18 - July 14 2013

 Sophia and Kate, her cousin.  They are such pretty girls!  They were so excited to be together again!

 Cameron, my nephew, is an amazing pianist.  Nellie loved to sit on his lap while he played and "help" him make his songs that much prettier! 

 Helena loved showing Grandpa all the pictures.  She warmed right up to him!  So cute!

 My crew at Grandpa's house!

  Kayden is Helena's favorite.  Everywhere he went, she followed Kayden around!

 The girls loved watching the ducks and flamingos at Tracy Aviary.

 Helena riding on Kayden's shoulders.  He was so cute to carry her everywhere!

 Shelli took the picture... 

My Mom and Eric were so good to come down and go to Tracy Aviary with us.  

It was 100☼ plus.  It was hot, but a great day!

 Nellie wanted her turn to be as big as the other kids! (Tracy Aviary) She was so cute!

My cute girls playing on the teeter-totter at Grandpa Sheffield's house.

 We had so much fun swimming at Aunt Julie's house.  Julie was so fun and go in the pool and swam with us.  She was a great swim teacher to help Sophia learn to swim.  We LOVE Aunt Julie's pool!

 We had a great time playing with my brothers and Sister in the pool!  Daniel and Gabe were playing 'watch what I can do' and James and Colton were having fun throwing a football across the pool. 

 Ellie was so cute with Nellie!  It was so much fun!

 I am pretty sure Sophia wore Aunt Julie out!  We had so much fun!

 DeVroom Family 4th of July Hike to Doughnut Falls!

   Helena and Mommy! 

 She wanted to get into the water so bad!  We had to hold on to her so tight to keep her from it!  She loves WATER!!!

 I love this picture... The man in the white shirt is my Uncle Tom.  I love him!  I don't get to see him very often but he is very cool.  There is just something about him, he is great!  James was searching in the water for all kinds of wildlife.  This morning was amazing!

 Helena was  so tired.  She fell asleep leaning on Sterling's head on the way down the trail!  

 Fireworks... Nellie wanted to wonder off in the dark, Brittany Kaye was so great to hold onto her for me!  Nellie loved the fireworks!

 Ashley was so cute trying to help Helena figure out how to step on the 'pops'. Helena couldn't throw them hard enough to make them pop.  Ashley helped her figure out hot to smash them and make them pop.  She finally figured it out.

We had such a great vacation... there are still many many more pictures I will post when I get a chance! 

Our Vacation to Utah!

While we spent a month in Utah, Grandma Packer has begged that I start writing on my blog again.  She loves a peek into our lives and all the pictures of the Grand kids!   So, I will try to keep it updated.  It is tricky to get computer time around our house, and even more tricky to get uninterrupted time to update my blog.  But I will see what I can do!

We just got back from 4 weeks in Utah.  It was a fabulous vacation.  We stayed busy and did most of the things we wanted to do while we were there!    We went to Tracy Aviary, Lagoon, Hogle Zoo, and This is the Place State Park.  Sterling and I went to Hale Center Theater and saw Ragtime ( :) ) and we went to Desert Star Playhouse and saw The Lone Stranger ( :( ).  We got to go swimming several times at Aunt Julie and Uncle Gards house, we spent lots of time playing with family and cousins.  We had a huge water day at Papa's house with water slides and obstacle races.  We did a fabulous hike to Doughnut Falls with many from the DeVroom Family.  Sterling was able to go to Idaho to see his grandparents and I was able to spend some time with my Grandpa Sheffield.  I got to have a girls day with my sisters and play games and just be together.  We got to be at Sunday Dinner at Papa's House for 3 Sundays.  It was a wonderful 4 weeks of fun!

These are all pictures from our day at Lagoon.  These are from my camera.  I have to get the pictures from my phone on the computer!  Then I can post some more pictures from our day!~ (many of which I have already put on Facebook!)

Kansas City Zoo - November 3, 2012

We decided since Sterling was out of town we should get out of the house.  The Zoo was the kids first choice.  So we made the hour drive to the zoo.  It was a great trip!

 It was the "Great Pumpkin Smash".  They were giving pumpkins to the animals all over the zoo today.  It was really cool.  We got to watch the elephants enjoy their pumpkins.

 They have 5 elephants at the Kansas City Zoo.  It was neat to watch them with their pumpkins.  The zoo keepers were there to answer all of our questions.  James and I kept her pretty busy with questions. 

 My cute kids on the fence watching the elephants with their pumpkins.

Pumpkin number 2 for this elephant. 

When the other elephants would come around they were very protective of their treat!

 Sophia made me laugh, she jumped up on this rock and said "you can take my picture on this rock".  It made me laugh.  And I took her picture!

 Nellie was such a great baby.  She stayed in her stroller the whole 6 hours we were at the zoo.  She was bundled up tight in her baby mummy coat and she was content to look around and sleep.   It was a nice day outside and she loves the outdoors!

 This was the cool savanah.  There were at least 30 kids of animals in the savanah and the kids loved watching them.  In the water close to us were ducks, geese, frogs, fish, and lots of bugs.  Across the water were all kinds of impala, zebra, ostrich, and lots of other animals I can't name. 

The hippos are always my favorite.  I love them!  They had a great inclosure and we got to watch them play for quite a while.  They had a container in their water and were playing with it.  They ate some pumpkins and were highly entertaining.  It was a great day at the zoo. 

When we left we were all pretty exhausted.  We were there for about 6 hours and walked at least 6 miles.  There is a lot of walking, but so much to see. We didn't even see the whole zoo!  We will go back soon and check out the rest!  The kids did great and it was a great day!

3 girls check up

Today(10/31/12) I took the 3 girls to the doctor for various things.  While we were there we got a height and weight on them all.  2 weeks ago we went and they weighed Helena and Nellie and said they weighed the same.  I was a little suprised but didn't fight it.  This week Helena is 25.35 lbs and Nellie is 19 lbs 10.5 oz which seems a bit more accurate since Helena is 2 and Nellie is 9 months!  Sophia is 46 lbs and 113 cm tall.  Helena is 34.06 inches (86.5 cm).   Nellie is 71 cm. 

Halloween Parade and Performance

Oct 31, 2012

 Nellie is my cute Lady Bug!

  She was nice and warm in her cute bug outfit that Aunt Julie sent for her!

 Sophia's Preschool class had a wonderful costume parade and a performance for the parents.  They did 3 or 4 different songs with actions.  They did such a great job!

 She is such a great fairy!

My cute girls!