A Little of What We've Been Up To...

Well, July 23rd - 25th was the Searle Reunion that we were over this year. It was alot of fun but I'm glad to say that we're done and passing it on for next year! :) Woo! :) We really had alot of fun and hope that the whole family did too. Thursday, the 23rd was kind of spent getting there and getting camp set up and so on. Then on Friday morning after breakfast the kids had a treasure hunt. The treasure was sand buckets and shovels, fish goggles, squirt guns, fish bubbles, sand toys, goldfish crackers and nemo fruitsnacks. They were ready for the lake! The kids couldn't wait to get to the lake and were putting their goggles on and even filling up their squirt guns and starting a little water fight. :)

I LOVE this picture! Too cute and funny! Trevor, Dillon and Todd - all with their crab goggles on.

Bryson getting in on some of the water fight!

Logan trying out the bubbles.

We then decided to go to the lake and got their just before lunch. The water was wonderful!! It is so warm and you can go out about 200 yards before it starts to get too deep - great for kids. It was also soft and sandy on the bottom. Logan LOVED it! He was like a little fish!

The other 2 boys tried out the water for a little bit and then played in the sand the rest of the time until the very end. They were so into it I had a hard time getting them to eat a sandwich for lunch. Seriously, they played in the sand building a maze or something for about 3 hours. They were lovin' it!

Love this picture - just relaxin' and the little bare feet with sand all over them. Too cute.

Then we came back and did some crafts and had dinner and then we had a Pinewood Derby. Each family entered a car. We just did this for fun. Joe made an awesome track for it and all the cars were great! Ours is the fire truck.

The cars...

Weighing in... my brothers, Bruce and David were the Inspection Officials - as you can see my family is pretty competitive but all in good fun! All of my brothers and brother-in-laws were officials for the night and mom and Joe were judges. It was a fun night!

The track... (aka: The Joey Gardner Speedway :) )

It was alot of fun! Saturday morning after breakfast we had a program, some family trivia and a box auction. We then cleaned up camp and headed for home. We stopped and got a famous Raspberry Shake first - yUmMy!! :) We hope to go back camping once more to Bear Lake before the boys head back to school.

The ZOO...

The Zoo... the boys always love going to the zoo and seeing all of the animals. We went earlier this month with my sister and her kids. Well, I have to say that this trip to the zoo was quite entertaining... as we were feeding the ducks with the "duck food" I hear Jason, "No, Logan... don't eat it." I turn around to see Logan stuffing in his mouth a handful of "duck food"! Yucky! The look on his face though... he came over to me and started spitting it out - oh! I won't say what it looked like, I'll leave that up to your imagination. It was nasty though. In between me gagging and trying to give him a drink of water, I had to laugh - only Logan would have to try it. Guess he figured if it was good enough for the ducks to eat - it was good enough for him. This picture was taken just moments before he got the tasty treat.

Cute chicks...

Funny chicks...

Sleepy chicks...

Cool dudes... in the nest... :)

Just bein' funny and trying to fit all 4 of them on the chicken!!

Logan, hangin out in the nest...

How do you measure up?

It was alot of fun and I think Logan will definately chalk this zoo experience up as being memorable! :)

The Fourth of July...

July 5, 2009

Mr. Mason is 3 months old today! He has actually rolled over 3 times now! None of my other babies did that this soon. He is so strong. When he is awake he is really ready to go but when he's tired he snuggles right up to ya. Love that. :) He already has some nicknames that he is lovingly called - Mr. Mason, Macer Baby, Mater and Mister Mister.

July 4, 2009

I love the 4th of July - being with family and friends, bbq's, and fireworks! We have started taking the kids to Liberty Field every 4th of July and talk about what it means to be patriotic and why we celebrate the 4th of the July. (They leave the flags up for a week after the 4th and that is usually when we take them.) If you haven't been to Liberty Field it is neat to see, all of those flags lined up and a spot dedicated to soldiers. When we pulled up and saw the flags blowing in the wind it reminded me of the lives that have been lost. They have given their lives so that I may raise my family in peace... we can make our own decisions, and have the freedom to live our lives as we wish. I am thankful for the rights that I have been given and that I can live in such a beautiful place. Thank you for defending and protecting me, my family and our country.

We spent the 4th with some friends for lunch (thanks for all of the yummy food :) ) and the boys played on the slip n'slide all afternoon and then we met up with some of my family to bbq and watch the fireworks - they were spectacular as always!

Bryson wanted to pose in almost every picture.

The boys had their cousin Jordyn with them.

Notice Logan didn't do the pose that Bryson suggested everyone do - instead he's checking out the outlet cover on the back of the pole... hmmmm, how do I get this thing open?

We lit off a few fireworks with the boys and some sparklers! I can remember writing my name with a sparkler and dancing around with it when I was a kid. Yes, I know, traditionally you do fireworks at night when it is dark but the boys have gotten to bed late the last couple of nights and so we lit them off when it was still light - it was about 8:45 p.m. - almost made it to dark. Oh well - they liked it anyways.

It must be a boy thing... almost everything turns into a sword or a gun and they pretend to fight.

Bryson pretending it is a birthday candle, making a wish and trying to blow it out!

End of June - Part 2

Bryson and Dillon have a chart that when they have done all of their jobs for the week they get to put a star on it - when they get it all filled up then they get to pick a card, on the card are pictures of going bowling, swimming, out for icecream, out for a hamburger, amusement park and so on. Now, keep in mind that this is a large chart and it has taken them a while to do this... about a year and a half, doing jobs each week and putting a star on. So Bryson finally made it to the end of his chart and chose a card - amusement park. Since we don't have one too close we went to Riot Zone and I found out that on Tuesdays after 6 p.m., you can play on everything unlimited times for $12! So, this is what we did. He was so excited to go. It was nice because there was probably only 20 other people. The boys didn't have to wait in line and could do everything however many times they wanted. They went on the Kiddie Go-Carts, Bumper Boats, the climbing wall, the adult Go-Carts with their Dad, the Bucking Bull, the Rocket and played miniature golf.

The Bumper Boats...

The Kiddie Go-Carts...

The boys waiting for their turn with Dad on the big Go-Carts.

Logan could barely see out of the car - too funny.

Logan's big cheeser smile!

Bryson and his dad.

Dillon and his dad.

Logan trying to ring the bell sitting in the saddle going way up high. He wasn't afraid at all.

Bryson and Dillon also started swimming lessons - go boys!

And... I signed Bryson and Dillon up for some art classes at the Willard Arts Center in Idaho Falls - they were only $2 a class. They had a lot of fun but now I know why they say it is for ages 5 to 12 year olds. Logan came with us to the 2nd art class and I thought he will want to do it but might be OK to kind of watch. Next thing I know, he's cut a whole in his shirt with kiddie scissors and then is painting with glue on some paper he got from some place. Oh, Logan... here he is with a good 50 cent size hole in his shirt. This has officially become his art/creating shirt now. When we were leaving he said to me, "Mom, now we're going to MY art class, huh?" Ummmm..... no. No art classes for you for a little while.

Bryson going off to Cub Scout Day Camp up at Krupp Scout Hollow. He had so much FUN! This was his 2nd year. I'm really glad he was able to go and have so much fun.

Logan enjoying some homemade popscicles! Yum Yum!

And the boys out weeding the flower bed on the side of the house. Bryson not looking too thrilled...