Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yep, that's us, after seven wonderful years of marriage. Yay!! Brian and I celebrated our anniversary today. Seven, my favorite number. And Brian, my favorite person. I feel so blessed to be married to my best friend.

I was looking for a picture from our wedding, but I think those disks are in Idaho. So, here are a few from our honeymoon. Oh wait, I guess this first one is our one month anniversary -- cake and martinellis at my parents' house. (The only cake we got, besides the obligatory "bite" we fed each other at our reception.)

Tekal ruins, in Guatemala...

Some ruins in Mexico... (hey, I'm liking these pictures! We're so young and skinny!! and look at all of Brian's hair! wow!)

Some secluded beach in Belize...

Ah, those were the days. I'm sure you're all wishing I'd just blog about our honeymoon trip, right? But no. Instead, I have to tell about our fun anniversary. This year we decided to make it a celebration of the anniversary of our whole family. So, we invited the kids along, and went to Playland amusement park for the day!

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Good times!! Here we are on the big Ferris wheel. (I have to include this pic, because it was one of the only rides Natalie could ride)...

Our lovely view from the top...

Spence, on the dinosaurs...

Sammie and Spence on the kiddie-coaster...

And here they are with Daddy, on the Jumping Bean (which I think was their favorite, judging by their giggles and smiles the whole ride)...

But Spence said no, the motorcycles were actually his favorite...

I personally liked the spinning balloons...

I taught Spence how to really get that thing spinning, by the end!

And Natalie also loved the train, since she got to be out of the stroller again for a few mins...

It was a really fun way to spend our day! And in the evening, a friend volunteered to watch our kids so we could continue to celebrate. So... Brian and I went to a swanky little restaurant and had a delicious dinner (grilled swordfish, caesar salad, and blueberry pie, soooo scrumptious!). Then we went BACK to Playland to ride the big kid rides!

Of course, we didn't take quite so many pictures, but here's me on the Derby races carousel (it's been at the park since it first opened in 1929)...

It was awesome! Not your everyday carousel, I'm telling you! The horses go sooo fast, it really feels like you're galloping along. And, it's so loud... really sounds like you're in a race. We were especially excited because we just watched Secretariat the night before. ha! Go Red!!

And Brian never talked me into riding the Double Shot, but who would have got his manly picture before he started screaming like a girl? heheheh. (Kidding, Brian.)

So, we celebrated on Saturday, then our real anniversary was today -- Sunday. We went to church, took long naps, had delicious (or mediocre, since the chicken was dry and crispy) dinner, followed by a drive to a college campus nearby and a family walk around the grounds...

Did you notice Spencer's full-on winter coat, all zipped up? In case you missed it...

We told him it was pretty hot out there, but he was not to be dissuaded, since he had put a little hotwheels car in that upper zipper pocket, and HAD to bring the coat along, for the car. And Sammie's old flipflops are his new favorites, unfortunately. :)

One more of the coat, just because I think he looks so cute...

And at the college campus again, Sammie and Brian, playing "chase" or "race" or something...

And, it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Sadly, the day ended with Samantha getting stung by a hornet. It was pretty traumatic and terrible, poor thing. Am I a bad mom for taking a picture?

We were a long way from the car, so Daddy carried her part of the way, then we waited for him to bring the car around. Luckily she was saved by a insect-sting-relief pad in our first aid kit in the car (thank-you to Cindy!)

And, that's the end. A lovely anniversary, and a wonderful time as a family! yay!!

Utah = more family fun

Most of this trip has been about being with family. And it's been sooo much fun! The kids have LOVED being with all their cousins again -- on both sides of the family. We started with a big camping family reunion for my mom's side of the family. Very fun, very dirty.

First, here's the lovely back-drop for our camping trip...

Gotta love Mt. Timpanogas. Someday I want to climb it. But not while being the single mom of three kids on a three-day campout. Just "someday," okay? :)

Here's Samantha with cousin Brittany, showing off their adorable dirty faces. They were BFF's, for a little while anyway. (You know how that love/hate girl-cousin thing can be, right?)

And here's one of my cousin, Hannah, with her little baby niece, Naomi (guess that makes the baby a second cousin or something?) I just thought it was too cute, this clean little baby in her white jammies, all covered in mud, poor kiddo! (and poor mom, too, I'm sure!)

Ah, the pinata. What's a family reunion without a pinata?! This is Spence, trying to hit it. After his turn, it started ripping, and one or two pieces would fall out every time someone hit it. We could NOT keep Spence from running up to grab those pieces, despite the bat still swinging dangerously around his head!

My dirty, dirty boy! I told him to look at his hand because it was soooo dirty. First, he had to wipe it across his face, of course...

End result... ha!

And Samantha... Well, she got so filthy her blue jeans turned black, not to mention her cute face. But she was embarrassed and kept hiding from me when I tried to take her picture. ha!!

But I did finally catch this cute one of my dirty girl...

Another baby cousin, Regan, munching some watermelon. Gotta love all the cute babies!

Somehow, Anna managed to stay pretty clean, and so did Grandma, surprise!! :) Actually, I think my mom looks just gorgeous in this pic, despite the fact that she was in terrible pain...

Another one who managed to stay pretty clean, but only for the fact that I never let her out of the stroller...

I gotta throw in this sweet one of Sammie, sleeping. She's such an adorable angel when she's asleep, isn't she?! Reminds me she's still such a little baby-kid, even though she seems so grown up. Precious.

Next stop, my brother and sis-in-law, Blaine and Lisa, had us over for the 4th. Good times! These baby girls got to be GREAT friends, whenever they weren't trying to steal each other's bottles, or poke each other in the eyes. Here they are, getting into Lisa's camera stuff, sneaky babies...

And here's Brianna, sporting her just-out-of-the-pony-tail hairdo, so cute!...


For the Fourth, I ran a 5K. "Ran" is a big overstatement, though. I was slow, and my lungs were burning. But I finished, and here's my after-pic, to prove it...

Yeah, Blaine and Lisa wouldn't run it with me (they preferred sleeping in on their holiday, can you believe?!), so I had to take my own sorry after-pic. Oh well! ha!

We took the kids to the Morgan town parade. It was great. Lots of candy. I didn't take tons of float pics, but here's the group, lined up to catch some candy...

Samantha really wanted to get that one stray piece in the middle of the road, even at the risk of being run over by the parade. I told her no, like a good mom.

Here's little Brianna, looking so very enthused and patriotic!

And Spence, well, he was all about how much candy he could shove in, and how fast...

He basically sat in his seat with his bag, and when they'd throw candy, he'd start to move but the other kids would get it faster than he could leave his chair. So then he'd cry, and one of the older kids would take pity on him and give him a few pieces. I think it was all a ploy... free candy and very little effort.

After the parade, we took the kids to a little carnival/fair thing. All they wanted to do was the bounce house, so we let them have a go for a couple dollars....

Spence sneaked in an extra turn when no one was watching, sneaky boy! Then he bawled and threw himself on the ground when I told him we had to go home.

Back at Blaine and Lisa's, the kids like the carnival idea so much that they set up some games of their own. Here's Bryson and BJ doing the ring toss over some soda pop bottles...

Here's Samantha and Britt, getting ready for the fishing pond in the window well...

And, well, here's Brandon. Apparently he dressed up as a... something?... and let the kids throw things at him. I'm sure that was a very popular game!

For the evening, we had a great bbq with Lisa's side of the family (delicious ribs, I'm telling you!) I didn't take my camera out for that one, but it was a fun time. Afterward, we went to watch fireworks. Natalie LOVED them!...

Really! This was her face almost the entire time....

I didn't get any great shots of our whole group, but here's Brianna, just chillin' -- and Lisa and Blaine, too...

Samantha was pretty happy to be with cousins...

And Spencer is not pictured because he got tired of waiting and asked if he could sit in the car. He was fast asleep in the car by the time things got started.

That's all for now folks. After UT, we spent a week with my family in Blackfoot... then back to Caldwell to hang with Bishop family. All that is still to come, I'm sure you can hardly wait!! For now, I'm off to get us packed for Redfish Lake!