Fourth of July

We headed up to Logan for the Fourth of July weekend. Friday afternoon we picked up the boat in Hyrum and hit Hyrum Dam. Ryker even got in on the tube action. I think he slept the whole time we were on the tube. He was having a rough day. I accidentally got sunscreen in his eyes and he hated his lifejacket. Poor guy. I forgot my camera so I con't have pics. After boating we went to Diane's for dinner and finished the night off with watching fireworks from the top of Bill and Carol's roof.
Saturday night we went to the Cruise In in Logan. It's was Brad's first time and so we had to watch. After a dinner at The Bluebird (bleh) we went out on mainstreet and watched the people and the cars. Where do some of those people come from?? haha

Lewiston is the happening place to be on the Fourth of July! Brad always makes fun of me when I talk about it but I feel like everyone that has ties to Lewiston loves the Fourth there. We started off the morning with the parade. Coop was clapping his little hands off so that people would throw him candy. It got old for him after about ten minutes and he was done. Ryker, on the other hand was a different story. It was heaven for him. He kept chasing and grabbing after all the candy and most of the time he was trying to eat it before the wrapper had even come off. What a funny kid! We were lucky enough to have Bill & Carol join us this year!






After the parade it was time to head to the celebration where we enjoyed horse rides, snow cones, gyros, rides and visiting. Coop actually went down the slide on his own this year. He loved the rides and Ryker loved watching them.








Later on that afternoon Brad, Eddie, Michelle and I had our fun (my parents joined us a little later). They bought a trampoline a couple days before and we decided to play a game Michelle and I played when we were younger. We got normal sized balloons, filled them with water and jumped on the tramp kicking them at each other until they exploded. It sounds lame but it is so fun! We probably did it for a few hours. Good thing it was a hot day because we got soaked!




Coop got stuck in a bucket...Random I know, but funny!



That night we headed up to the fireworks. While waiting, the kids lit sparklers. Ryker was loving it and doing a great job until he decided to look up and hold the sparkler over his face...I guess it's not a great idea to give a 16 month old sparklers. He was fine. The fireworks were a great way to end such a fun day!!

Lewiston

I spent a week back home last month. I hadn't been out in a while and my mom wanted me to come play. When I say "me" I actually mean Cooper & Ryker. I come with the package though.
We came up on Fathers day and after lunch at the Richs, we headed out to Lewiston for Carson's birthday party. Carson turned two and was so excited for his birthday! He did a great job blowing out his candles with a mixture of air and spit. Most of us passed on the cake after that. :)
My mom, Michelle and I went to the Parade of Homes in Cache Valley while I was there. It was fun to see all the houses and spend time looking at the homes. My aunt Susan even came out to join us one day.
Thanks for having us mom and dad! We'll be back soon!

Lagoon!

Lagoon was great this year! We met up with some of my family and were ready to hit the rides. Brad's brother lives right by Lagoon and was nice enough to watch Ryker for us. The lines weren't bad and Coop loved it. He could go on a lot more rides then the theme parks in California. We ended with Rattlesnake Rapids and it's a good thing we did because we were SOAKED!! We had such a great time!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We flew in from DC on Friday the 28th and headed straight to Bear Lake. The kids were already there and we went to join more of Brad's family. Saturday morning we got up and went to Paris, ID for a short little reunion at the tabernacle there. After we decided to go see Minnetonka Cave. It was cold outside of the cave so we knew it would be especially cold inside. Coop was a trooper and did so good. We started to notice that his eye started looking a little swollen but he wasn't saying anything so we just figured he was fine.





The next morning we woke up and Coop was miserable. We starting suspecting pink eye and he was just crying that his eye hurt so we packed him up and headed to the medical clinic in Bear Lake. The PA came in just for us and confirmed our fears. Pink eye and a sinus infection. Great! Since he was so contagious we decided to pack up and head home. It's good that we did because that night he threw up. Then Brad and I were lucky enough to come down with a little flu bug. Hopefully next year our Memorial Day will turn out a little bit different! Oh, and for future reference if anyone has a tip on how to get a three year old to cooperate with eye drops feel free to let me know!

D.C. Again

Wednesday while we were in DC we headed back to the National Mall for half a day and visited the American History Smithsonian. My favorite parts were the exhibit with dresses of the former and current first ladies. Also, the flag that inspired the National Anthem. so neat! Brad had to be back for his convention and I decided to go back with him and spent the rest of the day reading in the hotel room...sounds boring but HEAVEN. No interruptions.
Thursday I was brave and went in to DC by myself. I started at the Capital and took a tour. It was neat to see inside and hear the history.




Next I took the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress. This building was beautiful! I loved just walking around looking at everything. I will have to go back because I missed so much of it!




I stopped at the Air and Space Smithsonian next and looked around and watched a couple of movies. They had one that talked about the Hubble Telescope. It had pictures that it had taken of space and they were beautiful. I just have a hard time comprehending that this telescope can take pictures from a place that is millions of light years away. Crazy!



Next I met up with Brad at the Natural History Museum...Well, not actually Brad just a stunning likeness of him. It made me feel like he was right there with me...HAHA. Just kidding honey! I love you....(but can't you see the resemblance)...:) Okay, I'm done. Anyway, this museum had the Hope Diamond in it. It was beautiful. I just feel like when I see diamonds that big they seem fake even though I know they are real. They had a bunch of other beautiful jewelry there too. So fun!




Last but not least this is a view from our hotel balcony. The hotel was really nice and it was so fun staying there. This trip was really neat and I want to go back because there was so much I didn't see. Hopefully we'll get back soon. Honey, thanks for letting me tag along!

Washington D.C.

Last week Brad and I took off to D.C. We were so lucky to go. It was so last minute! Brad got a call from work on a Thursday morning asking if he would like to go to a convention in National Harbor, Maryland--close to DC. He was nice enough to ask me to come along. I was a little hesitant at first because I would be by myself touring DC; Brad would be working. Then I realized I was CRAZY not to go because it was basically five days kid-free...not that I don't LOVE my kids but you all know what I mean.:) We took off the following Monday night at 10:00 pm. We had two layovers and we would get into DC about 9 the following morning. We wanted as much time as possible Tuesday to tour before the convention. I don't know why I always think I'll be able to sleep on the plane because I NEVER can. So, after a sleepless night we arrived Tuesday morning. We were able to check into our hotel luckily and sleep for a few hours before heading into DC.
DC is amazing! I'd never been before and I loved it. We headed to the National Mall and saw all the monuments. We stopped at the Washington Monument first and then headed to the World War II monument. This monument was pretty new and it was beautiful! While we were looking around this man came up to us and asked if he would take our picture for us. I had my camera around my neck and I think that's why. Before we know it he's snapping away. Telling us where to stand and what to do. The best part was when he wanted to snap each others reflection is our sunglasses. What??!! We got a pretty good laugh about it afterwards. It was nice of him to take all the pictures, just a little weird. We looked over a little bit later and he was asking some more people if he could take their picture. I guess he just loves pictures.








Awesome pictures courtesy of picture guy at the WWII memorial. You can catch a glimpse of him in my sunglasses. haha





These geese and ducks were all over in the reflecting pool. These girls started to feed them and they were chasing them because they wanted more. They came pretty close to us. They weren't scared at all.




Vietnam War Veterans Memorial and Lincoln Monument--No I was not taking a picture of the black girl. She just happened to jump in...




White House. They had a bunch of the grass fenced off. I guess they were trying to help the grass out. It was pretty patchy. They do have a road right in front, but there were policemen out and they wouldn't even let us walk on the sidewalk. Come to find out the First Lady was out on the lawn exercising with elementary school kids. We did eventually get closer. We tried taking pictures of both of us ourselves in front of the Whitehouse, but then someone felt bad for us and took our picture.It's interesting because you can go right up to the other side. While we were there we heard all these sirens and looked over and there was the motorcade for the president complete with the black SUVs and limos with the American flags on the front. It was very 24/Jack Bauer-ish. :)





We ate at the Old Ebbitt Grill next to the Whitehouse. It was a really neat place and had a cool atmosphere. Its been around forever with many important figures in history reportedly eating there.



Last but not least the Jefferson Memorial. I loved this memorial. I thought it was beautiful!! Especially being right on the lake.




It was a busy day for us. Next time we will for sure be taking the buses around the mall. It was a LONG walk to go to all those places and the 90 degree heat didn't help but it was amazing to be able to see the things that I've only seen pictures of. I'll post the rest of the trip later.