Classic-or as we call it "The shark place"

Last summer I decided to take Jade to Classic. As in the place I hung out when I was young! They have bouncy slides, a play jungle area thing (think over sized Mcdonalds play land) and in the summer a small water park. When we got there we found out they have a summer pass for $10 and once you buy that every activity is only $1! Unfortunately we bought them late in the season last year, so we didn't get to use it much. Jadyn LOVED it though and was looking forward to it opening this year. I had all intentions to buy it at the beginning of the Summer, but with moving and all, we didn't buy them until the middle of July. We still managed to use it 4 or 5 times, so definitely worth it. Jadyn LOVES this place. She gets so excited to go there. This year has been fun because she decided she was big enough to go down the slides by herself. We were a little worried because these slides can really be pretty crazy, but we figured out this year that when you go without the mat, things are much better. She loves going down by herself and is so proud of herself! Jax likes going to and is always good to hang out in the stroller when we are inside and then likes playing in the wade pool and crawl on the cement outside. The last time we went this summer we didn't go until one so I put Jax down first and then Brandee and I just took Jade. Even though we missed buddy, it was definitely easier to just take Jade. Next year will be fun with Jax being old enough to walk (oh gosh, I can only hope. I mean he is old enough now and just chooses not to! Crazy kid!) and go down the slides too! And I will try to buy passes the beginning of the summer!
Can I mention the downside of this place-Jadyn has lost THREE earings at this place. As in the studs we pierced her ears with. What is up with that?!?! They have only fallen out at classic. I just don't get it. I think it must be the life jacket pushing on the ears or something. That is the only reason I am glad they are closed for awhile. Because when they would fall out it meant someone going back to the mall right then to get another one and then a 10 min crying scene where we would have to shove the earring back in! No fun!

Here is Jade going down the big slides by herself!
This is what we call the death slide. Climbing up this thing is frightening when it's wet. Jade loves it though
J going down the frog slide
She got this camera with her tickets (see below) It was so funny because it sprays water out when you push the button. We filled it up for her and seconds later we hear her walking around to all the kids in the wade pull "Want me to take your picture?" and then she would spray them! Brandee and I were laughing so dang hard because most kids would ignore her but she kept on trying and if she found one that said yes she would spray them and laugh. Don't worry, I didn't let her carry on for very long. Lucky for Brandee and I she then turned to asking us to say cheese and even better, eventually just started taking pics of herself. Dang, it was funny

Inside climbing up the bouncy things
The last time we went was the first time she tried this. She had that backpack on her back and she would run and I would pull her forward and then I'd let go and she would fly backwards. She thought it was the greatest thing!
This is the game that she actually won the tickets herself on. It was some type of pingpong game and she landed on a bonus and got over 150 tickets!
Carrying all her tickets to go and get her camera and fake cell phone make-up thing! She was so proud of herself! So were Brand and I considering we tried getting tickets on Deal or No Deal and come up with pretty much nothing!

Dino Museum

Jade has been wanting to go to the Dinosaur Museum for awhile now. I wasn't going to go and pay $10 per person though. Then I heard that in August they had $2 Tuesdays. I also heard it was insanely crowded. I called down there and asked if there was a "slow" time and they told me that after 5:00 p.m. things slowed down a ton. So, the last Tuesday of August we gave it a go. We also met my brother, sister-n-law, and nephew. We had a good time and it wasn't crowded at all. Jaxon was really good as well and liked looking at everything.

The love of the Backyard

Moving brought us something wonderful- a great backyard! I think I could count on two hands the number of times I hung out in the backyard of our old house the entire 7 years we were there. The grass was hard, the weeds were plentiful, the access to the backyard was either through the garage or through the kitchen and down the stairs. One thing I was looking for when we were buying a new house, was a backyard the kids could play in. One that was right off the kitchen that I could still see the kids while they played. The backyard in this house is PERFECT. It's big enough to have lots of fun, but still very manageable. We have spent more time in the backyard in the past 3 months than we did the entire time we were in our old house. Our house faces west so our backyard is shaded after about 5:00. I love it. Jaxon LOVES being out there and could spend all day out there. He gets so excited if he sees one of us opening the back door. We were able to add a few new toys to the backyard too, which has been fun. The only downside to this whole backyard thing is that Jaxon LOVES to eat sand. I'm talking scoop up a big spoonful, pour in the mouth and chew type of sand eating. And he gets soooo mad when we dig the sand out. I just don't get it! I am definitely hoping that love goes away soon! :) It doesn't take away for the backyard play, we just have to watch him closer.
I am glad that even though summer is ending (Man I have loved having the cooler weather this week) we still have at least another month of enjoying the backyard fun!

Peek a boo!
The toys

Cher brought her cute kids over and we all enjoyed just hanging out and watching them play. They were all so dirty by the end!
Jade
Jax and his eating utinsil
They love the water table
Our wonderful garage sale find from last Saturday. We got this slide for $5! I was so excited. I had been looking for something like this on KSL. Something that was Jax's size and everything was about $50. I wasn't going to pay that, so I was so happy we found it! Jaxon loves it and is so proud of himself when he climbs up there himsel. Now if he could just start walking! :)

Neighborhood Party

One of the few things I don't like about our new house is the fact that we have to pay an HOA fee. It sucks. That said, I do enjoy the parks and pool that we are able to have because of it. They also seem to do a lot of fun parties every now and then. A few weekends ago they had their summer party. They started with a breakfast-we weren't able to make it though. Following the breakfast all of the kids dressed up and decorated their bikes. Jade thought it was so much fun. We even put a few balloons on Jax's car! They had a firetruck come and and let the little kids look inside. We were supposed to have a parade afterwards with all of the kids and the decorated bikes. The Firetruck led the parade around the neighborhood. The kids loved it!!!! After the "parade" they had a clown magician come and put on a little show for the kids. Jade thought it was hilarious-especially when she would pull out the real animals and when her wand kept breaking! After the magician there was a potluck and a slip and slide. Jax was ready for a nap so I put him down and went back to the park with Jade. After the slip and slide I realized I had forgotten the pool key so we ran home to get it and I then traded "swim" duties with Scott! JAde loved the party and I thought it was pretty fun as well! So even though I don't like paying the HOA, there are definitely some perks!

The Ant Farm

Scott is funny. Very rarely does he "have" to buy something for the kids (This is not a rarity for me) but when he decides there is something Jade or Jax need to have, it is usually something pretty cool. His "have to have" toy this summer was an ant farm. I don't remember what sparked his interest, but he got Jadyn all excited about it. They researched all types of ant farms, looked at several stores, and then finally ordered it online-only to check the mail daily until it arrived! It did prove to be successful though. JAde loved it and the ants are pretty cool to watch. I want to say that last I checked there was only 2 ants left (after about 6 weeks) but I will admit it was worth the money and Scott is getting more ants soon!

How's this for siblling love?

We were getting the kids in the car and Jax was screaming (not crying screaming-just screaming to let us know there was something he wanted that we weren't getting for him) I told Jax to stop screaming and then the following conversation took place
Jadyn: "We should take that baby back. He yells too much"
Dad: "Jax, I wouldn't take ya back. I love you and Jadyn and Mommy"
Mom: "Jade don't you love buddy too?"
Jadyn: "Yes"
Mom: "Ok, tell Jax you love him"
Jadyn: "Jax, I love you but we should take ya back......really"

Ahhh....sister and brotherly love. I did tell her that she used to scream all the time too (and there are definitely still some dramatic moments) and we didn't take her back! She laughed! :)

And, while on the subject of Little Miss Drama, here is another story from today
Scott is cleaning her bathroom and she needs to go to the bathroom. She sees he is cleaning it and says "UGHHH, I need to use the bathroom" Scott tells her to go and use our bathroom-which 95% of the time she will run right past her bathroom to ours anyway. She says she wants to use her bathroom. I then tell her no or to wait until he is done. I didn't hear anything else, so I figured she made a decision to wait. 5 min later I can hear her yelling. I can't quite understand what she is yelling but I could understand the irritated and "I'm ornery" tone. I thought she was in Jax's room yelling at him about something. I start saying "Jade-why are you yelling at him" and walk in Jax's room. She isn't in there. I then yell "Jade where are you?" She replies with "I'm. ON. The. Couch!" In her snotty tone. I asked her what she is yelling about and her reply was "I am mad because I need to go to the bathroom and Dad is cleaning it so I'm sitting on the couch" and she was yelling about it. Oh my, she could have been in and out of another bathroom and playing again, but for some reason it set off the dramatics of my 3.5 year old. I just laughed and she eventually stomped up the stairs and used the bathroom when I told her he was done. Seriously, I love her to pieces but she can turn up the dramatics over the smallest thing! 95% of the time I just laugh and ignore it! I can only imagine what we are in for with her. I look forward to it! :)

3rd time was NOT a charm

It's a good thing today was not my first time running a 1/2 marathon-if it was, I may never do it again! We left yesterday to head up there. An hour and a half drive turned in to a 3 hour drive because of rush hour traffic. It was not fun. The kids were pretty good, it was just a long drive. Once we got there it was fine. Hotel was fine, dinner was fine, and we were in bed by 11:00. Jax woke up at 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 1:00, and finally 3:00. The last time he woke up I actually got him out of his pack-n-play only to realize he was FREEZING!!!! I felt bad I hadn't noticed the other million times he woke up. Needless to say he was very happy to be under some covers and warm up. The sleep wasn't great. JAde was in our bed and fitting 4 people in a queen is not recommended. Especially when one of my children-who I will leave nameless- takes up the ENTIRE bed and loves to lay on people. Yes, we'll leave her nameless.

The nice part was not having to get up until 5:15. Much better than the 3:15 wake up call last race. I felt ok when I got to the park. By the time we got started I was feeling "normal" but thought it was just nerves or something. The first 5 miles were great. We hit mile 5 at like 45 min. Um, it all went downhill from there. By mile 6 I had to stop to use the bathroom-if you know me, you know it is the last thing I want to do when I run. I like to start these races and just get the over with. If you stop for the bathroom it puts you at least 5 min behind as you have to wait in line. But-I had to stop. From there things got worse. I did keep running from mile 6-8 which is where my cousin met me-glad she did because I was really sick by then and wanted to quit. I ran to mile 9 and had to stop again. The line was FOREVER long so I decided to head on to mile 11. It was not a good idea. My stomach was bad by then and I had to walk most of those 2 miles. I felt fine energy wise-like I would be fine to run, but as soon as I did I would get really nauseous and have to stop. I stopped again at the bathroom at mile 11. I walked another 1/2 mile and then finally said "Alright, no more of this. I am going to run the last mile and a half if it kills me." And I did, and I was sick. Cute little Jadyn was so excited to see me and this time repeated "Mom, I'm sorry you have a sore tummy" while we finished. She is so sweet. I finished in 2:15 which considering all things, was not too bad. I was just frustrated with how the last of my 3 races turned out. I told my cousin I felt like those poor Olympians who train really hard for something only to have it go really bad. And to think I only trained since Feb and they train for 4 years and much harder! What an awful feeling. I guess I'll just have to remember I was sick. I was sick pretty much the rest of the day as well. The car ride home was good. It only took 90 min and Jax slept the entire way! That was nice.

So, race #3 wasn't great. What IS great is that I am done running long races until next May!!! Now that-makes me happy!

Jade was feeling a little free at church!

Ok, so here's a nice little story for ya-one to go down in the books for sure and will probably be remembered a little too often.
Sunday: Scott and I had to talk in church on Sunday. We have church at 9:00 so it was a crazy morning. We were rushing around getting ready as we were running late. (We have classes first and then Sacrament meeting) We made it to church and I dropped Jade off at primary. While I was walking the halls with Jax during Sunday School I saw Jade come out of class to use the bathroom. She went by herself and I waited in the hall while I talked to her teacher. She finished and came out and said she needed me to help her wash her hands-she couldn't reach it. We did that and she headed back to class. After classes ended we passed our kids over to my mom so that we could give our talks. They went ok, we enjoyed being able to sit through a whole sacrament meeting. Afterwards we went to meet my mom who by then was with the kids in the hall. Then she says this "Good job on your talk" She starts laughing "You do know, that Jadyn does not have any underwear on-right?!?!" Oh. My. Gosh. I started laughing so hard I was crying. Tears were running down my face. This is a girl who when she is wearing a dress we are constantly saying "Jade, put you legs down" "Jade, don't show your undies" So I could only imagine what happened-sitting on the front row in primary. She didn't even say anything when she went and used the bathroom! My mom said she realized it when they ran out to the car to get Jade's bag and the wind caught her dress! Seriously, I was laughing so hard. Here we are the new people in church and I bring my child with no undies!!!! What happened was this: I brought down all her clothes to get her ready and forgot her undies. I said I would run back up and get them but then I started doing something else....and the rest is history. I told Jade that if I forget she needs to remind me and she just kept saying "Well it's your fault. You didn't put them on me!" It was one of those embarrassing but ultra hilarious moments! I did call her primary teacher as soon as we got home and explained the situation. She was laughing so hard as well and said she didn't even notice and that if she did, she would have told me! Let's hope that's the case!
So lesson learned. Never put the dress on first!

Recent Conversations with Jadyn

Yesterday Jade got in trouble for playing while she was supposed to be resting. I made her go in and lay down in my room. She fell asleep, as did I. When I woke up I could smell something. Jade was still asleep but I nudged her and said "Jadyn! Why is the bed wet?" Poor Jade who was still half asleep and hasn't wet the bed for well over a year said

"I was sweating?"

Yeah, I don't think so. That said, I was very impressed with her quick, half asleep answer. I don't think she even realized for a minute that she had wet the bed and when she did realize it, she was so upset. I wasn't upset though and told her it was ok. I was still laughing inside from her comment!

I took the kids shopping the other night while Scott was working on the basement. It was kind of a long shopping trip and both kids were whiny, tired, and hungry by the time we were on our way home. When I put Jade in the car she asked me where her sparkly butterfly shirt was. It was a shirt she picked out in the store that I didn't end up buying. When I told her I didn't get it, she put her head down, looked very defeated and then said quietly

"That was my dream!"

Yes, she is sooooo dramatic. I told her I was sorry and we headed home. While driving home I passed a big cement block on the side of the road that had holes in the top of it and it was shooting out lots and lots of water. So- knowing both my kids would sure love to play in that I turned around and when Jade got out of the car and I told her she could play in it she said

"Mom, this is my dream come true. You didn't get me the shirt but this is my dream come true!"

and then after the kids had a ball getting completely soaking yet, I changed them both (good thing I had just bought some clothes for Jade) and gave them some of the pizza I had picked up. They were both very happy now. Jade then said

"Mom....why did you let us play? You knew it would make me happy? I love you for making my dream come true!"

It was so cute-funny- and yes, overly dramatic! If only it was always as easy as letting your kids randomly play in water off the side of the road to bring them happiness, this parenting thing might not be too bad!

Jade loves birthday's. She loves the cake, the party, singing Happy Birthday, the whole bit. She is always asking who's birthday is next. She knows her Birthday is getting closer and she talks about it a lot. The other day she was again talking about her party. I told her I thought we should do a Fancy Nancy party. She loved the idea and then named off 6 boys she wanted at her party. 4 of them are older than her. I told her I didn't think the boys would love a Fancy Nancy party so maybe we should invite girls. She was quiet for a minute and then said

"Mom, I'll have a shark party then."

Another day, another party conversation. Jade was talking about wanting to go to chuck-e-cheese and doing another party as well. She could tell I wasn't convinced on the two party idea. She was quick to say

"Mom, don't crush my true love. It is my true love to have two parties!"

That conversation told me two things. 1-She doesn't understand the words "true love" and 2-She has watched too many princess movies!

"Mommy, sometimes you are a bad mommy, but sometimes you are a good mommy!"

That was followed by a hug and a kiss. I said "Oh, that's not very nice. I'm a bad mommy?"

"No mommy, I said sometimes. When you yell at me you are a bad mommy!"

I then asked her "Sometimes are you a bad girl and sometimes you are a nice girl?" She didn't miss a beat

"Yep! See sometimes!"

Scott laughed when he heard this and said "Gee, I wonder if she sees a correlation between the two!

One more: We were in Fast and Testimony in Sacrament meeting and Jade said she wanted to go up there. It was the Sunday after Bishop Williams died and the meeting was almost over so I told Jade that we couldn't go up then but the next Sunday we could, we would. She started rubbing my face and said

"Mom, if we go up there and you don't cry I'll be very proud. And I will give you a special prize too! It's ok, you don't need to cry. I'll give you a special, special treat"

Those are just a few things. There is no way I could keep track of all the cute and funny things she says. She just cracks me up and makes me smile and laugh everyday. She is good at telling us everyday

Jade-er Cinderella goes with Dad to the Movie!

(24th Weekend Continued: Friday)
Scott worked on the basement with my dad and the kids and I hung out at home for most the day. Scott had promised Jade he would take her to see "Space Chimps" so we got them tickets for Friday afternoon. Jade had been playing dress up before they had to leave. Of course she wanted to go to the movies as Cinderella-I mean who wouldn't! :) So I convinced Scott that it was not a big deal and take her they way she was. I did convince her to take off the 20 or some items of jewelry she had on, but let her leave the rest of the outfit. So-off they went to the movie-Daddy and his Cinderella. Yes, they ran in to several people they knew. Scott, who was a little hesitant at first to let her go dressed up, said he quickly realized it was not a big deal- Jade thought she looked beautiful (and she did) and that was all that mattered. What a good dad!

And no worries-I did what a great mom should do when Dad and Daughter are on a date- I went shopping with Jax and Brand. Gee....wonder how long I will get away with that. Jax will surely start to disagree at some point. Oh wait-that's when Scott takes both kids and I shop alone! :)

24th weekend

Scott and I both had off the 24th and the 25th of July! Nothing like a 4 day weekend! We filled it with fun things too! I got up at 5:30 on the 24th to run 12 miles. Not fun, but nice to get it out of the way for the weekend. Scott was baffled when I got home and actually wanted him to work for a while! ;) He was pretty sure we shouldn't have to work on a Holiday! Needless to say we spent about 2 1/2 hours cleaning the car and the garage. I was glad to get the cars cleaned and all the dust from framing the basement, out of the garage.
My dad's family has a family reunion every year on the 24th. This year was great because they had rented a big water slide. Jade pretty much stayed on that slide the entire 3 hours we were there. She is a champ because it was so hard to climb up. She never complained, just figured out the best way to do it and went down over and over again. We all had a good time. We went home and we all took a nap. Man, I love when the kids both nap and I can get a nap in too! We all slept from like 4-7! It was great! We ran and grabbed some dinner and headed to my sister's for fireworks. Jade loved them and again, Jax did not!

My cousin and I. We roomed together in College. We don't see each other nearly enough!

The way Jade spent the party

Jade's way of eating when I tell her she needs to eat before she can get back on the slide. "I'll just shove it all in at once!" :) Gross! Jade and her favorite sidekick!
Jax trapped in his stroller! :)Then daddy got him out to swing!
My Dad with jade watching fineworks. He was a trooper just a week and a half after a knee replacement!

Jade watching fireworks with her dad!

The way she plays!

After seeing these pics it is no wonder I have a hard time keeping my house clean! When Jade plays she must get EVERYTHING out! She likes to play with a lot at once. I don't entirely mind because she has the greatest imagination and I could spend hours just listening to her play pretend. I love it! But....it is a mess to clean up and whenever you ask her to clean up she is quick to divvy it out to others as well "Ok, I'll clean up the barbies and you clean up the little people." It works though.

This picture makes me laugh. She was coloring when we were at CPK and she looked up after a minute and said "Look mom! It's a music note!" And what do you know-it was. Who know how she knew that! She has been loving this baby lately. She bathes with her, takes her swimming with us (even in the nude when Jade can't find the baby's swimsuit) and sleeps with her. Where did she get this baby? She was mine. I think I got her in 4th grade! Just amazing she loves my things!

Happy Birthday to me!

Still Catching up here.

My birthday was a few weeks back. I had originally decided that we would got downtown and see Wall.E and then got to California Pizza Kitchen and let the kids play in the water. I then thought better about my plan and decided JAx would not do so well in the show and I would end up outside chasing him the entire time. Since I didn't really want to see the show I have Scott take Jade the next day.

So, we headed out on the "train" (trax) to go downtown. Jade and Jax both loved the ride down. We then went to Children's museum. Usually Jax stays in his stroller, but it was pretty empty so I let him crawl around and he was in HEAVEN!!! He was so happy! We had a fun time there. There is only one problem with letting JAx crawl around----The top of his few were soooooo discgustingly dirty. I about died when I noticed them. GROSS!!!! Back to the stroller he went (after I wiped down his feet!)

We did go to CPK. It was so yummy, but we all know how dinner with 2 kids out can be. It was as good as it can be.

We went down to the water and I left Jade and Scott there while I went in to a store with Jax. When I came out I saw this

Scott and Jade SOAKING wet! I had clothes for Jade, but Scott was just SOL. We stayed at the water for awhile and then headed back on the train.

I love this pic! She loves buddy. The both were happy to get their jamma's on!

We had such a fun night as a family. I know some people think that we should go out with just Scott and I for my birthday, but I am so glad we spent the night together. This summer has been so crazy and it was a nice night with just the 4 of us!

2 Down 1 to go!!!

That would be two 1/2 marathons down and one to go. YAY!!! I ran the Provo 1/2 today. Talk about a very disorganized race. I ran a 10 mile there 7 years ago and it really hasn't gotten any better! Starting with getting on the bus and the driver yelling "Does anyone know how to get there?" And yes he was serious. He was a crazy driver and we were anxious to get OFF the bus. Then there was no start line. Who knew where we started. After they made everyone get off the rode so the buses could go back down-nearly hitting several people in their attempts-we heard a gun shot. As in-without warning or a "hey, the race starts here!" the race began. It was insane as there were people all over the place up there because no one knew what was going on! The water stops were pitiful, they didn't bother marking mile 12-as in the last mile marker you REALLY want to see and get a sense of "Ok, I can finish this". We didn't have chips for our times so again it was one of those races where they expect you to run 13.2 miles through the finish line and stop ABRUPTLY so you can stand in line to hand them your number so they can figure out your time-(which who really knows the time because who really knows where the start was) all the while you want to puke because you went from running to a stand still. It is my BIGGEST complaint about races. The area for the runners afterwards was so small and crazy. It was just all around craziness and I won't be running it again.
The good things:
1- like I said, 2 down with only one to go.
2-The scenery was really nice in the canyon and was mostly a nice run (minus the uphill climb from mile 5-6 and the loop around businesses at the end)
3- My cute family came down to see me again. Brand had Jade make me a sign that said "Wooo-hooo Ali! We love you!" When I saw them I still had 1/4 mile left to run but Jade wanted to go with me again so she jogged the last 1/4 mile. I didn't realize I had that much left but she ran the whole thing repeating "I won't give up mommy" mixed in between "I'm not so big enough to run!" She was a trooper and I love seeing them at the end and having her finish with me. Thanks to Scott and Brand for bringing the kids down!

We went to breakfast afterwards and then to Classic. It started out a little rough but we ended up having a good time. Jadyn even went down the waterslides by herself. She was so proud of herself! Jax was a trooper all day. He didn't want to stay in the water much- he preferred crawling around on the cement! :) Seriously! He also ended up with bad allergies which sucks because it's been about 2 months since he's had bad allergies and I prefer they stay away for awhile!

And sorry- no pictures. We forgot that today! The last 1/2 is two weeks from today. I'll get more pics then.

Backing up to catch up! 4th of July weekend

I mentioned back when Jax was sick that we went on Vacation for the 4th. My mom's family was having a family reunion up in Island Park. My uncle has a very nice cabin up there so up we all went. My whole family (minus my little brother) was able to go and we all stayed in the same cabin. I was a little worried about having 9 adults and 10 kids together in one cabin, but it was a 2 story cabin and we all had our own rooms and beds, so it actually worked out great! My kids have a hard time sleeping while we are away. Well, I guess I should say Jax has a hard time sleeping with everyone in one room. It wasn't a big deal though.
We got there pretty late on Thursday night since we left late waiting to see how Jax was. The car ride went amazingly well. Friday morning Jax seemed to be feeling better which I was so happy about. We ate a big breakfast at my Uncle's and it was good to see so many of my mom's family. Afterwards we were able to go horseback riding. Jadyn loved it! We then decided to gloat the river. My mom said she was more than happy to keep Jax, which was probably a good idea. The river was interesting. Most of it was pretty shallow-as in hitting your bottom on the ground shallow. It was fun though and Jade and Zach were in our boat, so Jade was happy about that. We went back to the cabin so that Jax could nap and since the hospital had called me to say that JAx did in fact have a bacterial infection, I had to run in to West Yellowstone to pick up his prescription. We went back to my uncles for a BBQ and being the 4th we had to do fireworks. They were great fireworks-seeing that BIG fireworks are totally legal there, we were able to sit on the deck while they lit the fireworks from the dock. Jadyn thought it was great and Jax thought it was awful. He spent firework time in the house after he got upset over the first few.

Mom and Jade horseback riding!

Jadyn with her two of her favorite people!

Jade in the Hottub. Yes-in her clothes! Crazy girl!

Jade and I watching Fireworks

Mimi and Jade. I love my aunt Miriam.
Saturday we ate breakfast again at my uncles, Jade and Scott rode horses again and then we waited for awhile and were able to take a long ride in the horse carriage! It was pretty cool. It was incredibly bumpy though-which is why I was pretty surprised that my kids BOTH fell asleep! Crazy kids! Later that night we went to a small town rodeo. It was pretty fun. They had a little race for kids to chase a little cow and grab the ribbon from the tail. Jade thought that was so funny. There was line dancing after-which is what sparked the original line dance video I posted earlier.

Jade and Dad waiting for the Wagon ride!The Horse and Wagon! We went for a long ride. Those horses are amazing!Both kids sleeping on the wagon ride

Jadyn (somewhere) running for the cow

Family photo at the rodeo

Scott traying out his roping skills while Jade watches!

Sun we went to Yellowstone. We had a great time and Jade liked looking at the animals. We mostly saw buffalo and deer, but cool all the same. It was really beautiful and Old Faithful was neat. I had never been. We went back over to my uncles for dinner. While we waited to eat Jadyn and I took the 4wheeler out for a little spin. That was so fun. We also took the Rhino out as well. They have so many fun toys up there and were fine for us all to use them

Old Faithful

Dad and Jade at Old Faithful

Jade in her borrowed Cowboy boots. She loved wearing them!

This was fun!

Might I add the negative of the trip: MOSQUITOS!!!! Holy crap! They bit morning, noon, and night. It was insane!
We headed out for home on Monday morning. The ride home was great again. The kids both did really well in the car.
We all had such a great time and I'm glad we were able to spend time with our family. That said, I was reminded of something: Vacationing with kids is in no way relaxing. We relaxed more monday night when we just hung out around the house than we did while we were there. The reason is because we couldn't ever just put JAx down to play. One of us had to be following him around or holding him. I would be ok with that, but Jax wasn't. He likes to explore. The cabin we were in had lots of stairs and my Uncles cabin had stairs as well, along with a lot of things I didn't want Jax getting in to. So-when we got home Monday and Jax just crawled around and played, it was so nice. Again, so glad we went. I just have to remember that unless we go without kids, we vacation to provide fun things and memories for us and the kids, not to go and relax! Comes with the parenting territory and they are still definitely worth it!