Tennessee 2012 water days

In August was took our annual trip down to Tennessee to visit my Aunt Kimmy & Uncle Mike and Grandma Curry. My cousins Ryan, Lacy and Chase were all able to come with their families also. 

What did we do on this trip you may ask? We'll we spent a lot of time in the water. We swam in their pool, went out on their boat (several times), went tubing down the river, played in the sprinklers and then spent some more time in the pool.  I think we were a bit water logged by the end of the trip but at least we got a nice tan in the process. 

Lacy and Jen 

(Chase had to work)

Aniela getting some love from Grandma Great

Damian and I just enjoying a lazy summers afternoon on the boat.

 Aunt Kimmy with her daughter Lacy

Taevin loving every minute of it. Well until we made him get in the water.

Taevin's favorite part of the trip, driving the boat with Uncle Mike!

Lacy with her BF Matt

Damain and Areya

My little fishies!

Ryan with his GF Samantha

Aunt Kimmy with some of her grandkids and great niece.

(I bet that makes her feel old)

Vegas

In July Damian and I used some airline vouchers we had from our canceled Bahamas trip and took a trip to Las Vegas with my cousin Lacy and her boy friend. 

On the first day we went to the wax museum where Damian had a little to much fun with all the figures. Most pictures are not suitable for children and if these people were actually real Damian would be either in a hospital bed or a jail cell. I'll leave it at that. 

After the museum we walked the strip and did a lot of sight seeing. By the end of the day my feet hurt so bad and I had several blisters that nice soak in the pool was calling my name.

The next day we did some more sight seeing and visited the store for some food. A swim in the pool and some time just lounging around playing cards. It was so nice enjoying some down time with out kids!

The next day we slept in and hung out in the condo waiting for the rain to stop. Later that day we headed out for a night on the town. We went to the Stratosphere and then caught the bus to Fremont Street. They have added a zip line over Fremont St. since the last time I was there and we decided to give it a try. After waiting in line for 2 very long hours we had our 30 second rush. Not sure it was worth the 2 hour wait but still fun.

 We were pretty tired after all the walking we called it a night around 3 am.

Not the greatest pictures of us but this was taken after the long wait but before the actual ride.

Damian wanted to eat at Gordon Ramsey Stake at the Paris but they were completely booked for the rest of our stay. So we settled for some thing else and just enjoyed the rest of our trip. We visited the Coke and M&M factories. Made a few stops for people watching and souvenirs and of course hit a few casinos to lose the money we had left.

Damian trying on glasses in one of the souvenir shops.

 This was Damian's first time in Vegas and he loved playing the slots and was loving the fact that they has some at the airport as well. He couldn't get enough.

We had a good time and enjoyed spending some time with Lacy and meeting her new BF.

Thanks to Matt & Amanda and Damian's parents for watching the kids for us!

July 4, 2012 Happy Independence Day!

This year for the 4th of July I made the kids cute shirts. I love how they turned out and had a great time making them with my good friend Melissa. 

We had a great Independence Day and hope you did too!

Bowling w/Avery

Areya got to stay an extra week in Utah again this summer with my parents. While she was away I thought it would be good for Aniela to get a little special time too. I let her pick a friend and took them bowling. She picked her really good friend from church, Avery. 

Aren't they so cute! They had so much fun together and loved posing for the camera. 

Bambi came for a visit

So one afternoon my Mother-in-law walks in the house holding this little guy. She found him in our yard and thinks the dogs scared away it's mother. I wasn't quite sure what to do with a baby deer.

 It was super cute and very friendly. After a few calls to the local animal conservation people we were told to put it back outside where we found it and that the mother would come back and move him to a new location. We were a bit worried about it getting dehydrated because it was so hot outside 102. We looked it up and found out to feed them goats milk. So I found a local seller and fed him some before we found a nice shady spot for him to rest while waiting for his mommy.

The little guy was gone the next morning so we like to believe that his mommy came to take him farther away from all the people and dogs.

Utah trip - Lagoon

On our last day there we took a trip to Lagoon! (oh how I miss that place) It was so fun going back and seeing some wonderful friends! Did I mention how much I miss it? Anyway, the kids had a blast and were beat by the time we left. A big Thank You to Brady and Josh for tickets!

 The boys telling us about the Choo Choo! They were both super excited about riding!

 Half way through our day while the kids were playing in the fountain Taevin fell head first in to one of the water features. When I picked him up all I saw was blood. I looked in his mouth and it looked like he bit off his tongue. I was so freaked out that I took him and ran to the safety office. It turned out that he just put his tooth through his lip. The reason I thought he bit his tongue off was because he has a dried strawberry in this mouth, that my mom had given him. Funny how your mind jumps to the worst possible option some times.

All and all it was a good trip. The next day we drove the very long 23 hours back to Illinois. Won't be making that drive again any time soon. Next time we'll have to break it up or fly.

Utah trip continued...

On Sunday we went to Church and then had family over for a BBQ.

 Look how cute Taevin and Beau are in their matching outfits. Crazy boys! I wish we lived closer so theses two could spend more time together.

I didn't realize we had on the some color shirts until I was going through the pictures on my camera later. oops

 I was super proud of Damian for attending all 3 hours of church with us. Thanks for going honey!

Utah trip 2012 continued..

 We went up Ogden Canyon for a picnic with  Sam, Dawn & kids. Tj, Shaylee & Beau. Mom, Dad and the 5 of us. They kids had so much fun running around together and playing in the great out doors.

 Britton hanging out ready to go for a walk.

 After lunch we took the kids for a walk and let them play in the river. Who knew you could have so much fun in a river without getting your clothes wet!?

It was a fun day together and was a great time for the cousins to play together.