Bugzillas at the Zoo

 Kasen and Naomi go to the Zoo!

We had a couple discount coupons that expired today so we decided to hurry and use them and spent the morning at Hogle Zoo.

 They had a Bugzillas thing going on with giant bugs everywhere.  I didn't really get it, but I guess it was cool for the kids!

 We saw Giraffes and Zebras,

 Lions (which Kasen calls Simba),

 Elephants,

 The Rhino,

 Wait, can I tell you how much I love my double stroller?! Tai isn't in her baby carrier that snaps into it anymore, but the back lays all the way down so we can still cover her and let her go to sleep in it! 

Kasen is a ninja and sneaked out of the stroller to run and steal Naomi's cookies then when he got caught, shoved his hand in the cup to grab as many as he could before we took them away! Such a stinker.

 Sea Lions, Tigers (like Daniel Tiger),

 and Bears, Leopards, Monkeys, Crocodiles, etc...

The animals seemed to be moving a whole lot more than when we came last summer so that was fun!

Thanks for coming with us Naomi!

 We had a little staycation at our house with the married siblings (The Sixteeners, all married on the 16th) over the weekend, which was good times!

 Friday night we grilled some burgers and then while the boys played Wii golf and Madden the girls ran a couple miles on the trail around our neighborhood.  Getting ready for the 5k at the end of September! Woo woo!

 Later we played my favorite game of the weekend! You write a phrase then it's like telephone with drawing then describing the picture, then drawing again. Super funny!

There were two cars crashing into a jellyfish, pooping in the park, no eating in the sun, a cat barking at me, monkey eating a banana, 13 people sleeping, Josh loves rainbows, etc...

 The boys were in heaven playing Priceless. Only 4 people can play so the girls took turns and we usually won. It always made Jake super uncomfortable when Kyle and Josh got heated about the rules of the game! And according to Josh, Kristi is such a "Back Stabber!" haha

It's serious when Josh stands up!

 Saturday afternoon we drove up to Strawberry reservoir to go fishing. It turned into the boys fishing, Marissa paddle boarding and me and Kristi babysitting the kids on the deck of Marissa's aunt's cabin.  It was nice for a while and then the kids were not fun anymore so we packed up and left early.

 I made a fire in our new fire pit that night, but we didn't camp in the backyard :(

Kyle PROMISED that we will sometime though!

 Naomi got to come with us to nursery the next day and we played Cranium and more Priceless after church. Kyle's sculpture of a wedding cake was on point and dalmation is actually spelled dalmatian.

 Kasen loves his "Marshmellow!" and he and Naomi played a little bit of Just Dance with me like champs! Our favorite is the fruit dancing to Summertime. And the panda.

It was lots of fun, even though Marissa wanted to sleep more than she should ;)
As long as she throws down a towel first then it's fine.

Staycation 2.0

My mom usually plans one vacation a year, but the last 2 years we have done staycations at her house in Brigham City because of the small babies and this one was SUPER FUN!

DAY ONE: FRIDAY

We went to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo! $15

I ate the longest hot dog that I have ever eaten (Thanks for buying dinner Mike!) and we watched the bull riders, calf ropers and barrel racers.

All of that didn't hold Kasen's attention very well, BUT when the motorcycles came out at the end he LOVED it! He woke up the next morning telling me about the motorcycles.
Tai slept through most of the rodeo.  She must have been tired because it was SO loud!

DAY TWO: SATURDAY
We went fishing at Cold Springs Trout Farm. $5 per fish

 Kasen caught himself a fish and was terrified watching it come out of the water.  He could not hide behind Grandma fast enough!

The second fish he caught didn't have him near as scared as the first one.

 But he did get too close to the bucket and when the fish jumped and splashed him he wouldn't go back.

 He liked feeding the fish their fish food though.
Then we ate our picnic lunch there at the trout farm with our friend, black goose.

 Throwing it back to the last time all the cousins were there in 2004.

Afterwards we went to North Shore Aquatic Center in Ogden to go swimming! $6

 Kasen loves the lazy river, but he does not love going up into the playground because he gets sprayed with water.  Dakota took him on the slide anyway though and he kind of liked it.

I LOVE my cousins!

And Zeppe's! My Ogden visit is only ever complete when I get to eat gelata from Zeppe's! $3

Then we hurried over to WiseGuys to see our friend from college, Alex Velluto's stand up comedy show. $12
 I LOVED it!
 We had so much fun laughing and Emma even got picked on from the audience.

 We walked 4 blocks to get some Farrs Ice Cream afterwards and it was totally worth it. $3

I got to eat ice cream twice in one day and it made for an extra awesome day!!

DAY THREE: SUNDAY
After church we had a big family BBQ at my mom's house.  AND we got to eat the fish we all caught at the trout farm too! So yummy.
Also, Easton almost got bit by a big ol' snake in the yard, which was crazy!
Kasen saw his first praying mantis and once he noticed it he ran away screaming, "scared!" cause it freaked him right out.  He's all of a sudden scared of alot of things...

 Kyle loved the BBQ ribs the best and Kasen ate like a million cookies. And a popsicle.
BUT he did share it with Tai :)
Such a good brother. She was in heaven!

Later we were the only ones left and we did some fireworks.  This year Kasen wasn't scared of them, but he did want me to put my hand on his "head" while he watched them!

DAY FOUR: MONDAY
Happy Pioneer Day!

 For breakfast Grandma made Kasen a cute little K pancake! But Kasen loved it too much because when we cut him a piece to eat he cried because it was broke :( Eventually he ate it though.

On our way home we stopped at the Hill Aerospace Museum. FREE

 We got Kasen and Naomi to hold hands and it was the cutest thing ever!!

 Mom let Kasen and Parker each pick out an airplane from the gift shop to take home and Kasen had fun playing with it outside. $7
We had to teach him not to throw it to fly it though!

 Thanks for a super fun weekend Mom! We made some memories for the books.
PRICELESS