Summer Fun 2011

While I was at Disneyland, Becky and Adam planted some strawberries in a planter for me. I have enjoyed 3 yummy strawberries from it so far. We also helped Becky plant a garden and it is doing very well. If anyone needs a Halloween pumpkin, just ask Becky. Our garden has also done well this summer and we are enjoying fresh vegetables almost daily.
In June we enjoyed a wonderful two week visit with Ryan and Kyle. They came to visit us while the rest of their family went on a church history tour to the East and Midwest. We had so much fun with the boys. They were very helpful and well-behaved. We had several family activities and they also spent a day visiting their Shaw cousins.
While Ryan and Kyle were here we spent a day at Lagoon with Dan and Betsy and their family. It was so nice because they live so close and Betsy was able to take Ellie home for a nap and then she came back later and brought us a pizza. Umm!! The boys were dare devils on the rides. It was a nice day and the park wasn't crowded so the wait time for most of the rides was quite short.
The boys loved their day at Lagoon. We got there when the park opened and stayed until it closed. We finished the day by having funnel cakes because that was something Dan and Michelle always did together when they went to an amusement park.
One day while the boys were here Becky, Adam, and I took them down to BYU where we went to the dinosaur museum, the Bean museum, and to the bowling alley. We got to bowl 2 games and everyone enjoyed it. It was Adam's first time and he got very excited when he finally learned how to push the ball down the ramp.
Ryan in good bowling form.
Kyle taking his turn at bowling. Will it make it??
The boys got to visit with their Great Grandpa Nix who is now 91. They went over one day and helped him do some weeding in his yard. Then he took them out for ice cream.
We went swimming at Becky's condo pool and also at the Legacy Center here in Lehi.
While Ryan and Kyle were here we also had a fun family gathering at Matt and Jessica's house. We had a great game of kick ball to end the evening. Kids against the adults. I think the kids won!! We are so glad the boys got to come. We invite them back anytime and their 3 sisters too!!

Later in the month, we went to the Lehi City Roundup Day where Adam got his face painted by Becky's good friend Cindy.

In July we attended the Perrenoud family reunion in Rexburg. This is my dad's side of the family and I was asked to be in charge this year. I make the chart above which showed my grandparents and their 13 children. We had a good turnout at the reunion of about 45 people. That is a small representation of a huge family but we will try to involve more people next year.
Here is part of the family visiting at the reunion. Everyone brought good food and we had a short program after lunch.
I enjoyed visiting with my cousin Ione at the reunion.
At a family dinner at our house, Tanner and Adam played in the sandbox. Umm! Umm!
Easton, Ellie, Addy, and Landon playing at Grandma's house.

Snowbird Visit May 2011

We spent the last week in May at Snowbird Ski Resort. This has been a record year for snowfall and you can see from this picture how much snow was still there when we were there. They were able to have weekend skiing until the 4th of July. Thank you to Grandpa Nix and Pat for letting us use their timeshare condo. They were up there at the same time and we also enjoyed several good visits with Kenneth's sister, Suzy, who works at the resort.
We had a beautiful snowstorm while we were there. We were glad we could cozy up inside and watch the snow.
Here we are at the kiddie pool with Matt, Jessica, and family. Note the depth of the snow around the pool. The pool is nicely heated and it is fun to enjoy the warm water amidst all the snow. It even started to snow one evening as we were swimming.
Chloe the fish jumping into the pool.
Look at Landon jumping into the pool.
I really enjoyed having some time to do some journaling and scrapbooking.
Chloe, Landon, Tanner, and Grandma waving to the folks down below. We are on the balcony of our room.
A beautiful sunset in a beautiful place. We enjoyed our week at Snowbird. It was very relaxing and fun. We especially loved having some of the kids come up and have fun with us.

Disneyland May 2011

Dan and Betsy invited me to go Disneyland with them in May. We left on Saturday and returned home the next Saturday. We stayed a night in Las Vegas on the way down and on the way home. We enjoyed 5 wonderfully fun days at Disneyland. We started in the morning when it opened and some days spent the whole day and evening in the park. Some days we went back to the hotel for a little rest in the afternoon and then went back to the park in the evening. With 3 adults we had the freedom to take turns on the rides and watching Ellie when she couldn't go on the rides. The weather was cool and comfortable all week. We had some rain one morning and the park made a fortune on selling rain ponchos. The rain stopped and the sun was shining by 11 a.m.
We stayed at the World Mark property that was within walking distance of Disneyland. Sometimes we walked to the park and sometimes we rode the bus. This is the view of the pool from our room. We could also see the tops of some of the rides in the park from our room.
We all got to meet Snow White. She was especially sweet to Addy.
Addy loved meeting all the princesses and getting their autographs in her special book. We went to see them several mornings first thing when the lines were shorter.
Meeting Micky at his house.
Easton loved riding in all the cars.
Riding with Dan and Ellie.
I loved the landscaping at Disneyland. I want these in my backyard!
Cute baby Ellie was so good and patient throughout the whole week.

Our Visit in Houston April 2011

David had a conference in San Diego in April. He wanted to take Tamara with him so she could visit with her family so they invited us to come and spend the week with Evan and Jared. They took baby Jacen with them so he could get to know his California grandparents. We jumped at the chance and really enjoyed our week with the boys. We had a couple of days with the whole family before Dave and Tamara left. We attended Evan's T-ball game where Dave was helping him learn the finer points of the game. Watching 5 year olds play T-Ball is great entertainment.
Sweet baby Jacen getting loves from his Mommy!
On school days we helped Evan get to the bus stop in the morning and met him there in the afternoon when he came home. We took Jared to preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and picked him up when he was finished at 11:30.
One of our favorite things to do during our visit was to take walks around the lakes in their neighborhood. We would usually walk in the morning and then after dinner we would go for another walk.
We loved watching and feeding the baby ducks on our walks around the lake.
Kenneth enjoyed walking with Rocky. Here he is actually running with Jared and Rocky!! Rocky would go crazy with excitement whenever we got his leash out to go for a walk.

We enjoyed attending Jared's end of the preschool year graduation and program. Jared will be there another year so he wasn't graduating but he did a very good job singing the cute songs with the other kids.

Jared received a special scrapbook of his preschool year from his bonding buddy teacher. His preschool is at the high school and the program trains the students in early childhood education so each of the children have one of the students as their special buddy. It is a great program.
We ended each day with stories and songs. Sometimes even Rocky joined us.

Celebrating Adam's and Grandpa's Birthdays March 2011

In March we celebrated Adam's 1st birthday and Kenneth's 67th birthday. The party theme was based on the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".
Adam's cake was the very hungry caterpillar, Grandpa's cake was the beautiful butterfly.
We read the story of the very hungry caterpillar who started out very little, then ate and ate, made a cocoon around himself, and became a beautiful butterfly.
Our hungry little caterpillars went around the family room looking for food to eat. They found lots of fruit and other good things to eat.
Then the kids rolled up in toilet paper cocoons just like the hungry caterpillar did and popped out to become beautiful butterflys.
Jessica helped everyone sing songs and play musical instruments.
Adam and Kenneth had lots of family and friends gather to celebrate their birthdays.