Movie at the Park

We love free activities. We love to have fun and when the activity is free it's even better. We went to another movie in the Park. They were playing We Bought a Zoo with Matt Damon. Such a good movie. When we got there the kids did the usual, play at the park or walked around until the movie started. Once the show started Gabbi was easily entertained by it, sadly Owen wasn't. He was okay for the first 30 minutes or so, Then he and I went for a long walk. He had a lot of fun playing in the water treatment just outside the amphitheater. It's a good thing we own the movie or I would have been really upset that I didn't get to sit down and enjoy the show.

Ogden Nature Center

As a part of the free Saturday activities we choose to go to the Ogden Nature Center. We got there in time for the painting craft. The kids got to paint pictures with pine needles. It turned out really cute. They are still on our fridge today. After the craft, Jeff and Tiffany met us at the visitor center. The kids colored some nature pictures and even put on a play with the puppets. After looking at all the visitor center had to offer, we headed to see the birds. They have some magnificent birds. They were amazing. They are all injury, rescued animals. They now live at the Nature center. After looking at the birds we went for a walk. We were headed to the tree house. Half was there we came across the mouse hut. The kids had a blast playing in the hut, they were playing house. After the kids were done, we decided that it was too hot to trek all the way to the tree house. We walked back to the car while going through a special display of bird houses. They had some pretty clever bird houses. They were made out of the most random things.

The eagle's nest

2 of my favorite bird houses. Some others were made out of the weirdest stuff; propane tanks, ukulele, sun hat, tires. They were all very creative.

Walking around

The mouse hut

The visitor center

Golden Eagle

The Bald Eagle

Pioneer's Day

It's sad that every year Ben doesn't get to spend time with his family on Pioneer's day. We got o the parade every year with his family and he hasn't been able to join us for the last 3 years at least. It was no different this year. However I was not really into going. The kids had been sick that week and whatever they had, they gave it to me. I did not want to go, but like I said we go every year with Ben's family. So I gritted my teeth and packed the kids in the car. It had been raining on and off all morning long. When we got there it had stopped, so we headed to find Ben's mom. When we did, the parade had started, but it hadn't reached us yet. It then started to rain again. The rain didn't seem to effect the kids at all. They still had blast, rain or not. After about 45 minutes of being there, I had to be done. I was sick to my stomach and didn't want to be there anymore, family or not. On the way back to the car we stopped for a few minutes and watched the parade with Jeff and Tiffany, along with some her siblings. Gabbi thought that was pretty fun. She doesn't get to see Melissa's kids very often. She had a blast playing with everyone and watching the parade. But still I wanted to go home. So we didn't stay very long with Jeff and Tiff. When we finally got back to the car I was relieved. When we got home, the kids ate lunch and took naps, and I laid down myself. Sadly I wasn't able to sleep like I wanted to, but relaxing was enough for now. When Ben got home, he brought me some soup and offered to take the kids so I could continue to rest.

Miranda's B-day

Miranda's birthday was a little messed up this year. I can't believe she is 10. The next thing I know she will be in Young Women's. Her Birthday landed on the weekend we went to Downata Hot Springs. We sang to her there, but that was about it. We did give her a birthday dinner, but it wasn't with presents like we normally do. It was scattered between many events. At her birthday dinner, before they took off, she opened her gift from our family. We gave her a coloring book from the movie Brave and a gift card to get what ever else she wanted. Its hard to get gift for the older nieces and nephew. I'm out of my league with them.

Drive in with Nelson and Deann

We felt so bad about pulling out at the last minute from camping at Cherry Hills, that we wanted to go up and visit them the following day. The kids didn't get up til almost 10. Once they did we got them for breakfast and then ready for the day. We went and did a little shopping while waiting to go up to Cherry Hills. When we got up there we had lunch and visited for a while. It was a lot of fun being able to just relax and enjoy their company. It got so hot later that afternoon that we then called it a day. They were heading swimming and we needed to get the kids home for a nap. We decided before we left to go to the drive in that night with them. We decided to go see The Amazing Spiderman and Men in Black 2. So we headed home while they headed to the pool. After the kids nap, we had some dinner and then packed the car to go to the drive in. The kids love the drive in just as much as we do. When we got there, Nelson and Deann were already and with a spot. We had a lot of fun messing around while waiting for the movie to start. When it did, the kids sat down quickly to watch the movie. Owen, about half way through the first movie, did need to be put in the car so he could watch his own movie. He was being a little noisy. By the time the 2nd movie started, Nelson and Deann were tired that they headed back to the campsite so they could get some sleep before heading home in the morning. Gabbi and Owen weren't very happy about watching their movie in the car and they joined us outside the car. Gabbi fell asleep about half way through and Owen was a mess. He was constantly moving. He couldn't get comfortable at all. He had caught the same thing that Gabbi had. It was just grand. But the movie was already half was done, that we decided just to wade it out. Poor kids.

Sagez get together at Cherry Hills

July's Sagez get together was planned by Deann and myself. We decided that it would be fun to go camping and swimming at Cherry Hills. We made reservations for the weekend and those who could stay would. We planned on meeting at Cherry Hills at 4, having dinner, and when we were done eating those who wanted to stay the night, would. It went off without a hitch. Everyone was happy to bring something for the dinner and we were all excited to go swimming. When we were all there, we headed for the pool for some fun. It has been years since I have been the Cherry Hills. I remember it being bigger, but I was a kid then, so I guess it was in a way. Ben, the kids, and I stayed mainly in the lazy river. The other pools were quit chilly and the warm pool was so crowded that it wasn't very fun. The lazy river was fun for both kids, Gabbi in her life jacket and Owen in his floaty. After many time around the lazy river, we headed across the walk way to go down the water slides. It took some convincing to Gabbi, but she finally went down. Owen went down once too. He wasn't to excited about that. I even have to admit the slide was fun, and I normally don't like water slides. After was were watered out, we headed back to the campsite for dinner. We cooked hot dogs and brawts. It was a really fun evening. Sadly none of us were able to stay the night. Both Brian and Amanda had to work in the morning and Gabbi had been sick the previous two days. We didn't want to take the chance that she would be sick during the night again.

Sadly I didn't get any pictures while we were swimming. I was afraid that I was going to drop my camera.

Baby Showers

The last little bit I have occupied myself by participating in some baby showers.

This one I was asked to help a friend. She was throwing a baby shower for her sister-in-law. She wanted to make the diaper cake as a center piece to the table. This is the first one I had done where we rolled up the diapers for the outside. It turned out much better then the way I use to to them. We also added blankets and onsies rolled up amongst the diapers. It turned out really cute.

This one Tiffany and I made. We have a cousin on my mom's side, Amanda, who is having her baby girl in August. We all pulled our money together to make the diaper cake, got a blanket sleeper, and an outfit. My favorite part of this cake, Tiffany found, its the baby rattle. Its in the shape of a diamond ring. It was so cute. I loved it.

These are some baby shower favors that my friend and I put together. We found the cute little bottles at Zuckers party store. We filled them with sixlets and m & m's. A yummy chocolate treat. The colors matched her nursery.

Tiffany and I did this one as well. This one was made for a cousin on my dad's side, Shawnee. She's having her little baby boy in September. We did the diaper cake and got a camouflage outfit. Ben's influence over took me. It was a really cute outfit.

Downata Hot Springs

This years Williams family reunion was planned by my mom. She made all the arrangements for us to go to Durago Colorado. Sadly we didn't go. Almost everyone backed out, so mom just cancelled the whole thing. It wasn't worth it when those who were going was just mainly our family and a few others. We didn't let that stop us from having some fun though. Since we all had requested the time off and set aside our money, we decided to go on a vacation anyway. At family dinner we all sat down and tried to figure out a place to go. We bounced around a lot of ideas. After an hour or so plus, we finally had everything decided. We were going to Downata Hot Springs in Idaho and Tiffany, Dad, and I were in charge of getting all the food. It worked out great. We made online reservation to stay in Teepee's, but it wasn't guaranteed until payment was made. So we called in first thing Monday morning. They opened at 11, but no one was able to get through to the office, we kept getting an answering service. Finally at 12:30 I got through. So I went to pay for our Teepee and asked if I could hold the other three with my card until the rest of the family was able to call in. That was a no go. So We paid for all the Teepee to make sure no one else got them. Sadly we lost one of the Teepee. Someone had paid for it before we were able to. That bugged me so bad. They should have updated their reservation sheet to show that the Teepee we were trying to reserve was already taken. But things still worked out. They told us that each Teepee site was allowed one tent. So Ben and I planned on bring our tent. I was a little sad about not staying in the Teepee because it sounded like a lot of fun. But the tent worked out great too. Ben is loving our new tent. It really held up it own. It rained and the wind blew like crazy, but our tent stood strong and we didn't get wet. It was pretty awesome. Even better reason as to why he loves our tent so much. So the reservation were paid for, we went on got the food, and then we were off on Thursday night. It wasn't a bad drive at all, and it didn't take too long. When we got there we unloaded the cars and set up our tent and then got ready for dinner. Everyone helped cook and it went great. After dinner we played some games and then went to bed. Friday we got up had breakfast and then got ready to set out. We were going to Lava to go down the river. When we got there, we priced out some different places for tubes. We found what we thought was the best one and started to have some fun. Mom and Grandma Shupe stayed at the picnic tables and watched Owen for us. We had 2 quad tubes and 3 singles. We all took turns going down so mom and Grandma weren't stuck with our kids to much. The first trip down, Ben took Gabbi on his lap. It was fine for the first little bit and then it started to get a bit more rough. They ended up tipping. I couldn't stop and I lost site of them. They next time I saw them, Ben was on the single tube by himself and Gabbi was riding on Jeff and Tiffany's quad tube. I felt so bad, because I knew she didn't want to go down in the first place. Needless to say she didn't go back down again for a bit. It also took a lot of convincing. She would only go down with Papa and Jenny and she had to sit in the center. The river was a lot of fun and all the kids had a really fun time. There was only one casualty of the river and it was Ben. He just has too much fun sometimes. He got flipped off his tube many time. He got a small scratch from the tube about an hour into it. At an hour and a half, he got a much bigger scratch. He flipped feet over head out and his back was dragged along the rocks. He has a scratch the width of his back and a couple of gouges. It was bleeding pretty bad. When we were walking back to the picnic table, everyone was talking in whispers of, "Oh man look at his back." "Dude did you see that?" and so forth. It was kind of funny to hear all the whispers. When we got back to the picnic table, we tried to clean it up as much as we could. There was another group at the pavilion and there was a nurse in their group. She came over and looked at his back and gave us advice on how to take care of it. I started to clean it up, but sadly I had to bow out, I was getting queasy. Mom and Grandma Shupe took care of him while I got him something to eat so he could take some pain meds. My poor hubby. He's a tough guy and he was wincing in pain while he back was being cleaned. I felt so bad, I thought that this would ruin his vacation. He just replied, "nope, my vacation is all the better. I had a blast doing it." At least he was right. He still played and had fun with the rest of us. After we all had lunch we headed back to Downata to go and play at the pool. We bought 2 day passes for a really good deal. We could come and go as we please and stay as long or as little as we wanted. Downata had water slides, a big pool, a splash pad, and a kiddy pool. There was something for everyone. It was a lot of fun. Even Grandma Shupe and mom got in the pool. After dinner that night we didn't do much because it started to rain. So we all got in our beds and went to sleep to the sound of rain. Saturday was a relaxed day. We went back and forth to the pool and just hung out. When we weren't at the pool, we were either eating or playing games. Sadly on Saturday Ben didn't get to do much with us at the pool. He had some homework he had to get done by his Saturday night deadline. He ended up having to go into town just to get a signal to use the Internet. But at least he got it done and then came back to camp. He saved me when we got out of the pool. Its hard to get two kids showered and cleaned up after swimming without one of them running away. He came just in time. Mom took Owen after I cleaned him up, dressed him and then gave him to Ben. Then they came at the perfect time to get Gabbi when I finished with her, so I could get cleaned up. Even though he couldn't come play in the water that day, he was a great help at the pool. When we all got back to the campsite, we put dinner together and while it was cooking we played ladder ball and Kubb. Our favorite yard games. It was so much fun. Even after everyone was all played out Ben pulled all the kids together to play a throw and retrieve game with some diving rings. After we were all cleaned up, we put the kids to bed and then the adults played some card and board games. We laughed, made jokes, and just had a good time. In the morning we started to clean and pack things up, had some breakfast, and then headed for home. We planned on getting together later that night for dinner. We planned on eating just what ever was left over, luckily for us there wasn't much left over. We did a great job shopping making sure we didn't have too much food left over. When we got together that night, the kids played in the back yard and we all played in the house. Jeff rented Dance dance revolution 2, I think it was called. It was a fun ending to a great vacation. Even though it didn't go as planned for the family reunion, we had a blast on our vacation.