the fourth and stuff

DeAnna, Brad, and I took our boys (plus our nephew Mason) to the white trash bouncy house place in Springville last Thursday. The little boys had a great time. Brad probably did too. He certainly played hard. I had a hard time just following Colin around to take pictures. Curse this enormous pregnant belly of mine!

Colin liked to give the princess a hug. He said she was Belle.

Mason gave the dragon a hug. I think he was just trying to climb on.

Donovan and Brad taking a ride on the dragon.

Brad ninja-kicking the knight's head. And this was in the area for children 5 and under. Oops.

Riding on the awesome carousel. DeAnna even had 1 quarter so it actually moved for a minute or so.

Playing in the yard later that day. Kate was happy to have a bucket. She can even say "bucket."

She was also strangely attached to this shovel that day.

And Colin decided to mow, naturally. I even put the bubbles in so it could be a true bubble mower.

This weekend was packed full with family time. My niece Kaylee was baptized on Saturday, and her one-week-old baby sister Brooklyn was blessed on Sunday. We also took Silvey family pictures Saturday evening. The weekend was kind of chaotic, but there were relatively few tears and tantrums, so I call that a win. I don't have any pictures from any of those events, yet. I'll try to steal some from my in-laws later.

Here's the fourth of July stuff. I took the kids to the parade, leaving Nate at home to do some work. (And really, he did work. The kind of work that his company pays him for.) Nate's not a parade person. Granny and Papa were kind enough to get up early and save seats for everyone. All I had to do was show up with my cute kids and a camera (and park 4.5 blocks away).

Mmmm, doughnuts. (I really wanted one too. Stupid diabetes.)

Kate liked the cow. "MOOOOOO!" she said.

I liked the roller derby team. Their name is Rollier Than Thou. Awesome.

Colin loves to see the fire trucks, but the noise is a little too much for him.

The Little Mermaid float! Colin was very excited for this one.

Neat story—one of the military veterans who followed this sign was a guy named Fred Mason. When I worked as a transcriptionist for a BYU professor back in the day (like almost 7 years ago), I went with the professor to interview this guy. I got to type up the transcription and edit it into a newspaper story that ran in the Orem Geneva Times. The whole project was also put in BYU's Special Collections and sent to the Library of Congress. Fred Mason was a Marine in the Pacific during WWII and he experienced some crazy stuff. He was also one of the nicest men I have ever met. I was so caught up in seeing him in the parade that I neglected to take a picture. Shoot.

Yay! I don't know what she was clapping for. Probably something to do with the parade.

Some of the kids got to touch Scooby Doo's foot. Neat.

I don't remember what these people were doing, but they were all dressed as Star Wars characters. Awesome.

Kate after she peed through her diaper and capris. Good thing I brought a festive red diaper for her to wear so she still looked cute.

Colin loves tractors.

And princesses! They had Tiana, Tinker Bell, Belle, Rapunzel, Aurora and more. Even Harry Potter and some other characters. I only took 1 picture and then some video. Sorry.

Missionaries! Kate loved waving and waving and waving back at the missionaries.

And just before my camera died I got a shot of my kids sitting with Bradley. I was surprised that Kate chose to go up there all on her own. She spent the rest of the parade with me. (She's still not much of a people person.)

Nate and I are going to the Real Salt Lake game tonight, so there will be more pictures to come. I just had to clear off my camera before our next big adventure!

colin's birthday extravaganza

Yay for turning 3! And since Colin was turning 3, we celebrated his birthday on 3 separate occasions. First, my mom, my brothers, my kids, and I went to the Hogle Zoo. I don't think any of us had been before. We went on the 28th because Colin was still 2 and free.

Did you know there are dinosaurs at the Hogle Zoo? Did you know that those dinosaurs do cool things like move and roar and spit water? Did you know that those dinosaurs freaked my kids right out?

A monkey.

The kids watching some animal do something. It was hard to get a picture of their faces since all they wanted to do was look at the animals.

Colin riding some kind of wooden horse.

Over by the elephants there were a couple of zoo people playing some African-style music. Colin wasn't shy about jumping right in and playing with the drums and tambourines. I have him on video, and trust me, it's adorable.

Riding on a tiger.

Looking at a real tiger.

Giraffes have crazy black tongues. This one kept sticking his out to scratch his chin. (I imagine that's why he was doing it anyway.) (I also imagine he was a he. I have no proof of its actual gender.)

Another dinosaur. I have lots of pictures of dinosaurs, but I didn't post them all.

A sloth because I think it is cool and also disgusting.

Kate sitting still briefly while we ate lunch.

Yay for animal cookies at the animal park!

Colin riding on a rhino. I didn't take this picture, and I forgot to specify to the brother who took it that he was supposed to include the animal statue.

We were looking at a tiny one-eyed owl that a zoo person had sitting on her hand. Please don't look at my face.

Riding the train.

I'm glad Ethan knows how to smile for the camera.

Hey! Colin finally looked at me! Win.

Kenny is about the size of an adult gorilla. Colin is the size of a juvenile. Kate would probably be close the the infant size, but she refused to stand there for a picture.

A sweet elephant thing that made noise/music/puffs of water.

On Colin's actual birthday, the 29th, he got to open presents from my family because they couldn't make it to the official party.

Toy Story legos! They were/are a hit.

Just a funny birthday face.

The big hit of the day? A bubble mower of course. I don't think Colin has stopped mowing since he opened that present. He even got some sweet shades to wear so he can be just like Daddy. We turned on some music in his room so he could pretend like he was listening to his ipod just like Daddy. That boy loves to mow!

Kids playing nicely together with the new legos.

And on Friday the 1st we had the birthday party. This was the day when all the cousins could be there. I tried really hard to make a fancy cake, and it did not turn out like the picture. Since it was a bust (in my mind) I made some Toy Story cupcakes too, just so something looked presentable.

It still looks like a 3, right? Fondant is not my friend. Neither is food coloring or carving cakes.

Happy opening presents faces. He was so excited about everything he got. You'd think it was his birthday or something.

Hannah holds a special place in my heart. And probably a special place in the Special Olympics too.

Granny and baby Corbin.

Papa and baby Rachel. Just kidding, medium-sized oldest-grandchild Rachel.