Vacation - Utah

Beware of a picture overload. I've put off this post for a month now because of the 500 pictures Thayne took in Utah. There is no order to these pictures.
My parents watched the kids for a day so we could go to Lagoon with my brother and his wife. I felt like I was in high school again. So fun! Lexi at the Hogle Zoo. So cute. The funniest story from the zoo is that Thayne walked under the tigers and he got a little wet. He thought the tiger had peed but the tiger had just climbed out of the water and shook some of it off. He was freaking out.

Tyson found this baby doll pack n'play. He would climb in it and pretend to sleep.

We stayed with my sister for a little bit in Cedar City. It was so fun! We played minute to win it, went swimming, and hung out. My sister and I fought a lot when we were little but I have so much fun with her now. Our husbands get a long really well and our kids do sometimes. Tyson and Jett played well for a week and then became frienemies. They would occasionally both be in timeout with their noses up against the wall. Don't you love Jett's mohawk? I was going to give one to Tyson too but he was hysterical when I was cutting his hair I didn't want to go back and have to fix it later so he got the buzz instead.

We took my dad to a demolition derby for father's day. I LOVED it! I just can't believe this actually happens. My dad's face doesn't look like he was that happy to be there but he was loving it.

love the mohawk!Cafe Rio. . . Oh, how I miss you

Thayne loved to go rock climbing with my dad and his friend.

We've hiked the Y the last couple summers. Tyson hiked a lot of it by himself this year. I don't know how to turn the pictures so you can turn your head. :) My sister carried her little baby up the mountain. I was sweating without carrying a child and her little girl is a chunk.

We visited a lot of friends and family. We didn't get pictures of all the people we visited. When we go to Utah it always feels like there's a million friends to visit so it's go, go, go. We took the kids downtown Salt Lake to ride the trax and play at the Gateway Mall. The kids had lots of fun.

The sprinklers came on one Sunday after church and the kids loved running through them. They don't have very many sprinklers here in Buffalo. It reminded me of childhood.

My sister and I made these bows.

Trampoline hair.

Cute Lexi at Aunt Joy's house

View from my parent's back yard

Van Tassell tradition of Leatherby's ice cream. Yumm!

I love my sista's stroller. I want one now.

Grandma playing with the boys

Bath time is so much fun with cousins! I have the whitest children.

vacation - the cruise

Thayne and I had a great time on our kidless cruise. I love my time with the kids and I love my time without the kids. The food was great. The snorkeling was gorgeous. Weather was perfect. We went rock climbing on the ship every evening. We had fun joining the dodge ball tournament. Thayne's team took gold and my team took silver. Side note- there were only 2 teams. We liked Royal Caribbean's private island (Coco Cay) much better than the bustling capitol of the bahamas(Nassau). We decided to take public transportation to the pier because it was WAY cheaper than a taxi. We tried to hurry back to the airport to make an earlier flight that had seats available only to not have it work out and we were stuck at the airport for about 12 hours. Long day. At least we didn't have kids with us.

Vacation- Maryland

We had so much fun in Maryland. Lexi learned that she loves stairs and syrup. I had not given her any syrup but grandma loves her and taught her the finer things in life. Lexi would be so funny. She would get up in the morning, go to the kitchen, and wait by her high chair. She knew grandma would make her pancakes or french toast or something else yummy. She's started to eat a ton even though she's still so little. Tyson loved all the attention he received. When we got back from the cruise he didn't want to do anything by himself. He was used to having a hanful of people that loved to help him or carry him or get him whatever he wanted. We're still trying to break that habit. We all loved the Baltimore Aquarium and the inner harbor area. He still talks about the big sharks or the nemo fish he saw. Granpa and Grandma Gardner took us to a really nice brazilian restaurant for Thayne's graduation. The Gardners were all in heaven! We also went to the Train Musseum in Ellicott City, ate ice cream, went to some super cool parks, and played with aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Graduation

Thayne is finally done with Dental School and is a doctor! Yay for him and all the hard work he has put in over the last 23 years of school. The school had a nice banquet for the seniors and Thayne received 2 awards. He received a Pedo award and he also received what we refer to as "the nice guy award". The teacher who gave out the award said it was the best award of the night and is voted on by both faculty and students. During graduation week we also packed up our house and moved across town. Thankfully we had some really good help from Thayne's parents and brother and also a lot of good help from friends. It's so sad to move from a house that you've grown to love. I love the memories we have of 224 George Urban Boulevard. I wish I had the pictures our realtor took when he listed the house. This was our first house we purchased - we were so nervous at that time. This house was so good to us. We didn't have to put any extra money into it and it kept the bills down during dental school. We brought our babies home from the hospital to this house, I SLOWLY decorated each room on little to no budget, painting each room whatever color I wanted to. I loved our show parties with Tyson, friends coming over for dinner, and when our babies learned to walk in this house. We miss our little house but Tyson is already enjoying the room to run around in at the new place.