Summer 2014

We went to the circus one night. There were some fun acts but there was also a lot of dud acts. Ponies running around in a circle is not what I imagine in a circus. The first act was a bunch of dancers that were all over the place. Any high school drill team would have put them to shame. Tyson loved it all.

Kenzie loves to sit on your leg and play horsey. If you're sitting there, she's going to come attack your leg.

Messy, messy girl

Shoshone falls is flowing again.

More ramblings

Reading with daddy at the library

These girls love the swing! If there's only one available, they just share.

Lexi is writing her name. She's gotten pretty good at it in the past couple of months. This was one of her first times.

Tyson likes to write fancy letters. It's pretty cute.

This friendly goat followed the kids around at the park one day. Random!

Kenzie is really into showing off her painted fingernails. She also likes to point out other people's pretty fingers and toes.

spring ramblings

My dad came out for his spring break and built us a playhouse in the backyard. It's pretty cool. It has a loft, slide, and a table in it. The kids loved helping.

 Kenzie keeps growing. She's got enough for me to give her piggies and it's pretty cute.

Sisterly love

I went to wicked with a couple friends and it was so fun! We laughed all night. Tausha arranged for us to all have binoculars so we could see since we were in the way back. I'm used to sitting in the way back but it was fun to have binoculars.

Yum! This girl loves black beans. She has Thayne's taste buds and likes meats of any type. She's my first meat lover and isn't into carbs as much as the other two kids.

rugby and recitals

 So Thayne has been coaching rugby for the last 2 months. He loves it but it's a lot of time and traveling. He loves to play with the boys and feel like he's 17 again. We have become good friends with the other coach and his wife and are grateful for the social time this brings.

 One of the games was in Blackfoot, Idaho and we couldn't help but take a picture of their giant potato. I was grateful they were smart enough to put some butter and sour cream on top so it didn't look like something else...
Lexi has been in a dance class and she loves it. She listens so well to her teacher and is one of the quiet kids in class. Such a change from Tyson. It's so fun to see her in her element. She is such a good girl and low on the drama most of the time which I appreciate.

These girls love the swings and the park. Some days we take Tyson to school and head to the park. It's so nice to be able to enjoy the sunshine.

One of my favorite pictures. They are so cute here. Lexi is still a smotherer so Kenzie isn't always this happy with her. She loved this arrangement of sitting with her sister in the cart.

I straighened Lexi's hair one day. She calls it her Ariel hair. She looked really different. Older. Much older. Thayne didn't like it but Lexi sure did.

Kenzie and her boyfriend riding in the cow train. Cute kids!

Another couple of pictures of Lexi's straight hair.

Spring Break

We went to San Francisco for spring break. We totally get why people move to Cali. It's gorgeous! On our way there we stopped by to visit some friends from Buffalo. It was so fun to catch up! Kenzie loved Katie and she was so good with her. I love the friendships we made in the Buff.
Daniel and Whitney were great hosts. We loved seeing the city with them and just talking and playing games. Took us back to our days in undergrad when we'd hang out with them. A closeness that I hope never goes away.

The first night there they took us to a cookie bar. Yummy. The kids loved it (as did I).

We went to MuirWoods one morning. It's a giant forest of redwood trees. It's great but it was a little too packed with people for me. I guess that's the downside of living in paradise.

She is such a happy, good girl but on this trip she was teething like crazy and wasn't feeling her best so she was really clingy. She was also waking up between 5 and 6am. We'd put her in a stroller and go for runs along the beach. I love running at sea level! 5 miles is way easier there!!

Golden Gate Bridge

Another really cool bridge.

You can see the Sea Lions in the background off the pier.

and a family shot...

and another with Alcatraz in the background

Lombard street from a distance

and up close

and from up high

We were trying to get some lunch one day but everything was closed on Monday. We finally figured out a take out option and ate in a nearby park. I gotta say the food in SF was amazing! So yummy. Thayne and I had some fondant that was to die for one day. It was so good. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
We had dinner with Thayne's co-resident, Suzy, one evening. They took us out for some great Burmese food and chocolate bread pudding. It was fun to catch up and hear about their Hawaiian wedding.

The next day we went to Whitney's favorite, the shopping area. She took me to Tiffany's. Our day outing was cut short by all the rain. It poured. We were all drenched by the time we got to the car.

The necklace I'm wearing was $8000. Holy stinkin' cow!

Uncle Daniel has quite the Lego hobby. Tyson was in HEAVEN! He still talks about all the cool legos he got to play with.

A portion of the legos

We did a lot of driving on this trip. The kids were great travelers. Whitney colored my hair for me and she did Thayne's with the left over color. It's not as drastic anymore. My Young Women at church say he looks like a California surfer boy.

This guy helped entertain our kids on the way there and back.

We had a ragnar meeting in Utah at the end of our vacation so we stopped by quickly. We went bowling and to Leatherby's with the Van Tassell cousin's.