Seven Peaks

For the past two years we have gotten everyone in the family a Pass of All Passes. For a very small fee, you can do TONS of free stuff (click here to check it out), including go to the Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo as often as you want. All summer I meant to bring a camera and kept forgetting. Lee finally brought one the very last day of the season and took a few pictures of Melissa and me. Unfortunately, we didn't get any of Morgan and Brynne. Stay tuned for next year... Meanwhile, have you ever seen a cuter kid?

2012 Summer Trip -- Jackson Hole

The last stop on our busy, but fun, summer trip was to Jackson Hole, WY. My sister Ashley's husband attends an optometry conference there every July, and this year he & Ashley decided to invite other family who could come. We joined them (even Lee was there for the first day), and so did my parents. Definitely something I wouldn't mind making a tradition of!

Hard to see faces, but Marshall (my nephew) loved pushing Melissa in the stroller!

 We spent one afternoon swimming, which tuckered the kids out. I bathed Melissa and then asked Morgan to take her while I quickly showered. I suggested that Melissa was tired and would likely just want to be held. Well, this is what I found 

when I got out of the shower:

 I LOVE this picture of Ashley and Morgan!

 These pictures were taken on the gondola that takes you to the top of the ski slopes. My girls were very excited when they found out we could go on it (a.k.a. it was free!)!

 Even Melissa enjoyed the gondola!

 At the top of the ski slopes - breathtakingly beautiful! And the view was really nice too! :)

 The condo we stayed at was perfect for us! Besides having a perfect number of rooms and beds, it also had a perfect view of the landing strip for the parachuters. The kids spent a lot of time on the deck in the mornings watching tons of people land. They would go on the deck at the west end of the condo to see the parachuters taking off on the top of the mountain, and then they'd run to the deck on the east side of the condo to watch the landings. I'll admit I enjoyed the entertainment also! :)

Here's a picture of some relaxing that occurred our last night there. Brynne thinks Grandma Ross's lap was made for her :) and Morgan enjoyed playing cards with Ashley's kids, Marshall and Elise.

 Our family has a thing for Coulter Bay in Teton National Park. It all started with my mom's family when she was growing up - they went camping there every summer. She still enjoys going there and has passed onto us kids the desire to go there every chance we get!

During our Jackson Hole visit, we had a picnic lunch at Coulter Bay and then spent a couple hours playing in the water. Since the water is really cold, I wasn't sure Melissa would like it. Eventually I put on her suit (see below), but at first she had a good time playing on the beach with Morgan.

 Brynne discovered a lot of tiny fish along the shoreline. She used a frisbee and went along scooping up water and baby fish for everyone to see. I somehow convinced her to stop long enough to pose for a picture. :)

 Melissa with Aunt Ashley

 Brynne has never gone anywhere without taking time to create something! This time she created some nice rock art - do you see the heart at the top of the circle?

 As I mentioned, I eventually put Melissa in her swimsuit to see what she would think about the cold water. She loved it! In fact, she kept wanting to hold my hands so she could walk out deeper! She also enjoyed sitting in the water playing with all the rocks.

 Remember the picture of Melissa sacked out on Morgan's lap after a long day of swimming? Well, guess who sacked out on Mom's shoulder after another long day of swimming? :)

Our trip to Jackson ended the day before Morgan's 11th birthday, so Grandma and Grandpa Ross were nice enough to buy a horse cake to celebrate her birthday while we were all together. (We were quite shocked when Uncle Derek called from the store to say he had actually found a horse cake!) Truth is - Morgan shares a birthday with my parents' anniversary, and this year was their 40th Anniversary! Ashley and I had talked about doing something to celebrate their anniversary (40 years is a big deal!), but my parents had been planning to do something to celebrate Morgan's birthday. It's just like my parents to move aside and do everything they can to bring joy to a grandchild! Morgan was very pleased to have her moment!

When we left Jackson Hole, Morgan rode home with Ashley and Derek to Riverton, WY so she could spend a few days with them. Ashley was wonderful to set up lots of play dates, make arrangements to ride horses, and countless other things to help Morgan enjoy her stay - and Morgan had a wonderful time!

Ash & Derek - Thanks a ton for inviting us to Jackson with you!!

New Year's in Layton 2011

After enjoying Christmas in Rawlins (see post below), the girls and I drove to Layton, UT to enjoy New Year's at my sister Alyson's house. We were joined once again by my sister Lindsey and our youngest sister, Ashley, and her family. On New Year's Eve we all went swimming at the South Davis Recreation Center in Bountiful. When I'm a millionaire, I'm paying to get a facility like that down in Spanish Fork!!

Above: Me, Melissa, Ashley, Elise
Below: Brynne

Above: Alyson with her youngest boys, Adam and Isaac
Below: Morgan and Alyson enjoying a relaxing ride in the lazy river

Below is my sister Ashley; her husband, Derek; their kids, Marshall and Elise; Alyson's oldest boys, Drew, Cayden and Alex; and their friend Sam. It was hilarious trying to get a picture of this crew!

New Year's Eve was spent eating yummy food and watching movies. Alyson and Brad are always so nice to  host things at their house. Thanks Farmers!

What better to end a post with than pictures of our sweet Melissa! Alyson and Brad got a new camera for Christmas, and Brad used it to take the following pictures:

Ash -- Sorry, but it looks like no one told you to smile for the picture. :) Thanks for the awesome pictures, Brad!

Brynne's Mommy Date (Including Melissa's First Swim!)

On Saturday, Dec. 3, Brynne was baptized by Lee. It was a wonderful day and we were blessed to have lots of family come (including Sarah, Lee's mom, who flew from Seattle for the occasion). I'm going to do a separate blog a little later about Brynne's baptism, but I thought I'd give you a little teaser picture now since this blog has to do with baptism too.

When Morgan turned eight, we copied a great idea from a friend (thanks Lee & Traci Christensen!) and I took Morgan on a 24-hour Mommy date. I never suspected that I would have a baby when it came time for Brynne's Mommy date. I told Brynne we could wait to do our date next summer or we could do it now and take Melissa. Turns out Brynne was really excited to bring Melissa on her Mommy date!

We started our date on Monday evening with a trip to Domino's for Brynne's favorite pizza. We took the pizza to a hotel to eat it. Then we went for a dip in the pool. We were pretty excited because it was going to be Melissa's first time swimming. I was so happy to discover the water was heated and was actually quite warm. I think Melissa liked it too:

 

 We were really lucky because we just happened to be swimming at the pool when Santa Claus showed up!

 When we got done swimming we went to the hotel room to shower, watch a movie on the TV, and hit the sack. Yeah, it was quite late, but what are Mommy date's for? The next day we enjoyed the hotel's free breakfast buffet, let Brynne go swimming yet again, heated up leftover pizza for lunch, and then headed off to Salt Lake City.

Brynne was super excited to ride the train. SLC has a "free zone" right around Temple Square, so we rode back and forth in the free zone for about 45 minutes.

 Then we went to Temple Square. I fed Melissa while Brynne toured around the North Visitor Center. We met up at the statue of Christ for a few pictures. It was good to remember exactly why we were having a Mommy date; a time to celebrate Brynne's decision to be baptized.

 We left Temple Square just in time for Brynne and Melissa to both catch a nap on the drive down to Provo. We went to Lowe's Extreme Airsports where Brynne let loose! This place has tons of trampolines along with some foam pits. You can jump off a climbing wall or jump off a "diving board" into the pits. Here is Brynne making her way out of the pit at the bottom of the climbing wall:

Why just jump when you can jump in style?

 Brynne discovered a swinging high bar over one of the foam pits. She really wanted to swing on it but was quite scared. I was so proud of her because she decided she was going to do it and did! After that first time there was hardly any stopping her. She swung on the bar for quite a while.

 When Brynne finally ran out of energy, she wanted to still do something else before dinner. We were close to BYU, so we went to the BYU Bean Museum. It's a museum with lots of different animals. They have scavenger hunts for kids to look for and learn various things while they look around. We had a good time there. Brynne stopped to pose in front of the display of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus surrounded by animals.

We ate dinner at Brick Oven, where we were able to use a free kid's meal coupon Brynne had earned at school for being a great student and a great example. We enjoyed our delicious meal and then hurried home to watch The Biggest Loser. Since Lee and Morgan were gone (they were in Arizona visiting Trout, Lee's dad, and Lo), we ended the night with a slumber party in my room.

Talk about a fun-filled 24+ hours! Melissa did great on our trip too, which was a nice blessing. I am so glad to have these fun memories with Brynne!

Halloween -- Part 1

On Thursday night, I got a call from my sister Alyson. She invited the girls and I to come to her house in Layton for the long Halloween weekend. I happened to have a sore throat and a fever of 102 at the time, but she still invited us -- very nice!!

We drove up on Friday afternoon and played for a bit before taking the kids to watch "Up" and "G-Force." We split up adults and let the kids choose which to see -- Morgan and Brynne watched "G-Force", while I ended up watching "Up" with Lindsey and Aly's youngest twins.

After getting the kids to bed that night, Aly got a babysitter and all the adults headed off to a comedy club in Centerville. One of the guys in the club is in Aly and Brad's ward and had told them that would be a good night to come. It was definitely enjoyable being able to laugh without wondering if/when the humor would turn inappropriate. As they put it, the humor didn't go anywhere near "Bed, Bath, and Beyond!" I enjoyed it until my neck started getting super stiff at the end (thanks to my sickness...). Definitely a fun thing to do together!

On Halloween day, Alyson and I took Morgan, Brynne, Adam and Isaac to the Bountiful Recreation Center pool. I didn't get in the water because that was a sure way to pass germs. Instead, I took pictures. :) I got some decent pictures of the girls coming off the water slide. Can you guess what Morgan likes to do to keep water from getting in her nose?

After a while, Isaac took a liking to Morgan and wanted to go everywhere with her. Alyson and Adam stayed close by.

Adam loved posing for pictures as I sat on the deck to watch him. My favorite was when he showed off his amazing flexibility (both twins do this craziness with their legs!) by putting both feet up to his head:

It took me the whole 1 1/2 hours to get everyone together for a picture. We finally managed this one at the end.

I learned that it's actually enjoyable to not get in the water. It sure makes it easier to get everyone washed up and dressed afterwards, too. It helped that it was a really slow day so it was easy to keep an eye on the kids!

Perfectly Timed Photos

My sister Alyson commented in my last post that I'd forgotten to include Lindsey's two favorite pictures from our hike in the Wind Rivers. Well, here they are along with two other really cute pictures (so make sure you scroll down!).

You can see why Lindsey would be so proud of these two pictures, both times she caught me in the middle of a jump:

Good job Linz! But hey, I'm starting to get the hang of that skill too! Check out this totally cute picture I got of Brynne during our Ross Family Reunion to the Cherry Hill water park.

And has anyone ever seen Morgan looking so sweet and innocent? :)