the drive there, day 2

It's always so much fun to stay in a hotel with your kids. Yeah right! It's so hard. The boys just had a hard time sleeping there. Dax wouldn't go to sleep and Logan woke up a few times crying through the night. So it definitely was a long night for us. The next morning we got up and got ready for the day and went to the grocery store to get a few things and eat breakfast. Since we were on vacation we let the kids get some donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast and they ate it sitting on the hood of our car. They loved it and made a really big mess.


The kids and their messiness. I guess I should say it was mostly Logan. He had it everywhere and was crying because he wanted it off of his hands.




Before we left for Utah, we planned to stop at Lehman Caves. It's right on the border of Utah and Nevada. Jason stopped here with his family when he was younger and wanted to take our kids there too. So after we left Ely we headed for Lehman Caves. Afton and Dax thought it was pretty cool that we were going inside a cave. They were both excited, but I think a little nervous because it was going to be dark. Dax was glued to my leg when we went through the man made tunnel to get to the cave. After we got into the cave and he saw that there was lighting he let go of my leg. They turned off all of the lights at one point and he grabbed on tight again, but after that he did pretty good. This was my first time to Lehman Caves and it was pretty cool. I really like this kind of stuff so I thought it was neat. And the kids really liked it too. They loved all of the different formations and the stairs and small walkways. I'm glad that Jason came up with the idea. It was lots of fun and I hope the kids will remember it like Jason did when he went with his family.





Getting ready to go into the cave

They were getting ready to turn off the lights and right after I took this picture Dax ran over and grabbed onto my leg.

Our awesome tour guide who thought he was pretty dang funny. I think most tour guides are like that. They crack the same jokes and think it's pretty hilarious.

Some pretty cool cave formations

Of course they had to make silly faces.

The fam in the cave

Some more cave formation pics. The one on the right was Afton's favorite because it is called popcorn.

Some of the walkways were very narrow.

This was a picture of the big room in the cave. When it was first discovered the local people would have dances in this room. I thought that was pretty cool.

Walking up the man made tunnel to the exit.

Utah--the drive there, day 1

Well, we made our annual trip to Utah for the summer. We've decided to make it a tradition and go to Utah every summer. It works better for us since Afton is in school now. Last year we went to Utah for the 4th of July and had a blast so we decided to go the same time this year. Our trip was July 2nd through July 12th. We left that Thursday afternoon and actually took a different route this time. I've always wanted to go this way and we finally decided to do it. This route goes up through Yosemite and across the middle of Nevada and takes us to Delta, Utah. It's shorter mileage wise, but longer time wise because it's a two-lane road the whole way. And Jason and I actually really liked this way. It was very beautiful through Yosemite and Tioga pass and we went through an awesome thunderstorm in Nevada. We stopped in Ely, Nevada and stayed the night there. Afton, Dax and Logan did really well on the drive. I think they were very excited to be going to Utah, so they were really good on the drive.

We stopped along the pass through Yosemite because we needed a potty break and the scenery was gorgeous. This was my first time in this area and it was so beautiful. There was this really cool meadow, I think it was called Tuolumne Meadows, and we walked across the road to it and took some pictures.

I'm sure there is a name for this mountain/dome, but I don't know what it is. We thought it was pretty cool.

Afton and Dax

There were some pretty sweet rainbows from the thunderstorms, so I snapped a few pictures of them. Afton was so excited to see a full rainbow. It was pretty neat. And the rain just poured on us for a couple of hours. I think we had our wipers on full speed the whole time. It was crazy! And we saw lots of lightning. The kids loved watching for the lightning strikes and so did I. I love thunderstorms. They're one of my favorite things.

There was also a double rainbow. The second one is really faint right above the brighter rainbow.

A gummy mess

Logan's favorite thing to do right now is get into the diaper bag. And he's very sneaky about it, usually he'll find it when I'm in the other room or in the shower or something. He's very quiet and shuts the door so no one can see him. I knew he was up to something when I hadn't heard him in a while, so I went to check it out and he had gone into my closet, shut the door and gotten into the diaper bag. Not only did he get into it but he pulled out everything including my pack of gum and unwrapped every single piece. Thankfully, he didn't eat it all. I think he may have gotten a piece or two in his mouth, but he sure did make a mess of gum all over my floor. Toddlers are great aren't they!?

Sprinkler fun

A day back in June (the 19th), we went to the Daley's to play with Max and Dylen. We swam in the pool for a little while and then they brought out this fun little mermaid sprinkler that the kids loved. They loved running around in it, but their favorite part was trying to drink the water. It was so funny to watch. The kids would stand there and wait with their mouths open for the sprinkler to come around to them. It was pretty hilarious.

The best water drinkers were definitely Max and Logan. They loved it as you can tell from the pictures.

After playing in the water, the kids put on a very entertaining show for Misty and I. I don't remember what it was about, but they had lots of fun doing it and they just love playing on this stage. We'll have to get one of those at our house someday.

swim party at Emma's

Afton's friend, Emma, always has a swim party after school ends and she invited Afton, Dax and Logan. So we headed over to her house for some fun in the sun.

Afton and Logan in the pool. Logan loved splashing in the water. That's what he's doing in the picture. He'd bend over and get his hands in the water and then stand back up trying to splash me or anyone else around him. I feel bad because I didn't get any pictures of Dax probably because he was no where near the pool.

Just another cute one of Logan.

And another in his Nemo towel.

They had face painting at the party which the kids loved

Afton got bat girl painted on her face

Afton and Emma who is some kind of tiger or leopard. The lady who was painting their faces did an amazing job.

Swim lessons

This summer Afton and Dax took swim lessons. I just signed them up at our local swimming pool. Dax was in the preschool class with his friend, Avery, and Afton was in the swimmer 2 class. Here they are on their first day of swim lessons. Dax wasn't too sure about it but Afton couldn't wait to get in the water.




After their first day, we headed over to the park right by the pool. We had a little picnic and then the kids played on the playground. We were watching their friend Emma, so she came along with us.

Emma, Afton and Dax who is doing his signature wink for the camera.

This tire swing was the big hit at the park. The kids loved going super fast on it.

Dax having fun on the swing.

And this is how tired Logan was after we got home. I was in the kitchen doing something and found him by the door asleep on the mat with his "daby"(that's what he calls his blanket).



Here we are at the last day of swim lessons. Their lessons were for two weeks (June 15th-26th). Afton did so good. She pretty much learned how to swim. She loved her class and teacher. There were only three other girls in her class so it was perfect size, lots of one on one time with the teacher. And the other three girls were more advanced than her, so I think that helped motivate her to swim on her own and she was swimming by herself across the pool at the end of swim lessons. I'm so proud of her! Dax, on the other hand, didn't really enjoy his swim lessons. The first week he got in the pool and and splashed around and played with his class and then the second week they started doing "scoops", the teacher helps them swim around the pool while they scoop the water with their hands. I guess he got some water in his mouth and that was it for swim lessons. I had to fight with him to get him in the pool and on the last day I gave up. He didn't even get in the pool. Hopefully, next year goes better.

Afton swimming by herself and with her class and jumping into the pool.


this was Dax on the last day, standing at the side of the pool and being very grumpy. Logan really wanted to get into the pool. I'd have to fight with him so he wouldn't get in the water. His favorite thing right now is water or "fater" that's how he says it. He loves the water and talks about it all the time.

Avery and Afton

Visiting friends and clients

Well, way back in June (12th -14th, I've become such a bad blogger lately), we went to visit some friends and one of Jason's clients in Valencia. Jason's high school friend, David Judd and his wife Rebecca, live in that area so we decided make a business trip into a friend trip too. We stayed a couple nights with his family and had a really great time hanging out with them.

When we got there the kids instantly became best buds. In the picture is Ricky(Davey's nephew), Zach (Davey's little boy) and Dax. They thought it would be fun to wrestle on the trampoline and of course they had to take off their shirts and show off their big muscles.

Jason and Davey

Chloe (Davey and Rebecca's little girl) She is so adorable I had to take a picture.

Afton loved playing with her and making her smile. She loves babies.

We played a little game of baseball in front of their condo. The boys, big and little, had a great time.



The whole reason for the trip was to visit one of Jason's clients. His name is Roberto Perla, and he is from Peru and was visiting family in California, so Jason wanted to go and visit him. So we drove to his family's house and they were actually having a birthday celebration for Roberto and they invited us to stay and celebrate with them. They were all really nice and the kids and I had a great time hanging out with them. Thank goodness they spoke English or else I don't know what I would've done. His wife was super nice and really friendly and they have a little boy named Benjamin who was super cute. He didn't speak English, but somehow the kids were communicating back and forth and playing with one another.

Jason and Roberto. He really is a super nice guy and thinks the world of Jason.

Afton and Logan hanging out in their backyard. They had an amazing yard with a gazebo and lots of fruit trees. I think they had lemon, lime and avocado trees. I was way jealous.

He's so cute and actually wanted to take a picture.

the kiddo's having fun and hanging out with Benjamin.

Afton, Benjamin, Logan and Dax.

Eating some very yummy birthday cake.