More hiking today

 

31:2012

 

Our Week in Review . . .

Alexis and I made homemade popsicles (plain greek yogurt mixed with honey).  She was so excited to have one after her swimming lessons.

 

We took Alexis to see Ice Age 4 in the theater.  It was a disappointment.  But, Alexis had fun which was the most important thing.  She loves movie theater popcorn, just like her Mommy and Nana.

(Don't worry, she didn't eat this whole tub by herself.)

The Osborn family was in Utah visiting and we were so happy that they thought to contact us while they were in town.  We knew the Osborns when they lived in Townsville, but they are currently calling Nairobi, Kenya home.  Allanah was a beehive in the Townsville branch while I was the Young Womens' president, and now she is going to be a freshman at BYU!  Boy, that made me feel old.  And she will be living in Chipman Hall, the same dorm that I lived in during my first year at the Y.  How fun.  We are excited to be able to see more of Allanah once school gets started.

(From L to R: (back row) Claudia, Allanah, Ingrid, John, (middle row) Tamara, Alexis, Crystal (front) Phoebe.  David was there too, but he was taking the picture.) 

Pioneer Day

Today we celebrated Pioneer Day (celebrating the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847) by attending the "Days of '47" Parade in downtown Salt Lake City.  This was Alexis' first parade and she absolutely loved it.  She was cheering, clapping and dancing the whole two hours.  She had a front row seat with her cousins:

 

 

Be prepared for picture overload . . .

The parade had all of the essentials.  Marching bands:

Pioneers:

Fun floats:

Law enforcement:

Horses:

Princesses:

College rivalry (BYU vs. Utah):

And my favorite, a float and dancers celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Polynesian Cultural Center:

 

Family fishing

After our Sunday afternoon naps yesterday, we drove up to the cabin to spend the night. Alexis and John enjoyed the cooler temperatures outside while I made dinner:

We spent the next morning fishing up at Solitude Resort.  They have a small pond right off of the stream that they stock with trout.  There was a big sign on the trail that said the fishing was only for kids 12 and under.  Good thing John had Alexis with him. =)

 It is such a picturesque spot.

Alexis ended up catching four Brook Trout.  She always wanted to hold them before releasing them back in the water.

John requested a close-up of the fish, of course:

It was a fun overnight trip.

30:2012

 

Creative Coloring

 

29:2012

 

My Little Mermaid

My sister Kelsey flew back with us from California and while she was in town, she took some awesome action shots of Alexis in the pool.

Jumping off the diving board:

Sliding in like a snake:

Jumping in from the side:

Kelsey also got some great pictures of Alexis being her normal goofy self.

 

 

California Girls

Alexis and I just spent the most wonderful week in California.  We were so fortunate to be able to visit some family and dear friends.  The first half of our trip was spent in Palo Alto and San Francisco.  My sister Kelsey picked us up at the airport and then we headed to Palo Alto to meet up with her husband Brad, and my sister Christina for dinner.  Alexis had fun running down the sidewalks with Kelsey on our way to dinner.  It felt good to stretch our legs after our flight.

While in Palo Alto, we stayed with my friend Shersti and her family.  Shersti and her husband Jared have four adorable kids and another one on the way.  Alexis and Annie are nine months apart and had so much fun playing together.  Here they are at the park:

One of Alexis' new found loves is jumping on the big trampoline.  At first she was scared and only wanted to jump by herself, but after a few goes, she was jumping like a pro and loved playing with the big kids.

(From L to R: Brooke, Zachary, Jacob, Alexis & Annie)

One of our days was spent in downtown San Francisco with Kelsey, Brad and Christina.  We lucked out with great weather.  It was mostly sunny, and just a big windy.  Alexis was such a good girl and even took an hour and a half nap in her stroller (a nap in her stroller is a very rare thing)!

We first headed down to the waterfront to walk around.  We had an absolutely delicious lunch of clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl at Boudin.  And of course, we got some yummy desserts at Ghiradelli Square.

One of the highlights for Alexis was the carousel.

 

We also stopped by Golden Gate Park to let Alexis run around after her nap.

 

 

 

The second half of our trip was spent in Fresno with my dear friend Tiffany and her family.  Tiff had just had her third baby and first daughter on my birthday!  Alexis had so much fun playing with Avi and Jai, but especially loved holding baby Zaidee.

While we were there it was 110 degrees!  So both days we were in Fresno were pretty much spent playing inside in the air conditioning, or at the splash park.  We ended up going to all three splash parks in the Fresno area, two in just one day.  It was that hot!

 

 

 

It was such a fun week.  I feel so grateful that Alexis and I were able to make this trip.  On our last day, Alexis kept telling me that she wanted to stay and play with her new friends, and that she didn't want to go home.  But I think she changed her tune once she saw her Daddy:

I love that you can see in this picture how hard she is squeezing John.  The only thing that would have made this trip better was if John could have come.  Oh well, hopefully next time.

28:2012

 

Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!

We started off our day by attending a breakfast at the park put on by our ward.  They had face painting for the kids.  Alexis loved her butterfly:

Alexis woke up pretty tired so I stayed home with her while she took a nap.  The rest of the family headed up to the cabin for a BBQ and to help clean-up the yard.  Afterwards, some of Alexis' cousins came over for swimming and pizza.  Alexis had so much fun jumping off the diving board over and over and over again (sorry, no pictures).  And of course, there were fireworks.  This was Alexis' first 4th of July in the United States, so she wasn't sure about the fireworks at first. But in the end, she loved them.

Waiting for the fireworks to start:

Of course, about 15 minutes into the show, Alexis announced that she had to go to the bathroom.  So, we missed the finale.  Oh well.  It was still fun.