Bear Lake

Things were a little slow at work this week while Jake was waiting for some units to come in so we decided to take a little trip.  We headed down to Bear Lake.  We had never gone to Minnetonka Cave to we decided to stop there before we got to Bear Lake.

Tean was excited to go in a cave and explore.

It was a pretty cool cave.  There were some cool formations in there.  Tean didn't want to walk in there because it was a little slippery and dark.  He still had a great time.

After we went to the cave we stopped and got a raspberry shake.  We went to the beach to eat it and enjoy the water.  Ziah had fun on the beach.

Tean loved throwing rocks into the water.

He also loved looking for shells for his "collection."

Ziah just loved eating the shake and the sand.

After going to the beach we headed down to Wolf Creek, Utah where we got a condo to stay in for the night.

Visitors

The first weekend of August my brother, Nathan and his family came up to visit because his daughter had a softball tournament here.  Tean loved having his cousins over to play.  Ziah enjoyed having his cousins over too.

We went to a few softball games.  Her team did a lot better than last year.

While they were here Jake's dad brought over a tractor to dig up some dirt that we had.  Tean enjoyed "driving" it with Kaija and Eily.

We loved having visitors here for a few days and were glad they could come!

Pocatello Zoo Again

Since we have a zoo pass, we went to the Pocatello Zoo again.  We went to more places than we had gone to last time.  We decided to walk and see the grizzly bear that was there.  It was a LONG walk.  On the way, there was a fossil dig.  Tean LOVED it.  He has asked me before if we could go outside and dig for fossils, so when he got the chance, he was super excited.  

 Mosiah was just happy as usual.

 Tean was convinced that he found fossils of dinosaur eggs.  They were actually just chips off the rock that was around the dig area, but he was excited about them so I let him take them home for his "collection."

 We finally made it to the bear.  In the background you can kind of see the bear.

 We also saw some wolves that we hadn't seen before when we came last.

 Tean loves the spider net and had to go on it again and be a spider.

 Mosiah was still happy after being pushed all around the zoo.

 Before we went home, Tean had to go brush the goats.

Even though our zoo isn't that great, Tean had a great time seeing all the animals and digging for fossils.

Little Helper

We got a new vacuum because our old one broke and Tean was so excited to use it.  He begged me to vacuum, so the downstairs hadn't been vacuumed for a while, so I let him do it.

 He loved doing it and helping out.  He vacuumed most of the downstairs.  Near the end he got a little tired of doing it, but he kept at it and finished the job.

Funeral and Swimming

At the end of July, my Uncle Don died, so we went down to Utah for his funeral.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while there.  It was great to see a lot of family that I haven't seen for a LONG time.  It was sad to see my uncle go, but he was suffering, so at least he isn't suffering anymore.  He was a great Uncle, loving and happy to see me when I would go visit.  He lived in Provo, so Jake and I would stop by at his house every once in a while when we would go to a BYU game.  I'm glad that I was able to make it to the funeral.

After the funeral we took Jake's grandma out to lunch with us since she is there in Provo too.  She is getting older so we wanted to spend time with her while we are able and let Tean get to know her too.

That afternoon after the funeral, we went swimming with some of my family at Nathan's house.  Sheldon was in town from Iowa, so we had a family swim party in the afternoon.  These are the only pictures I took the whole day, but isn't he a cutie?

 Such a big smile and growing up so fast!

That evening we went to Milisa's house where the adults in my family got together, had ice cream, and just had a good time visiting with each other.  We had a great day spending time with family.

Summer at the Library

Each week during the summer, our library has activities for the kids.  I try to take Tean each week, and Tean loved it each time we went.  One week they had a potato day.  Tean had to push a potato with his nose, did potato stamp art, and got a potato coloring book and a foam potato and some free french fries from McDonalds.

 At the end of July they had an end of summer reading party.  They had a bounce house that Tean loved going in it, except he wouldn't go down the slide.

 They had snow cones and cotton candy.  Tean was so excited about getting cotton candy and eating it.

 There was also a clown that did a magic show for the kids to watch.  Tean thought she was funny.  She did some pretty cool tricks.

 Tean loves to go to the library for books, puppets, and movies.  I'm glad we have a great library!

Sidewalk Chalk Bombs

Last week we invited a friend over to do sidewalk chalk bombs.  To get them ready, Tean helped me put cornstarch, food coloring and vinegar into ziplock baggies.  We then put baking soda piles in paper towels.

 Tean was getting impatient while waiting for his friend to come over.

 When it was time to start, the boys put the baking soda packets into the bag, then closed them up and then put them on the sidewalk.  I thought they would blow up pretty fast, but they took a while, a least 5 minutes, some even more.  I also thought it would make a big explosion, but it was just a pop, and then if the bag was turned right, the liquid ran onto the sidewalk.

Even though it didn't quite turn out as I had thought, Tean loved it.  

 After they exploded we got some paint brushes and they painted the sidewalk with the chalk.

 Everyone had a good time watching them blow up and paint on the sidewalk.  Not sure if it was worth all the prep, but I guess it was as long as Tean had fun.

LiveFree Summer Barbeque

About a week and a half ago, Jake had his summer work party.  We had fried chicken and lots of other food, snow cones, and a life sized angry birds.

 Tean LOVED playing the angry birds.  He did it over and over when ever there wasn't someone else there to do it.

 The angry birds didn't really knock the boxes over, so we shot a soccer ball instead.

 It was pretty hard to shoot the soccer ball and get it to hit it.

 It was great going to the party and celebrating the business.  Jake's business is doing awesome!  After years of struggles, we are being blessed with success.

Ross Park

Jake's brother and sister-in-law came down from Idaho Falls to go to Ross park swimming pool, so the kids and I went and joined them.  Ziah and Tean had a great time hanging out with their cousins.

 Tean eating a snack.  He loved the lazy river this time and didn't want to leave once I finally convinced him to go on it.

Idaho Falls Tauphaus Park Zoo

Last Thursday Jake had to go to Blackfoot to get a CT scan and then to Idaho Falls to fix an alarm, so we went along and went to the Idaho Falls Zoo after he did all that stuff.  The Idaho Falls Zoo is way cooler than ours here in Pocatello.  When we got there they had an animal encounter show that was about to start.  Tean loved being able to pet a snake and a hedge hog.

In the petting zoo Tean had fun sitting on a huge chicken and playing in the chicken egg.

 This tortoise was huge!  One of the biggest I've seen.  It doesn't look as big in this picture.

 Tean and Jake enjoying a drink from the lion's mouth.

I tried to get Tean's picture in front of the Zebras, but he was sick of getting his picture taken, so this is the face that I got.

  Some sloth bears and two sloth bear cubs.

 Tean enjoying a gogurt while looking at the camels.

 The tiger wasn't there, so we had to settle for this tiger instead.

 Tean really liked the flamingos and thought it was cool when they stood on one leg.

 One of his favorite parts of the zoo was chasing the peacock around.

 After the zoo, Jake had to go talk to his brother Josh about some work stuff, so Tean, Ziah and I went to the falls and walked around.  Tean wanted to throw sticks and things in the water.

 Ziah was mad about being put down so I could take his picture (it was past nap time).

 After discovering dirt and pine needles, he was fine!

We had an awesome time exploring Idaho Falls!