Gone Country...

Yep, we've gone country.....for a week anyway.  The end of July is Cheyenne Frontier Days and it was a blast!  Frontier Days lasts 10 days & there is a rodeo every single day (the largest outdoor rodeo in the world), free pancake breakfast on three different days, parade on four different days, concerts every night and more.  They say about 250,000 people come in for it.  It's crazy fun.

My parents came down for a couple of days and we took them to the pancake breakfast one morning.  You can see the wagon looking thing in the background.  They stand up there and cook the pancakes, then they flip them out and the scouts are standing on the ground and catch them with cookie sheets.   It's quite the sight to see.

They liked this statue and wanted their picture taken by it.

That afternoon we headed over to the midway where we enjoyed funnel cakes and rides.

The next morning we went to the parade.  Nana & her little cowboys.

I now own my first cowgirl hat....we bought all the kids one too.

 Isn't he an adorable cowboy?

 Lots and lots of carriages in the parade.

 That afternoon we went to the rodeo and I loved it!!  There was bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, barrel racing and a wild horse race.  

 Future bull riders??

 Then we headed down to frontier town where they have a bunch of old storefronts, blacksmith, jail, etc.

Earlier in the week Tad and I went to a Luke Bryan concert, which we really both enjoyed.  Can't say either one of us knew a single song, but hey, when you get free tickets.

camping

This past weekend, Tad and I took the kids camping.  Yes, real camping, in a tent and all.  They loved it!!   We went to Curt Gowdy State Park, which is about 45 minutes away.  The only bad part was that it rained on us.  When we got there, the rain stopped long enough for us to put our tent up and get everything all situated.  Then it started to sprinkle.  For fear that it was only going to get worse, we had the kids cook their hotdogs on a stick for dinner and had s'mores a little earlier than usual dinner time.  Tad, Dallin and I ate our tinfoil dinners in the rain.  Made it a little more interesting than usual, but the kids were laughing and having a great time.  Just when we were about to give in and just watch a movie in the tent, it stopped raining for about an hour.  We enjoyed the fire some more then headed into the tent just before the downpour.  It rained quite a bit during the night, but we stayed dry.  

 Our campsite was pretty close to Granite Reservoir.

 The next morning, after a restful sleep (for the kids anyway), we had breakfast, cleaned up camp, then headed down to do some fishing.  It worked out really well that we were close to the handicap fishing dock as it was quite convenient for Dallin.  We discovered that Ethan is quite the little fisherman as he's patient and enjoyed it.  He was disappointed when we didn't catch anything though.

We all had so much fun that we decided we need to go again.

A New Cast

After 4 LONG weeks it was finally time to get his new, shorter cast.  He was so exited to get rid of his long, itchy cast, but was all tears when we told him we weren't going to keep it.  Who keeps their cast? Well, I guess my sweet, sentimental nine year old does.  He has so many signatures on it (lots from his cousins when we went to Utah) that he had become attached.  He wanted and still does want to hang it on his wall.  I'm pretty sure that won't be happening, but for now, it will live under his bed until I can convince him to get rid of it.

 Pretty colorful.

 At the doctors getting it x-ray'd before it came off.

 Cutting....

 He's free....at least for a few minutes.

All set with a new red cast.  Which, by the way, he won't let anyone sign as he doesn't want to get attached to this one too.  Such a funny kid.  It has been SO much easier getting around with a shorter cast.  He goes back in 2 weeks and might be able to start bearing weight on his right leg.

Tad's Birthday & 4th of July Fun

This year for Tad's birthday, he was out of town all day, but got back just in time to go to Outback for dinner. I am so thankful to have him in our lives and for all he does for us.  Happy Birthday to my sweetheart!!

 I know, this cake doesn't exactly say "birthday", but I thought it was too cute and knew he'd enjoy it, which he did.  My boys were so excited for him to see it.

29 and not a day older!!

After his birthday dinner, we headed to the WY/CO border and visited Phantom Fireworks.  WOW!!  That is all I can say about that place after seeing SO many fireworks....WOW!  Needless to say, ALL of my boys were in heaven.  Something about fireworks and boys.  Ethan liked this one.....who DOESN'T need a reel of 16,000 firecrackers!!!  I love the look on his face.

Gavin was a fan of the Pyro Pulverizer...the name says it all.  It was so heavy that I had to help him hold it.  Let's just say we spent way more than we should have, but we were now ready to celebrate the 4th.

 On the 4th we headed over to our ward building for a pancake breakfast.  

It was delish and fun.  The boys loved having their faces painted.

 Logan with his fireworks face painting.

 Then Tad's sister Zoeanne and family, who live near Denver, came over to celebrate with us.  Their oldest daughter Ashley and her husband Owen came too!

 After eating, it was time for fireworks.  

Logan experienced his first smoke bomb and didn't quite know what to think of it.

 Then we did a parachute launching firework which had all the kids running in the street to catch them.

 Jeremy caught quite a few.

This kid is amazing.  A couple of hours earlier, he was jumping on our trampoline and over rotated on a front flip and ended up with his knee bouncing into his lower jaw.  He came into the house with a bloody mouth and his bottom teeth all pushed back.  He went into the bathroom and pulled them all forward.  His parents called their dentist on call and made arrangements to get an x-ray done the next day.  The x-ray showed he'd cracked his lower jaw bone, but luckily, because he had braces on, his teeth were okay and he'd have to wear his braces a few months longer so everything can heal right.  He didn't complain and was running around a couple hours later lighting fireworks.

 Ethan with his loot.

 Tank races...

 Then later we lit the larger fireworks & had quite the show.  We had so much fun hanging out with the Yoshikawa's and look forward to when they come up again.

ViSiToRs

One of the great things about living in Cheyenne is that it happens to be right off I-80 and is a convenient stop for those traveling to and from Utah.  The first part of June our sweet friends The Money's, were moving from New Jersey to Utah, and stayed at our house one night on their long trip.  We loved catching up with them and seeing their boys....so much that I totally forgot to take any pictures.  The first part of July Tad's sister Chalyce and her family stayed with us coming and going on their trip to Nauvoo.  We BBQ'd and had a great time playing.  

The Glausers & The Teeples. 

 My boys loved getting to play with their cousins Grady & Christian. 

 Enjoying some BBQ.

If you're ever in the area and need a place to rest - please stop by as we love visitors.  Plus, Tad makes a mean breakfast!!

Dallin earns his Bear

After many hours of learning, studying and playing, Dallin earned the rank of Bear in Cub Scouts.  He is working on some arrow points now.  He loves going to Cub Scouts and can't wait until he gets to camp out.

Dallin giving me my pin. 

One awesome Bear!

Father's Day in Utah

We had planned to head to Utah a couple of days before Father's Day, but with Dallin's leg, we didn't know if we were going to make it there at all.  We just took it a day at a time and by the 7th day after Dallin's accident, we decided he would do okay to drive to Utah.  We loaded Ethan, Gavin and Logan in the 3rd row in our van and had Dallin lay down in the second row with his leg elevated the entire drive.  It definitely made for an adventurous drive.  We left really early on the morning of Father's Day in order to make it to Tad's parents house by 1pm.  All of Tad's siblings and their kids were there to celebrate Father's Day with his dad as his health has been declining. 

We gave Tad his Father's Day gifts the night before we left, along with this giant cookie, which actually came to Utah with us.

We were so glad we got to spend Father's Day with Grandpa Teeples.  We sure do love him.  Finally, a three-generation picture.

Everyone from Tad's family was there, except for Emily, who is on a mission to Tampa, Florida.  We always love getting together and catching up.

Tad, his sibling, and his parents.

I got to hold my newest niece, Lark, who Logan gave about 20 kisses to also.

He just loves babies.

Nothing like tower building with your cousins.

After spending the afternoon there, we headed to my parents house, to spend some time with my dad too.  My dad loves to sit outside and swing in the evenings, so Gavin, Logan and Ethan enjoyed it with him after dinner.

The next day we headed up to Snowbird, where my parents have a condo, and spent the next four days  enjoying the fresh air up there.  My brother Tyler and his family were up there too for the day, so we spent some time swimming and playing bingo with them.

Poor Dallin had to just sit on the sidelines and watch.  He was such a good sport.  We had him up in his wheelchair a couple of hours a day, then back to the condo to elevate his leg so it didn't swell any more.

I have always loved the view from the condo.  Every year when I was growing up we always went up there, so it was really fun to be able to share that with my kids.

One afternoon we took the tram to the top of the mountain.

Here we are at the top.  Dallin was nervous most of the way up as he is afraid of heights.  Gavin, Logan and Ethan loved it.

The Salt Lake valley below.

Nana came up and spent the day with us, so she came with us too.

Ethan, Gavin and Logan thought it was fun to play in the snow in the middle of Summer.

That night, Nana treated us to a delicious Mexican dinner.  Nana and her hooligans.....

.....while Tad went to the U.S. Mens world cup qualifier game against Honduras.  Dallin and I were supposed to go, but there was no way Dallin could sit in one of those seats and the handicap seats were all sold out.  We bought the tickets back in March and Dallin had really been looking forward to going, so he was really bummed.  Tad brought him back an authentic jersey and that helped.  

Elsee (our niece), Darin (Tad's brother), Bob (brother-in-law), Lynette (sister), Tad, Corey (nephew) and Chase (nephew).  Corey and Chase sat in Dallin's and my seat.  Oh well, guess we'll have to go in four years :(

Lisa (sis-in-law) came up with her kids plus our niece Paige to hang out with us for the day up there.  We did the bounce house and had fun hanging out.

Logan chillin' by the pool.

Dallin giving the thumbs up even though he'd rather be swimming.  He had fun playing on Tad's iphone.  Notice his jersey?

Ethan & Gavin enjoying the pool.

We really had a fun, relaxing time up there and hope to go next year (without a kid in a cast) so we can do some hiking and more swimming.

The day we left, we met my friends Shauni and Jen at the park for lunch.  Shauni just moved back to Utah from Texas (the day before) and Jen moved back from Colorado a few months ago.  It was great to have a couple of hours to catch up and am glad we'll all be closer now.

All of our kids, minus two.  We hadn't seen each others' kids for about 4 years, so it was a real treat.