The Cousins Came

Brett and his family came down to Utah at the end of June and stayed a few weeks.  We love spending time with them, and since we have to split time with Rachel's family, we pack as much into the days as we can.  Here is some of what we did.

We went to the Treehouse Children's Museum, one of our favorite places in Ogden.  The boys enjoyed making lots of noise in the music room.

 

Then they took care of the babies in the hospital.

 

And finally joined the fire department in fighting some fires.

This was the girls' first time interacting with one another.

But they seemed to get along.  

We got to celebrate McCall's 1st birthday with a BBQ at Grandma Poll's house.

Thanks Grandma Poll for the cute chair and Grandpa Poll for the beautiful yard that provided a perfect 9 month picture for Addy.

The boys entertained themselves with the Foosball table...

while the girls enjoyed the vintage Fisher-Price toys.

We took everyone swimming at our favorite pool by our house.  

Pictures of the 4 of them is entirely impossible for us to capture,  

unless you take them to a lady at the mall with a feather duster to tickle their toys.

 Lastly, we hit up Chuck E. Cheese, where Cade killed Kent in air hockey,

but could care less because we got enough tickets to get the boys both suckers.

Thanks guys for taking the time to visit us while we are here, maybe one day we will live closer!

A Trip to Logan

I hadn't been up to Logan since 2008, when I made a quick trip to campus for a signature.  I loved Logan while I was going to school, even with the freezing cold temperatures.  I have always wanted to go back and visit my old stomping grounds, but we have never made it back up that way.  Which is really pathetic considering it is a measly 45 minute drive.  Our good friends, the Crosbys, love Logan, and have spent some time there living and going to school.  We decided to head up with them one evening, at the end of June, just to get out of Ogden.  It was a much needed trip, and we packed as much into the afternoon/evening as we could. 

We visited Willow Park Zoo, which was actually really fun.  It however was really HOT and the kids and us tired easily.  Although there was plenty of animals to view, we got a kick out of Kent's crack as he rode around on Ammon's back.  After the zoo we hit up Cafe Sabor for a little dinner.  I loved to eat at Cafe Sabor when in college and was glad to take Ammon back for a taste. 

After dinner we went up to First Dam to get our feet wet.  In the whole 4 years I went to school in Logan I never once visited First Dam, but I did visit Second Dam a lot.

Playing on the rocks.

This is how AddiLynn started at the dam...

this is how she finished.

Good thing we had extra clothes in the car.

After the dam we went to the castle park that they put in after I had left Logan.  It was located, however, right outside the old school building that I took tap lessons in while in school.  This is the place that we first learned Addy could climb a step.  This is also the place we learned that we needed to be more specific with Kent when teaching him it is okay to pee outside.  He informed us he had to go potty and before we could find a tree, out of view of everyone, for him to pee on, he dropped his drawers and started peeing on the tire of our car, which so happened to splash on my foot.  

A good time was had by all, but we were all really worn out by the time we left.  The only problem with the evening is that Ammon failed to see how wonderful Logan really is.  Unfortunately, he is a city boy, who will only live in a small town again if that small town is called Pullman.  I plan on visiting Logan at least one more time before we leave Utah, and this time I hope to travel north of 400 N. 

The family stayed...

After we celebrated Kent's birthday (yes back in June, behind still) my family stayed for a few days.  We always love having family come and visit and wish it happened more, although we consider ourselves lucky we get family to visit more than most people.  
 

Great-Grandma and Pa Larsen and the two kids.  Don't mind a teething Addy with her crooked binky. 

 

She loves her rocking chair.

Asleep in Aunt Robin's arms.

We took the leftovers for a Sunday afternoon drive up Ogden Canyon to one of our favorite parks.  We love the Huntsville City Park; great play equipment, shaded, beautiful scenery.  Here is a partial family picture, we were just missing Brett's family who came just as my parents left. 

Always a smile for the camera.

I love the intensity in this picture; Lance bent over from pushing so hard and Kent's eyes closed in pure enjoyment.  In fact, of the 10 pictures I have of him swinging, his eyes are closed in 8 of them.

A little zip line

Uncle Lance had to get in on the action.

Grandma trying the log roll.

Again, Lance showing us his mad playground skills.

I love that the city kept the original park and just built more around it.  Here is an old slide they still have in a tree.

Thanks to our 3-year-old for bringing us all together.

A curl on top.  We love when Aunt Robin comes, she takes such good care of the kids.  She will bathe them, feed them, change their diapers, etc.

Aunt Robin reading bedtime stories to the kids.  Again, having Robin around is a nice break, she even does dishes.

Kent turned 3!

Back in June, Kent celebrated his 3rd birthday.  We didn't plan on doing much but it ended up both sets of grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, and 3 cousins were in town (thanks to Ragnar) so we decided to gather at the park for sandwiches and cake. My mom and I decided it would be easiest to buy a cake from Costco just plainly frosted and then decorate it ourselves.  I think it turned out well.  I couldn't convince my mom to do the intricate cakes she used to do for us as kids, but I did convince her to do a majority of it, minus the letters and dog paws which I contributed. Of course this didn't happen on his real birthday.  On that day we took him to get donuts and let him open a few presents in the morning, then during the day my friend and I took the kids canoeing.  He opened the rest of the presents from us that night. 

A happy birthday greeting from cousin Cade!

We go to my great-aunts house most every Sunday. The Sunday before Kent's birthday we made dog bone cookies to celebrate.

Addy didn't hold back.

 

Donuts and presents in the morning.

Thanks for the books Auntie Sarah!

Canoeing during the day.

Kent and his best friend Abby hanging out on his birthday.

Presents

This is how we open presents when no one is there on his real birthday.

More presents when Grandma and Grandpa Udy came.

Happy Birthday Mater was a hit.

Look at her go.  I recall quite a few swear words when she used to do this when I was a kid, but she obviously has since cleaned up her act, cause she was quite a pleasant and helpful cake decorator.

Weird smile from the birthday boy.

We even got him a pinata for him to hit open.

Putting together some birthday puzzles with Grandma.