Bahama Mama..

My sister Kristi and her family were staying at my house for a few days for a "vacation". They were going to the zoo, so I invited myself. Then I called Shonni and invited her too. We didn't want to miss out on the fun.

Speaking of fun, I'm a little DONE with the zoo. I had a membership last year, and have been enough to last a lifetime. But, I'll continue going, because the older Kapri gets, the more she loves it.



Shonni brought her wagon, hallelujah. For some reason the girls find it fun to ride in. Unlike the stroller, which Kapri thinks is a prison.



We bought dip 'n dots, a stale pretzel and drinks. The carousel was ridden, but this time we skipped the train. Somehow I was talked into buying a freaking huge monkey, that Kapri does NOT need. But, we named her Bahama Mama, so in the end its okay.

I love me some freckles.

We camped out in my sister, Jalynn's, backyard for the 24th of July. We had so much fun doing it in Cody's mom's backyard, we thought we'd do it again with my family.


Minus a few set backs, like the sprinklers creating Lake Erie in our tents, it was a lot of fun.





Traci's boys, Koston and Teagan, were here visiting their dad for a couple of weeks, so they got to come to our campout too. We loaded them up on all sorts of junk, and hugged the crap out of them. We miss their freckles.




In the morning, Josh cooked us a DELICIOUS mountain man breakfast.



I dig his outfit.

If I were a guy...

I have this friend, her name is Bree. I once told her, when she had recently broken up with a boyfriend and was upset, that if I were a guy, I would TOTALLY date her. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. I'm a good friend like that.

Anyway, her family has a condo in Moab, Utah. Land of the arches, red rock, hippies and such. We LOVE going there and have been lucky enough to be invited a few times. And NO, this is not the only reason I'm friends with her. I also like her hair.

We headed down with a few friends and all our chillins, back in July. Moab in July? I know, who does that? But it really wasn't all that hot, plus we spent most of our time in the pool, or the air conditioned condo.

Bree, Chad and their girls Reese and Stella were there. Of course they were there, they are the ones who invited us. It'd just be rude to tell them they couldn't come. And our friends Kim, Kree and their son Ethan came. Ethan is a hot commodity. Stella and Kapri have been fighting over him since, well, since their parents decided so. Its a constant battle to see who will marry him. We've got atleast 30 years before I even think about letting Kapri date, so BRING IT ON STELLA!!!

We did a lot of swimming...



I snapped this cute shot..


Then, in true Bree and Britney style, they had to go and make it awkward.






We brought along Bree's sister, Britney. She offered to babysit while the worn out parents (US) went on a much needed date. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into.


THANKS BRITNEY!!!

So.. we piled into the Fowles' Pilot, Bree and I in the VERY back.


We'd kept hearing about the infamous ALCO. We had to make a stop there.


Then we stopped at the Branding Iron and had some grub.


After dinner we headed into the Arches National Park.




I'm pretty sure atleast 7 people drove by and thought "Will somebody PLEASE tell those people not to quit their day jobs."


There's something creepy about the trees in Moab, they got frisky on more than one occasion..




Kree had survived a two story fall last year, and is still recovering from all of the broken bones in his feet. So we decided to go on a SMALL, EASY hike. Bree assured us.

Come to find out, there were about 8,000 stairs at the beginning. Sure, that might be easy to Bree's skinny butt..




After our leisurly stroll, we headed back to the condo. Britney had all of the babies sleeping so we got to enjoy the rest of the night with games and friends.

Kim and Kree headed out the next morning. Ethan had had enough fun and was ready to go home. We know how that goes.

Its funny how once you have kids, they control your days. Ahh.. the joys of parenthood.





We made a stop at the music park.


After the park we went swimming again. I took some pictures, but started getting the "you're seriously taking MORE pictures" look a couple of times, and decided it was time to retire the camera, for this trip anyway.


Here's one of those "looks" now..



We headed home in the afternoon. Sad to leave...

But eager to get home.

We can't wait 'til next year!! Hint, HINT.

Thanks Bree and Chad!!

Me + My Family = pure AWESOMENESS.

On the 4th of July we got a little crazy. Here are some pictures to make you feel like you were there with us. And yes, you wish you were there, it was THAT much fun.



So... I cropped this next picture for my smooshie face collage.. but I had to show you its FULL GLORY. Check out Jalynn in the background, to the left. Either she didn't know it wasn't her turn anymore, and the attention had turned to Josh... OR... She wasn't even aware that she was still pulling this squishy face.

I'll let you decide.

Its not a party withouth Hands Up, Stands Up.





Don't you wish your girlfriend was HOT like us?


At some point, I was coerced into doing a back-walk-over. I'm not sure who it was that looked at me and thought "yeah, she'd be AWESOME at that." But, I went with it.
At first, I think Shawn was just there to observe.
Then, once he realized the inability, on my part, to flip over, he ran to assist.
So.. I did a back-walk-over...
With ONLY three people's assistance.
BOO-YAH!!!


I'm getting too old for this...
Which actually translates to "I'm WAY too out of shape for this."

Short and Sweet.

I swear by the chin on my chinny chin chin. Except there ain't any.

We went to my sister, Jalynn's, for the 4th this year.

We took a lot of pictures.

Cute ones.





This is another one of those "no denying who her father is" shots. We have a lot of those.

My tattoo and shoe went great together for the holiday, so I snapped a shot.

And NO, I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan. I know you were thinking it.

Ashlyn and Cadence took Kapri and Addison in the sprinklers.


Fun was had.

Drinks were stolen...




We had a fire.. which is not all that enjoyable when you have a kid that refuses to sit on your lap, and doesn't quite understand that the fire will BURN her!!


We even did a few fireworks.. the stick on this one broke when Cody tried to put it in the ground, so he held it. And almost caught his face on fire.


Please tune in for my next post, you won't be disappointed. It will involve smooshie faces, and several "awkward" positions. Oh Geez, sometimes I even surprise myself with my lameness.