Dinosaurs and So Much More

TOn the 24th, we had a little family free time and decided to ride out to Thanksgiving Point to visit the Museum of Ancient Life. They have tons of cool dinosaur stuff and they also have a big IMAX theater that you can add to your ticket for an extra five bucks. I've never seen an IMAX show, so of course we said that we would try it!
The movie that we saw was about ancient sea creatures (more like monsters). Chris and I took one kid each and settled in with our cool movie glasses. Taylor was with Chris, and did great until a guy that looks just like the guy in the above picture jumped out of the screen at us. Taylor let out a horrified scream (which caused the entire theater to turn and see who could produce such a sound), then he buried his face in Daddy's chest and stayed until the lights came on. Lylee was a little squirmy, but fell asleep quickly in my arms. She's become my little cuddly bunny during this trip since sleeping with me every night. Now she's in her own bed, but is still cuddly with me. I love that!

There are several sets of movies that they are creating and filming on site at the museum. They are absolutely amazing little models.
I never knew that there were such little dinosaurs!

More Dinosaurs!
We had a great time. There were several "hands on" stops for the kids to build canyons, color fossils or build your own big stuffed dinosaur. This is a great and fun place to go for the family. I'm sure we'll go back again!

Baby Blue's ... or Blue Babies

This is what happens when your children are WAY too quiet! Lylee and her cousin Bailee were playing very quietly downstairs. Apparently, Bailee found a Sharpie in her daddy's office (Now we know why he usually keeps it locked!). I heard a blood curdling scream and ran to the stairs where I found these two little blue wanna be smurfs! Bailee was trying to keep Lylee in the basement to finish her masterpiece. There was even blue in their armpits and between their toes!

The Farm

One of the highlights of going to visit Grandma & Grandpa Graff is a visit to the cows. The babies are always a favorite.

Lylee LOVED Grandpa Graff's boots. She even figured out a way to turn them into a seat!

More than the boots, Lylee LOVED her Great Grandpa Graff. This was her favorite spot to sit when we were visiting them.

This is Lylee and Great Grandma Graff. Grandma had a great time tickling Lylee and making her giggle.

How lucky we were to get a four generation with the kids, Chris, his mom and both of her parents! We had a great visit!

Taylor and the cows.

We had a great time in visiting Colorado.

Great Grandma Irene

Our kids finally got a chance to meet their Great Grandma Irene!! Chris' Aunt Shirley was so sweet to arrange an Anderson family picnic while we were in Utah. We hardly ever get a chance to see so much of our extended Anderson family. It was an exceptionally hot day (explaining all the red faces), but everyone had a great time. The kids played hard, while the rest of us got a chance to sit around and visit all afternoon.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Since Taylor was born, we have made a point to take the kids to the Roseville 4th of July parade. One of Taylor's favorite parts was the trucks and cars.

Captain Happy having a rough moment.

I'm ready where's the excitement!The parade crew. Taylor, Lylee, Hyrum, Jac (and Mom behind the camera!) Everyone's getting their snack on waiting for the show to begin.
Lylee really got into the clapping and waving. (Taylor was moving too fast for me to catch him... candy snatcher!)

And for year round festive fun, check out Lylee's first purse! Thanks Grandma!!! It's so sparkly and girly and just the right size.

Everyone had a great day today! The parade was entertaining, and I decided that even though the PT Cruiser patrol is a little eccentric, it is also a lot less messy and stinky than the giant pooping horses from the Frontier Days parades that we grew up with.

When Daddy got home from work, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and swimming. This year was extra fun since some of Uncle Pete's family came up, which meant more KIDS for Taylor to play with (even though they were all girls --five of them--)!!!! We was thrilled.

Everyone came over to our house to watch the fireworks and have finally gotten everyone down for bed. Lylee wasn't too sure about the fireworks, but was completely drawn in by the end!

One last thought... Taylor was truly touched by the soldiers in the parade. He has been marching like a soldier and telling all about soldiers, especially how very brave they are. Of all days, this was a great time to sit down with my son and talk about soldiers and why we need them and how much we love them and thank them for all that they and their loved ones sacrifice for us each and every day. If you're reading this and are a service man or women, or have a loved one who is... Thank you, for everything.

Snuggle Buddies

Taylor, the boy who hates to go to bed, loves to have Lylee, the super sleeping girl, snuggle in bed with him and watch movies. He'd love to have Lylee stay in his room all night. Unfortunately, they have completely different sleep cycles. It's been so fun to watch their big-brother/little-sister relationship develop and grow!

Swim swim! Everybody in!

Taylor turned into a little speed boat by the end of swim lessons.

Now we need to work on weaning him off of the water wings at Grandmas!

Here's our little Lylee... she's a water baby too!

This is the shallow end of the swim lesson pool, with all of the slides and fun toys!