The rest of our summer-ish

This is a little(ish) picture montage of the rest of our summer. We had a blast. And hey, I'm even writing about it before the end of the year!

To finish off our story about our visit to Utah let me begin with one of the best things about the Boswell backyard.  It's big.  I mean really big.  Not so big that you would buy a horse or a cow or anything but considering our backyard is hardly larger than ......... okay, I have nothing but our backyard is hardly larger than something not very large let me tell you - we luurrrvvved it.

Here are the kids playing on the swing set. Every night after dinner they got to go back outside and play. A picture perfect moment if I do say so myself.

And they have a 4 wheeler which didn't work well on grass until Teresa and I went a little MacGyver on it and dismantled a couple of bike tires, screwed them on the wheels and voila! - instant traction

Remember how I said we had so much fun on our day in the canyon. Well, I feel it needs to be said again. We had so much fun! It was wet. We don't get wet all that often so we try to enjoy it when we can. This picture missed all of the giggling, splashing, and merry making but it had happened. Trust me.

One thing the canyon did have in abundance was cold. We (i.e. me) don't really like cold. I do what I can to protect myself from all forms of cold. Cold is bad. So I did this to my son. Let's face it, if you have read my past blogs you will know that this is by far NOT the worse thing I have done to this boy. Thankfully Teresa found a jacket for him to wear thus avoiding a very embarrassing Oliver Twist type moment.

Unfortunately the girls were not as lucky. If you look at this picture closely you will see how similar the hats look. That is not because we had two very fetching red hats. No. It is because we had one very fetching red hat and one equally fetching bag that said hat (and a nice pair of gloves) went in. This will take years of therapy to cure. Oh well. As long as it happens after 18 so I don't have to pay for it.

Our trip also included a trip to the zoo. Look at these two cute boys together.

This is what they were pointing at. No, that is not me pregnant. It is in fact a real elephant. (Sorry I couldn't resist the pregnant joke. However, when you tell them you can only tell them about yourself - even if you are not pregnant - because real pregnant people can be mean and they move faster than one would think.)

Here is another picture of the kids together. They have such a great time. I wish we could go more often. Maybe Disney Land?

Here is a picture of the kids being done with posing together for pictures.

On one of my last blogs I showed the great children's museum Salt Lake City has to offer. Here is a picture of some of our crew playing with air tunnels. You can kind of see one just to the right of grandma Kathy.

This is why I love the science center. The picture isn't very good but look at the wonder on this kid's face. Makes my soul happy.

As much fun as all of this was though it is not the main reason I love to travel to visit friends and family - or have them travel to visit me. These are the reasons I love to go.

Cooper is so kind and patient and loving with his little cousins. Here he is reading to my baby.

And to the girls. Don't you just love this kid.

The Boswell's came to visit us as well and we met a large amount of family for a day at our zoo and a picnic after.

There was also sprinkler fun at Granner's.

But again, the greatest part is just being together with people you love. It doesn't matter, really, what you do or don't do - just that it is done together. Whether it be ........

playing in the sandbox

or jamming on our alligator pianos.

We just love to be together.