Janeen's House

I decided to load all the younger kids in the car and head to Janeen's house. Ed flew home for a few days for meetings and I thought it would be fun to spend time together at her beautiful country home. We had a great time and especially enjoyed the adorable baby miniature horses. The newest one was born a few weeks ago and was between 6 and 8 lbs at birth! They are about the size of our dog and are so cute I can't stand it. The kids ran, bounced, swam, and played. They didn't seem to notice the 110 degree temps too much, but we finally had to banish them to the house to keep them from passing out:) Thanks for having us!

Indianapolis Zoo

I LOVE the Indianapolis Zoo. I think it is just the right size, it's clean, it has lots of exhibits that are hands-on, and you don't have to fight any traffic to get there! We took all the younger kids for the morning before the temperatures began to soar. We were at the gate when it opened and did the safari area first. We then retreated to the air-conditioned places and headed home just after high noon. It was 104 degrees when we pulled out of the parking lot - whew!

The animals are always a little more active early in the morning and we got to hear the lions really roar for a while. The elephants were eating and happily greeting their trainers and we saw a brand new baby antelope (or something like that) stretching it's legs for the first time. It was a fun morning.

EFY

I dropped the four older kids off at EFY this morning. It's really embarrassing to have your mom and Gram drop you off at a college dorm and then force you to stand and have your picture taken... just FYI for you other moms;) I'm so glad they have this week together at such a fun place. I hope I get some pictures out of them from the week.

S'mores

We got some of the huge campfire marshmallows and decided to have a little fire in Gram's backyard. These marshmallows were so big that only the older boys could actually finish their s'more. I love sitting around a fire on beautiful summer nights.

Harry Potter Premier

Some of us went to see the last Harry Potter movie at midnight. Harry Potter has been a part of Dallin's entire childhood. He read book one in kindergarten and we have either been reading books or waiting for movies ever since. It was a bitter-sweet moment for all of us to realize it was over. He actually gave me a big hug afterwards.

It was late and we were a little giddy. The kids started drawing scars and other things on their heads. Somehow Justin ended up as a confused Elvis instead of some sort of witch or wizard. It was a lot of fun and I thought the movie was BRILLIANT!

Playing in The Creek

There's a great creek at the park. The kids had so much fun wading in and cooling off the other day that they begged to go back and play again. We took the dog and had a great time skipping rocks, splashing, and trying to keep balance on a log roll. Nothing says Grammy's house like being allowed to splash around in a creek:)

Cousins

It's always an adventure when we get the cousins together at Gram's house. We miss Reid, Haley, and Jenna, but a mission, a trip to Spain, and sailing camp are all good reasons not to be here:) We spent some time at the park this afternoon and cooled off in the creek. I love watching them together.