baking, biking, paint projects and the first part of our Utah trip...

Oak helping me make breadsticks for dinner. She did a great job too.

She was pretending to be in a rock band and didn't think that her flowery dress from church was rock band appropriate so she came up with this while it being 80 degrees in our house.

The kids wanted to make no-bakes and we usually half the recipe so Mac had a simple lesson on dividing fractions. And because he is a math whiz it clicked with him right away.

There were lots of big piles of no bakes. 

We took the kids to the park to ride their bikes since we don't have any place at our house. The kids figured out some fun tricks to do on their bikes. They were so excited.

Oak and Mac also practiced the monkey bars. Oak is actually pretty good.

Mac was trying to teach Oak how to tie shoes in the middle of the store.

They actually played in the backyard for a long time with out me forcing them. yay!

Right before we were to leave for Utah we got Oak's room completely painted and decided to just go for the stripes that I was wanting to do. It was ALOT of work but so worth it. 

I am beyond happy with how it all turned out. I plan on painting the little table the same color as the night stand, which is actually the same color of the stripes. Oak kept telling me, "It couldn't be prettier mom!" over and over. Every one likes being in there, even Mac is always wanting to play in her room. 

Thursday morning early we headed to Utah. Hubs did not go, so I was the only driver. We got to Nevada and needed gas and I panicked! I had only pumped gas myself one other time eight years previous. It was stressful, but now I am a pro since we were in Utah for a week and did a lot of traveling and I had to get gas several times. 

So proud of myself for driving all the way to Utah. Also I did it in one day.

My cute nieces. They are twins and just turned two.

And my funny nephew.

We celebrated Mac's "chosen day". The day that we found out he would join our family eight years ago.

We went to the splash pad and had a picnic at the park on pioneer day with my brother and his family.

My dad is buried in Utah and I got to go back to his grave for the first time since we buried him. It was sad to see it with no marker since we haven't gotten the headstone yet. We brought flowers and Mac wrote a note and left it for his granpda. We sure miss him and it still seems so unbelievable that he isn't here. 

Saturday we went to St. George to meet up with Mac's birthmom. We haven't seen her in three years. It was so wonderful to see her. And we had a super fun day with her. We first went to the local children's museum and this is supposed to be like the President's office. 

Then she took us to the lake she always goes swimming in. It was beautiful. 

This picture doesn't show how really aqua the water was.

The shores were this clay mud stuff and the kids had a blast covering themselves in it.

Mac and his birthmom giving each other a "mud hug". So funny!

Then we just hung out with her a bit and the kids loved being with her. We love her so much.

I got some really cute pics of these two.

We stopped by the Payson Temple on the way home. It was so beautiful.

Post tax season trip...(from my phone)

So we usually try to take a trip after tax season is over. Sometimes it's just Hubs and I (since our anniversary is the day before tax day) and sometimes we go as a family. This year we went as a family and we chose to go to our families Lakehouse and the coast. On the way we decided to stop and see Hubs' grandparents. 

First stop was Grandpa Curt. The kids love his dog Maggie. They spent a lot of time picking flowers and throwing them to her because she liked eating them. 

Hubs spent almost 3 hours talking with his grandpa. Thankfully his grandpa was in a great mood and very talkative. 

Anytime the kids would get down on the floor, Maggie would come and start licking their faces. The kids thought it was hilarious.

Grandpa Curt lives on his son's property. So we went and checked out Aunt Cindy's pond. The kids discovered and tried to catch salamanders and frogs.

Grandpa Curt lives near Hubs' other grandparents. So we stopped to see them too. 

Oak was bored in the car so I started giving her words to sound out and spell on her own. She loved it!

After a quick stop at Walmart to get food for us and the fish, we finally got to the lake house to fish.

While the other three fished I started dinner. 

The next morning, more fishing!

In the afternoon we drove about an hour to a really cool wild animal place. Where the kids could pet some animals. It was fun. Oak's dream came true to get to pet a real live baby bear. 

She held a farret.

Mac got to pet a fox. And if your wondering, it didn't say anything. 

A white tiger.

There were goats wandering around everywhere waiting for us to feed them. 

And donkey and deer roaming around. 

This bear was so cute! It would wave to people if they had food to give him. 

Baby goat that wouldn't go near anyone. 

Tortoise

A wallaby.

Then when we got back to the lakehouse we did some more fishing. 

The next day we went to our favorite beach. The kids spent at least an hour playing in the water, soak and wet. They loved it!

When we were getting ready to leave and I was helping Oak change her clothes, I found a tick stuck to her hip. It totally freaked me out!

We went to these gardens not far from the beach we went to. We usually let the kids pick out a keychain only. No toys at the gift shop. Mac saw this car kit thingy and just HAD to have it. Dad told him that he knows we only get keychains. And Mac did what he does best and doesn't take no for an answer. He spent our entire tour of the gardens throwing a fit because he wanted it so bad. He made the tour so miserable. Dad finally made a deal with him that he would take the cost of the keychain away from the kit and then Mac owed him the difference plus interest (dad's an accountant). Mac took the deal of course. I am glad dad handled it because I would have dug my heals in too and I would have flat out left with Mac not getting anything. That's why Hubs and I are a good team. 

Mac is allergic to mosquito bites. His arm looked like this the whole weekend after getting bit. It looked much worse than the picture shows.

And then there was one more time fishing before we had to leave the next day.

Oak bating her own hook. 

Mac found these blocks and made his lego guys a place to play. 

The next day we went to church on our way from the lake to my in-laws. The weather was so beautiful that we spent most of the time just sitting outside. The kids loved getting to run around. 

Grandma let them play with her legos outside. 

The kids found Grandma's hat collection and they kept coming out dancing in different hats. It was pretty funny!

Oak attached herself to this tiger while we were there. I found this when she was in the bathroom. 

It was a nice trip. And much needed.

More pictures coming from my DSLR.