Utah

We went to Utah for my Cousin Tanner's wedding and got to play with cousins (and sisters :)) for a week. The girls set up a spa in Haylee's bathroom and were giving out massages. It was quite refreshing. Tyden was playing her piano for mood music.

While we were there, we enjoyed an evening at the family fun center. It's a great place where you can ride scooters or skate on the roller ring, play lazer tag, climb all over a ropes course or blow up things. The girls enjoyed the skating so much, they both want skates for their birthdays.

Kasen thought he was king on the scooter and didn't care which way he was supposed to go or who was in his way, he went where he wanted and he went their FAST!

The dads were there (we had just picked Terry up from the airport that afternoon after a job in Texas) and took all the bigger kids to lazer tag. They had a great time!

The big boys guarding the candy counter at the wedding. I'm not so good about getting pictures of the bride and groom. There were in the line for a long time and then it rained (yea, no fair on the 30th of July), so that's my excuse.

I've been giving the kids my camera lately to take fun pictures of whatever they find photo worthy. Sometimes it pays off and they take some cute stuff, sometimes not, but that's why we love digital!!

I had to take a picture of this amazing cake. I don't think I'll ever aspire to this but with all the work involved I"m not sure I want to but it was VERY cool. All the flowers are fondant and are made by hand by the bride's sister.

We always had to be aware of where trouble 1 and trouble 2 were. They were always sneaking out to the garage and front yard to ride the bikes and jeeps when no one was around to tell them what to do or steal their stuff :) Here they are at the gas station.

Eventually we all went outside and Ryan got out the big kid toys. this was Cypress' first time on a dirt bike. It went well for a few minutes but she did end up laying it on it's side and scraping her knee. Luckily that was as far as the damage went.

Ryan borrowed this awesome blow up slip and slide from one of their neighbors and it was used on a daily basis. It was very fun for all. When it go cold though, they quickly jumped into the hot tub, an added bonus. :)

WE HAD A GREAT WEEK!!

More cakes!

Our nephew, Kinny, was receiving his Aarow of Light from Cub Scouts along with 2 other boys. There were also 3 boys that were crossing over to Boy Scouts. So, Charmayne asked me to make a combo cake for Pack meeting. She gave me a picture to look at. This is my first attempt at colored fondant and it turned out well. I was very happy with it.

My sister Rachel had her baby girl, Marcae, on July 29th. Some friends had a shower for her on Saturday the 6th and I made this cake for it. There was supposed to be a fondant bow on the top but we just couldn't make it work. I wasn't stiff enough to stand up and do what we wanted. Finally we gave up and put part of her present, the shoes, on the top. It turned out dang cute if you ask me :) I'm liking the colored fondant.

Our new pride and joy!

We had our ultrasound today! Terry was out of town so my mom and sister went with me as well as all the kids. They were good for the first 15 min. After that, not so much. :) Unfortunately for me, it determined that the baby is not as far along as I thought, but looks very healthy for it's size. That also meant that we were too early for full development of certain body parts, so the sex is still undtermined. It also means taht my due date will be pushed back but I don't have a new date yet. Here is a full body shot. Don't mistake the cord for a little pee pee :) The fun thing about this yawn was that we saw it happen, along with a good stretch! :)
This is a shot of the full leg. She measured it for us and the total length of the leg was 2 inches. When we got home, Cypress remembered that she told us this and got out a ruler and showed us all how tiny that really is. The total weight is 5 oz. - just a tad more than a cube of butter.

When you consider all that, it's pretty amazing how developed it is. We saw all major organs in function and heard the heart beat. This is one experience that never gets old!

Family visit

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hill come down to Tracy to visit, so we went there too. Aunt Jeni had purchased some wild colors of instant hair dye. It started out with her doing it to the kids but they were having so much fun that they had to all take a turn giving her some. Luckily for us all, it washes out in one to two washes.

Check out the blue, purple, red, pink, orange, and black. Even Papa Jim had some blue and purple in the little hair he has left.

Grandpa, Aunt Cathy (who got to be their driver) and I were glad to be the observers.

Cypress had a heart to heart with Great Grandma.

Goals are good!

For Achievement days, Cypress planned out a menu for a family dinner and then she had to cook it. She was amazing. The only help that I gave her were a few verbal tips. She did everything on her own and it tasted good!

She made chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, cut up apples and oranges, and made brownies with chocolate chips as the special ingredient! Way to go Cypress!

6 flags!

This year at Cypress and Tayla's school, if you read so many books that gave you a certain number of AR points, you earned a ticket to 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom. Tayla earned one ticket and Cypress earned 3! With each kid having a free ticket, we couldn't pass up the chance to go. Here they are ready to start their day!

Tayla is a huge fan of the swings! Kasen was very excited to get to go with dad.

Got to have the love cups!

We couldn't pass up the chance for a photo with Taz!

Cypress and Terry left us and went on some of the larger roller coasters. We found a playground to climb around in and a few rides for younger kids while we waited for them.

The fabulous Shouka the whale. The kids were very sad that we weren't in the wet zone but it was in the sun and pretty full up and I just couldn't handle that.

Later we checked out the amazing tiger show. This is not an albino, but a white tiger.

Checking out the Lions.

We went to the elephant show next. The show was good but being able to pet the elephant was way cooler!

Then came the demonstrations. Above you see Terry near the end of the tug o war line, the boys are there but too short to be seen. Below you see the girls closer to the front, starting to get drug by the elephant, she was of course way stronger than all of these people.

Last, they each got to feed the elephant a cookie by dropping it in the trunk. We were all pretty excited!

The boys and I are checking out the crocodiles in the water as Terry and the girls went on the Boomerang, roller coaster.

We had a great day of fun, learning, and excitement! Thanks girls for all your hard work reading, we couldn't have gone with out you.

Tahoe fun with the Laurels!

As a kind of super activity, the Young women's President, Tami, and I took 6 Laurels to Tahoe to go Parasailing. Unfortunately because I'm pregnant, they wouldn't let me do it :( I was so bummed. It looks so fun. Terry and I are already planning a trip to go do it in the future.

Hanging out in the boat, waiting for their turns.

The brave first girls - Mallory and Krista, just getting started.

Tami and Katie and Madaline were up next. THis was just after the driver touched their feet to the water.

Amelia and Brittin were last and the most scared. They all ended up 800 feet up in the air, soaring over the lake for 10 min. I can't wait to go back and have my turn!