Days of '47 Parade and Tracy Aviary

Every year I want to go to the Days of '47 Parade, but it is a MADHOUSE! It is the big parade of the year and the people turn out in thousands. They even sleep overnight to get good spots. This year we decided that our kids were old enough to sit through it (it was iffy) and we headed out. We sat in a great spot in Liberty Park and didn't even get there until 9:30 am. The parade started at 9 am. We sat where the floats and bands separated so we didn't see everything, but we saw enough for the boys. The other things that was funny is that we were where the floats stopped to find out where they should go park. Everyone let down their parade faces and we saw some pretty funny stuff. One group of queens that came by had plastered smiles and perfect waves until they stopped and all of the sudden we heard "it is so hot out here!" "I know I am dying" in such whinny voices that I burst out laughing. It definitely wasn't the same experience as everyone else!

Josh's cousin Brittany was in the parade with the Mountain Crest Marching Band.

The super handsome Nelson boys.

In college I interned for Senator Bennett. I really have a lot of respect for him. It was fun to see him be in this parade.

I just love the parade floats. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them. I am so grateful for Picasa!

I love my Palmer boy.

Parade clowns are a MUST! Even though they usually scare my kids.

The last of the lovely floats.

After the parade we went to the Tracy Aviary. It was free today. I haven't been there in a long time. It was pretty fun despite the HOT day.

Our friends Kim and Jon gave us this wagon. It has been worth its weight in gold. We have used it like crazy and our kids play with it every night. Thanks guys!

I think that the one with the red head looks just like the horn bill on the Lion King. It is a horn bill by the way. All in all it was so much fun. The boys were so hot and handled everything so well. I think their favorite part was getting Slurpees on the way back to the car. I don't know when a Slurpee has ever tasted so good.

Days of '47 Rodeo

We love rodeos. We were so excited this year when we got free tickets to the Days of '47 Rodeo at the E Center. It was so much fun. I think this is the one activity that we go to that they boys stay glued the entire time. They loved every second.

The honorary guests were President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and his wife. I had to keep laughing as I tried to see a rodeo from their perspective. As they are from Germany, I am sure this is all fairly new and maybe a little crazy to them. It was neat to see some of the cowboys go and shake their hands. They were swarmed by people at the end. I wish we had been closer, we would have swarmed them too!

Back in the day, I always had a little thing for cowboys. So whenever Josh wears his cowboy duds I sure love it. I couldn't stop taking pictures of him. What a hottie!

Lovin' the rodeo

One of my favorite parts of any activity. I LOVE Kettle Corn!

I haven't ever seen anything like this at a rodeo. These two covered wagons were racing and it was so cool! I thought they were going to crash into each other a few times.

This little monkey's name was "Whiplash". He was so cute rounding up sheep. They boys couldn't stop laughing.

The bull riding is always our favorite. It was a little bit disappointing tonight because everyone kept being bucked off! But there were some good moments.

What I've Been Missing Out On

The Cannon Rebel is finally here! I have been saving and waiting and it has all been worth it. I can't believe what a difference there is in my pictures. I took a TON of them tonight just goofing around and couldn't decide which ones to delete because they all turned out so well. Here are a few. I am absolutely in love with my new camera!!

Random pictures of the kids getting ready for bed, but I didn't get everything assembled until they were doing the bedtime routine and I needed something to take pictures of!

Radio Disney at the Gallivan Center

Today we went to an event at the Gallivan Center. It was sponsored by Radio Disney and Ebay. It was "music days" or something like that. It was so much fun. Actually getting there was nuts. There was absolutely no free parking anywhere and I had left my wallet in our swim bag. So I asked the boys if we could just do something else because I couldn't park anywhere close. They were determined to go. We literally walked a mile to get there. I was so impressed with the boys (no stroller either!) Good thing it was fun! But I did get there and find I had forgotten to put the memory card back in my camera. Hurray for phones!

Summerhays Music sponsored a music "petting zoo" so the kids could go and try out musical instruments. What a good idea! The music guy had to practically pry Lincoln off the violin. He thought it was so fun to play.

Radio Disney had some Disney character cutouts that you could have your picture taken with. The boys absolutely would not do it. But they were all about taking a picture with white mustaches on. Go figure.

This game was so funny! It was sponsored by ebay and it had these freaky dead looking rubber frogs. You hit one end of it and sent the frog flying onto a platform. It was so funny!

Lincoln loved this game. He kept getting in line over and over. Luckily this was the end of the day and there weren't a whole lot of people there.

You can sort of see the freaky frog laying there in this picture.

The Hitting Range

Today's activity was the hitting range. We have a great little golf course by us that doesn't usually get very busy. The boys love to go to the hitting range. We have some cute little clubs that they use. Hunter asks to go just about every day and sometimes multiple times a day. I wonder if he will stop because we went...not likely.

Hunter looks like he is ready to kill that ball!

Each of the boys got their very own tee. Their new treasures :) I don't think we can let them take those to bed.

The three musketeers.

Swimming at Centennial Pool

We went to Centennial Pool with our friends Kim and Cody. The boys had so much fun. Lincoln is a little fish and is constantly under water (which makes me a little nervous). Palmer wanted so bad to be with all of the big kids in the medium depth of water. Since he can touch I let him keeping an eye on him. As I watched him walk up and down in the "big kid" area I just kept wanting to cry. I see him as so little and he was around all of these big kids acting like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Luckily Hunter wanted to stay pretty close to me. Lincoln and Cody were the best of friends and ran all over the toys. The boys got a little sunburned despite me applying sunscreen twice and I got burned to a crisp. I had a cover up on when I put on the sunscreen and then I took it off when it got hot without ANY sunscreen! I have been in serious pain since Friday! We all had so much fun and Lincoln is ready to go there again (maybe when my poor skin heals:)

The Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum with one of my favorite people, my friend Kristen. We had so much fun and stayed a long time. The kids were still not ready to leave! I was so done by the end but I finally had to bribe them with ice cream to get them out of there (even then it was tough). We had ice cream at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We all picked "playdough." It is seriously yummy.

Kristen was also nice enough to teach me how to use Picasa. It is wonderful. Thanks for the wonderful day Kris!

The End of T-Ball

The trophy is the best part for the boys. I think they will be sad t-ball is over, but it was getting so HOT I am glad we are at the end.

Liberty Park

Yesterday we went to Liberty Park with our little neighborhood playgroup. It was so much fun. They boys loved playing in all of the water and this is a place we havent' played before so that always makes it better.

Thanks to Kate for sharing her goggles.

We had a fun picnic lunch.

Heading to the wading pools.

The kids thought this was great.

These two little sharks are clearly up to no good.

It was another great Summer day.