24th of July

Ever since I was a little girl my family has made the annual trek to Manassa, Colorado, to visit my grandma, have an Anderson family reunion, and celebrate the 24th of July festivities.  I haven't been there now for three years, and was excited to be able to go back there, this time with Mckay and Logan.  We left Chase behind for a week and journeyed to Colorado with Grandma and Grandpa Sainsbury and Anne.

One of my favorite things to do over the 24th is run the Manassa 5k.  Here we are just before the race starts.  I have run many a 5k in my time, but none are as hard as this one!  Maybe it has to do with the fact that Manassa's elevation is very close to 8,000 about sea level.  Either way, it was exhausting, but I was proud of myself.  Mckay and Logan cheered me on at the finish line.

Right after the 5k the Pioneer Day Parade starts.  Mckay loved the "horsies" most of all.

Logan was a good sport at the parade.  Next year you can get some candy too buddy!

What would an Anderson family reunion be without lots of pictures?  Here we are Sunday afternoon.

Monday was such an adventure!  We road a "choo-choo train" up Cumbre's pass.  This train was super cool.  It was one of those old-fashioned steam engines, and mountain pass we headed up was just breathtakingly gorgeous.

Mckay loooovvvveeed the train. . . almost as much as he loved his Grandpa!

The next day we went to Zapata Falls.  It kind of reminded me of the Grotto up Payson Canyon, or Calf Creek Falls down in Escalante, Utah.  It was a nice, cool place to spend an afternoon.  The water was freezing, so I couldn't convince myself to hike through the river to the falls, but it was fun to wait by the river and watch Mckay throw rocks in it, and let little Logan kick on the ground.

I am so grateful I decided to come to this reunion.  Preserving family relationships is very important, and I am grateful that my kids got exposed to a big part of their heritage, and that they got to know some of their extended family so much better.

4th of July

This 4th of July was a pretty laid-back affair.  We spent our holiday in the beautiful town of Woodland.    While there, we ate together, watched Sherlock Holmes, went ATV-ing in the Uintahs, and went swimming.

 Logan was there to supervise the rest of us as we swam.

 Mckay's favorite place in the entire area was the top step of the hot tub.  It was only after a lot of persuading that we could get him from here. . . .

. . . to here.

It was a wonderful way to spend time together and keep cool.  

Disneyland!

About a week ago, Chase and I went with our England side of the family to "The Happiest Place on Earth". . . Disneyland!  Chase likes to tease me about my Disneyland fettish, saying that I think Disneyland is just one step below Heaven, and while I wouldn't go THAT far, I do really love this place.  I was especially excited to take Mckay with us this year, as he is finally old enough to get some of it.

 Here we are all together as a family (Jeannette is taking the picture).  As you can see, there are more people doing Disney on wheels then on their two feet.  This was fabulous for us, because we got to get in the "wheelchair lines" which (with the exception of Pirates of the Caribbean), was a much quicker way to do Disney.

 Mckay's favorite ride was the Merry-Go-Round.  He kept wanting to go ride the "horsies", and just loved being able to ride with his Dad.

 Here we are at the end of the day.  We were just heading out of the park when we stumbled upon this great photo-op.  Since Mckay LOVES Donald Duck, we just had to get a picture.

Even though we left Disneyland completely exhausted, I think it was a really fun trip.  It was unlike most trips I've ever taken to Disneyland.  This time it was all about the kids, but you know, seeing Mckay get so excited made me love Dumbo and the Teacups just as much as Indiana Jones and Space Mountain.

Razors, Soapstone, and Bubbles

If you read the title of this blog, you may think I am blogging about taking a shower.  Oddly enough, the words in the title in no way refer to hygiene.  Rather, they sum up what we've been doing since the beautiful month of June has arrived.

Mckay's Uncle Cole has a bubble machine that is, hands down, the COOLEST toy ever!  Mckay will spend hours outside with Cole chasing the bubbles.  One day I caught him just staring, awe-struck, at this amazing toy.

Last weekend we went up to Kamas to visit the England cabin.  This cabin (courtesy of the fantastic imaginations of Todd & Jeannette) has been under construction now for about 2 years, but, as you can see from the picture, the vision is falling into place.  It is almost done!

Adorable.  Enough said.

While in Kamas, we decided to try out this nice new Razor.  We have wanted to explore some of the ATV trails near the cabin for awhile now, but it is kind of hard with two kids.  This is the perfect vehicle.

We had such a blast going up Soapstone Canyon (a canyon about 15 miles from the cabin somewhere up in the Uintahs).  It was so beautiful, and the trails were pretty smooth, which made for a great ride for us.  Mckay's words of, "Oh!  So fast!", pretty much sums up the entire experience.
All in all, I would say our summer has got off to a great start.

England Family 2012

Last April we took a trip to California with our England side of the family.  We did so many fun things that I blogged about before.  Among our many activities, we took family photos.  I was a little bit worried about this photo session, mostly because I felt like I still looked like I had just had a baby (Logan was 3 months at the time), and was feeling a little self conscious.  But our photographer was great, and I felt like she made us all beautiful, and really captured our family so well.

 Yeah, he was not in a good mood.  But still so cute!

 Awww. . .

 This is hilarious.

Here's where the real fun began.

 You go, girls!

To date, this is the most fun I've ever had in a photo sitting!  I love my family!

Memorial Day Weekend

I love Memorial Day.  It's the official kick-off to summertime!  But for all that, ironically, it snowed the first half of our Memorial Day weekend.  We spent Saturday afternoon in Kamas with the England boys.  It was fun in spite of the snow.  Chase and Mckay even braved the hot tub with the other guys while I was a chicken and stayed indoors with Logan.  (I would have loved to have gotten pics of this . . .but I left my camera at home.)  I felt very honored to be the only girl among 10 boys.  Todd even made me a SALAD for dinner (which was so so nice!)
I think my favorite activity of the day was when we played Ticket to Ride as a family.  We all did pretty good, but at the very end, Cole was the determined winner.  I will have to have a rematch!
Luckily, the weather changed for the better come Sunday.  On our way down to Payson, we stopped at the Sandy Cemetery to visit Grandpa Sainsbury's grave.

 Note to self:  NEVER bring a toddler into a cemetery unless you've also brought a flag for him to play with.  This particular flag we borrowed from Grandpa Sainsbury's grave just so we could enjoy a few peaceful moments.  I am hoping his great-grandpa didn't mind:)

 After our stop at the cemetery, we journeyed down to Payson. We enjoyed volleyball games, 4-wheeling, swinging on the porch swing, playing board games, and just enjoying each other's company.

 Little Logan loved being on the farm . . . until he got a terrible cough/cold that lasted until the following Tuesday.  Poor little guy!

But now he is better, and in celebration, we brought out his little exer-saucer.  He loves it!

The merry month of May

One of my favorite things about blogging is that it encourages me to capture the day-to-day moments that make up our lives.  We have lots of fun as a family.  I give the credit mostly to my kids (who are full of energy and curiosity, and give me lots of incentive to keep them engaged!) and Chase (whose energy level is something that I envy/admire:)

Here are some things that we have done in the merry month of May:

 I know I have said this before, but I cannot get over just how much I love the fact that we live in a place equipped with a playground and about 30 little friends for Mckay to play with.  Here he is with neighbors Titus and Charlotte, taking advantage of the alligator/dragon/dinosaur (he really is an ambiguous green creature!)

 Sandboxes are a kid's dream.  Mckay always ends the day with about a tablespoon of sand in each shoe.

 This week we went on a walk up Millcreek Canyon.  They have a wooden boardwalk perfect for strolling along.  Mckay was a bit of a pill this trip because he thought the boardwalk looked like train tracks, and kept screaming "train!"  He was pretty upset that no train appeared.  Finally, we had enough and dumped him in the river . . . just kidding!  But this photo documents that we certainly did think about it;)

 Afterwards we went to Coldstone.  For Mother's Day I received a $15 gift card to this blessed place.  I think, however, that I have been usurped as the ultimate ice cream love of this family.  If the contest was based upon who made the most mess, I certainly am outdone.

 Friday night we went to Chuck E. Cheese's (however you spell that) with friends of ours.  Mckay loved the merry-go-round and shooting hoops. . .

 . . . although he was a bit of a cheater when it came right down to it.

You may have noticed that this blog did not contain many pictures of Logan.  It is not because he is not as loved or as cute as Mckay.  It's just that this one picture captures how he behaved through most of our fun activities.  My sweet little Peanut is a very content little baby, happy with looking at the world.