Good Clean Family Fun

Family Home Evening at the Stastny house is ... let's put it this way, we're not dull. We played basketball as a family tonight, and after a few games with the girls against the guys, we decided to teach the kids how to play HORSE. (get a letter if you miss the shot) Well, after we all finally started accumulating letters, the boys were tallying up everyone. Matt and I were making our shots, when we hear the boys discussing scores.

Chandler: what have you got Gabe?

Gabe: I'm a HO.

Chandler: Oh, I'm a HOR

Gabe: Hey, mom's a HOR too!

To show my children's level of innocence, they really, truly had no idea what they were saying. But maybe, for future family time, we need to pick a different animal to play with. How about RINO?

Dip Netting Post (with no dip netting pictures) :(

Last weekend were invited down to the Kenai to go dip netting with our boss and his family. We took off Wednesday after work, and got the rental house about 11pm. It was gorgeous weather all week. Here we are in the front yard.

They weren't too happy with me. They thought, after all, that it would be a picture posing free weekend.

Thursday morning, Matt and the Doc got up early to go on a King Salmon Charter. Nothing. But when they got back around 1pm, we loaded up everyone and took off to the Kaseiloff to go dip netting. Nada. But the kids had fun just running around on the beach, playing in the waves and watching everyone else trying to get some fish.

Chandler of course, had treasures to hunt for.

And Gabe made friends with the other kids. Notice the other two people are wearing chest waders, and my kids just out there in is cloths? Why did I even bother buying that kid boots?

Chandler found an old lady who had gutted her fish, and was willing to give Chandler some bits so he could go feed the seagulls. It was hilarious to watch.

I found out later, after we left that the lady behind Gabe is actually a friend from High School who was there fishing with her family. (Heather Hepworth) I didn't even realize it when we were there, and I took this picture of Gabe. Small world.

Ya, right, the boots really weren't necessary, were they? By the time we left, they were both soaking wet, up to their armpits.

I don't have any pictures of us dip netting from the boat,(mostly because I was working about getting my $800 camera wet. Wierd hu?) but we had so much fun. In fact, Matt went back this weekend to do some more fishing. Thank you Bobbie and Steve for such a fun weekend, and for being such wonderful people and friends.


These amazing Rainbows were all over the Valley as we drove home Saturday night after a great weekend together.

A Day at Temple Square with Grandma Stastny

My three sweeties on Temple Grounds.

Come on. We had to take a picture of Gabe behind the podium that used to be at the tabernacle.

And.....this is what happens when your husband hands the camera over to a teenager to take our picture in front of Angel Moroni. What? You mean you wanted the whole statue in the picture? Seriously.

They had these skirts for the girls to put on and twirl in. They even had videos that showed the kids how to do an authentic dance.

But really, in the end, its all about the twirl.

Morgan gardening.

Chandler building a shipBringin' home the bacon. (I mean chicken)

The boys trying to copy Hebrew.

Morgan cooking up a storm in the play kitchen.

Morgan standing next to the alter from the Manti Temple where Grandma and Grandpa Christensen were married.

3 Generations. We enjoyed learning about how Grandma was raised in the church and how things were different for her as a primary girl. (back in the day:)

LOVE. THIS. KID!!!!!

We slipped into the back during a tour, and let the kids hear a pin drop from the podium. They thought the Tabernacle was pretty cool, and would have loved to explore it more.

The the top of the JSM building, overlooking Temple Square. So glad I married my best friend. can you believe its been 12 years?

I love these kids.

Water Park Fun

Matt and Morgan taken a dip in the lazy river.

Taking time to eat our Kneaders sandwiches. Why oh why don't we have that place in Alaska?

Bathing Beauty.

Gabe just chillin' in the lazy river.

What a great brother! Pulling Chandler by the legs, while he rested on the noodles. Check out those rosie little cheeks!This place was so much fun. We went on three different occasions and spent hours each time. There's something for everyone, and especially great for younger kids with a wading pool, pirate ships and slides, and a great lazy river.

On our way out, Gabe decided it was time to show off his Jedi skills.

Hogle Zoo

Since Matt only had the weekends to play with us while we were in Utah, we made the most of them, and played hard. The last weekend we were there, we went to the Hogle Zoo. Matt had never been, and it'd been about 3 years since the kids and I had been.

The zoo's theme of Zoorassic Park was fun. Mechanical dinosaurs were placed throughout the park, and were very realistic looking. Complete with growling, sniffing, movement, and spitting from some. Morgan wasn't in love with this particular guy. She said he kept staring at her.

The Brontosaurus however, was a different story. Morgan tried for several minutes to feed this guy.

Morgan laughing at Gabe, who has just stuck his head in the water fall behind them. He was all about cooling off this day.

This elephant was like a water blowing jack in the box. The song would play, and sometimes water would come squirting out at the end of the song, or with a sneeze, or just randomly on its own. Morgan decided to challenge it.... nothing.,

Gabe was not so lucky.

Morgan having a staring contest with one of the dinosaurs. While we were watching the elephants, I noticed this guy carving a sculpture of them. It was kind of cool, and very impressive.

"Boy would I love to make some crowns for this guy!"

Gabe and I were walking along this large new bridge the zoo built to connect the new section to the old one. As we were walking, I noticed these warning signs posted about every ten feet on this metal bridge. Just as I'm noticing them, I hear Gabe yell out "Ouch!!! That's hot!" I could help but snicker, and pointed out the signs to Gabe, who also laughed, and we took this shot.

Chandler running away from the giant T-Rex.

Don't let the look fool you, he kept standing in front of this water spitting dinosaur on purpose.

It was a great day at the zoo as a family. We only had Matt on the Weekends, so we had to jam them full of fun activities.