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.

Timpanogos Caves

I don't know why, but these pictures from our cave hike were all down loaded out of sequence, but you get the idea. We had so much time to climb the mountain before our tour time, that there was lots of picture taking, posing, and downtime. The kids did great, and so did Matt, who, if you know him, you know he seriously dislikes being out in anything over 60 degrees. This particular day was about 85-90.

This was at the beginning, during one of her, "I feel good" moments. Just wait, we'll start up another switchback in a minute, and that grin will fade.

The Boys...1/2 way up the mountain. Still breathing, and complaining about the heat was kept to a minimum.

They were tired, but did a great job of conquoring the mountain!

Gabe was a trouper, carrying Morgan's backpack most of the day... even while we were inside the caves, and he had to turn it around to the front so he could clear the jaged rocks.

At the end of the cave tour. I think they all had fun. I know I enjoyed it. Its fun seeing it through your children's eyes.

Princess Festival

When we got to Utah, a friend of mine invited Morgan and I to attend the Princess Festival with her and her little girl. We jumped at the chance and I registered Morgan for Friday, which worked perfectly because Matt wanted to take the boys to Cabbella's and The Dinosaur Museum. Daddy took us shopping and we found this cute little Rapunzel dress/pj's and some slippers and a little flower wreath for her hair.

Everywhere we looked there were prince's and princess's dressed up, and things for the girls to do.

Since it was set in the Garden at Thanksgiving Point, Morgan managed to get in some play time at the Noah's Ark water area.

It was a hot, sunny day, so we played around quite a bit.

Every princess was so willing to sign the girls books, and pose for pictures. It was like being at Disneyland. Here she is with Prince Charming, Cinderella, Fairy Godmother, Wicked Stepmother, and the bottom center picture is Morgan at the ball, watching the Prince dance with Cinderella.

Then we met the Princess and the Pea, the 12 Dancing Princesses, and Bell and the Beast. We also learned about the different charities we were helping out with our registration fee, and participated in several service stations like making little butterfly hair bows for unfortunate little girls, tying quilts for babies, and writing letters to the soldiers abroad.

Of course Morgan's favorite was Rapunzel. But we also met Ariel, the Frog Princess, Snow White, and her Prince Charming. Also there was Miss Provo, in the bottom left corner. The girls were very excited to meat the beauty queens there.

Here's our group of moms and Princesses. Holly and her little girl Aria on the left. And Stephanie and Alivia on the right. Thanks ladies! It was a wonderful day!

Morgan and I leaving the Festival. It was the perfect Mother Daughter day.