Aunt JoAnn's 70th

Aunt JoAnn is my mom's sister and she is someone I admire very much. She is like a 2nd mom to me and has been since I was little. I spent weeks at a time at their house in the summer and a lot of holidays too. She loved me like one of her own children. She has been through some rough times in her life and continues to be strong and battle all the trials that come her way. It was an honor to celebrate her 70 years of life with her. Her kids did an awesome job of planning her party. She had no clue this was happening. How fun!!!
I didn't get very many pictures. Here are a few of my cousins and aunts and uncles waiting for her to arrive home.


Her arrival and shock at seeing so many people in her back yard.

Hugging Uncle Ronald

and Aunt Barbara

and Aunt Melba.
Happy 70th Aunt JoAnn! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Backyard Campout

We thought it would be fun to try camping with our kids now that we don't have an infant. We decided our trial run should be close to home. Grandma and Grandpa Tuckett's backyard is the perfect place since they have the tent, and the firepit! Of course the kids loved playing in the tent.

For some reason Julia took pictures of the kids playing dead.


Jeremy cooked us some yummy hot dogs.

Emma playing dead again.



Marshmallow roasting time. I love Julia's messy face!

Notice no marshmallow on Andrew's smore, which means the chocolate isn't melted at all, which means he is eating a piece of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers.

Emma LOVES smores!



Reading books before bedtime, just before the fun begins. Not sure why Emma is making a frowny face. Maybe she was getting nervous.



After we cuddled up in our sleeping bags the wind began blowing rather hard and Emma got scared of the shaking tent. She wet her pants so Eldon took her home, cleaned her up and put her to bed. That is when I called to ask him to come pick up AJ. The kid would NOT sleep. He woke Julia and I both up with a kiss. Sweet, but not so sweet at 10:00 pm :) Then he realized Andrew was asleep and kept yelling, "Wake up, Andrew!"

So half of us slept in the tent all night, the other half went home to their beds.

I guess camping is not our thing......YET!

Water Conservation Gardens

I have decided kids can have fun doing just about anything as long as they are with people they like! Jeanna and I took the kids to the Water Conservation Gardens in Orem. They have all sorts of plants there, a stage, and some playhouses the kids can play in.
Our little performers...
These 3 found the stage and could have stayed there ALL day if they would have had an audience! We loved their rendition of Twinkle Twinkle and the ABC song.

Emma and Brynn on the porch of a playhouse. I would love to have one of these in my back yard!
Andrew and Emma inside a playhouse.

Exploring the gardens.

Back to the stage for more singing and dancing!



The big kids had a plant check list and were having a competition to see who could find the most plants on the list. See Educational also!

We forced the group to sit for this photo.

Then it was off to the mall for some chick-fil-a and some "ke-hup" as AJ calls it.

We played on the mall playground for a while.





Another fun summer day! I love summer, but it sure is tiring to be the mom sometimes.

Fun on the Farm

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm our first day of summer vacation. Ashlee and Erica joined us.
AJ was so cute at first. He loved touching the goats.
Everyone loved touching the goats.


But then he saw the chickens and made this face and was scared of all the rest of the animals.
He wouldn't go near the pony rides. But Andrew
Julia
Erica
and Emma loved them!
Ashlee kept her distance because of her allergies. The kids even got to pet a cow before they read the sign that says, "Watch out, I bite!"
Emma had fun playing in the playhouses.
And seeing the ducks.
This bridge is new since the last time we were there. It gives you a good view of the duck pond on one side and the pig pen on the other side.
Everyone loved the wagon ride, although AJ is looking concerned.
We were done looking at all the animals and had had our pony rides and wagon ride and we had only been there 1 hour. I thought, really only 1 hours worth of entertainment for $5????? But then we found this room........ It doesn't look like much, but the kids had a blast here and spent another hour just in this play room. Their favorite part was the conveyor belt that turned on automatically every so often that you could put tiles on and then stack them at the end.
Julia stationed at the end of the conveyor belt.
Ashlee and Erica sending more tiles down the conveyor belt.

Andrew joined in the fun!
Emma harvesting something.
Or maybe she is planting :)
After we were done the kids decided they wanted to climb on top of this huge wagon near the entrance. It was huge so I was not encouring this, I did not want any broken arms.

I refused to help Emma get up, but she found her own way.


She is so proud of herself for making it to the top all by herself.
We had a good time at the farm. It made for a perfect start of summer 2011!