Rodeo!

Our friends, the Bailey's, came up from Fillmore yesterday to go to the Ogden Pioneer Days rodeo.  We had them over for dinner before we all headed over.

Kaden LOVED having an older boy around.

Logan is such a good kid and got along really well with Kaden.

Handsome Gaines

Cowboys!

 We ended up parking a little ways away because we were late, but it ended up being awesome because we got a shuttle ride right to the door!  And it took us through the back area and the kids got to see the horses really close.

Shane loves that I always have the camera out.

Ari's face!  LOL

My little princess

Ready to see the show!

There is some of the stuff going in the background, which I thought was fun to watch them set up for the next event.

Lexi and Ari loved watching the princesses help the cowboys.

Around 9:30, Lexi leaned against my legs for a backrest.  Smart girl.

Checking out the bulls

Kenzie and a very wiggly, energetic, cute Brooks

 On our way back to our seats after taking a break to see the bulls, Kaden tripped over a part of the ground that was raised up a bit and scratched up his knee.

He would NOT stop crying.

 He's usually pretty tough with injuries, but for some reason he was traumatized by this one.  Maybe because it was two hours past his bedtime.  After ten minutes, he was still crying, so Kenzie and I took him to find a bandaid.  We asked a very nice policeman for a bandaid and he picked Kaden up (Kaden was dramatically limping) and hauled him over to the first aid station.

Obviously, it was a life or death situation.

The policeman got a couple of firemen/EMT's to come take care of Kaden.  One talked to Kaden and teased him about the ground rising up to bite him while the other struggled to open a bandaid.  They went on and on about how bandaids are magic and sometimes the magic ones are hard for grown-ups to open.  They put a bandaid on it and the crying did magically stop.  ;)

And at the end of the night, 2 out of the 3 kids who were awake said that their favorite part of the rodeo were the dirt bikes that came out at the end and flew through the air (off a ramp).

So glad we paid to see horses and bulls.  hahaha  Next time we're just gonna take them to a demolition derby.

Swim lessons

Kaden and Lexi started swim lessons this past Monday.  No matter how many times I told Ari they wouldn't let her swim with the big kids, she insisted on getting in her swimming suit when Kaden and Lexi did.

Kaden is the only boy in his class.

 And this was Ari's face during the entire 40 minute lesson:

 I told her she needed to be four years old before she could do swimming lessons and any time any adult walked by us after that, she would look at them with her tear stained face and say, "I FOUR!  I FOUR!!"  Poor thing.

*sniff*

 I finally distracted her by taking up close pictures of different body parts of hers.  She really loved the game.

And I got a smile!!

Kissy face!

Silly face

You can't tell from the picture, but Kaden was screaming, "NO!  NOOO!" as the teacher tried to teach him to float on his back.

Lexi dove right in.

Kicking...

Day 2 of swim (yesterday), I didn't let Ari wear her suit there, which cause much crying at home, but helped when we were there.

Let's do this.

 Ari and I played with the camera again.

Kaden was still terrified to float on his back, so I flat out bribed him and said if he would do it, then Liz could come over and play after swim.  He did it!  Woo!

Cute kiddos

Oh I'm gonna miss this little man

Our two troublemakers.  ;)

Union Station

We went to Union Station this last Saturday with Kelly and her kiddos.

OLD cars that I spent my time coveting.  People had the best stuff in the 1930s and 40s.

Switchboard

Logan's driving!  Be scared!!

 The shorties knew how to gain a few inches.

Jordan could push the stroller, but Lexi stayed by his side to "help."

Lexi was copying Liz  ;)

What "stay off the equipment" signs?? 

Kelly, Jordan, Logan, and Liz

They love each other

After we couldn't take the heat anymore, Kelly treated us to some shaved ice (SO GOOD) and then took the kids for a sleepover!!

From what I heard the kids all did well and I'm so glad they weren't horrible for her.  Really, though, SIX kids five years old and under and one adult.  Where's her medal?!

While the kids gave Kelly a headache, Shane and I went out to eat.  We toyed with the idea of going somewhere fancier than Red Robin, but then remembered the furlough and our bills and decided on Texas Roadhouse instead.  At least it was different from Red Robin!  And I may, or may not, have eaten my weight in rolls.

Shane did, too.  ;)

 Our movie didn't start for a while, but I told Shane I refuse to sit around my house when there are no children there because then I'll end up doing dishes (maybe that would have been a good thing), so we went to see my dad and his wife's house that they are in the process of building.  It's in Syracuse and only five minutes from our house (crap). 

NOT the final color for the front door.  I asked because it's currently hideous.

As we were walking in, a neighbor who was there working on his house yelled, "Hey! Get out of there!"  So I said, "Nope" and kept going.  We walked through the house and as we were leaving, my dad and Heidi showed up and then showed us around what we hadn't seen in the backyard.  I told them about their protective neighbor and we all laughed.

After that, Shane and I went to the Kaysville theater and watched The Great Gatsby.  I knew nothing about it, but I'd seen the trailer and told Shane it would be similar to Ocean's 12.  Um, yeah.  NOT.  Oops!  It was still good, though, and I enjoyed it.  Just very different from what we both were expecting.

Thanks Kelly!!