Summer Update

We have had a fun and busy summer.. I can't believe how fast it is flying by. Here are some pictures of our summer so far.

One of the biggest events happened on Sunday. Our little girl turned 4 years old! I still can't believe she is 4. She is such a delight to have in our family, and we love her very much. She is all girl, she loves playing dress up and barbies. She is our little princess.


On Saturday we had a Cook family reunion at Jordanelle Reservior, we didn't take our camera. On Sunday for her birthday we had Crepes for dinner at Maddie's request and had Ben, Christina, Charlie and Andy over for dinner.


We had an eventful 4th of July weekend. We went to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake on Saturday. It was our first time swimming in it. You really float! It is incredible, it would be hard to sink. It is so, so salty. Saturday night we had yummy BBQ with some neighbors and did some fireworks in the street.



On Sunday, we had the blessing of my niece Ellie and we had Heather and her family come back to Tooele to stay and my Dad and Step Mom were in town from Texas. On Monday, we went swimming with family, the kids had a blast. In the evening we went to the bees game. It was a lot fun even though they lost. There was an amazing firework show to patriotic music. It was Pauline's last night in the USA, and it was a good send off for her. Maddie was excited she got to meet a life sized Snuggle bear and Bumble the Bee.

June was also an eventful month. We went to the Bonneville salt flats, there is salt as far as you can see in every direction.





We went to Manti for the Mormon Miracle Pageant. This was our first time taking Max and he loved it. The kids had a great time playing with cousins.



We also went shooting, shot rockets and went on a lot of scenic drives.

This is the Place

For Memorial Day weekend, Pauline's cousin Laura (who is doing an internship in Idaho) came to stay with us. We had a fun weekend of visiting and BBQ'ing. On Monday, we went to This is the Place Park. It has changed a lot since I was a kid. They have a pioneer village, trains, animals, Indian Village and lots of fun activities for the kids.


At one of the houses, the kids got to do pioneer chores and learn pioneer games. Max thought the pioneer chores were pretty cool. He now wants us to wash our clothes by hand and give him pioneer chores to do. We do have chickens now, so I guess that's a start :).


It was Baby Animal Days and so the kids got to feed baby lambs and play with baby goats, rabbits, chicks and pigs. They also got to ride a pony.

First Camping Trip of the Year

We have a friend from France staying with us for 2 months. Her name is Pauline and she was in our ward in Metz. She is doing an internship in Salt Lake and we are excited to have her staying with us. We decided to take a trip down to Southern Utah because they don't have anything like it in France. We stayed at the Dead Horse Point Campground so that we could at least have flushing toilets. (It was her first camping trip aside from girls camp). We spend three days exploring Dead Horse Point, Canyonlands and Arches. It was a lot of fun. The kids love camping and hiking, they had a blast. It was fun to show Pauline around and watch her reactions to the beauty that is So. Utah.


In arches we hiked to Delicate Arch. It is a fun hike because you get to climb up a huge rock and you feel like you are in a waste land and then you come upon the Arch and it is beautiful. The kids loved to watch for lizards and follow the cairns (stacks of rocks to show you where the trail is), Max even started some if his own.

Maddie ready to hike

They found a lizard

Our first view of Delicate Arch.

Pauline was proud of herself for conquering her fear of heights.

Bret and the kids under the arch. Look closely.

Bret and the kids looking over the edge after they hiked down into the bowl below Delicate Arch.

Another favorite at Arches was Sand Dune Arch. Max and Dad climbed to the top and the kids loved running down the sand hill.

We went to several lookouts in Canyonlands, we hiked to see the crater that they think could have been caused my a meteorite and we went on some beautiful scenic drives.

Bret too close to the edge for my comfort.



A cool rock tunnel we went through on one of our drives.

This is the Shafer Trail, the scariest drive I have ever been on. I drew a line to show approx. were the road was that we took.

This is us safe and very happy to be at the bottom!

California Vacation

For Spring Break we took a trip to Southern California. We left on Saturday, early in the morning. We stayed on Saturday night in Anaheim with Bret's Aunt and Uncle. His Uncle is serving as a mission president of the Anaheim mission. Before we went to their place Sat night we just had to go to the beach and get our feet wet. The kids ended up getting everything wet! But they were so excited to be at the beach.

On Sunday, after church and a great visit with Sandy and Steve we drove down to San Diego. We had a beach house rented with my Mom, Ben and Christina, Heather and Andy and all the kids. It was a great house just a block off the beach on the north end of Mission Beach. On Monday, we spend all day playing on the beach the kids loved it! So did the parents!


On Tuesday, we went to Sea World. They have amazing animal shows and some fun rides for the kids. Maddie's favorite part was petting the Sting Rays and Bat Rays. She spend over an hour with her Dad playing with them. Max's favorite part was the pet show and sitting in the soak zone at all the shows, until the Shamu show when we really got soaked!



On Wednesday, it was a colder day but we wanted to get one more day in at the beach. We went to the beach near our house in the morning and played in the sand.

You can see our beach house, it is the tall blue one, behind the castle.

In the afternoon we took the kids to La Jolla to see the seals. Then we went to Tourmaline Beach at low tide, there are tide pools there with all kids of sea life. Max collected hermit craps in his bucket and he said, "We're making a hermit crab family!" We had a great time exploring.

On Thursday, we left wonderful San Diego and went back up to Anaheim for a day and Disneyland. The kids loved Disneyland. Maddie loved the rides and surprisingly wasn't scared at all. Max's favorite part was a presentation that they had of a robot Asimo. Both kids loved meeting Mickey Mouse and watching the fireworks. It was a fun day and a great vacation that we will remember for a long time.