Temple Square

This week we took the kids to Temple Square. We went to the visitors center first and saw all the pictures of Christs life and the statue of Christ. Then the missionaries showed us a video presentation about families. That was my favorite part. You move from room to room and see a clip of the movie in each room. In the room is a small replica of a room from the movie. Like your really in that room. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was really cool. Then we walked around the temple and saw all the brides and grooms getting their pictures taken, the kids loved looking at the brides. We tried walking through the Beehive House but the kids were way to noisy and had too many wiggles and we had to leave, we were really loud! Another fun day with the kids!!!

Browne Lake

Every year we go to Browne Lake with Ryan's family. Ryan's Grandpa and Grandma Evan's have been going to Browne Lake forever. It's there favorite place to be. They also go elk hunting there. It's so pretty there! We sat around the camp fire and roasted biscuits and marshmallows, and Granny sang us some pretty silly songs!

We went fishing (and caught NO fish) Colton took Evan out in his raft and then Ryan took Tyson out in the raft. Granny and Shawnee took the kids out in the paddle boat.

Tyson loved playing in the dirt. He was sooooo dirty from head to toe! The mosquito's were REALLY bad and munched on Tyson's face all night long. He had so many bites all over his face and head. Poor little guy!:(

And we went 4-wheeling! The kids' favorite part!!!

This is the Place Heritage Park

This week we took the kids to This is the Place Heritage Park. The kids loved it there. They got to do some of the chores and play games that the pioneer children did, ride a pony, see how they spun wool, look at the Navajo Indian teepee's and make indian arrow head necklaces, see some of the original houses built when the pioneers settled in the Salt Lake valley, ride the train, dip candles, color paper dolls, run through the sprinklers, stamp leather, saw how they made ropes, go to the bank and see how they did there banking and we went to the barber and learned about all the things he did (he was the doctor, the dentist and the barber)! It was an awesome place! I am so thankful for the things that we have today!:)

Phillips Family Reunion

Our Phillips family reunion was in Aberden, Idaho this year. I look forward to the Phillips reunion. It was always the high lights of my summers growing up. The Phillips family is HUGE and I love it. It's so fun to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins. Saturday we went boating all day and hung out at the park. My Aunt Janette got a big blow up slide and the kids played on it forever, they loved it! That night every family shared there favorite campfire song. Sunday each family portrayed one of the parables of Jesus. I love that our family reunions are always center around the gospel. We had a great time!!!

The Tracy Aviary

Every week this summer, Misty and I planned something fun to do with the kids. This week we went to the Tracy Aviary and then to Liberty Park to play in at the splash park. The Aviary was fun, we went to a bird show and learned all about birds. At the splash park it was CRAZY!!! There were so many kids there! We only stayed at the park for 30 mins or so. Way to crazy!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

On Saturday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I was so excited to take Makayla and Evan with us. We left Tyson home with Granny and Grandpa Clarke. We started out by watching a short movie about temples and then went through the temple. Makayla and Evan were so excited to see the inside of the temple. I loved watching them take it all in! It was so beautiful! I asked them what there favorite part was. Makayla loved going into the sealing room and listening to a couple talk about eternal families and looking in the mirrors. I felt the spirit so strong in that room. Evan said he liked watching the movie about temples. We went with our neighbors Jake and Alicia and Bryon and Misty and their kids. It was a really nice day!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Ryan's birthday was July 7th. He celebrated his birthday 3 different days! The Sunday before with his family. His Grandma Evan's and Grandma Clarke's birthdays are within the same week as Ryan's so they celebrated all together. Then on his real birthday he was gone ALL day so we celebrated on Wednesday with our family. We went out to eat at Olive Garden with the kids then came home and sang Happy Birthday to him. Then this last Sunday we celebrated his and Michelle's birthday with my family. It was a week long celebration!!! I hope you had a great birthday Ryan:) We love you!!!

4th of July Celebrations!

I love the 4th of July! We started off our day at the Farr West parade. Evan rode in the Appleseed Academy float, he was so cute and so excited to ride on it. We had fun watching and gathering all the candy! Then we went over to the Farr West park and walked around, the kids played on the playground and had cotton candy and snow cones. After the park we went home and took a lovely nap, then went out to my mom and dad's for a BBQ. Ryan and Bryon made some fun loud fireworks of their own which was very entertaining to watch! We finished the day off at Hooper Park for fireworks. I'm so thankful to live in a country where we can celebrate our freedoms!

Thanksgiving Point Farms

The first Thursday of July we went to Thanksgiving Point Farms. It's part of Thanksgiving Point. We saw horses, cows, chickens, turkey, roosters, peacocks, sheep, pigs, ducks, llamas and goats. We even got to go on a wagon ride pulled by big horses. It was a lot of fun. My sister Misty and her kids came and my mom brought Tenille's kids. We always have fun together! After the farms we were going to take the kids to the Discovery Gardens to play in the Noah's Arks splash park, but the wind started blowing and got really cloudy and started to rain! The kids were really upset that they didn't get to swim. We talked them into getting a icecream instead, that made them a little happier. Then we walked around some of the gardens, they were REALLY pretty! It was a really fun day.

Houghton Hoe Down

We had our Houghton Reunion at Clear Creek this year and had TONS of FUN!

I love that the men do all of the cooking when we are camping!

My mom and dad dress up in their cowboy attire.

We decorated bandanna's and my dad had us make up our own families branding signs, we all branded our bandanna's with them.

My mom taught us all how to make stick horses and then we played some games with them!

We had a pinata and LOTS of candy!

Each family prepared a "Hoe Down" themed skit. They were all pretty funny!:)

And we had some country line dancing going on! Jessika taught us the "Hoe Down" from the Hannah Montana movie.

Just some random pictures of Tyson. It is so hard to get any of him smiling!

Saturday night my dad made dutch oven roast and potatoes, it was so good!

Sunday morning my mom had all of us find sticks and write "promise" on them. For our Sunday program JT wanted her to talk about the promises we made at baptism. My mom talked about the promises that we make. Then everyone that wanted to talked about their baptism or how the promises they made affects their lives. It was awesome the spirit was so strong there and the kids could tell. They sat there so good and listened. Then my mom said that we need to "stick to our promises" so we all (including the kids) have a stick that says promise on it. I hope that we can all stick to our promises!

We had so much fun! I love being with my family, I love that we can get together and make awesome memories, I love that my kids are making good memories of being with their family!