Laura's Graduation!

My entire family came out right on the heels of most of John's family leaving. It's been a busy last month for us, to say the least. Laura graduated from BYU with her Master's in Mass Communications on August 15th. Dean took a picture of everyone of our family while graduation was going on. I love our little photographer. Congratulations to Laura!!

Summer Hikes

We made it a goal at the beginning of the summer to go on a hike every Saturday in preparation for our summer activities (Yellowstone, hiking Timpanogos Cave). While we didn't make it out every Saturday, we sure went on a lot more hikes than last summer. Dean loves being in nature and sadly, his favorite part is when he needs to go to the bathroom. "Wow. Pee! Really cool!".... We loved spending more time being active together and enjoying Heavenly Father's creations.

Yellowstone

We enjoyed a wonderful 3 days in Yellowstone with John's entire family as a celebration of his parent's 50th (!!) Wedding Anniversary this year. It was so much fun to see everyone, except for 3 nephews who were unable to make it. We all stayed in 2 cabins in Island Park, Idaho. We were in the big cabin, which meant that Dean had so many wonderful cousins to play with at his disposal. He was in heaven! He's the youngest by 4 years and so he's always looking up to his older cousins. They all enjoyed the foosball table and running around causing general commotion. What a dream for my almost 3 year old. It rained every day we were in Yellowstone and we were amazed at how much driving it takes to get anywhere in the park. Once we wrapped our mind around that, we had a wonderful time in the car, enjoying the wildlife. Our favorite part was watching a huge herd of bison that were split on both sides of the road across a giant valley. It was amazing. I will never forget that sight. Our favorite part of Yellowstone was the Old Faithful area. WOW! Old Faithful was amazing. I don't care what anybody else says about it being underwhelming, it wasn't. When else have you seen water spewing out of the ground like that?? NEVER! We went on a lovely hike after we watched Old Faithful in all it's glory. We saw a bunch of other geysers and were lucky enough to see some of them go off while we were walking by. There were so many and lots of beautiful pools of blue and green along the hike as well. It culminated in beautiful Morning Glory Pool, which was breathtaking. Thank you, VO's, for such a wonderful trip!!

Bear Lake

Dean and I went to Bear Lake with John's family in July. We had such a great time despite the lack of sleep I'm so glad we went. John couldn't get work off since it was a very last minute trip and I debated going. It's hard for me to go alone with Dean even to small aces that it took all the bravery I could muster to drive alone 2.5 hours and be his sole parent for 2 days. 

We shared a room, which I surprisingly loved. It was so much fun to have him wake me up and crawl into my bed in the morning to snuggle. He did not sleep well our first night, but by the second he was so worn out that he slept great. 

The best part of Bear Lake was the lake. :) Dean loves the water and had the best time playing with his cousins. I loved that the lake is so shallow that you have to walk a long ways before you have any real drowning concerns. Dean loved a spaceship floaty that his Auntie Marja brought so much that he almost looked like he was going to nap on it. 

By day 2 at the lake, he was so exhausted that he was throwing tantrums nonstop so we left. We are so glad we went and grateful that John's wonderful family would let us tag along. 

Tulip festival

Thanksgiving point has an annual tulip festival each spring. I have always wanted to go, but could never justify the high price tag. Thankfully I realized, after a visit with a friend to the petting zoo, that this is a great place to take Dean now that naps are waning. It is a.m.a.z.i.n.g what a difference a year makes with him. He is soooo much better at listening and obeying things like stay close and don't climb on that. We but the bullet and bought a membership for just Dean and I. 

With our membership we get into any area there for free and get anyone else in for half off. We went to the tulip festival 3 times it was that amazing. John came with us the last time and we had so much fun as a family wandering around and letting Dean run and chase the birds. We will definitely be adding this to our list of spring activities to repeat each year. 

Easter

Now that Easter has come and gone, it's probably time to post about our fabulous Easter here. 

We always do an Easter egg hunt with the Van Ormans. John's mom does a great job coordinating the event. This year each kid got to find 15 eggs, plus their special egg that has their name on it that contains a little Easter cash. The cousins gave Dean 1-2 minutes of hunting all alone. It was so sweet and he had the time of his life. I do think any time I tell him we're going to grandma and grandpas house he's expecting an egg hunt, but he'll figure it out eventually. 

I got released from my calling in YW on Easter Sunday as well AND I taught the lesson. It was so, so, so beyond sad to get released, but I'm anxious to see where I'll be serving next.