A Wedding Trip

One of my closest friends growing up got married on Friday in Pasco.  I was so happy for her and I am glad that she found someone who will love her.  Will had to work, so the girls and I went down to Pasco by ourselves.  We had a fun time at the wedding and hanging out with my family.

The wedding was at the Pasco Stake Center.  The gym was decorated really beautifully.  We arrived a little early so it looks empty, but all the chairs were packed and more chairs were set up before the ceremony.

Rae'Chell and Thomas during the ceremony. 

I had to follow Rae'Chell around for a little bit to get this picture.  She has always been such an awesome friend and person, so I wasn't surprised that lots of people showed up and wanted her attention for her wedding.  And the wedding dress was simply stunning.

Pink and purple have always been Rae'Chell's favorite colors.  I have known her for many years and that hasn't changed, so I wasn't too surprised by the wedding cake.  It was really pretty.  I liked the statue on top of the people dancing; Whitney liked the hearts and flowers.

My dad was nice enough to hold Rachel so I could grab a little food to eat.  The tie my dad is wearing comes from my wedding and it seemed to match Rachel's dress - what a coincidence.

I am glad we came down for the wedding. It was a lot of fun.  We also did some other things while we were in Pasco.

We went to see a movie in the park - I Bought a Zoo.  Before the movie, there was a clown act and the clown did some ridiculous magic tricks.  Whitney thought his little act was okay; I think she is too young to see the humor in some of his tricks and jokes.  The other kids there were laughing though.

There was also a Tigger bounce house for all the kids to jump in before the movie.  Unfortunately, Whitney only got to jump for like five minutes before a bigger kid accidentally smacked into her and she started crying and wanting to come out.  But this is a happy picture of a happy Whitney right before the incident.

Rachel got her first sucker while we were at my parents' house.  Whitney found it and was all excited about having a sucker, but I think she didn't like the banana flavor.  So instead we let Rachel suck on it for awhile.  I was grateful that she was wearing the bib because she had yellow drool dripping down her chin the whole time.

Some dogs came out while we were in Pasco.  This is a Rachel size one that Rachel liked holding.

And this is a Whitney size one.  She found this huge Scooby Doo dog in the basement and managed to pull it up the stairs mostly by herself.  She loved this dog, which I thought was really funny.  I guess we will have to get her a big stuffed animal for Christmas.

Well, I am glad that we went down to Pasco.  We had a fun time with my family, but we did miss Will.  I'm not sure what my sisters thought of our visit though.

Aren't they sweet?

Cheney Jubilee

So this last Saturday was the Cheney Jubilee and Rodeo.  We didn't go to the rodeo because we didn't care enough about it to spend that much money, but the jubilee was free and fun.  It started off with a parade Saturday morning.

Will and Whitney waiting patiently for the parade to begin.  We were lucky to find a little shade for our wait.  I think Whitney had the best seat in the house during the parade.

Whitney loved the horses.  There were a lot of people riding horses and she kept telling us about the colors of the horses and their funny "socks".

There was a group of gymnastics that was pretty cool.  I always enjoy seeing twirling and jumping and somersaulting things.

There were only a couple of floats at the parade.  This one was a pirate ship - complete with shooting cannons.

The other float wasthis cool dragon.  I don't know what it was made of, but it looked pretty fancy and obviously had a lot of effort put into its intricate design.

Ronald McDonald passed through the parade as well shaking kids hands and giving out these big smiles.  We tried to get Whitney to smile with her one next to Will, but she wouldn't do it.  So here Will gives his best McDonald smile.

We went home quickly after the parade and had a fast lunch and then we went to the jubilee.  It was a lot like a street fair/carnival.

Whitney made a plaster mink foot at one of the stations at the jubilee.  All she really had to do was mix the cement and water and the lady who was helping pored it into the mold.  Then we went and picked it up as we were leaving.  Maybe we will see if we can get some markers and color the little foot and get a picture of it.

We had to wait in line for awhile, but we were able to get a balloon animal for Whitney.  The lady making them was someone I knew at the gym who is very nice.  She made a little dog for Whitney.

I think Whitney's favorite part of the whole day was this little bouncing gym area.  It was only for young children, so Whitney didn't have to worry about older kids making too high of jumps and knocking her over.  There were blocks and a little slide and it was just fun.  Whitney didn't want to come out until she finally got too hot from all the jumping.

It is hard to tell, but that is Whitney climbing up the stairs to get to the big bounce slide.  It took her a little while to climb all the stairs and when she got to the top she wouldn't come down until all the other kids stopped and she was the only one up top.  So we only went down the slide once, but I think Whitney still really liked it.

And we did face painting.  This time Whitney asked for a red heart.  She did a good job sitting still until the masterpiece was done.  Unfortunately, she wiped at her cheek literally like thirty seconds after the lady was finished, so the heart got all smeared.  But she likes having face paint.

Anyway, we left after that because it was getting hot and the kids were getting a little grumpy and tired and hungry.  It was a fun day though.

Camping Trip

We haven't been camping since Whitney was a little baby, so we decided to go this last weekend.  We went to a small campsite called Dan's Landing and we were one of only two tenters since everyone else there was using RV's.  Here we just got to the site and decided to set up the tent right away.  Whitney liked "helping" by folding and unfolding the tent poles.  She especially liked this long orange one and kept dragging it around.

Our tent is a big eight-man tent.  There are only four of us and two are very small, so we only used about a third of the tent.  Whitney kept calling it her 'little house', which I thought was an appropriate name. 

We were able to rent a rowboat for two hours for only ten bucks.  And the campground managers even had lots of life jackets.  The two jackets on the girls were really colorful and they seemed to fit really well.  Whitney especially liked her jacket and being out in the water.  Rachel wasn't a big fan of having the sun in her face.

I took a short turn rowing, but I wasn't very good.  So poor Will had to do the bulk of the work.  Thanks for rowing us across ClearLake, Will.  The weather was beautiful and it was fun being on the water.  Will and I had a 'mini' waterfight.  But we couldn't do much because one of us was always carrying Rachel and Whitney did not want to get wet at all. 
 

Here is our awesome fire.  If you squint a little, you can see me in the background roasting a hotdog.  It took awhile to get the fire going because we didn't have good kindling, only big logs.  But our nice neighbors lent us an axe.  So we were thankful for their help or we would have been stuck with cold hotdogs.  We even splurged and each got to eat one smore (not totally diet friendly, but very tasty). Whitney just liked eating the Hersheys.

Will took a couple of really great nature shots early Saturday morning.  I love seeing reflections in the water.

Here a bunch of ducks swam by.

Although the place was called Clear Lake, the water wasn't very clear or good to swim in.  But that was okay.  We found a bunch of little fish (Whitney is pointing it out) right next to the shore.  Whitney kept throwing in grass and leaves and twigs for the fish to eat, wasn't that nice of her?

And the taking down of the tent.  We all got a little sunburned and mosquito bitten, but it was a fun camping trip.  Maybe we won't wait two whole years to go on one again.

Happy 4th of July

We had a really fun day yesterday.  Will had the day off work, so we could do fun family things.
And, of course, all dress the same.  I thought it was a cute idea to wear matching outfits.

Apparently, the little girls did not think it was such a cute idea.  We took several pictures and couldn't get any with them smiling or looking at the camera.  But we did all wear red shirts and blue jeans and felt a little patriotic.

Our ward had a big 4th of July breakfast.  The ward provided pancakes and asked everyone else to bring sides.  So we made a big fruit salad that was delicious.  I put my fruit on my pancake so I wouldn't have to use syrup.  The strawberry and the banana and the kiwi all tasted good on the pancake - not so much the watermelon. Oh well.  There were also lots of egg things and cinnamon rolls.  Will and I had to keep reminding ourselves that we were dieting.

Will brought his bubble contraption and was a huge hit at the breakfast.  The older kids liked chasing the bubbles Will blew and the younger kids got a kick out of using the flyswatter with the holes cut into it.  Poor Will had to basically stay there the whole time we were at the park, but I don't think he minded too much.

Rachel gets a little ride with my friend Jennifer.  I am her visiting teacher and she is Whitney's nursery teacher.  So we all know each other quite well. 

Another lady in our ward brought balloons and made balloon things for all the kids.  She could make hats or swords or little animals.

It is hard to tell from this picture, but this is Whitney's flower.  She carried it around with her for awhile and only had to be rescued a couple of times by me.  I don't think Whitney realizes how fragile balloons are and that they shouldn't be used to hit the bark on the playground.
So that was a fun time with our ward. It is nice to have get-togethers where everyone is calm and can just sit and relax and talk.

We went to Riverfront Park for the firework show.  It was super crowded with thousands of people everywhere.

This picture doesn't do the crowdedness justice.  We are on top of the red wagon slide.  Whitney was very patient and waited in line to get to go down the slide.  We only went down a couple of times because the wait wasn't very fun.  Whitney liked watching all the people.

The fireworks show started at 10:00, when it was good and dark. I tried to prepare Whitney ahead of time that the fireworks were going to be loud, but that they were far away and not scary.  Both Whitney and Rachel did a good job and watched the fireworks without getting scared.  Here are a couple pictures that Will took.  He was able to use a special setting for fireworks on the camera.  Who knew that cameras came with settings like that?

 

Of course, the fireworks looked much more awesome in person.  But I think Will did a good job getting picture of them. 

We had an awesome day.  I am so grateful for our free country and for all those who have been, or are currently, serving in the military to maintain that freedom.  We really are a blessed people.