Feeding the ducks

Something that both Karlee and I love to do is go and feed the ducks. The bridge that we feed the duck from is located just by the Stansbury Pool. Karlee got to have her dad come along this time (we usually go when he is at work). We didn't have any bread so we stopped off, bought some and we were on our way again.

Didn't take long for us to finish off the loaf of bread. Didn't take any pictures of the ducks until there was no more bread. Next time we will try to remember.

Karlee and her 'best friend' her dad!

Some Fun at the Mill

Over at the Benson Grist Mill they put on a little bit of fun for a couple of hours. We met up with my sister and her kids. I had heard a little bit about it decided it was worth a try. It ended up being a lot of fun and think Karlee had a great time. We started off with a hot dog lunch and then moved onto the games.

There were lots of games for the kids to participate in. We started off at the ''Barrel racing''. The stick horses were super cute and Karlee thought they were a lot of fun.

Egg balancing - Um yeah I think Karlee is cheating (haha). I'm sure that she didn't want to have her egg fall - don't think that she was worried about coming in first.

Karlee loved this one: Roping the steer. She tried for a couple of minutes to get that steer roped. What a cutie pie!!!

Potato Sack races were a fun one to watch. Karlee and her cousins did a great job and had a fun day. 

Karlee's Summer Dance Camp

A couple months ago I won a KSL contest. The prize was a FREE summer dance camp from Tanner Creative Dance held at the University of  Utah.  I was super excited as I was hoping that I could get Karlee introduced to some type of dance to see if she enjoyed it. The dance camp was every Wednesday for 5 weeks.

Karlee looked forward to every Wednesday morning. She would get so excited when she could see the Tanner building on the UofU campus. The class was for 3-4 year olds and was designed as an intro to dance. The camp was so good for Karlee. I could see so much progress from each class.

I didn't get the best pictures of Karlee in her dance class, they were either blurry because Karlee was actually in motion or Karlee would turn her back to me (love that!). I can see some dance classes in our future - which is so exciting.

Utah Blaze Arena Football

We took advantage of our Pass of All Passes and went to the Utah Blaze Arena football game. Our tickets were in the General Admission (AKA in the Nose Bleed Section). It was super fun!

Karlee thought this was a lot of fun until we sat down to actually watch the game. haha. She kept asking if we could go, and kept asking if the game was almost over - Um it was still the first period. haha

The Utah Blaze (83) vs. Cleveland Gladiators (63).

Dad saves the day - or makes it a little bit more bearable. He surprised Karlee with some popcorn, which helped her to change her outlook on being at the Blaze game. haha.

When we were leaving Energy Solutions Arena Karlee ran over to this sculpture and asked me if I would take a picture of her and her dad. So don't even know what the sculpture even means but we know have a picture of Karlee and her dad outside the Energy Solutions Arena. haha

Swim Lessons

What better way to spend the summer than in the water! This was Karlee's first year of swim lessons and she had a blast. Everyday she was always so excited to come to her lessons (probably cause it was a fun time to play). Karlee was in the first level of lessons - the baby pool - where the kids get comfortable with the water. Karlee did awesome!

Karlee even went off the diving board (not necessarily on her own). Her teacher would help her down into the water and one of her other teachers was in the water ready to catch her and lower her into the water. At least she got the experience.

Karee loved when her class got to put on their life jackets and go into the ''big'' pool. Karlee is super comfortable in a life jacket.

My awesome sister stood in line for hours to get the swimming lesson scheduled for her kids and Karlee. After I heard I felt really bad, cause lets be honest they are just swim lessons (crazy).  But she got the 11am class (which I have heard are the coveted time slots) - they are great because we would just bring our lunch and after swim lesson we would enjoy a short lunch and then jump back in the pool. We spent so much time at the pool, it a fun way to spend our last 2 weeks.

Karlee enjoyed a few 'yummy treats' pool side.

Our Little Artist

So there is a chalkboard at Grandma Laurels house and Karlee loves to draw on it. One Sunday afternoon Karlee was over drawing a picture of herself. She wrote her name on the board as well. Well I didn't get my camera fast enough to capture it - but she did continue with another picture of herself.

She did write the A-B-C upon my request, but didn't want to write her name - I will just have to capture that later.

Love the curly hair - she is really big on all the details.

The Westons take on Hogle Zoo

We took on the Hogle Zoo this weekend. Sure was a fun day. My sister Kaye and her family had gone to the zoo just last week, while they were in town. Karlee and I were going to join them, but Rob said that he really wanted to go to the zoo so we opted out with going with my sister and waited for a free Saturday. That free Saturday just so happened to be this weekend.

Karlee and mom with the Tigers!

Glad we went - we had a great time. As we were driving I was telling her about all the animals that we were going to be seeing and she told that she didn't want to go to the zoo and look at animals. Um okay - but after a few minutes of thinking about it - Karlee said "Um mom, ya I think it will be okay if I go to the zoo and look at some live animals". Good thing since we were only about 5 minutes away from the zoo. Parking was crazy at the zoo (a given since it was Saturday) so we drove up and around to the South Entrance and quickly and easily found parking and walked right in.

 

One of our first stops was the newest Zoo exhibit: the Rocky Shores. It was amazing - We got to see Seals, Otters, the 3 Brown bears, and the Polar Bear!!!! The Polar Bear was my most favorite thing to see. He was just so fascinating to watch swim and play in the water.

How big are your hands?

Karlee loved the small cove that you step into to watch as the Polar Bear swims past. She got Rob to go with her this time.

We got to see the Brown bears, who are also part of the new exhibit. They have 3 little brown bears at the zoo. Karlee asked me if they were from the story - I had to laugh, because I think she has only heard the story once. The bears were fun to watch as they played with each other.

Karlee and the Zoo Bears

Here is one of the bears taking a break from all the playing.

We were then off to see all the other amazing animals at the ZOO. We saw the elephants, the rhinos, the crocodiles, the bugs and snakes, the gorillas and monkeys, the camels, tigers, and then it was time to get out of the hot sun. So we got in line for the bird show.

The bird show was Rob's favorite part of the ZOO. We sat up at the top and got to see the amazing birds up close. Karlee thought the birds were so 'beautiful' - she was fascinated that the parrots really could talk.

Karlee at the bird show

Now Karlee loved looking at all the animals at the ZOO, but she had her favorites: The carousel and a yummy Chocolate and Vanilla twist ice cream cone. 

We ended our day at the ZOO with our last stop to see the giraffes. These animals are so amazing. They are so graceful, and tall. I think I read somewhere that they are working on the giraffe enclosure, which will hopeful be beautiful for these amazing creatures.

Since both Rob and I had been taking pictures of Karlee and the animals all day Karlee had asked if she could take our picture. So here is her picture! Not bad, she is getting pretty good. Maybe better than Rob and I both.

And then Karlee wanted a picture with her favorite guy in the whole world her dad! I think Rob knows how lucky he is to have Karlee in his life. She loves loves loves her dad and every minute they get to spend together.

More pictures of Kaye's visit



The girls going down the twirly slide

Colton and Brayden

@ the Stansbury Park Pool

Me, Kaye, Colton and Brayden, Grandma Carole and Grandma Chris

Brayden  - Love this little guy.

Brayden and Rob @ The Benson Grist Mill

Celebrating July 4th with family

I can't think of any better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with family. With my sister Kaye and her family in town we have been blessed to go and do lots of fun things - including celebrating the 4th of July with my family. We headed to Grantsville to enjoy a 'little hometown parade'. 

We started the parade with refreshing Popsicles and American flags for all the kids. The weather was quite warm so the treat was enjoyed by all.

Here is part of our crew: My sister Monica's family, my sister Kaye's family and my mom and dad.

Rob was able to have the day off so Karlee was in heaven, she had so so much fun. Rob also made a lot of noise while the parade came down the road - this helped in getting lots of candy and goodies thrown our way - and all the kids loved this.

Love my family!!!! Happy 4th of July!

After the Grantsville parade we headed to The Benson Grist Mill in Stansbury Park to enjoy a yummy Subway lunch. This place is always such a fun place to go and explore. While my sister Kaye and her husband Jared went back to the house to pack up all their stuff we took a self-guided tour of the area.  

Small group of us at the Mill

My sister Kaye and her family flew out today. It was really sad to see them go, but we have lots of memories that we made while they were here. Karlee loved getting to know her Alaskan cousins. We enjoyed all the time that we spent with them.  Rob and I hope to be able to go to Alaska and see their world soon.

Helping to send Kaye and her cute family home to Alaska!

After lunch everyone went their separate ways: My sister Kaye and her family flew home, my parents started their drive home heading to my brothers home in Spanish Fork, Monica and her family left for their friends BBQ. Our little family had a couple ideas of how we wanted to spend the rest of our 4th of July. But what I came home to after sending off my sister at the airport sorta changed our plans. Rob was asleep on the couch, Karlee soon followed and then I took my turn and so we basically spent the rest of our 4th of July all taking naps on the couch and then to bed early.

Rob, Jared and Matt hit the Erda Drive-In the night before and didn't get home until 3:30am.

Karlee sat down for just a few minutes and ended up crashing out for a couple hours of well needed sleep.