Utah Trip 2011, Part Two

Finally! The rest of our Utah trip in pictures. The first day we were there, the kids beat the heat in the kiddie pool in Grandma and Grandpa's awesome new backyard.Erica was happy to see family.Elle is so sweet with Erica. She shared all her toys and showed Erica how to play with dolls.On Independence Day we enjoyed a BBQ with the extended Anderson family and then did fireworks back at home. The kids had a blast with Grandma and her glowsticks! (Her brilliant alternative to sparklers.)Taylor and Jonathan put on the fireworks show for our little culdesac of fire.Joseph still just doesn't dig fireworks. It's the same every year. remember this, and thisBut he still managed to enjoy the show.The rest of us enjoying the show.Swimming at Grandma Mangum's house!Happy birthday, Grandma!We even made it down to Beaver to see Grandma Williams.As usual, more beautiful pictures my Dad took! We love you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Utah Trip 2011, Part One (LAGOON!)

Oh, it's been so fun to look through pictures of our trip in July to Utah. We did so many fun things. One of my favorites was our trip all together to Lagoon! We started with burgers at Inn N Out. Yum.I had warned the boys that I was going to force them to go on a couple of rides even if they didn't want to. (I found my love for roller coasters by being coerced onto the Colossus by my mother when I was young and wanted to provide the same opportunity.) The first ride we chose was one of those opportunities. It was the one where you sit in a car and go around on a circular track really fast. Here's the before picture:And the after picture. Justin recovered well, Joseph was still not happy.He was much happier playing the carnival games. He and Justin and Darren even won stuffed animals.Then it was time for snacks and dogpiles on GrandpaAnd a nap for Erica.I got to ditch my kids to ride the big rollercoasters with my sibs. The new coaster "Wicked" is super fun!The train is always a crowd pleaser.And my Dad took so many great pictures of the kids riding the cars!Cute cousinsErica finished out the night on the merry go round with Taylor.