June: The Guinea Hog and The Dry Fish

The kids love to use an Oreo voice to talk for Oreo. It's hilarious! Sean decided that Oreo calls Cookie the Guinea Hog and Pirate the Dry Fish. 

June was so fun! As soon as we got out of quarantine we went to the This Is The Place park. We bought a season pass so we can go back and enjoy throughout the year. We went with the Ellis family and had so much fun going to the hospital, doing pioneer chores, eating a picnic, playing at the park, mining for gold, making necklaces, riding the train, eating ice cream, and stopping at the ZCMI for candy. One of the highlights from the trip was when Grace and Alana were playing with some babydolls at the playground. Grace was tossing them into the air and ended up getting both baby dolls stuck in the tree. They were way too tall for us to reach. Some of the kids tried to climb, but the places the dolls were stuck were really hard to get to. Brett chucked a water bottle and got one to fall down, but eventually the water bottle got stuck as we were trying to get the other one down. The maintenance crew came and got the water bottle and second doll down. We had a great time and can't wait to go back! 

We took all the gold we mined and weighed it at the bank to see how much money we would have gotten if we were really panning for gold. 

Lizzie drew this for Brett and it was the sweetest thing!

I anxiously await my peonies blooming each year! They were gorgeous this year!

Popsicles on the porch to kick off the summer. 

We have discovered that Cookie LOVES carrots! 

Brett woke up with a stye one morning so I took a pic to send to Sean and make sure I had diagnosed it properly. 

Eye machine at the This Is The Place hospital

quilting at the quilting museum:

Poor baby dolls are stuck!

We got prescriptions at the hospital and took them to the drug store where we got a lemon drop medicine =) 

Train!

Ice Cream!

Bank:

Best Friends:

Alana wanted her hair curled for church and it turned out sooo pretty:

We had an impromptu Peterson Enchilada party at our house one Sunday:

We have been having Lizzie repeat us for her scripture each night for awhile now, but we recently started having her read the scripture by herself and it is so sweet. She is doing such a great job. 

Loving Cookie!

The kids are always so fascinated when I wear glasses. One night Brett, Oreo and I took some fun selfies at bedtime:

Cookie loves listening to books at night, and sometimes trying to eat the pages. 

We went on a hike to upper Bridal Veil Falls with some friends. It was so pretty! Brett and Alana had a blast. Lizzie was a bit more nervous but she did so great and was so brave!

Brett climbed up onto this cliff and it made me so nervous! But he was having a blast. His allergy shots must be doing something because he was able to hike and not sneeze his head off!

Sean and I went to a retirement party for a teacher and colleague at St Marks. We got to sit with all of Sean's cohort from residency and it was lovely.

I wanted to get Brett a snocone machine for his birthday but didn't want to wait til the end of summer. So he got it a bit early and it has already been well used!

I wash our dish towels and wash cloths way too much! 

For Father's Day we decided it was time to go visit Papa's grave. We took Mom P with us too and it was really lovely to see his spot and feel how peaceful the cemetery is. We took flowers and the kids arranged them around his marker. 

We went to Kneaders after the cemetery and Sean got free french toast for Father's Day. 

We stopped off at a kitchen store and Sean bought me a new Bosch mixer! In line with all the other electronics I've broken recently, my kitchen-aid mixer broke and I decided to upgrade to a Bosch. We stopped off at Mimi's house and while there Brett and I found a KSL listing for a Bearded Dragon for a great price. Brett has wanted one for a while and has researched it pretty thoroughly. He had decided he needed about $350 to get the pet and everything he would need for it. This KSL deal was $100 for everything. We drove up to Bountiful that evening and Brett brought home Pirate. We stopped on the way home to get some food from Petsmart and we saw a lady who had just been hit by a car. Sean parked as quick as he could and ran out to make sure she didn't need CPR. She was breathing and conscious, but in a ton of pain. We waited til the ambulance came. 

We had a bit of trouble getting Pirates cage warm enough that first night. He came with the heat lamps but our basement is colder than the room he was in at his previous house. So on Father's Day morning Sean ran to Walmart to find a hotter bulb so we could make sure that Pirate was warm enough. It seemed like such a Daddy thing to do on Fathers Day. To run to the store before church to buy emergency pet supplies. We are seriously so grateful for our Daddy! We are also grateful for Grandpa. We got to go have a nice BBQ with Grandpa later that day. 

I got a Sam's club membership because they were on sale for $8!

Kari Ellis told us about a Patriot Camp. Brett and Alana wanted to go. It was such a great experience! They learned about Patriotism, the Constitution, US History, the Military, Patriotic Music, and all kinds of other things. It was every morning for the whole week! 

Sean's fathers day gift:

Patriot camp had a fun program at the end of the week. They shared quotes from different historical figures and sang the songs they had learned at camp. It was great!

My mom and dad are getting ready to finish their basement so we helped them move everything out of the space they are planning to finish. They took us to Texas Roadhouse after and it was sooo cold! But it was yummy! 

Last summer we did a staycation day with the Ellis Family. This year we decided to go to Vernal. Sean took a half day off on Tuesday and we drove out to Vernal. We stayed at the Dinosaur Inn and Suites. We went to pizza hut for dinner then went swimming at the hotel pool. The Ellis's arrived while we were swimming and they came and joined us. The next morning after breakfast we loaded up our car and drove out to the Dinosaur National Monument. We took a tram to the Quarry, then hiked back. Then we went to a fun cabin to have a picnic lunch. Then we drove back to town to get ice cream and go to a museum. We left at 5 so we would have enough time to pick up Oreo from the Pet Hotel before it closed. It was a super quick trip, but it was so much fun and we can't wait to do more exploring together! 

We stopped off at Papa's cemetery on the way to Vernal because it was right on the way. They just placed his stone last week and it was so great to see it! 

Our hotel room was huge! 

We visited the Ellis's room after swimming:

Brett's cinnamon roll tasted and smelled like playdough. It was so weird! 

There was a sandbox at the hotel where the kids played while we got packed up and checked out. They had so much fun! 

Dinosaur National Monument:

The quarry was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! 

The kids could do a ranger workbook and earn a badge. Alana and Grace took it very seriously:

I told everyone to take an awkward bite:

swimming:

view from our lunch picnic:

The kids played a game in the little cabin there. They drew couches and beds and probably could have stayed all afternoon. 

Alana's new stuffed otter River decided to stay at the cabin and we had to buy him a plane ticket via Amazon to have him returned to our house. 

This was about the cool lady who built the cabin we visited. 

We had originally planned to go fossil hunting that afternoon, but it started pouring rain. So we got ice cream and went to the natural history museum. 

This was the tram at the monument:

The Saturday after we got home we had a fun swimming and fajita party with the Saffrons, then we went to watch fireworks at the Roundy's house. 

Alana wanted to try on mascara for church: 

It was such a busy busy month! We are looking forward to a fun July!