Denver

It was great to be able to visit Denver after Mark's wedding. Even though Lanny was unable to be with us, we still had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa France. Also, I finally saved enough money to buy a new camera, so experimenting is awfully fun.

Ethan versus Captain H2O

Asher is just like his big brother, he loves water!

Mark's Wedding

Here is my attempt to catch-up with our family blog. We had the opportunity to go to Utah as a family to attend Mark's wedding to the beautiful Camille in the Bountiful Temple. It's funny, they are the epitome of Barbie and Ken. Anyway, it was very fun to see all of my family, good ole' Utah, and have the time for the boys to play with their cousins.

Storyland Adventure

The last week of summer vacation we decided we needed one last hooray before Lanny went back to school. Our friends told us about a children's amusement park in the White Mountains of New Hampshire called Storyland so we decided to look into it. There are tons of little inexpensive places to stay with storyland packages so we got a great deal and had soooooo much fun!!!! Storyland had tons of rides for children 12 and under and the theme of the park is just children's stories and fairytales. This one was a panda ride (basically a log ride) Ethan loved it and went on it over and over with Lanny! The rule was if you can walk you can go on the ride so we actually took Asher on it once and he loved it.

This is just a picture of some of the park but I took it because it showed some of the white mountains in the background...covered with trees! I love all the trees back east.

This was Ethan's very favorite ride. He loves to get wet and this one soaks you. This was one of the last rides we went on and I am oh so glad because after he went on it he only wanted to do it over and over. We actually took turns riding it with him until the park closed.

Poor Asher had to talk a really long stroller ride while Ethan was riding the water ride. I love this picture because it shows off his big blue eyes!

This was taken in a crazy ball room. They had a huge two story room with all sorts of guns that shot foam balls. So it was basically a huge ball fight. It was so fun...we probably stayed an hour just playing and shooting adults and kids.

This was Cinderella's castle. They take you up to it in a pumpkin carriage.

This was inside Cinderella's castle. Lanny and Ethan decided they both wanted to be king for the day.

They had a ball pit for little kids and for big kids. I am not sure if Asher really liked this because he just kept trying to get out.

The park was so clean and beautiful. They had wild flowers all over and they were all so bright and colorful!

Lanny and Ethan driving a swan boat. Lanny let Ethan drive the first little while, but they got dizzy because he just kept driving in circles, so Lanny had to take over.

Little Ash!

They had a submarine that had all sorts of water features. Ethan had to wait in line forever for this because the big kids kept butting in front of him. I finally got mad and went over and told the big kids what was up...they quickly let him have a turn.


This was the underwater splash and play area with the submarine. I was trying to take pictures and I kept getting sprayed.

Storyland was so fun and clean! We would highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. It is located in Glen, New Hampshire. We spent all day here and still didn't get to do everything in the park.



Sorry I am so slow at posting...I will try and catch up!

Family Vacation part 3

Ethan's favorite part of the Vacation!

We were looking for things to do in Niagara Falls and Lanny found a Marvel Comic land....we immediately looked into it since Ethan's favorite thing in the world is superheros! We walked in and it was just a bunch of video games...but we decided to check it out anyway. Well ....good thing because it had the coolest little boy activity ever...a superhero play land...just Ethan's size! Has anyone seen the new American gladiators...or watched it in the 80's? Well it was just like that but Superhero themed and for little kids. We spent forever here and I am sure Ethan could have spent all day if we would have let him. He asks about it ever day...."Can we go back to Canada and play at the superhero land?" Oh I wish they had one here....or better yet in my basement!

Shooting at the supervillans!

Getting through the rope maze.

Asher just chilled in the ball pit....he wasn't old enough to go in but since Ethan was the only one there we figured he would be ok.

This was my favorite part...they had two mini obstacle courses set up and Ethan could push a button...do the course and then push the button on the way out and his time would appear on a big screen. If there was another little kid there they could have raced...crumb....where were all the other superhero loving little boys that day. (maybe Oregon :)
Ethan got to beat me up...well he does that at home too!

We finished the day with a ride on the Maid of the Mist.....very cool. I can't believe how close they get up to the waterfalls.....very beautiful, it took my breath away! Even with the rain coats we were soaked!

So much for happy kids! The American Falls are in the background.

Asher hated the maid of the mist...I guess he is like me and hates being wet unless he is swimming or bathing. He was screaming the whole time and kept trying to grab on to me...his little hands would just slip on my wet rain coat and this would just make him more mad! Poor kid.

Family Vacation part 2

View from our Suite!I am oh so sorry I haven't updated my blog lately! We took our family vacation the end of June and it is already the middle of July...ahhh time flies! Oh well...better late than never! So here is part 2...part 3 is still to come...keep you hanging hu! Well we earned a lot of credit card points but still not enough to fly our little family out west so we decided to use them for hotel rooms on a trip to Niagara Falls! We found a great deal on a room overlooking the falls! This was so fun! When we got there they even upgraded our room for free to the 41st floor...so we had an amazing view. Asher and Ethan loved our two room suite and we all got good sleep (due to Asher having his own room)! Niagara Falls - the Canadian side- reminded me a lot of Las Vegas. There was so much to do...we could have stayed a week easily.

Asher enjoying our hotel room...I watched him pull out the drawer and crawl right in...I thought it was clever and cute!

I love sweet smelling babies right out of the tub! Lanny and Ethan went to the pool but Asher was exhausted so I just let him swim in our hotel tub.

Another view from our suite. It is so green and beautiful! It rained every day we were there...but we loved it. The rain kept us cool and was mostly just light sprinkling so it didn't interfere with any of our plans.

Sorry...same picture...couldn't figure out how to get it off.

We went to Marineland ...like a mini Sea World with Knotts Berry farm like rides. Ethan loved it! It was so large we spent the whole day there! He is very adventurous...he rode all the rides he was tall enough for and still wanted more.

Mom, Ethan and Asher enjoying a pirate ride at Marineland.

Ethan got to feed a whale named Isis! Lanny got to pet her too...I was very jealous but someone had to take the pictures.

They had a killer whale show and they told you were to stand if you wanted to get wet...well Ethan wanted to get wet and wow....this whale really gave him a shower!

Ethan after his whale shower!

Family Vacation (part one)

UPSTATE NEW YORK

This year neither Lanny or I had a family reunion to go to and since we really couldn't afford to fly out west we decided to have a little adventure of our own. We decided to go to Palmyra, NY and Niagara Falls (the Canadian side). I will only blog about Palmyra tonight...but hopefully the rest of the vacation pics will come soon. The drive to Palmyra was amazing. It was a 6 hour drive but it went by so fast due to the amazingly beautiful scenery! (I have never seen so many trees) It was cloudy and rained everyday of our vacation but I didn't mind. We got to enjoy the sites in the cool weather and missed the hot, humid weather that is so common this time of year. The boys were so good the whole time and Asher slept really well in the pack and play (yeah!). Ethan still wakes up each morning asking if we are going on a Vacation today....I wish we could always be on vacation too!

The Sacred Grove! Or as Ethan calls it "The Joseph Smith Forest". It was so beautiful! The spirit there was amazing as you might have guessed! We enjoyed saying a family prayer in the calm quiet of the grove and enjoyed the wind rustling through the leaves! We had to stay on the path due to all the poison ivy. We told Ethan there were snakes and spiders, hoping this would help him stay on the path...no...he just said "Cool, I will get them for you!"

The Palmyra temple!

The Hill Cumorah! Ethan ran all the way down....I should have taken a picture...it is very steep!

The building where the Book of Mormon was published! The sister missionaries were sooooo cool! They totally catered to Ethan and gave our little family a private tour...Ethan loved it and listened to every word. Asher fell asleep. So, Lanny and I got to enjoy it too!

So there is a corner that has four churches on it...one on each corner. I really tried to get a picture of all of them and well...I got all of the steeples. Also...on Main St. there was a little candy shop that sold homemade fudge. Oh my goodness...it was the best fudge I have ever had...and Lanny liked it (he doesn't really like sweets). Well now I will forever crave it! Hey is anyone going to Palmyra soon?

The Joseph Smith home and farm. The house was so small. It is amazing his whole family lived here! I was very humbled and felt very thankful for my small apartment.

Asher and mommy in the Sacred Grove.

A cute couple told us to get a picture of Ethan praying in the grove...well here it is! I love it! I hope it will help him remember this special place!