Playing with the Scott's

July 13 - 14 - While we were in Dental School, we made some awesome friends.  We don't keep in very good contact with very many of them, but luckily, the Scott's, only live about 5 hours away and we are able to see them a couple times a year.  Darren and Jon have been trying to work out some Continuing Ed classes together for awhile and finally found an implant course that they both wanted to take in July.  So we got to see them!  Yay!  Jon was taking another course during the week, so we left after Darren finished work on Friday to meet them in Salt Lake.  We met up at their hotel and the kids swam while the adults chatted.  It was so fun!  They were excited to meet Baby Bronson and our girls were so excited to play with their girls.

 Rylee swimming with her buddies Shelby and Libby

 The daddy's chatting and Jon holding Baby Bronson.  He was excited to hold a baby boy!  Kids always love Jon! 

 

Avery was being a stinker about swimming for some reason. 

So sweet.  And so mischeivious! 

Rylee and Shelby

Logan chilling in the hot tub

Ellie

After swimming, we went to dinner at In-N-Out and we were having so much fun that we wanted to keep on chatting, so we decided to get some ice cream.  The only place we could find was Arctic Circle, which was great because it had a play place for the kids!  It was going great until Ellie's diaper exploded in the play place...  haha!  Good times!  

The next morning, the dad's met up for their class and we mommy's took the kids on a little field trip.  We went to the Living Planet Aquarium, which my kids love!  My sister Heather came along, too and Cyril, the foreign exchange student.  It was quite an adventure!  I didn't get many pictures because my kids were off in a million directions and it was a little hectic!  The aquarium just got new river otters and they were so fun to watch. 

 

My kids always love to get their picture taken with this frog. 

The crew listening to River Otter talk.  The otters were really fun to watch play!

Shelby, Ellie, Libby, Rylee, Logan and Avery

Watching the sharks

Finding Nemo! They loved these fish that looked like Nemo and Dory. 

They had brand new baby sharks that Logan was really excited to see

The sea turtle is one of our favorites!

The girls watching the river otters

Sweet Baby Bronson slept through the whole outing! 

We loved the penguins!  Those are always are favorites!  I wish these weren't so blurry! 

Avery was especially into the penguins.  She wanted to stay and watch them forever!  She was having so much fun!

Mommy and A

They have a GIANT snake there.  I think it is an anaconda.  Here are the kids measuring up to see if they could be that long.  I think it is Libby, Avery, Shelby, Logan and Rylee.  And Ethan surpervising.

Logan by the Ananconda.  He has made some serious progress!  The first time we came here, he wouldn't go anywhere near this cage.  We had just read Harry Potter and I made some comment about what if this was invisible glass and he ended up in tears.  He was much braver this time!  I guess that means he is growing up!

Before we left, we went back for one last peek at the sharks. 

 

My cuties after a day at the aquarium. 

After the aquarium, Annie and I took the kids to lunch at Carl's Jr and let them run around the play place while I fed Bronson and we chatted.  And Annie had some Diet Coke.:)  When we came out, it was pouring and I guess it had been for a bit because our cars were in a huge puddle.  I didn't want my new shoes to get wet, so Annie pulled my van out for me.  That is what you call a good friend!  The boys were done with their class, so we met back up with them at the hotel and did some more swimming!

Daddy and Bronson

The Daddys in the hot tub

Cute Mr Bronson

Avery

Rylee

Logan

Cannonball!!!

Sassy Rylee!

Getting changed after swimming was a bit crazy with 4 adults and 7 kids and one bathroom.  While we were taking turns in the bathroom, the kids were all crowded around the ipad.  So funny! 

After swimming, we hit up Costa Vida for dinner.  It was a bit chaotic with that many small children but we survived!  Then it was time to say goodbye.  Here all the kids after dinner...  Logan, Ellie, Avery, Rylee, Shelby and Libby

Logan, Ellie, Avery, Rylee and Shelby - Libby is behind Shelby

Annie and I

I don't know what happened to the pic of Darren and Jon.  We had such a fun weekend with some of our favorite friends!  Once you go through something like dental school together, I think the experience bonds you for life!  No matter how long it goes between when we see each other, we always have so much to talk about and our kids are becoming such good friends, too. 

Fun with Friends

July 2 - Our really good friend's, the White's, came into town and we were able to meet up with them in Salt Lake. Even though their kids are a little older than ours, our kids have so much fun and get so excited to see them! We decided to spend our day at the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake since they hadn't been there yet. Logan was thrilled since he had been there before and introduced himself as the tour guide for the day. He gave some pretty good commentary on each of the animals. The White's were loving it! Such a funny boy! Avery was a STINKER in the car on the way down and screamed for a good half hour! She made us almost rethink our planned Disneyland trip! Then, we handed her daddy's phone and she was all smiles the rest of the way!
Avery loved the aquarium. She was always right up against the glass looking at everything and had to climb up to see every exhibit and seemed more fascinated by it all than the bigger kids.
Avery loved this frog, too. She got really mad when another little boy climbed on it after this picture.
We have never really seen the octopus moving when we have gone before, but it was cool to watch. I couldn't use my flash, so the pics weren't very good, but it was really cool looking! I didn't know that octopus could change their color and texture to match their surroundings! We also learned that the only bone an octopus has is its mouth, so it can fit through any thing bigger than its beak. Pretty amazing!
The jelly fish were pretty fun, too. Rylee loved that they looked PINK!
Rylee loves trying to touch the sting rays. I think she almost fell in a couple of times! She loved this. Logan did NOT!
Avery wanted to try, too. She would get really excited until a sting ray would actually get close to her and then she would get mad when they would swim away.
Our favorite part was the penguins! I think we could have stayed and watched them all day!
Avery watching the penguins. She was LOVING it! She called them ducks though.
The girls looking at the GIANT anaconda. Logan would not even go close. Daddy actually made a joke about the glass disappearing like in Harry Potter because Logan had just read that book and he kinda freaked out! His whole body went stiff and he wanted NOTHING to do with it and we couldn't get him close at all. So funny! The girls were not even afraid at all and were touching the glass and fascinated by this big guy. Rylee and another smaller snake - She loves this stuff!
Our cute kiddos before we left
A family picture
All seven kids! This is pretty good for SEVEN kids in one picture - All smiles and no eyes closed! Spencer, Maddie, Avery, Logan, Rylee, Natalie and Hannah

After the aquarium, we went to lunch at the Mayan. It was kind of fun for something different, although the food is not great and it is WAY overpriced for what it is. The kids really loved the cliff divers and we had a great time visiting with our friends. I forgot to take pictures at lunch, but the kids loved this snake outside afterwards. I love Rylee's snake pose in this one! More snake poses.... Logan refused to get into the snake's mouth...
Avery
The boys visiting
The kids had some parachute guys that I think were the White's and they thought it was fun to climb up on the snake and throw them.

We had such a fun day! We really miss our good friends and love when they come to visit!