Visiting the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island

The last day of July was the day that we got to go pick up Auntie Em from the Salt Lake City airport. The boys were so excited! Since we were headed that far north, we figured we should take Emily with us to see the Great Salt Lake. We have never been there, so we figured it was about time!

Of course when you go with kids, there are the inevitable potty breaks. We stopped at the entrance to Antelope Island State Park, which conveniently had a restroom. It also had this fun bison statue that Ephraim was determined to ride.

Pretty funny, huh? From the park entrance we drove across the causeway and headed for the public beach area. As soon as we hit the causeway, you could definitely smell the salt in the air! The boys said it was STINKY. I didn't think it was too bad.

It didn't take too long to get to the day use beach area. We got out our lunch and sat down at a picnic table and had our sandwiches. Then we got our swimming suits on and headed for the beach.

It was a beautiful day out on the lake. The smell actually decreased once you were at the edge of the water. The kids had a fun time playing in the salty sand and wading in the water.

The boys thought it was pretty cool that the water made it so easy to float.

Even Aunt Emily's sandals easily floated on top of the water (not that they weigh very much).

I actually did not go too far out into the water because I was watching Amelia. She somehow managed to face-plant in the water and even though I was right next to her and pulled her back up, it made her very upset! Apparently getting salt water up your nose it not fun. She calmed down after a little while though.

Amelia was not the only one who was not so sure about the salt water.

Jacob did not like the feel of the salt water on his skin! He said it made certain tender parts of his anatomy hurt, which was strange because it did not bother Ephraim at all. Here is Auntie Em, helping Jacob "walk on water" so he didn't have to get the salt water on his skin.

I did not mind the salt water, but I was disappointed that the shore was so rocky. We brought down and umbrella and sand shovels to play with, but there were pebbles everywhere. But since we brought the umbrella, we set it up anyway!

I thought it made for a really nice picture! Before long the kids were done playing at the Great Salt Lake, so we headed back to the picnic tables and showers. We brought our little wagon to carry our stuff in, which was great until we got to the softer sand! The sand was hot too! But we managed to get back up there, shower and clean off.

It was nice that there were showers to rinse off, so we rinsed off and changed our clothes. That was heavenly after having so much salt on your skin! We came prepared and put our salty swim clothes in ziploc baggies so we didn't have to smell them the whole way home.

Then we decided to drive around the island for a little while. We drove up to Bison point to take in the view.

Amelia fell asleep in the van, so I stayed nearby while Emily and the boys checked out the binoculars and looked at bison on the plain below.

The view from Bison Point was really pretty!

But don't ask Ephraim about the view because I have a feeling he didn't really get a good look at it! What a silly boy!

We did get to see some bison on Antelope island! This big guy was sleeping not too far from the road, so I stopped and opened the window to take his picture.

We only drove around for a little while and then headed home. On our way out we even saw an antelope! We had a fun day at the Great Salt Lake. Next time I think I will come in the evening when it is a bit cooler and see if I can't catch a sunset on the lake. I think that would be beautiful

I can see how the Great Salt Lake might not be everyone's cup of tea. The water is very salty and it is a bit smelly. We did see some brine flies at the water's edge and tiny brine shrimp in the water, but they didn't really bother us. My kids had a good time playing in the water and I definitely think it was worth the visit. It is a fun place to wade and play in the shallows.

On an unrelated note, on the way home on the freeway we actually saw the Google car! You know the one that has all the cameras to take the "street view" pictures of various roads? If you have never seen it, it looks like this:

We have actually seen it a couple of times lately. They must be doing the streets in our neighborhood of Utah lately. Bison, antelope and the Google car all in one day... what a fun day!

More Pond Pictures

 We went to the pond with our new neighbors this morning. The boys are really enjoying having some boys close by to play with! It has been fun for me to show Karen around and help her find fun things for her kids to do. We actually went to Discovery Park together on Friday and every single day the boys ask if they can play with the neighbors! It is nice that they seem to get along so well.

The kids all had a great time playing in the water! I didn't really get any good pictures of that because I didn't really want to walk in the water too far with my iPhone to take pictures. But I did get pictures of them digging in the sand!

It was actually nice to have some older kids go with us. I didn't have to watch Ephraim and Jacob as much and they could go out a little deeper with their friends' help. Amelia had a great time playing in the water too!

I have to watch her because she tends to wade out a little too far. I may have to get her a life jacket or something! This time I had a little help watching her. The Garner's daughter Keeley played in the shallow part of the pond with Amelia for a while. I also got Amelia interested in playing on the shore. Check out this big "hot tub" that the boys dug out.

We really like playing in the water, and can't wait to go to the Great Salt Lake with Auntie Em tomorrow!

Amelia in the Tub

This week for a photo scavenger hunt I was trying to get a picture of "eyelashes". So while Amelia was in the tub I must have taken 80 pictures of her, trying to get one where he eyelashes were in focus. This one is my favorite:

I also caught some other fun pictures of my little girl. I decided that I actually don't just sit and take pictures of her very often. So I am trying to get my camera out more so she will get used to it.

Amelia loves taking baths. She would probably take a bath every single day if I let her!

The only problem is that I keep having to tell her to sit down! Silly girl!

I recently re-figured out how to set my custom white balance, which is so nice because then these pictures didn't turn out some funny color and I hardly had to edit them at all. Hooray!

Paint party

Friday afternoon I decided to break out the paints and let the boys get creative. I would have made them paint outside, but it has been pretty hot lately. So I put down a sheet and let them paint on large pieces of butcher paper. They had a great time!

Thank heaven for washable paint! I think we used up the rest of our supply, and now we are going to need to get some more.

Jacob drew a truck, so that is what Ephraim drew. I think they turned out pretty well, and it was a fun activity for a change of pace. It seems like the boys constantly ask to play on the computer or watch TV, but I don't like to let them do those things too much. So we come up with other things to do!

Last Day of Swimming Lessons!

This morning was our last day of swimming lessons this summer. When we woke up outside it was a bit dark and gloomy. This is what it looked like when we got to the pool.

It was waterslide day, so I was really hoping they did not cancel lessons. The boys would be so disappointed! I wasn't the only one who didn't seem thrilled about the rain. Check out the poor lifeguards!

Luckily the downpour stopped just before lessons started! I got this awesome picture of Ephraim practicing his kicks on the side of the pool. This picture totally shows his personality, don't you think?

Ephraim's teacher wrote an awesome note for him on his review card. She told him he was so fun to have in class and said, "thank you for making class fun for everyone!". So cute.

I also got a nice picture of Jacob in the pool. Overcast days at the pool are awesome for pictures!

I decided that since I have taken plenty of pictures of the boys going down the slide that this time I would try for a video. I actually caught them both going down one right after another!


This time Jacob got to go down the slide twice and Ephraim only got to go once. So it seems that it all evened out. The boys are really progressing with their swimming skills and I am really proud of them!

Our Golden Pond

This week we discovered another fun and FREE summer activity; the local pond! My friend Shelley asked me if I had ever taken the kids to the park with the pond, and I had no idea what she was talking about! It turns out, not too far from our house is a little park with a fishing pond. They stock the pond with fish for anglers, but they also have a sandy beach area and a wading zone where kids can play and swim! So fun!

So after swimming lessons, when we were already wet, we drove up to the pond to meet Shelley and her kids. The water was nice and not yucky at all. Miss Amelia loved wading near the shore, and the boys got to play in the water with pool noodles.

I was pleasantly surprised that my little girl did not try to go too deep into the pond! The shore drops off after a little ways, so I didn't want her to get in too deep. It was a good thing she stayed close, since I didn't want to spend my whole time there trying to wrangle her and keep her away from the water.

Besides swimming, the kids enjoyed digging near the shore and playing with the sand toys we brought.

We have never really played at a beach, and having water near the sand added a whole new element of fun to their digging! Even Miss Amelia had fun digging in the sand.

Maybe sometime we will have to come back and actually fish at the pond to see if we can catch anything. For today we were just happy to stay and play. I have a feeling we will be back in the near future!

As for me, it was nice to sit under the shade of my umbrella with a friend and watch our kids play. These are the summer days that I will look back on with a smile.

Bottle Rockets

For the 24th of July we decided to shoot off some bottle rockets! No, not the fireworks kind! Joe made the launch platform and the stopper nozzle for the rocket and we shot two liter bottles into the air. It was so cool!




It was amazing how high the rockets went! They flew above the houses and the trees. We even had to get a pole to retrieve a few from the trees and a couple of them landed on the roof before rolling down. So much fun!

The kids all LOVED it. Amelia was a bit nervous at first, but once she got used to the noise, she loved it too. Our neighbor boys came over and before long Joe had an audience. It was a ton of fun!

Amelia at 16 months

Well, I have been meaning to take pictures of a Amelia for quite some time! I don't think I really have any since she turned one. This is probably because it is SO HARD to get good pictures of her right now. First of all, she refuses to look at the camera most of the time. When she does look at the camera, I can almost NEVER get her to smile. Silly girl.

With that said, I decided to give it a try this morning. I really need pictures of Amelia to go with the portraits that I just took of the boys. So I got her dressed up and we headed out to the same location.

We started out with a chair to see if that would give her something to play with. This is a pretty good picture of Amelia, even though she isn't smiling.

The chair was working out pretty well, I thought I might even get a smile for a second.

Then she fell off the chair! Good thing it was a kid-sized chair. So we moved to another spot and I was the one using the chair. Here is another almost-smile.

I was trying to play peek-a-boo with her around the door frame, but I didn't have her fooled! She knew I was just trying to get her to smile.

I actually like this next picture, even though she isn't looking at me. Isn't her outfit so dang cute? I love the hair clips too.

When i finally did get her to smile at me, her face was a little more shaded than I would have liked. But after some editing they are not too bad.

So I think these pictures are not too bad for a first try. I really wish that the last two pictures of her smiling had lighting more like the third picture I posted. I know I got some decent pictures, but I am a bit of a perfectionist so I think I may give it one more try!

I would like to attempt to get a decent picture of my three kids together, so I may try a few of Amelia again then. I actually brought the boys along for this shoot and let them sit in the van and play the iPad while I took Amelia's pictures. But by the time we were done with Amelia's pictures, she was pretty much done. I took a few pictures, but nothing that I really love. Ah well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Amelia LOVES shoes

We already know that Amelia loves shoes. Every morning after she gets dressed, she brings me shoes to put on. After naptime each day she brings me a pair of shoes to put on. This girl loves shoes!

It turns out that HER shoes are not the only shoes that she is fascinated with! Yesterday morning as I was cleaning in the kitchen, I heard a little shuffling noise.

Yep! Amelia found our "back door shoes" and put them on. Then she shuffled around the kitchen in them. She was pretty cute.

Then this afternoon she went into my closet and got out a pair of my Sunday shoes. She is so fast that I have a hard time getting a picture on my phone that is not blurry, so this time I took a video. I think it is just hilarious!



I think we are in trouble with this girl! She is going to want a closet full of shoes and apparently she won't mind borrowing mine!

Friday at the splash pad (again!)

What a bunch of crazies we are! This week the kids and I went to the splash pad in Alpine twice! The second time we brought our new neighbors and met Karyn and her kids there. It was pretty funny because I was there with Karen and Karyn, since my new neighbor is named Karen!

We had a great time at the splash pad. It was nice for me to have friends to chat with while the kids played in the water.

Here is Jacob and Lily under the "umbrella". It continues to be a favorite, along with the "car wash". I don't think I have really posted a picture of the car wash before, so here it is:

Jacob walked through just as it was turning off! It can spray a lot more than this! My favorite continues to be the buckets. They are just fun!

I also love that Amelia is not afraid of getting wet. She plays in the water and has a great time. Here she is warming up in her towel on the cement.

We were happy to have friends at the splash pad! Jacob and Ephraim are having a lot of fun playing with their new friends and neighbors, Logan and Jeremiah. They are 8 and 10 years old, respectively, but they seem to enjoy playing with our boys. I guess it would be like having younger brothers.

We also had fun playing with Karyn's kids. Here are Lily and Micah playing with the water cannons. You can also see Jacob in the background.

We are so glad to have discovered the splash pad. It is summer fun that is fantastic and free! What more could you ask for?