Hogle Zoo

So for Father's Day we gave my father-in-law Duane a trip to the Zoo. We went yesterday and it was a blast. The weather was perfect. It was cloudy most of the time so it wasn't to hot and it sprinkled a little so it kept us all cool. We had a lot of fun looking at the animals and showing Jayanne everything. It had been a long time since I had been to the zoo and a lot had changed but just as fun as I remember. They had a section closed for remodeling so we weren't able to see like the bears or penquins and we didn't see any lions but we still had fun. Jayanne absolutely loved the monkeys. If there was a monkey around she didn't see anything else. She really liked to tigers too. There was a couple of tigers that were play fighting and she had fun watching them. She really loved riding the carousel. She was so excited to tell me after she got off that she rode a bear! Suddenly the pony ride two days earlier wasn't all that cool cuz she rode a bear. She really had fun. We will definitely be going back to the Zoo.

Knighton Reunion

So over the weekend was my Knighton family reunion. They camped over night at the American West Center up by Logan. We weren't able to camp overnight with them but we were able to make it up there Saturday morning to spend a few hours with my family. We spent the day at the center. It was a neat little place that has all sorts of stuff that the pioneers did back in the day. They had wagon rides, train rides, pony rides, woodworking shops, mercantile, millenary and alot of exhibits of old school clothing and toys and things. It was pretty cool. They even put on a gun shoot out for us that some guests were able to participate in. It was pretty neat. It was really hot so Jayanne wasn't always in the best of moods but I think she still had fun with it. Her favorite part was probably the pony ride she had. She was grinning from ear to ear. So was my niece Brooklyn. The whole time Jayanne was on the pony she just kept saying, "Mommy, I ride horsie. I ride horsie!" It was really fun to see how excited she was about riding the horse. It was as if they have never expreienced anything as cool as that. Jayanne was excited about the train ride until it started to move and then she wasn't all that sure about it.

My sister Sheri trying her hand at wood working.

Anxiuosly waiting for her turn on the ponies.

Smiling from ear to ear.

After we were done she just kept asking for more horsie.

Brooklyn having the time of her life.

Ben enjoying the ride.

Bridger had a blast as well.

Getting ready for the train ride.

At this point she wasn't all that sure about it.



It wasn't a big train but it was still fun.



Everyone on the train.

My parents

So after that we went and saw them shoot some old school guns. They had a presentation about one of them called that Gattling Gun. It was a pretty neat gun but huge at the same time. It was crazy to see how far guns have come. This one didn't have a trigger. You just turned that handle to get to to shoot. It was pretty neat to see it.

The big one is the Gattling Gun and the smaller one is a small cannon.

After that I convinced Brian and my bro-in-law McLain to enter a two-man saw contest. Then I convinced my brother Allen and my cousin Ryan to enter and then my dad and my cousin Daniel to enter. They all did really good and at one point was 1st, 2nd and 3rd. But when we went back about an hour later for the awards they were like 7th and below. But they still had fun and still did really good. I was totally gonna do it but my partner is like 8 months pregnant so we decided it probably wasn't the smartest idea to enter the contest.

Brian and Mclain at 29 seconds

 

Ryan and Allen at 39 seconds

Dad and Daniel at 32 seconds

It turned out to be a really fun day. Thanks to Aunt Pam and Aunt Joyce for getting it together for us! It was really fun.

Ready for a nap.

Making a cloth doll.

Watching the shoot out with Grandpa

PARTY TIME!!

So we celebrated Jayanne's birthday over the weekend. It was alot fun. It is still weird to think that she is 2. We had almost the entire family there which made it even better. We had dinner, a pinata and presents. I will write about first then post all the pics. So dinner was really good and we wouldn't of been able to pull it off without the help of our families who all pitched in and brought something. It was fun to just sit and visit with everyone and have our families get to know each other better. After dinner we did the pinata. Which kinda ended up being a bust. We had a pull string one so all the cousins could participate and because we didn't think that having a bat being swung was the greatest idea. So all they had to do was pull a string and one lucky one would open the pinata....NOT! All of the strings got pulled and nothing happened. We know what string was supposed to open it but it didn't work. So Brian got a stick and had to break it open which was still a bust. So he swung the bat and the candy shot out, i mean literally, shot out of the pinata and went across the yard. Well most did. One hit my niece Ashley right in the forehead and about three others hit my sister Julie right in the face at full speed. Brian and I both felt completely awful. Thankfully they weren't way hurt or anything. Anyways, everyone had fun running around and picking up the candy that was everywhere. The best part was that my brother-in-law Chris told my dad that the pull strings wouldn't work and that we would have to bust it open and someone was gonna get hurt. After that we had Jayanne open her presents. She loved it. She would just start pulling things out of bags and throwing it behind her and then move one to another one. She didn't really pay much attention to what is in the bags or anything, she just wanted to get it out of there. But since then she has had fun playing with everything that she got. She got alot of stuff and I have no where to put so I guess that means its time to get rid of some of her other toys to make room for the new ones. After the presents we sang to her. We just did cupcakes since Jayanne is not a huge cake fan. So she blew out the candles on top of the cupcake and just ate ice cream. After she blew out the candles she sang to herself. Instead of singing happy birthday she sings Happy to you. It was really cute. She just kept singing it over and over. All in all I think it was alot of fun and turned out to be a great night celebrated with family.

Everyone just hanging out.

Milly, Michael, Mckenzie

Getting ready for the pinata fun.

Jayanne taking her time deciding what one to pull.

Ashley hoping for the best.

Miss Milly taking her turn at the pinata.

Each time Brigder pulled a string and nothing happened he would just chuck the string on the ground and storm off. It was funny.

Mckenzie trying her best to pick the right string. She did get the right one just nothing happened. Zach was very anxious waiting for his turn but having fun at the same time.

Brian going in for the kill.

Jayanne opening her presents.

Jayanne having fun opening her presents. She would get frustrated when I would make her look at the cards instead of letting her open the presents. Needless to say not all the cards where looked at.

Blowing out the candles.

Happy to you!!

My cute niece Avery.

This is what happens when you put my sister Emily in charge of the camera.

ALLEN IS HOME!!

Allen is back from serving on his mission in the Anchorage Alaska mission!! It has been probably the fastest 2 years of my life. Partly because of Jayanne. But it is great to have him home again! It was fun to be at the airport to see him right after he got off the plane. It got a little insane because his flight ended up coming in like a half hour early but luckily my mom was checking the flight and noticed early enough to notify the family so we were still all able to be there when he came. We were sad that Sheri's family wasn't able to be there but his flight was early and I wouldn't drive from Richmond either but they did come down later in the day so we were all together for part of the day. Anyways, as we were waiting for him to come down we all were joking with my mom to see which one of us were gonna push her out of the way and get to Allen first. We only joked about it because that is what Allen did when Jason got back from his mission. The best part was that Jason's son Bridger ended up being the first one to Allen. He only touched him and then ran but he did get there before my mom. Kinda funny.

Allen and my mom.

Allen, me and Jayanne. She wasn't all that sure about him.

Allen and Emily. It totally looks like they are getting ready to kiss, they of course didn't but it totally looks like it.

Allen and my dad. Its not a great picture but they wouldn't stop moving.

Brian had the camera so I didn't get a picture of him giving Allen a hug and I really only posted the one with Emily because of the position that they are in. HA! Anyways, after we did all the hugs, Bridger, who is 4, walked up to Allen and asked him to play tag. It was really funny. He has been waiting for Allen to come home so he could play tag and have him over to swim. Allen did play tag with him right there at the airport. It was really cute. After the airport, the parents took Allen to be release and we went to the parents house to put up the welcome home sign.

After he came home and we did picture time by the sign, we went to see the grandparents.

Grandma Knighton. She was so concerned how short she would look next to Allen.

Grandpa Stephens. He was just glad to be there with Allen.

Grandma Stephens. She was concerned she wasn't looking her best for the picture but as you can see she is just as fabulous as ever.

The grandparents loved just sitting there with Allen and the rest of us. After we saw them we just went home and had lunch together with everyone before Emily had to leave to back up to Camp Barlett. It was a lot of fun to just be all together again. I will say this, I don't think Allen changed all that much. I know he did spiritually and emotionally but his personality and mannerisms I think are exactly as they were before. It was great to see him again. It is kinda weird since he is usually not around but its great to have him home. All the nieces and nephews are starting to warm up to him and before he knows it he will not have a moments peace anytime any of them are around. I am excited to hear him speak on Sunday. WELCOME HOME ALLEN!!