the whole koch crew... cousins that is

since we actually had all of the cousins together we had to grab a few

cousin pictures. 

audrey, cierra, carson, braders

camiron, emory, coleman, mason, sage, keeley

with grandma and grandpa steve

and a few of my favorite individual shots

somehow i didn't take more pictures of the cousins.  what was i thinking?

there was a lot of sprinkler time, we saw lindseys and tiffs new houses,

grandma pam had a cousins slumber party (she is crazy!) some little pools,

walking the dogs, i got to go to the temple, g. pam took the kids for a hike, and to the park,

and so many more fun things that you can only do with your cousins.  we love them and

sure to miss them.  

just chilin

our mornings at nana and papas involved a lot of "just chilin" 

always a must do

the utah hogle zoo is one of the best zoo's we have been to.

the kids love it,  it is beautiful, and there are fun things to see.

here we are waiting for the bird show.  love it love it love it.

so i somehow gave in to getting these hats at the zoo.  mostly to help with the  sun.

the kids were pretty excited to be matching with papa.  i kind of think they are 

hilarious.  guess we are ready for our safari.  and you know when hat day comes

around at school exactly what hats my kids will be wearing! 

back to my roots

I grew up out in herriman and it is always fun to go back to my roots and see how much has changed.

lets be honest growing up out in the middle of nowhere- i never expected it to become

the new "spot" for the young families to settle.  crazy!! 

  some of our closest family friends out that way are the butterfield

family.  I love getting to catch up with them when we are in town

and my kids love getting to ride all their fun toys! 

the joy of farm living!  heaven for every kid (and clay)

B is the driver this round.  scary- stay off the farm.

next up.  i really don't know what this little truck is. so we will just say it was fun.

clay and sharon

I haven't been to the coppermine since I was a kid.

as long as we were all the way out there, we decided to head on over.

(we lived a few hills over from the coppermine and we could hear the blasting

and could hear the trucks dump their big loads down the side of the mountain

depending on what side they were dumping.)

checking out the trucks with papa

that is one big hole!

and one huge tire!  (i am so glad they brought this from the old 

visitor center. it is what i always remember as a kid. I was always mad that they had that plastic 

in the middle of the tire because what kid doesn't want to sit in that huge tire!) 

friends for life

we managed a dc friends reunion (except troy of course) while in town

it was amazing timing- aryn and nate were on their way through from arizona,

jeff and tara were about to have a baby and move to colorado.... 

and ally and wes well they are the lucky ones to live in slc!

amazing that when we all met in dc, none of us had kids.  

nate and aryn with luke ava and sophie

me and the kids, 

tara with luck, will, kate and almost leah (and jeff is taking the pic)

ally and wes with ben, adam, emi and eliza.

the kids

the cute girls

the boys

the ladies

always a fav

i love that my parents house is just minutes from millcreek canyon.

what is better than a quick trip up the mountains for a little hike, throw some rocks,

freeze your feet off.  life is great.  

checking the high river with papa.  

since this was a flood year all the rivers were high and wild

so we really had to keep an eye on the kids.  

and why not wear a dress.. this girl is a crack up.

E really might be the happiest baby i have ever met.  all you have to

do is look at her and this is what you get in return.  

ice cold water.   suck your breath in ice cold.  

"the boys"

funny enough one of bradens favorite things he did in utah?

play bayblades with his boy cousins.  

go figure.  its the simple things in life and being with 

cousins that make the world go round....

snow in july

braden could see snow from my parents window

so he had had had to see it for himself.

nana and papa had a great time finding it in the mountains with the kids