somehow in all of our slc trips, we haven't ever made it to temple square with the kids

So grandma pam joined us for a last outing and we hit temple square and the new 

city creek mall.

beautiful.... soo so beautiful.  The kids thought it was amazing. i was surprised by how much 

they loved it.  they especially loved that it was the temple troy and I were married in.

Funny they hadn't ever seen it before besides in pictures.  

Now one of these years we just have to get there for christmas and see it with its lights.

then they will really be amazed!

only at grandma pams house

Grandma Pams house is a house of no rules.

who said you can't build a fire and roast marshmellows on a hot august day

inside?  you can at Grandma pams house.  

then you can head straight outside and eat your homemade pop cycle to wash down

those hot marshmellows.  Because why not?! 

you can ride a girls bike without caring that it is a girls.

and the girls can ride the boy bike because who cares?!  

its cool either way because it is at grandma pams house

you get to play with cousins without a care in the world....

but the goodbyes until next year are ever any fun. Especially knowing what we miss

by not getting to go to grandma pams house more often.  

I wish growing up I had a house like grandma pams.  where the main rule was to

just have fun because it is always a house of chaos.  And that is every kids dream.  

puppy eyes

E loves her tubs.  and I love her.

Really does it get any cuter than a wet baby with big puppy eyes.  

while the boys were gone us ladies headed to the aviary.

they have remodeled the whole aviary and the new landscaping is really beautiful

we spent as much time tromping through pretty flowers and we did checking out the birds.

the birds were pretty great though and they had made many new habitats that had as pretty of a layout as the rest of the park.  the girls loved it.  especially a few baby birds we spotted along the way.

In North Carolina everything is such a far drive.  

We don't just take a quick run to 7 for a slurpee.  Actually there is no 7-11 in NC

So we have to make up for it while in Utah.

We take regular trips to 7-11, jamba and einsteins. 

mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  

the bros annual backpack

Troy managed to time his trip to utah to get to go on the annual back pack again.

but this time he managed to take Braden for his first ever annual bros trip.

they both had a great time. they came home tired, sore and happy as can be.

*this years group: brad, brette, bryce with parker,

 Shooter with carden,  Troy with Braden,  Bart and Brian.  

braden, carden and parker

I'm thinking Parker is trying to catch Shooter a swimsuit....

Braden and all the boys spent a lot of time skinny dipping.  

Sounds a bit chilly to me!