Spending Time with the Keel's

After spending a couple of fun days with the Fallstroms, we drove five miles to visit Jake and Liz, who also live in Lehi.

I love their backyard--so green and pretty! Plus it has a green park right behind their house as well. The kids had fun playing around in the sandbox.

 The kids had a great time and they all got good and wet.

 It was fun to see cousins we don't get to see very often.

As soon as Jake got home from work, we loaded up and drove up American Fork Canyon. It was pretty and relaxing.

The kids loved playing around in the stream. Except for Finley, who fell in and got all wet. It was pretty cold, at least for us Phoenicians, and it was a good thing I had some clothes in the van for her to change in to.

 KeeKee and her daddy.

 Cute Finley girl.

 Me and baby William.

 More fun in the water.

Then it was time for dinner. Before leaving their house, we had made up some tinfoil dinners, and Liz had the makings for s'mores. Yum!

 I couldn't believe that William would just hang out in his playpen. Seriously--that has never been any of my children.

 They're more into things like this:

 Isaac loves talking to babies and making them laugh.

 And Sareny loves posing.

 So does this girl.

That night, Keith and I slept in Josh and Charlie's twin captain beds, and the kids had a campout in the backyard. What a fun idea!

 Here they are in the tent, ready to settle down and go to sleep. Yeah right! They were pretty good and let the adults play a game inside before Liz came out and slept in the tent with them. What a good sport she is! Anyway, it was a really fun day.

Memorial Day Weekend at the Ostrich Ranch

We had so much fun when we visited the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch at Picacho Peak last year that we took the kids back for a Memorial Day trip. The first feeding station is these donkeys, and I think it's because they are the easiest and least scary to feed. Keeley thought it was pretty silly when they licked the food off her hand.

 Sareny and Isaac were both willing to give it a try.

But this is about as close as Finley was willing to get. No amount of coaxing would convince her to hold her hand up to a large animal's mouth. She would occassionally toss food in their general direction.

 Keeley thought if she pointed at her brain, we would all know how smart she is.

 These donkeys really were pretty gentle.

Keeley was pretty good natured the whole day. I love this picture of her and Keith with Picacho Peak in the background.

 Next up were the deer, which were only slightly scarier/more aggressive than the donkeys.

Finley's favorite thing to feed is the goats...as long as they are up at the top of their goat penthouse. You put the food in a little cup that is attached to this belt system, then crank the food up to the goats waiting at the top.

  The kids all really liked this part.

 

 And apparently I didn't get any pictures of the goats at the top.

The rest of the goats poke their heads out these holes and you feed them. In my opinion, goats are a little bit scarier to feed than the previous animals, but I tried it anyway. Some of the kids were trying to throw the food at the goats, which just didn't work.

Then we went on the Monster Truck Tour. Sareny and Isaac wanted to sit in the back, because there is one part where the ride gets pretty wild and the back of the truck is the wildest.

 Rivvy girl got a bit scared on this ride. When the truck would stop for the tour guide to talk to us, she turned the truck off. Keeley would jump down and stand on the floor for a bit, but the minute she heard the engine turning back on, she scrambled onto my lap super quick.

Isaac got picked to go stand on a real ostrich egg. Those things are tough! I guess they have to be when the guy laying on top of them weighs several hundred pounds.

When we got to the wild area, the tour guide made some people move over so Finley, Keely, and I could sit in the front, supposedly tamer area. (And I was secretly glad she did.) I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but it was a little terrifying! Imagine flying around in your seat getting some serious air while simultaneously gripping your baby as tightly as you can and also offering some support for her neck with one arm, hanging on as best as you can with your other arm, and doing what little you can to keep your frightened preschooler from flying out the window. I came close to flying off the seat myself.

 Surprisngly, Keeley lay there like a slug and didn't let out one peep.

The last part of the tour includes osctrich fishing.

You attach some orange slices to the end of these poles, and hang them over for the ostriches to gobble up.

 The kids all liked this part.

 A family photo.

And we all made it back in one piece. You can see just how giant that truck is.

I wanted a picture of all the kids by the wheel, but Finley didn't want to be in the picture, and apparently neither did Keeley.

 She was making her escape.

 And a parting shot of Isaac making one of his classic crazy poses.

And this concludes the first half of this blog post. I just took too many pictures to fit in one post. Next up: feeding the ostriches, groundhogs, ducks, and birds.

Trip to Utah part 5, Visiting the Fallstroms and Keels

We had so much fun with family on this trip! Noel and Jewell were so nice to put us up in their house. The adults played tons of games, and the kids ran around playing with their cousins. One evening, they took us out to dinner for Thai food, which was located in and old house that someone turned into a restaurant. It was kind of weird, but also cool. The kids all loved the chicken satay, and this is the only picture I took in the restaurant.

Later that evening, Dorothy and Brandon came over to join us for some games. We played an art gallery game, which I can't remember the name of. I lined up the cousins on the couch for a picture. Unfortunately, the youngest three children, Ian, Emery, and Keeley, had all gone to bed for the night, but fun to have a cousins shot nonetheless. Pictured below is Tavian, Tyler, Joben, Sareny, Katlyn, Finley, Isaac.

Even though we were mostly wearing comfy clothes (ie jammies,) I wanted a picture of the adults as well. We don't all get together very often. In fact, I think this was the first time in six years!

The following evening the Heiners had gone out of town, but my brother Jake came over to play games with us. They live about five minutes away from Noel and Jewell, so it was convenient to see both of them. Jake and Liz had just had a baby about a week before our trip, so the next day we went over to visit them in their new house. They've actually been in this house for probably two years, but this was the first time we had ever seen it, so we'll still call it new.



















The kids all wanted to hold tiny baby William. He was so cute!



















Isaac loves babies so much!



















And I met my newest nephew as well.














Their house and neighborhood were super cute. It was really nice to visit with them for a short while. Then I lined the kids (minus baby William) up on their front porch for another cousins picture. I really tried hard to get a picture where everyone looked cute, but it was just too difficult. I had to pick this one, where Isaac doesn't look so fabulous.














I could have picked this one, where Isaac looks perfect, but look at everyone else...














Pictured above is Finely, Sareny, Keeley, Josh, Charlie, Isaac.