Our Last 2 Weeks of July

We love July!! With July 4 at the beginning and July 24 at the end there is never a time to be bored. I was NOT in charge of this years float for the parade so I was able to watch the parade this year. The first time in three years!! I'm glad because we finally got a visit from Katie's Grandma and Grandpa Lofgreen and her 3 brothers Justin, Nathan, and Jacob.

They drove all the way from Indiana. A couple of them came to Alexys' play and the rest went to the rodeo. A first time experience for all of them. It was fun to see them again. I wish there wasn't such a huge distance between us so we could see them more often. It just costs so much to go that far.=(

Here are some pictures of Katie and her brothers with Alexys. They all got along very well.

Jacob(13) Justin(18) Katie(8) Nathan(16) Alexys(15)
Great bunch!! I wish they could be closer.

I wash shocked at how tall they all had gotten since 6 years ago.


So Alexys did the play again this year. It was called Once Upon A Mattress.
They all did a great job.
Here are a couple pictures from Saturday afternoons performance.


This is Alexys left and her friend Natalie right. They were the nightingales.
They were also Lady's in waiting. But this part they had to try to sing the princess to sleep. They really do blend well together.



This is the end of the play when the King gets his voice back.


This is the bows at the end. They bowed as Lady's and then as Birds.


On Tuesday before all of this our friends the Rawsons came up from California. Minus Jerry.

They came to our house for the afternoon and to see Alexys in the play that evening.

We took the kids to the Sand Bar. It was a bit strange because we got there and the water was so low that it wasn't even going over the waterfall. You could see rocks in the center of the river. Pretty weird. And then while we were still there it started to rise and came back to where it should be. They must have been working on something.

ANYWAY!!
It took Katie a while for her to want to get in the water but after she did she loved it. And no we are not Hannah Montana fans. I had to buy this vest once when we had forgotten hers and this day Alexys had taken the Suburban and her other vest was in there. Not that anyone cares.

I love these kids!

Ashten, Emma, Zack, Sam

Hope I spelled your names right...

She looks like a little frog here.=)


Well I hope you all have a great rest of your summer.
We are heading up to West Yellowstone for the evening to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. My parents are taking all of us. If I get pictures at all I will post them later.
BYE!

The Fourth Of July and More

So of course I love the Fourth of July. I love this country and I'll take it with all it's flaws because I know it's a country that God loves and that is enough for me. We had a long weekend and saw three different firework shows. First one in Rigby at the Lake. My Brother and his wife always have a great barbecue and we can watch from their backyard. Thanks again you guys!

The second set we watched up in Island Park while sitting in my uncles boat on the reservoir. That was a lot of fun to see it reflect of the water. and then there were also well over 100 boats around us. Good Times!

And the third was Sunday night up in West Yellowstone. They actually have a great show there. It lasted about 20 minutes and there were a few times we thought it was a grand finale but it just kept going. So anyway Friday,Saturday and Sunday night FIREWORKS!!

So fun for us.

Well here a bunch of pictures from over the last week or two. I'll just try to label each one so you know what exciting things you are looking at.

Hope you don't fall asleep while you are previewing our adventures. =)

It was so cold on the Sat. during and after the parade that the kids didn't want to play on the water slide they wanted to sit in my parents hot tub. Katie is looking very patriotic isn't she?

This is a part of the river we hiked on the Upper Coffee Pot trail.
So pretty!

Craig and Alexys on a ginormous rock

Me and Katie at the end of the trail before we headed back.

This is how Katie hiked pretty much the whole time.

Craig is such a good Dad.

This is the sunset before the fireworks started on I.P. reservoir.

The gang on the boat with our cool decorations!

Me and Craig in the boat.

A firework that lit up the lake enough to see a few of the boats around us.

Every light on this picture is one boat. We stopped counting at 100.

We waited for most of them to leave so we weren't in all the waves.

This was a reflection on the water from a firework.

This is last week up on the Yellowstone Lake. We went up and crashed my parents getaway and camped one night with them.

Alexys is helping Katie make a hand print in the sand.

Sorry it's sideways. Just the girls and a pretty view.

Katie loves to play in the dirt.

Here she is!

Mom, Dad, Alexys and Katie

Mom and Dad coming down to the lakeside.

This is the cool Yellowstone Lake Hotel. Katie is standing by the pillar.

We love that old bus.

Lounging in the Lobby.

Cool Bus!

Well that's it!!

Thanks for stopping in!!

Bear World

So we went to Bear World today. I got a good price on a car load ticket and so I decided to take my Mom and my Niece and two of my Nephews and of course me and the girls.It actually got above 80 degrees today so it was a bit warm but very nice. It's a great place with so many animals. They even have a moose now! Anyway here are a lot of pictures of what we did and saw. Enjoy!!

Tanner, Austin, Katie, Reagan, Alexys

Front Entrance and sun in faces.

Black Bear relaxing in the shade. One of about 40 or more bears.
I had taken a picture of one in the pond but it won't show up on here as a full picture???

Big 5 or 6 point Elk

Of course I was to mesmerized by the Albino Elk to have taken any pictures of them There were 4 baby ones and one adult that we could find. They are amazing.

Peacock showing off.

Alexys finally found the cute little goat.

Katie loved the pigs.

Hugging a dear. You don't get to do that every day.

Reagan, Tanner, and Austin petting some dear.

The yearling cubs playing. They were fun to watch. There are two in this picture wrestling. Sorry the picture isn't better. I only had my phone to take pictures.

They had a few rides that the kids had fun on .

I call this one the blueberry tree.

This one is called the log roller coaster.

Katie loved it. She screamed so loud that the guy running asked if I wanted him to stop it. I had to explain that she was just excited not scared.=)

Another ride on the blueberry tree. They look thrilled don't they?

Two Grizzlies swimming in the canal

The toot-toot as Katie called it. They all four wanted to sit in the engine.

These were fun they jumped up and down while it went around.

Alexys was a good sport about everything. She is such a great girl. This is her waiting for the other kids to finish with the rides. And of course she was texting.

Alone on the Jeeps. She was smiling before I snapped the picture.

A Grizzly eating some meat.

The baby cubs playing. SOOO cute!

This is them getting ready to be bottle fed. They knew exactly what to do.
I want to hug them!!!

So silly!

The sun was in Alexys' face. That is funny!