Mini Vacation

This year we never got around to planning a big summer vacation, so we thought we needed to do some kind of trip with the kids. So we packed up the car and drove down to Utah. We dropped off Damon at my parents house and stayed in a hotel in Sandy.

When we first got there, we decided to go to the South Towne Mall, which was right across the street from our hotel. Yay! We shopped around a little bit then we let the kids ride on the Merry Go Round that is in the food court...

Here are the cool kids waiting to get on the ride.
Blake on his dragon
Ashlyn on her kitty.

The next day we woke up to head to the "main attraction" of our vacation,
Seven Peaks Water Park in Orem.

Here is a picture of the main structure.
There were also some other big slides that weren't connected to this main one, but I didn't get a picture of them.


Here is Ashlyn hanging out at the wave pool. She enjoyed swimming but once the waves got started they were a little to rough for her, so she had to get out.
The kids and I pose for a quick picture.
And of course one with Dad.
Here is Ashlyn showing off her mad modeling skills!

This was Ashlyn's favorite part of the park. Though she was too scared to go down that teeny slide. She is such a chicken!




Blake absolutely LOVED the water park. He wasn't afraid to do any of the slides. There was one in particular that was really steep, that I'm not even sure I would have done, but he did it and wasn't a bit scared.
(He actually wan't even big enough to ride it, but Terry snuck him on it a few times!)
I wasn't able to get any pictures of him on it though!





That night after the water park, we took the kids to eat dinner at The Mayan. It is this fun Mexican restaurant that does a show while you are eating. They have these cliff divers that dive and do tricks into this pool of water. It is fun to watch though the food isn't anything to write about!

This snake statue is right outside of The Mayan, so the kids had to get a picture inside of its mouth.

Here the kids got to take a picture with one of the guys who are in the show.

(Ashlyn was a little afraid of this guy. But can you blame her? Look at that creepy looking smile!)

Here the kids and I are waiting for another show to start.

Same with Terry.

Of course, the best part about staying in a hotel is the swimming pool right! The kids got to swim both nights we stayed and enjoyed every minute of it.

Miss Ashlyn Jade

Here I kept trying to get an action shot of Blake jumping in, but my camera has too much of a delay, so this is the best I could get!

So that ended our Mini Vacation. We were glad we were able to make this memory with our two big kids. We already have our resort booked for Disney Land next year, so we have that to look forward to. So watch out California, the Olsons are coming!

Blake's T-ball

Blake played t-ball again this year. He was on the "Firecrackers".

Blake wanted to pose for me up on the fence.
Here he is at bat.
They had to move the tee and bases onto the grass for this game because the dirt was so muddy that the kids kept slipping.

Here he is after making it to first base.

I was able to get these "on the field" shots cause I was actually the fill in coach at this game. Sorry to the coach, but she was a terrible coach! She was never at any of the games and didn't teach the kids anything. I have decided that I am going to coach his team next year. If you want something done a certain way than you have to do it yourself, and she definately didn't coach the way I would have wanted Blake coached. Oh well, we have next year!

Summer Fun...

Here is more of the fun that we have been up to this summer...

The kids made several trips to the park this summer.

They love the park with the "big hill". They spend most of the time running down this hill.
Blake loves any kind of monkey bars/rings!

Ashlyn loves to slide!

Damon just hangs out watching his big brother and sister and looks forward to the day that he can join them!

We also had plenty of time playing in the water. Their friends came over tons of times for water parties and they got to do the same at their friends house.

First fishing trip of the summer...

I have been a HUGE blog slacker this summer. I really need to post everything that we have been up to this summer. So I have just decided to do one post at a time, and even though most of these things have happened months ago, I will be able to rest a little easier knowing that I am finally getting some of these things written down. So here goes...

To start off the summer, we took the kids on a fishing trip. We packed up and drove up to the Heise area (I think!) Not only was this our first fishing trip of the summer, it was also Damon's very first fishing trip ever! GO DAMON!

Here, Damon thinks he's "big stuff" holding onto the pole with Dad.

Here he is admiring the quality of his reel.

We really loved this spot! The fishing wasn't any good, but the view and the sound of the river flowing was the best!

All of that fishing sure wore Damon out!

I wanted to get a shot of the kids with the scenery in the background, but the pictures honestly do not do it justice. It really was beautiful here!

The kids always think they need to pose. Such goofballs!

And more posing!!

We had a great time out here. We fished, the kids rode their bikes, and we also played a little baseball. Once we get another camping trailer, we will definately be making this spot a regular camp spot. It was such a relaxing place, I didn't want to leave.