Weekend with the Bybee's!

This was a fun and busy weekend. Our long time good friends invited our family to go with them and spend the night in Salt Lake. All of us in one house was so fun and crazy. The kids loved having the sleep over and enjoyed playing together. The best part of it was when we put the kids to bed and stayed up playing games all night. On Saturday it started out as a really rainy day so we just stayed inside and played the Wii with the kids. They thought it was so much fun, and we had such a great time with our friends. Brenn and Becky..thanks for the fun weekend and the great memories. We have to do it again.

All of us playing the Wii, it was so fun!!

Look how hard I had to concentrate!! And I lost!!

Even the kids got in on the action!!!

Joe and I after he beat me!!! I forgave him!!

Myself and Becky, just us girls, laughing and having a great time.

The kids played great with each other..

Our North Dakota Trip!

At the beginning of August I took Jaxson and Bryce to see their first cousin in North Dakota. My sister had her first baby at the end of June and they blessed her in church that first Sunday. The trip was long and quick at the same time. We drove with my parents, (Joe had to stay home and work, which I was not happy about but what do you do) and it took us 20 hours just to get there, that was the long part of the trip. The boys did as good as I could expect them to being that they are 3 and 1. When we got there, the boys could not wait to see baby Maggie. She has got to be the cutest little girl I had ever seen ( I am not biased am I, she is my first niece). We spent two days with them loving her, kissing her and holding her. On that Sunday, the day of the blessing my brother in law David cooked this amazing dinner for us. My dad told him he needs to take this on the road (which is saying something if my dad said that). David cooked a 10lb rib eye roast and shrimp with pasta salad and other really good sides. David you are AWESOME!!! You are making Christmas dinner this year!!!

We are having girl time!! Something I do not get at home!! Love you boys!!

Isn't she the cutest!

Grandma, Papa, Laurie, Jaxson, and Bryce with Maggie!

Jaxson with Papa and Maggie. He loves her so much!

David and Jaxson watching America's Funniest Home Video's (Jaxson favorite show)

Maggie is a Papa's girl already!

We were only able to spend two days with them. I then realized how much love and miss my sister, she truly is my best friend and I am lucky to have her for eternity. I am so proud of her for going what she went through to bring this special person to us. I never knew how much I could love little Maggie until she arrived, I love her almost as much as I love my own boys.

Then it was time to head home. That was the other long part. But this time my dad decided to take a little detour. If you know my dad, this does not surprise you, while growing up we always took detours when ever we took a road trip, we never know where we were going to end up when dad is at the wheel. But this time it was a needed detour, we went and spent a day at Yellowstone National Park! My boys were in heaven. We saw so many animals and were just amazed what our Heavenly Father created. It was such a beautiful park and I was so sorry that Joe had missed it, I see a family vacation there next year. Hmmm to be announced!!

This was at the very top of the mountains before we got into the park. (This made me a little nervous looking down the cliffs into the canyon.) It was so beautiful to see everything!

The boys with Mom!

Jaxson, Bryce, Grandma and Papa!

We saw a water fall after the canyon and still before we entered the park. It was so relaxing and refreshing to hear. ( I love the outdoors, isn't Heavenly Father wonderful to us.)

The boys throwing rocks into the waterfall. They had a blast.

Then once we got into Yellowstone Park, we saw so many buffalo's, and they were CLOSE!!! I had no idea how BIG they acutall are.

This buffalo was on the road and we had to wait for it to cross so in this picture it was 20 feet from us if that, makes you a little nervous being that close. Luckily it was a female and not as large.

Now this buffalo was on the other side of us as we were sitting waiting for that other buffalo to cross, and this is a male. Look how huge he is.


We saw other animals like bears and elk but I could not get a picture of them quick enough, I wish I had, but we had such a great time in Yellowstone Park. Thanks Dad for the detour once again. After Yellowstone we headed home. We had a good trip with some not so good times but we enjoyed it all the same. David, LeighAnne and Maggie we love you and miss you so much.

Pioneer Day!

July 24th in Utah is like a second 4th of July, it's Pioneer Day, a state holiday and in some ways it is bigger than the 4th of July. Joe had the day off and so did my parents and we decided to spend the day outdoors away from crowds. We took the boys up to Bridal Vail falls that is up in the canyons and went for a nice little hike. Joe and Papa took them up to the top of the falls, they thought it was the coolest thing. After that we had a little picinic and they got to throw rocks in a little river, we spent an hour doing that and they loved it. Later that night after their naps we went swimming and had a really good BBQ. (Joe is getting better every year with his grilling skills! Man was is good!) When it got dark we went across the street in an empty parking lot and lit some fireworks for the boys. I do not know who had more fun, Jaxson and Bryce or Joe and my dad. But all in all we had such a fun day.

Jaxson and Bryce with Grandma and Papa!Bryce thought the water was too cold and he kept lifting up his feet

everytime we set him in!

Jaxson people watching!


Bryce is just going with the flow!

Later on, dad and papa swimming with the boys!

Mama's First Hair Cutting Session!

About a week ago I decided to cut both of the boy's hair myself to save a little bit of money. Well, it did not go as planned so I ended up buzzing their hair for the summer. Joe and I laughed about it for a while, but at least I did not cry about it and thought 'Oh well, it will grow back soon'. I am glad that it did not turn out to bad. Practice makes perfect, right? What are boy's for.

Update!

Finally I have a little bit of time to update our blog. In July Joe and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, my parents took the boys over night and we went out to dinner and to see the new Harry Potter movie and had a great time without the boys. Jaxson has started potty training and doing pretty well at it with only a few difficulties but we are moving forward with it. I also enrolled Jaxson into preschool starting at the end of August and he goes two days a week until May, he is really excited about it and so am I. I hope everyone is doing well and I will do another post with some pictures in the next few days.