Family Pics 2011

We just took family pictures today, and there are still a lot of pictures that I want to post from the summer and the first weeks of school, but I want to first post these pictures and I will try to get to the rest soon, before I have too many more pictures and get even further behind. We took these ourselves and I think they turned out ok :)
Easton thought it was hilarious, for some reason. We couldn't get him to sit still. He thought it was so funny to fall backward whenever he started laughing. Oh, and lesson learned? Don't choose a place that has sticks, rocks, and water...notice the wet pants and shoes :)


Saralyn and Alma were very patient, even when we said "this is the last one" about a dozen times :)





These are just some last minute pictures we took when we got home. I might try again with the kids together when they aren't so sick of smiling :) They turned out ok i think.

I took one like this last year and I really liked it so I thought I would try it again

Fun with Family

These are pics from when our family from Pennsylvania arrived. Needless to say the kids were excited to have them here with us!
Aunt Becca, Alma and Easton

Grandma and the kids just dancin'

Grandma helping get Easton to sleep :)
Another day we went to Ogden for a day of fun. We had planned to go swimming, but the pool we were going to go to had a super long line and we were going to have to wait for a lot more people to leave before we would be able to get in - and it was HOT! So we decided to make a better plan and we found a "splash pad" to have fun in. It's like a playground...with water! We all had fun and cooled off.






Easton and his own idea of fun :)

Haircut

Although I didn't manage to get any pictures of Easton's first haircut, this is close (it was his second) and Grandma Nancy was even there to see it :)
Before

After

Where did summer go?? (post #1)

Well, Alma starts 1st grade next week and I don't know where summer went..I think I must have blinked and missed or something! I'm so sad school's almost here, but Alma's excited and I guess that's what matters:) Anyway, I wanted to highlight the fun things we were able to do this summer. I wish we could have done more, but I'd say we had a good time.
We started it off with swimming lessons. Surprisingly a lot of people around here have pools in their backyards and one of our neighbors recommended a teacher, so we jumped at the chance and we didn't have to drive to Ogden everyday for two weeks!...which is definately a good thing

Alma jumping off the diving board-- YEAH!

Saralyn on the last day with purple popsicle lips




Saralyn striking a pose

They had a blast and I'm sure would have been happy to go every day of the entire summer if it was an option :)

Memorial Day campout

For Memorial Day the Briggs fam usually tries to go camping, so camp we did in the rain...and snow...but it was fun! mostly :) Anyway, it's always fun to spend time with family away from the everyday distractions. Great Grandma and Grandpa Anderson were even able to come with us this time!
Easton eating a delicious ear of corn (with a little help from Dad)

Saralyn asleep with Great Grandpa

As I mentioned, it snowed and rained quite a bit and thankfully, we had some trailers to hibernate in :) G. Grandma and Grandpa invited all the great grandkids to come and watch a movie in their nice warm trailer :) They had a lot of fun and were grateful for the warmth :)

Trip to the bathrooms with Grandma Briggs

Aunt Megan and Uncle Tyler roasting marshmallows

Alma and Saralyn...just chillin' (literally)

Hanging out with Uncle Tyler

Great Grandma snuggling little Kenzly

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. Next year, however, I think my vote may be to wait a week or two and hopefully miss out on the snow :)

School's Out!

Alma had a wonderful teacher this year for Kindergarten. Her name is Mrs. Stevens and I think she was the perfect match for Alma. We were lucky because this year was actually her last year teaching before retirement! Alma was a little bit shy and nervous about doing things perfect at the first of the year, and Mrs. Stevens made her feel better and helped make her very first year of school GREAT! She loved kindergarten and can't wait for 1st grade--although I think I can ;) I'm going to miss her when she is gone all day, but I guess I'll have to find someway to survive:) She's growing up so fast!

Alma and her teacher

Saralyn also had a fun last field trip with her preschool. We went to a farm here in town.
They were a little nervous at first to pet the horses, but after they got used to it they thought it was pretty cool.

We went into the milking area and they got to see the cows being milked. It was pretty funny, we were all standing there listening to her tell us about how much milk they make and how often they are milked and I guess one of the cows got nervous or something and pooped and we all got a little splattered! Luckily, none of us got it to bad, just a few speckles here and there, but yeah, we all went home and had a bath

This is how Saralyn looked for a big part of the field trip "Mom, it STINKS!"

We also saw goats...

And baby cows that the kids got to name :)

What a fun (although stinky) trip!

Joy School Fieldtrip to Hogle Zoo

Since we were at the end of the alphabet we thought it would be fun to take the kids to the zoo. It was a nice day and we all had a good time :)
First picture of the day ( we had one girl we hadn't met up with yet, and one that couldn't come)

Picture by the elephants, can you see them?

For some reason they were fascinated with the water hole, even though there were no animals in it.

It was fun seeing Easton's reaction to the animals. Mostly he would stare and point and say something that sounded like "ohhhh".



Looking at the giraffes

Lion head drinking fountain

Here are the kids are looking at a peacock. The fence wasn't very high, so they were able to get really close. But I guess the peacock didn't like that because all sudden it let out the very loud, long, and shrill scream! The kids actually froze, you should have seen the look on their faces! Once they were able to the ran away as fast as they could. I guess they probably won't get that close again :)

Saralyn seeing what size of gorilla she would be. I think she is at the adolescent stage. oh my, I can only imagine what that will be like! I'm glad I have a few years o prepare :)

There was a pretty fun playground for the kids to play on. Saralyn and Easton certainly enjoyed it!