We had a lot of fun in Dallas with Devon's family in the beginning of July. It was a little warm, but we went out side first thing, and then went swimming or played on the toys at the mall. We didn't do too good of a job taking pictures. We also went to Cabela's to see the huge fish and stuffed animals. Spencer got a stomach bug the first few days, but no one else caught it- and we had a great time.
Here is James after the 4th of July breakfast.
We went to the Children's Museum with Kelsey and her family and Grandma and Catherine. James loved the water.
When you stood against this wall a super bright flash would come and it would take a picture of your shadow.
We went on a few "safaris" in the morning and found interesting spiders and ants and worms. Mostly it was so nice to be with family, and I enjoyed not having to plan and cook meals for more than a week.
We also celebrated James birthday a little more. He got this ball from grandma, and would not put it down
I think he was made we were making him open more presents

When he saw things with wheels he was okay.
We let the kids play in the pool after dinner, so we had to drag James out to blow out his candles on his cake.
He did not eat cake until pool time was over, he was having too much fun!
Spencer loved playing with his cousins, and James walked right up to the toy room every time we went to Kelsey's house. We had so much fun with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa and "Cafrine" (who Spencer could not leave alone!
One other funny thing. When we finally got to Grandma's house from Albuquerque (a 10 hour drive) James was sooo excited he tried to jump all over the house. He can't quite get both feet off of the ground, but it's a cute whole body effort! The trip was worth the drive- and that is saying something.

Albuquerque

On our way to Texas we stopped in Albuquerque to visit Deon and her family. While we were there Max had his birthday party.
We also got to meet up with our friends who moved to New Mexico at the Discovery museum. Spencer loved this place! Here you roll the ball down, but you can move the ramp around to see which way gives you the most momentum.
On the wall in the back you could build tracks for marbles, I mght need to make a way of my boys room like this, Spencer played with it forever.
Building a waterfall.
Spencer and Catherine build a route to water- for about 20 minutes- which is long for Spencer.

Have you ever been inside of a bubble?

or covered with bubbles?
This slide was like rolling sticks, it felt really fast.
We met the LaFonts, these are Spencer's friends Vivi and Dessa. It was so fun to see them for a little bit.

Stuff

I just wanted to post a few random pictures before moving on to the vacation posts.
Spencer and James have finally found a way to use the Ipad together- James watches
Spencer found this box and decorated it as his "special box" There is a T-Rex, a picture of him and a swirl. He played with this all day!


Spencer showing off what he learned in swim lessons



Spencer's creativity boggles my mind. He really made this all by himself, maybe he will be an inventor.

James' 2nd birthday

I cannot believe James is 2! He is such a sweet boy, always hugging everyone. He loves cars, so he got a lot of cars for his birthday. We actually gave him this car a few days before his birthday because we were cleaning out our storage unit, and then he found one of his presents (seriously- i am going to have to start hiding things), so he didn't open too many presents on his actual birthday.
He got a little garage from his Grandma Coombs, and did not want to open any more presents
I think Spencer took one of his cars, but this is a great example of how James cries- mouth wide open and very loud!

All better!
We had his real cake in Texas, so we just got a banana creme pie for his actual birthday.

At the cabin

While we were in Idaho we had a little family reunion. Most of my family ended up not being able to come, but my sister Mandy and her kids and my parents and Natalie came. We had a fun time.
One the first day we went on a hike along a railroad bed. That was nice because we could take a stroller, and James slept most of it. Here is Jase ready for the hike.
Here are the cousins along the trail. It was a 3 mile hike. Jase and Anna walked almost the whole way (Spencer and James did not!)
Anna and grandpa taking the lead
I didn't get pictures of these, but Jase kept drawing "dinosaur prints" with his walking stick in the path for Spencer to follow, he loved it. I also didn't get a picture of us crossing the treacherous mud slide, Mandy got almost knee deep in mud, but the rest of us came out pretty unscathed. The rain held off until we reached the covered pavilion- and then it poured.
That night Devon and i hosted some "Minute to Win It" games. We played boys vs girls, and both Mandy and Nathan were the only ones to get the cookie on "Face the Cookie." Besides Spencer who just put it in his mouth.

We played quite a few games, but as soon as we were done with this one James jumped off my lap and did it himself, he was very proud!
People in Texas- we are bringing these games to you- so be ready! It was really fun!
The second day we went to Mesa Falls. The falls is making a rainbow.


They had a little museum there with tons of animal pelts. It thought it was a little weird to touch them, Spencer was not at all disturbed.
This reminds me of Spencer and bears in Yellowstone. While we were driving in Yellowstone we talked about what you should do if you see a bear. Spencer could not be convinced that you should stand still, so if you ask him what to do if you see a bear he will tell you "Daddy will hold still and I will run and we'll see who gets attacked!" Luckily, we didn't see any bears.


James loves to growl, and there were lots of things to growl at here, he just can't decide if he should growl or say cheese.

Yellowstone and the Tetons

While we where in Idaho we got to spend a few days in Yellowstone. It was a little chilly but beautiful. Devon took 170 pictures, so really this is just a few!

These are called paint pots.

We saw lots of Bison
Yellowstone falls, very full this year because there has been tons of snow.
My little mountain goats
We also saw many elk

The hot water running into the cold river- it was pretty neat.


Old Faithful- you can't miss that!
We took the long way back through the tetons.



There was a baby moose on the side of the road- with it's mom.
We had a great trip, lots of amazing things to see.