Happy 4th of July!

My Google Bear helps me water the garden everyday. She helped me plant it too, so she is pretty proud of how well it's doing this year. I'm going to have to find some good cabbage recipes for sure!

Carter with his new batting gloves showing off our first strawberries of the year. Ave is into photobombing now too. You'll see more evidence of that later.

Teague snarfed all 3 of these up the next day. The boy loves fruit!

It finally feels like summer here! It's hot! We decided to cool down with a water balloon fight.

Good throw Teague!

I have no idea what he was doing in glasses or why he was carrying these Beatles pictures around. I love it though. It combines Harry Potter and the Beatles - a mind blowing collaberation!

Erica and Sean rented a room at Fairmont for a couple nights. It was so much fun. They let Carter and Ave spend the night, and Teague and I met them out there the next morning. Mom, Dad, and Jordan joined us later too. It was a blast. These guys swam for hours!

One more picture before I put the camera away. He really liked this chair!

Carl and Jenny got Laney a Thundershirt, and we could not be more thankful. She truly does love it. It made the fireworks a lot more bearable this year!

We went up to Mom's coworker's house on the 3rd again. It is such a nice location and has a huge yard. Here's Ave swinging before the fireworks started.

Dad and Landon played a little game while we were waiting too.

Ave was trying to jump into this picture. They are all smiling, so I like it!

My Ave watching the Fireworks with me. She really enjoyed them and yelled out what shape and color each one was. "Hey Mom, did you see that gold peanut?"

Photobombing Grandma and Papa! This makes me laugh!

One more of the boys - they found an awesome stash of toys to play with.

Happy 4th of July! Butte always does a wonderful job celebrating. We enjoyed the parade as always too. Dad claimed he had no red or blue shirts, so he wore this hat. He received many compliments!

A bit sunny for the boys to smile.

This is such a cute picture. Jordan looked especially festive in her headband!

They mostly stood up with the neighbor boys from down the Street. The Stoddens are super nice.

Time to give Goofy some fives. Goofy made Teague give him about ten. It was pretty funny! We ran across the street to see Olaf too.

What a silly smile!

Trying to get a good one of all four - not too bad!

Feast time!

Kyle filled up some little water balloons inside the wiffle balls. We had a great time tossing them back and forth to see who would get soaked.

Dad missed the first 3. It was hilarious!

This one had a hernia apparently. And yes, Kyle is wearing a Bodhi from Point Break shirt. It's awesome.

Later that night, Teague passed out about 10 o'clock. We sat outside in the truck bed and watched all the fireworks going off around town. It was pretty cool.

We tried to take one all together! On a side note, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Barsness earlier that day at their hotel. Grandpa Barsness had back surgery on the 3rd. It went well, and he's home now. We hope he keeps feeling better everyday!

Today was a balmy 86 degrees. We decided it was a perfect Splash Pad Day. The big boys are super brave this year too. They went straight for the bucket!

Ave just had fun splashing around.

This is about as close as Teague got. He's not a fan yet.

What a silly girl!

There she is with her face in the umbrella.

Teague did enjoy squirting people with Carter.

The pavement always dries you off pretty quickly!

Landon getting cooled off.

Landon and Carter (laying facedown) getting ready for a splash!

That will cool you off!

It's so nice when these two get to hang out!

One more before we take off. Landon appears to be trying to ward off the water...it didn't work!

They make me laugh. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Vacation Part 3!

Zoo time, starting with the zebras! Mom, Dad, Carl, Jenny, and Landon met us at the Hogle Zoo on Saturday. Erica and Sean stayed in Butte, which was lucky for us. Erica picked up Laney, paid for her, and stayed the night with her. I was very thankful for that!

Not sure what this pose is here, but these 3 are always happy to be together. Carter was our guide as you can see. He was slightly obsessed with the map!

A quick picture of everyone before we got started. Carl and Jenny flew out from Salt Lake the next morning. They also bought our dog a Thundershirt from the new Petco in Butte. We put it on her last night, and she loved it! Thanks again!

The elephants are so awesome. Mother and baby were having a little snack while we watched.

Carter giving us some facts. He's very animated when talking about animals.

Another family picture. Poor Teague was exhausted. I was holding him very awkwardly too - oops!

We had a family picture on these stairs 3 years ago. We tried another one! Landon took this for us. I think we were maybe looking at Mom's camera here, but I still like it.

Some huge rhinos - Princess and George. Not sure which is which!

An otter swimming underwater - they are so cute! They were rubbing themselves on logs in the sun.

4 little otters!

Leopard seals just chilling in the sun.

This sea lion was huge!

Ave will always pose for the camera!

Two grizzly bears having a snooze.

This one popped up right when I was taking a picture.

We stopped for a little snack. Teague informed me that this is happy face! He was in a much better mood after some ice cream!

I caught these 3 off guard I guess. I think Ave's ice cream hit the side of Landon's face accidentally!

A snow leopard sleeping in a tree. Those paws are so huge!

Teague had to sit on the Mom and the baby. He can be such a cutie when he wants to be!

This was Carter's favorite animal at the Zoo. The Siberian Tiger was huge!

One more pit stop while their Daddy bought tickets for the carousel.

Teague asked Kyle to come with him. He picked the polar bear.

Carter and Landon rode next to eachother of course!

Ave was right behind them on the giraffe!

The reptiles are always kind of creepy but interesting. Here is Landon in front of a red tailed Boa (which of course, you can't see).

For some reason, this was one of Ave's favorite things, a very colorful fowl!

The sloth is cute. He was sleeping the day away.

Teague warned us all to stay back from the Rattlesnake.

We went back to the Rocky Shores one more time. I just love the seals.

This sea lion was barking up a storm. We could hear him from across the Zoo!

We found the giraffe finally. There were a couple of them in the giraffe barn instead of out with the  zebras and ostriches. I always think they are so neat to look at.

Teague got a Crocodile from the gift shop that he named Crocky. He's not usually a stuffed animal kind of guy, but he loves it!

We went swimming one more time after a tasty dinner (thanks again Carl and Jenny - hope your flight went well!). Here is Carter staring at me through his cannonball! I love how his feet are just entering the water!

A jumping Lando too! They had a lot of fun!

The next day we went to Scheels one more time with Mom, Dad, and Landon. It was a nice place to visit before lunch. Then we hit the road. The upper level of Scheels has all these Photo opportunity places!

A monster truck!

These two! Look at those faces!

I guess Teague likes the skunk! Carter was off getting new batting gloves with Kyle.

And we're off! Ave was asleep right away. I like how her lips are pursed together. We had so much fun. We'll have to do it another 3 years!