apricot jam + finger puppets

canning has become somewhat of a lost art and i am so thankful that my mom has begun to teach me all she knows! i still don't think i could do it successfully without her...but one day i'll feel confident enough...maybe :)

anyways, she scored some apricots from a ward member and invited me to make apricot jam with her. it turned out delicious + miraculously the kids were good while we worked! max was amused with the finger {turned toe} puppets and avery perfected her little guppy/chipmunk face. what silly kids.

taste of the valley 2011

i know this happened like...forever ago...but i'm trying to catch up and didn't want to forget this awesome summer memory:

i actually WON something last month on the coterie blog. she was giving away 2 tickets {$20 value} to provo's taste of the valley. we went two years ago and loved it so i was pumped when i was the winner!!

we had a blast. we ate soooo much food. it was incredibly hot but we had a good time. max even got to go down the bouncy slide as many times as he wanted to...for free.

can't beat an afternoon where we didn't have to spend a single penny!

oh...and isn't avery adorable?? we love her.

utah olympic park + the dinosaur museum

one of the biggest regrets from my childhood is not attending any of the winter olympic games when they came to utah. some of the events were held literally BLOCKS from my parents house, and they ran the torch right down the street from where we lived...but we didn't see any of it. isn't that horrible?!? i don't really know why, but whatever the reason, it makes me sad.

going to the utah olympic park almost made up for it. that park is AMAZING. we did just a simple tour of the park but danny and i were impressed the entire time. we had a wonderful tour guide + max and avery did great too! plus, no one fell down the ski slope, so that was a bonus :)

i had no idea that skiers practiced year round. they go down the slopes while wearing wet suits and flip into a pool of bubbly water. is anyone else as clueless as i was? either way, it was so neat! we couldn't get over how little the kids were going off the jumps. they had FIVE year olds doing it!!! craziness.

we got to go right down to the bobsled track, where they had real sleds going down!! you can pay $60 for a one-minute ride {one dollar a second!} a professional driver drives the sled, but even knowing that i don't think i could ever do it! they were flying. the luge track also scared me to death. how do people do that kind of stuff?? i will never know...

...and the last stop of the day: thanksgiving point. we stopped there on our way back home after three days of non-stop activities. we were exhausted to say the least. as tired as we all were, max still had a blast at the dino museum. the sand room + the magnetic wall were definite favorites of his.

yay for summer activities!! we wish it would never end...

this is the place + hogle zoo

our next day of adventures included this is the place park + the hogle zoo. luckily they are right across the street from each other so driving was at a minimum.

it was HOTTT all day long, but we still had a good time. max was able to ride a real live pony, pet some sheep, see baby goats, ride on a mini train, explore a ship, walk through pioneer homes, tour one of brigham young's homes, and even witness a "bank robbery."

we decided after the fact that max + {especially} avery would enjoy "this is the place" a little better when they are older...but now we know that for next time :)

the zoo was great! we didn't stay there very long because of:

1. the heat

and 2. cranky children

but it was fun to point out all of the animals to max that he usually only sees in stories. he loved the giraffes + he even got to ride another "horse" at the zoo! kristina + missy met up with us for this little excursion, so that was fun too.

next stop: the lion house + the olympic park up in park city + the dino museum at thanksgiving point!

clark planetarium + snowbird

our next stop {after a quick lunch at the gateway food court} was the clark planetarium. we got to go to a show in the dome theater--ultimate universe. the dome is pretty neat...but we were pretty unimpressed with the actual show. plus, max had to leave a little bit early since he doesn't do well sitting still for long periods of time...however, they did have fun toys to play with in the gift shop!

to squeeze in naps for the kids, we let them sleep on the way up to snowbird. amazingly, it worked out! max was out before we even got on the freeway + avery slept like a champ pretty much the whole day. danny signed up to ref a soccer tournie up in ogden, so he had to skip out on snowbird. we missed him! but thanks to danny's parents we survived!

the tram ride was absolutely breathtaking. it is always so much fun to go up the canyon in the middle of the summer. it was such a treat! the ice cream + snowball fights helped to cool us down too :)

next stop: this is the place park + the hogle zoo!