Zoo, Bounce House & Swimming... Oh My!

Before I got too big and not able to move around as easily, I really wanted to take the kids to the zoo so we went back at the end of May.  It was great weather and so much fun!  We only went once last year too so they had a blast!

Always a main attractant was the drinking fountain lion - so cute!  We went with some of our friends too so they were all in the mix :)

Reese, Lucas, Avery, Rio, Jax & Austin trying to watch the elephants eat - they were so cute!  There was even a little, tiny baby to see

These kids were hilarious to watch with this elephant!  It makes a loud noise and squirts out air/water - some of them loved it!  And others....well, not so much!  Cute little Reese wasn't sure she wanted to be in the picture - little cutie!

So here we are the zoo and the second my kids saw the carousel, that is all they wanted to do!  Sadly, it was slim pickens' when we got on so my cute Rio got the stationary giraffe but honestly, she was still in complete heaven!

Austin chose the spider monkey and sweet Jax (because I had to stay around all 3 of them) got the ladybug but he was loving it the whole time!  So cute - he still talks about his "big ride of the ladybug"

Got all 3 - no one looking of course but nonetheless, all 6 monkeys of our own climbing around the lion statue

Rio & Avery watching this silly chicken - they couldn't stop laughing - sweet girls!

*I had to throw this pic in the mix because I loved it so much!  My kiddos love their glasses; Jax and Rio would keep them on all day if I would let them most days*



We also had some fun days so far at the Bounce House - Unfortunately, all the pics I took were all blurry so sadly, I couldn't post any of the "action shots" - so I got them climbing up the big steps to the HUGE slide!  They have loved it and couldn't get enough :)

Even though this one is super blurry, I had to take it since it may be my only shot of pregnant mommy and the trips on slide!  So fun!

*We had some fun swimming days so far and our first outing was at my friend Angie's house with some of our trip friends.  Here are the 9 of our kiddos loving life in the pool!

Little Water Babies

Jax, Austin, Lia, Caden & Reese on the left and then Lucas, Hunter, Rio & Avery

Rio and Jax doing their all time favorite thing: swinging!!!!

Ang & Rox swinging our little ones - she has the funnest backyard!

Taking a snack break after their long swim: Caden, Hunter and Lia with mama Angie and my little 3 behind

After swinging and swimming, we ordered pizza and made it a day!  Such cuties!

2 years of hard work pays off! And I'm not talking about the triplets this time...

So proud of my sweet and super smart husband!  He did it!  He graduated with his Master's and did it in less than two years!  At the time he started, the trips were about 8 months old and two years seemed FAR, FAR AWAY into the future but we knew this would be the best time for him to go and get it done.  He's always wanted to do more school and this was a perfect fit for our family and for him. 
A wife's time to brag...I cannot say how proud I am on him for setting a goal and finishing it and doing it all while he was either a counselor in the bishopric, YM President and working full time AND being the best daddy of our little trio!  He was gone at least 3 nights/week and often 4 and sometimes on the weekends getting group projects done as well.  Like most things, now it seems it went by so fast but there were a few moments where the kids an I really missed him being around.  But we all survived :)

At the end of his program, they do an international trip and he chose to do Belgium & the Netherlands.  He was gone for 12 days during the end of April and beginning of May.  It was a great experience for him but we missed him a lot!  Although he had already been gone a lot, 12 straight days of not seeing him at all seemed an eternity to the kids!

We tried to Skype a few days during that time and at times it worked well and others not so much but at least it gave the kids a picture of daddy.  All the kids missed him but of course, our tender Austin felt it the most - this cute pic is right after we got off Skype and he immediately said, "I miss my daddy!  I need his shirts!"  But those weren't enough this time - He then said, "I want to see daddy" so I grabbed a picture of Spence and he loved it but it also made him so, so sad...

Austin held onto this picture for at least 20 min (an eternity for a 2 year old) and the shirts stayed around his shoulders for most of the day.

He made it back though and oh man!  The kids were SO excited to see him and so was I and even Lennox!  He brought with him some of THE CUTEST clog slippers I've ever seen!  (And some authentic little clogs for Rio too)  Aren't they so cute? 

Family Photo when he got back - yes, I know it's blurry but it's the only one we got!

I also had to add in some graduation pictures!  I was so proud of Spence that day but also Jax, Austin & Rio for sticking it out at a 2 and a half hour long, super non-kid-entertaining graduation.  They did awesome!  Oh! Did I mention it was during their normal nap time too?  Amazing kids I have!

My little miss Rio - what a beauty she is!  Thanks to my amazingly awesome mother/sister Sky, she gave me the idea to have some "presents" to open every so often so I did it and it was a great idea!

Rio got a few mermaids and she loved them!

This is how she kept herself entertained :)  She's so dang cute!

I also have to say that we could not have done it without both sets of grandparents!  They were awesome and so helpful and fun for the kids to be with - we love you 4 so much!

My mom with the boys - oh how they love her!

Grandma and Grandpa Morris with the boys - keeping them busy with crayons and stickers!  They love them so much!

Me & my cute dad!  Do not love this pic of me (prego face for sure) but nonetheless, we were there enjoying the graduation too :)

Just had to add this one because Austin is so sweet!  Ah... that face melts me...

Congrats babe!  Love you so much!  I know this pic is super dark but even with the flash, all the pics were dark since the room was so dark too - this is Spence on the jumbo tron after his name was called

Ya, so much for a family photo!  Ha-ha! Too many people taking pics of all of us but here it is - I love Rio's expression... she was SO TIRED by the end there but still managed just fine

The big fam!  Both our parents and our little fam - again, Rio is rubbing the tired eyes :(  Poor thing - at least we're all looking in this one right?

Ah....so proud of you!

Both Spence and I have to give a very, very special thanks to his parents - they helped SO much and in more ways than they know during this time - THANK YOU - he literally couldn't have graduated without them!

Love you mom and dad!  Thanks so much for all you do for all of us!

Again, so, so proud of you sweetie!  You're so smart and so motivated and I love that about you so much - you are an inspiration to our family!  Thanks for working so hard during this time especially and always! Love you forever!

Park & Gateway - 2 of our favorites!

So these are a month or so old pics but they were so cute; I couldn't resist!  Every time I take pictures, I think how I' have to post all of them so that these great moments aren't lost!  These little cuties are so much fun and I don't want to ever forget that!

The transition from spring to summer was so nice and the weather was (mostly) awesome.  We played at parks as much as possible and these are just a few of the pics. 

This Skye park was one of our favorites this spring/early summer - there are so many fun things for the little and bigger kids to do there - loved it!

I learned a lot about my kids watching them play and do crazy things at the parks we went to.  I mostly learned once again that my Rio is a "no-fear" girl when it comes to hanging - she is honestly SO STRONG!  She's got some serious muscles - there would be times when I would be with one of the boys doing something and I would suddenly hear, "mommy..."  and look over to find Rio doing this... 

 Freaked me out every time but she loved it! She will lean off and reach so high to grab whatever she can and just hang there forever! What a strong little girl you are sweetie-pie!

They also became "superman-style" sliders

Our friend Lucas, Austin and Rio

At the beginning of the spring, I would take them down some slides on my lap but once they figured out they could go on their own and weren't a bit nervous anymore, they would cruise up and down and at times, they would take each other down :)  So cute! 

*Rio taking Austin down*

And Jax taking Austin down and holding on so "he won't fall mommy" - great friends!

Here's some of our friends too - Reese, Roxy and Avery with Lucas coming behind them - she's a great mommy!

After the park, we took the kiddos to Arctic Circle and got them the little kiddie cones but I felt guilty that they are free and we needed 6 of them so I ordered my fav snack (fries) to share with the kids

Austin and Reese enjoying a nice read after their ice cream - silly kids!  They found this little cubby and stayed there talking and looking at their books

Another fun trip we've made a few times has been to DG downtown and we LOVE it there!  Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Morris, we have a pass this year.





Rio playing her little heart out on the chimes

Rio and Austin doing what they do best!  Playing in the water and splashing!  This is the cutest play place - we love it!

Fireman Austin to the rescue!  Love that face so much!

Playing house with their buddies:

Avery, Reese, Austin & Jax

Austin & Jax making sure the fire engine was working okay

Of course, I only got the pic where they're eyes are closed and they're getting out of the boat but for a small moment, all 3 were in this tiny boat singing "Row, Row, Row your Boat" - sweet little moments...

Rio's favorite part is for sure the life-size horse that she can ride and the boys love it to if you can't tell by Austin's happy expression

Here we are!  Choo-choos and all and yes, if you might have been wondering, both of our choo-choo wagons got mistaken once again for being a part of the museum.  Both Rox and I had to chase down people to get them back! Ha-ha!  Happens every time!

Austin, Jax, Rio, Reese, Lucas and Avery

Beginning of Summer Fun...Children's Garden

Woo-hoo!!! Summer is here and we are all LOVING it!  I am a very outside kind of girl and apparently I've passed that on to my kiddos - we have so much fun being outside.  It's honestly hard for me to remember what we did all day when it was cold... 

We love our awesome TP pass so we take advantage of it any chance we get!  So this day, we went to Tales for Tots and made a cute craft and heard an awesome story and then off to the Children's Gardens we went!  We were so lucky that we got to go with some of our trip friends, the Dodge family.  Mama Ang is also pregnant with a little singleton and due just a week or so later than me - so weird but so fun to us to share this awesome experience!

It was a little chilly when we first got there so we started off hanging out near the caves and staying cozy.  The kids were fascinated that there was a wolf there too :)

Hunter, Austin, Jax, Rio, Caden and Lia and Angie

They have this awesome climbing ball like a spider web there and we had so much fun climbing around on it!  My kids were crazy climbers!  I couldn't believe how high they would climb - no fear these 3!

Austin and Rio climbing as high as they could without completely getting all tangled up - so cute!

Rio, Lia and Caden jumping like little frogs across these logs

"Going on a hike" Austin said as they climbed all over these gardens - Dodge kiddos in orange and Jax and Austin

They also have this really fun "music" area which was filled with pine cones that all the kids loved to search for.

Mine and Ang's favorite stop - the sand pit!  (not really)  Six 2 year olds in sand - YIKES!  They loved it though :)

*Ang and her kiddos*

The water spot - Uh-oh!  My kids are water attractors!  They loved putting these little block type pieces into the water and watching them circle around - so fun!

And of course we couldn't resist putting all 6 of them by the fish/Lily pad pond and getting a quick pic - thanks Ang and kids for a fun, fun day!

*Austin, Jax, Rio, Lia, Caden and Hunter*