Idaho/Wyoming Trip August 2011

We went on our 2nd annual cabin trip again this year, only this time Ron was able to go! Since we had Brock, he was able to take some boding time and we were able to go on a 2 week excursion! We decided to head to Idaho Falls first for a few days where his grandparents have a condo and stay during the summer. Ron used to spend the summers with them as a kid, so it was fun to go spend some time there with his grandparents and other family members that live there. I had never been to Idaho before, so it was nice to go somewhere different. I took a bunch more pictures, but I didn't want to post them all! Also, they were taken on my phone. I took my camera, but failed to bring the charger, so I had to pick and choose when I wanted to use the camera.

This is Emma a couple days before we left. She said she was all ready to go to the cabin!

Michael didn't want to be left out.
We left at 9:00 pm Sunday night, drove through the night and got in to Idaho Falls at around 2:30 pm Monday. Ron's grandpa put us up in a hotel for the time we were there that had a pool and free breakfast every morning!

One day we went to the local zoo. It's pretty small, but they have several interesting animals! It has this lion drinking fountain. It was cute!

Grandpa's condo is right accross the street from the golf course (of course!) so he took the boys golfing for 9 holes. Brock, Emma & I tagged along in the golf cart. I posted this picture on facebook and Ron made the comment that not very many people can say they golfed with their grandson and great grandson, the pleasure was all his. I thought that was really sweet! He loves his grandpa!

Love this boy! This was taken at grandpas brother's (who passed away last year) house. His wife is still alive and was kind enough to have everyone over for a nice bbq! It was a nice change since we ate out pretty much every day! The bbq was SO good! And the company was even better!!

The reason they call it "Idaho Falls".

Idaho Falls Temple

We left on Saturday the 6th to drive to the cabin in Wyoming and drove through Yellowstone. I'd never been there either, so that was REALLY neat! We didn't want to spend all day so that we wouldn't have to go up the mountain in the dark, so we picked about 3 things we wanted to see. First stop, Old Faithful! We got there at the perfect time. We were able to take a potty break, and get in a good spot just before the geyser went off! After that we stopped at fishing bridge and then the "grand canyon" of Yellowstone. We made a few other stops along the way to see the hot springs (which smelled pretty bad)!

It took quite awhile, but we finally saw some buffalo! After we saw one, we saw a whole bunch!

Just before we left for a hike to Medicine Wheel. Ron's mom bought everyone bandanas. Emma didn't want to wear hers, so I just got a picture of my boys! Aren't they cute?!

A beautiful sunset on the Big Horn Mountain.

We did a TON of fishing!! It rained and hailed quite a bit while we were there, so I didn't want to chance too many scary hikes with the baby. The kids REALLY enjoyed fishing. At Bear Lodge, they have a kiddie lake full of fish! The kids caught a fish at basically EVERY cast! The kids also did a ton of swimming in the indoor pool at the lodge!

While some of the group were fishing, the kids found the horseshoes and grandma taught them to play. Of course, there were a few finger smashing incidences, but nothing too major!

We also did some shooting, but the kids kinda freaked out, so I took them back to the car. Michael decided to blow hot air on the window and draw faces!

My little princess! :o)

We had a GREAT time! It was a long trip, and Brock was NOT having his carseat by the end of the trip, but we were glad we went! We hope to go back next year, but his brother is possibly planning a wedding for that time of year, so we'll see what happens!

Abby Spends the Night & Rolling Over!

Ryan & Amanda took the boys to an Aquabats concert down in San Diego a few weeks ago and they asked if I could watch Abby. Since the concert was going to go late and we had church the next day, I offered to have her spend the night. The kids had a blast playing and having fun with their cousin! I did take a picture of all the cousins in the bath, but Abby wouldn't sit down and I didn't think I should post it for the whole web to see!

I'd been trying to get Brock to roll over for awhile. He turned his body waaaaay over, but to no avail. He FINALLY rolled over Wednesday, July 27th while I was at work and Gabi was watching the kids! Of course! He rolled over from back to front and front to back! He didn't do it for me when I got home that night (of course, again!) but finally did it for us Thursday night! We got video, but it's on our phones!

Rice Cereal!!

Brockers turned 4 months on August 2nd, but we were going to be on vacation, so I thought I would try it before we left on our trip. It wasn't too bad. He didn't care for the texture much, but I was able to feed him most of it. However, when Ron had the kids and tried it, it was a fail. I didn't feed him much cereal while we were gone, but when we got back he had his 4 month check up and we found out he was under weight! He weighed 11 lbs 10 oz and was 24 1/4 inches long, which put him in the 1.1% for weight! I was pretty shocked since he was such a big baby when he was born! He does eat every 2-3 hours during the day and sleeps ALL night long, but he does spit up quite a bit after he eats, so he doesn't retain much food. The doctor decided to hold off on tests for awhile (yay!) and will check him in a month to see if he's gaining now that he's on cereal. I've found that he likes the cereal best when I mix it with breastmilk, so we are trying to feed him the cereal 2-3 times a day to see if we can get his weight up a little! I went through the same thing with Emma, so I'm hoping to not have to go through all the tests with him like I did with her!

He looks SO cute when he sucks his thumb, but I'm trying to break the habit now before it gets out of control!

Messy boy!

"I got this, Ma!"

Swim Lessons

I signed the kids up for swim lessons again this year. You just can't beat $5!! I have a feeling that if we had a pool, or had better access to a pool, the kids would be swimming already. But we don't, so they aren't (very well, anyway!). They both are comfortable in the water and don't have a problem with going under the water. Which is VERY nice! This year, however, the lessons paid off! While on vacation, we swam A LOT and Michael was swimming by himself for quite a while!! He even got into the deep part and was able to get himself to the side (after giving everyone a scare!). Emma isn't quite there, but she's getting better every year!

Basketball Camp

Last year we put Michael in a basketball camp because it seemed more interesting for him (and me) than T-ball. He loved it! So this year, we put him in again. It's every day M-F for one week. They teach you the fundamentals of basketball and on the last day they play a game between the two teams. This year, Aaron joined in the fun and he and Michael were on the same team!

Tough Guys!

All Michael wanted to do was shoot the ball! He didn't want to do the warm ups and threw a little tantrum the first day because he didn't want to do the jumping jacks! We made a deal that he didn't have to do the jumping jacks, but he had to do everything else. He LOVES sports and LOVES to play basketball!! Pretty soon, he'll be able to be in a golf academy and he'll be in HEAVEN!!

Happy Birthday!!

Ron had his 32nd birthday last month. We didn't do a whole lot. He was able to get the day off work, but, unfortunately, I had to work all day. His mom was in town so she & Gabi helped watch the kids so he could play golf with some friends. They played almost 2 rounds of golf that day in the super hot weather! He's crazy! Afterwards, we met up with some family at China Bistro for some yummy chinese food that his mom treated us to and then back to our house for some cake. Ron's request was a "Ruben Gutierrez" cake. He's the one that made our wedding cake and they are DELICIOUS!! The BEST cake EVER!!! I didn't think he was making them anymore (especially something small) and even if he was, I thought it was going to be expensive. But, since that's what he wanted, I gave it a shot and called. Luckily, he agreed to make one for us!! I didn't tell him any specifics as to how to decorate, I just told him to make it masculine. When I saw it, I noticed he did a golf theme!! Perfect!!

Happy Birthday, honey!! I love you tons!!

A Mini Vacation

Ron was supposed to have a golf tournament the beginning of June that he had gotten swaps for at work, but the tournament was postponed to the end of the month, so he switched the dates with the guys that were supposed to work for him to the new date. However, when it got closer to the end of the month, they ended up cancelling the tournament. So, since he had already switched dates, he decided just to take the days off. I wanted to do something fun, so we bought tickets for cheap at Costco and headed to Universal Studios! We hadn't been since we were dating and thought we'd give it a shot! We had a blast! Here's Emma & Brock in front of the sign!

They had a Curious George section that had 2 parts. One was a splash zone that dumped water EVERYWHERE! There were kids in swim suits!! And then they had a "dry" section that was indoors and you could shoot foam balls all over the place! Emma really liked it! (I think daddy did, too!)

This was the ONLY character all day she would go near! She was SOOOOO excited to see him! We even saw Dora just before this and she wouldn't go near her!

Waiting in line to go on the studio tour. Ron and I both love this movie! It wasn't very big, but we still quote it and will watch it when it comes on! "I'm like a tornado of anger!"

The Dalorean (sp?) from Back to the Future

Jaws....AHHH!

The crash scene from Tom Cruise's movie "End of Days" (I believe)

The Great Outdoors house. You can see a giant blue screen behind the house. They use that to digitally put scenes in the background. If they shooting a water scene, they fill up the front of that screen with water, or if they're filming a desert scene they'll fill it up with sand and then put the appropriate image on the screen.

We saw Scooby and gang (See? She didn't want to go near them!)

The Mystery Machine

We watched the animal actors show. It was cute! They showed how they train the animals for the set. They did some neat tricks! I wonder if they would train Lola for me? :o)

I thought there wouldn't be much for Emma or Brock to do, but we were able to watch several shows and other things with everyone. They do have a few rides that they couldn't go one, but they have a "child switch" option where one parent waits with the kids, while the other rides the ride and then you can switch without having to wait in line again! They have little areas and rooms where you can wait with TV's, so it beats having to wait in line! (For me, anyway, not really for Ron! :o) ) The Studio Tour has a new King Kong area that's in 3D that was REALLY cool! I thought Emma would get scared, but she actually liked it! When Michael gets home, we plan on going back!