July 4, 2011

A 4th of July tradition that we love and look forward to is the neighborhood party and bike parade....complete with police escorts. McKay was big enough to help decorate his bike this year and looked so big riding down the street all by himself.

Another favorite is attending the 4th of July parade in Cedar City in front of Jolley's Ranchwear with cousins.

The 4th really isn't complete without a family picnic at Woods Ranch up Cedar Canyon.

We've taken a family picture up the canyon since McKay was born, and even though I look like I'm about to  pop I still wanted a family picture.

To finish the day's festivities, we lit fireworks and sparklers to celebrate with cousins at the Rebers.

Summer Adventures

We ended making several trips to Salt Lake for interviews and were able to squeeze in lots of fun activities. One of our favorite places to visit is the Living Planet Aquarium, we even bought an annual pass (showing faith that things are going to work out and where we'll end up).

 We also visited Temple Square and hung out with the Wrigleys. (Where we always have lots of fun!)

We took a much needed trip to Las Vegas to visit the Chamberlains and to hang out in their pool....it was sweet relief to be weightless for a little while and to let my aching pregnant body relax! (Sorry, no pictures of me.)

Two things we never did while living in St. George for seven years....visit Zion National Park and the waterfalls at Gunlock reservoir. So we did both just in case we really are leaving and may not have the chance again for a long time. The Porters joined us for the excursion to Zion's....the weather was perfect!

A little sunny up high on the cliff at Gunlock...

Roos-N-More Zoo

For Memorial Day we joined the Porters for an outing to the zoo. How have we lived so close to this little gem in the desert for so long without knowledge of its existence? If you ever find yourself in Moapa and need something to do...please pay a visit to Roos-N-More...it's worth your time.

We got to hold a baby wallaby...

and an armadillo...

and got up close and personal with lots of animals like a warthog....

and a bearcat...

camels...

porcupines (crazy Nathan)... 

monkeys...

turtles...

kangaroos...

a toucan....

and more....sloths, yaks, zebras, lemurs, and other exotic birds. 

Thanks for the good times, Porter family!

Keeping Cool

Things have really heated up here in sunny Ivins. It's still tolerable enough to sit outside during the day, but being pregnant in this heat is no picnic. It's going to be a long summer! If it wasn't so much work to get on a swimming suit, I would join McKay in the pool. Although, IF I joined him, there wouldn't be any room left.  Seriously.

McKay's Big (3) Day!

Today was McKay's actual birthday...so we had to have more presents and another cake. I took a little shortcut this time and just put a picture of a fire truck on the cake. Maybe I should have done that in the first place. He seemed to like this cake just about as much as the actual fire truck cake. We can't believe how much we love this little man. He's turning into such a big boy, but still has just the right amount of baby left...he still loves to snuggle and I love to hold his little chubby hands. He has made our lives a million times more fun. Words just can't express how much we love him!!!

(Hard to believe he's only been around for three short years!)

Easter Egg Huntin'

McKay participated in his very first city Easter egg hunt this year. The competition was pretty stiff, but he managed to fill his little Elmo basket super fast. 

As always, everything is more fun with friends/cousins....thanks to the Wrigley family for joining us!

After the city egg hunt, we had a little hunt of our own in our backyard where the Easter Bunny cleverly hid our Easter baskets.

McKay turns 1-2-3!

McKay is the happiest little three-year-old who LOVES fire engines! So we had a fire engine birthday party and I made the little firefighter his very own fire truck cake. McKay was in heaven with his cake and his little cousins/friends.

("That's the number 3!")

(Check out those eyelashes!)

(Check out the stream of saliva....good thing it was just on the cupcakes!)

We actually had McKay's birthday party before his birthday since the Wrigleys were in town. McKay's grandparents and Reber cousins also joined us. We love parties!!!