Up to I.F.

On Thursday, we took it easy in the morning and then went up to Kaysville for Brian to hang out with some of his friends. We got to see Kevin and Naomi and their kids one more time before we left Utah.

On Friday morning, we went up to Idaho Falls to hang out with Janna, Tyler, and Audrey. Audrey and Janna took us to the dairy and then the zoo. We had the grand tour and a lot of fun!

I love attempting to get a picture of three kids under four. There are so many fun smiles/faces.

And here's Lily! She's such a sweet, easy-going toddler. Love her!

We stopped in Pocatello to get some Jamba Juices. I couldn't resist taking a picture of that little girl with the perfect curl.

And then, to be fair, I thought I should take one of Mr. Blue Eyes.

We stopped to see Brian's Hanks Grandparents while we were in Pocatello.

After checking out the petting zoo animals, we got yummy ice cream from the dairy.

Mmmm...ice cream.

Then we went to Tautphaus Zoo. That was fun for me, since I used to go to Tautphaus Park growing up when I would visit my grandparents.

Wes was brave enough to get some water out of the lion's head. Sydney wasn't, but you can see her curly mane in the lower right hand corner!

Sydney took a turn pulling the wagon.

The animals were out and about. It was amazing. Check out Janna with the lion.

Here's Sydney with the baby zebra that was born the night before.

And for fun, here's a video of Sydney doing the "waddle-wahtay" (from Go! Diego Go!) on our way to see the penguins.

Swensen Family Mini Reunion

On Wednesday, July 6th, we spent the day with my siblings. My parents had already flown back to Seattle, so they didn't get to hang out with us, but the rest of us went down to Provo and BYU for much of the day.

Before we went to BYU, I had an MRI in Provo for some chronic headaches I had been having. Luckily, the results were clear (meaning I don't have a brain tumor or an aneurysm) so now I get to see a neurologist to get to the root of my headache problems. (As an aside: can I tell you how grateful I am to have medically trained professionals in my family? It's so helpful and comforting!)

Lanie is at the awesome baby smiling stage where she smiles with her whole face and a wide open mouth. I think this picture is SO cute! She's such a happy baby!

By the end of the trip, Uncle Mike and Uncle Eliot's iPads were completely out of batteries.

After my MRI, we met up in Provo at Brick Oven for lunch. This is one of the Dildine boy's favorite restaurants.

This was our attempt at a family picture. Brian bought the kids hats and candy at the BYU Bookstore. Then he asked, "Who wants to go to school at BYU?!" Of course both kids said, "ME!!!!" Someday they'll realize there's more (work) to BYU than baseball hats, candy, and ice cream.

Here's the cousins picture BYU-style. This is the end of "Gooooooooo Cougars!"

After we were back in Draper and Brian and I watched the younger kids while the two oldest boys went with my sisters and their husbands to see the opening night of the American Idol tour. The kids seem pretty interested in the book Brian's reading!

Hanks Family Mini Reunion

Since the reunion weekend was spent with our extended families, we decided to spend Tuesday, July 5th with just the Hanks family. It's a rare treat for all of us to be together.

Brian got some jumping in...one of his favorite things to do when he goes home.

The old man can still do a back flip! :)

Before lunch, the kids played in the pool while the adults supervised.

After lunch, we put the kids down for quiet time and left them with Grandma. The rest of us (minus Craig who was sick) went rock climbing in Salt Lake.

They just had bouldering available, which was hard. I'm holding on for dear life!

Brian and Kevin attempted to go horizontally across the wall.

Brian and Janna took a break to play ping-pong.

Laughing at Brian and Kevin's attempts at scaling the wall? Possibly...

I think Kevin was born half-monkey because he showed us all up.

Dad came along to be the photographer, but promptly fell asleep (even with the crazy rock music playing). It was a busy (and fun!) weekend!