Pilot Peak

My dad inherited some property in West Wendover.  AKA middle of no where.  We took a Saturday to go out there and check it out with my parents.  It was a 3 hour drive one way.  It was a great day but I think next time I would like to stay overnight so we don't have a 6 hour drive again. 

 We took the 4 wheelers so we could check out the area.  I haven't had a good ride since I was pregnant with Russell.  So I was really looking forward to going out.  Russell did wonderful.  He actually slept the whole time we were on the 4 wheelers.  It made things really nice to not have a grumpy baby.  The carrier was the trick.  He loves being in that thing...actually he loves sleeping in that thing.

 We actually had to stop more for Sadie.  She is really out of shape.  It's hard to get out of the house when it is so cold.  Here are my parents on one of our Sadie breaks.  Don't believe what my mom says.  She like going out on the 4 wheeler.

 Toby and I took a little longer to get up the mountain/hill thingy because we actually had to go back to get Sadie (we think she either stared to just walk or she actually laid down to rest.) and then she just rode with us for a while so she could rest.  But here is my mom looking at the view.

 My white innocent mother throwing up gang signs...no but she is givin' a peace sign.  She thinks she is so hard core.

 Love this picture of my parents.  This is muddy tired Sadie.  She would run in front of us until she got tired then she would run right behind the tire so she got so muddy.  But I think she had a good time. 

 You can't tell how muddy she really is because she is the color of mud.

 We stopped here to have lunch.  Yummy fruit from Bountiful Baskets.  FUN!  When we stopped Russell woke up and wanted to explore.  I love this view.  The sky was gorgeous this day.

 I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Toby is the master of the one arm picture.  So even though there might be other people there I will still ask him to take our picture.  I think I'll do a blog to show how good he is.  He rarly will have to retake any pictures.  He is that good.

 Toby had a hard time with the rock eating...well more like the rock tasting that Russell was doing.  At least it is cleaner then the beach sand..Right?  Russell was sporting the mud goatee for a while. 

 If fact this picture is a great view of the goatee if you make it bigger you can see it and probably the mouth full of either mango or sand I'm not sure.

 It was so hard to pick which pictures to use here because Russell was so happy and my parents just love having him around and that was really showing in all these pictures.

 All Russell needs is some sweet shades and they could start a band.  Russell IS getting good at the drums.

 My dad is not one that is wanting to be in front of the camera but I love capturing any moments I can when he is with Russell.  Russell just LOVES his granddad.   I think my dad might like him too.

 I love Russell's sweet face...these pictures are so cute but I feel like they still don't do justice of what you see face to face.  His smile just brightens up a room. 

 On the way back to the truck Toby and I got a little lost.  So when were finally caught up to my parents at the truck my dad just starts to point behind us.  We turn around and we see these WILD horses.  I jump off the 4 wheeler...not an easy thing to do with Toby in front of me and Sadie behind me.

 But I manage to get off and I grab the camera from my bag and start to run. (they were up and over the hill by now)  But I booked it and Sadie was right there with me.

 I just thought they were so beautiful. 

 The fact that they were wild made them so much more beautiful to me for some reason.

It was a great day that we got to spend as a family.  Even though it was a long drive and the gas cost a small fortune it was so much fun to be outside after a long winter.  It was also fun to spend time with my parents outside of the house.  All in all GREAT TRIP!

Brice's Birthday

We were invited to go to the Zoo in February for Brice's birthday.  Sadly Toby couldn't get out of work, but Russell and I went.  I'm always up for a zoo trip. Both families had things to do so we didn't get there until about 4:45, they close the doors at 5.  But once we were in we had plenty of time.  I think that from now on I am going to the zoo late.  It was the best Hogle Zoo trip I have ever been on. There was only 2 other groups there and we rarely saw them so it was like having the zoo all to ourselves.

Morgan and Brice were getting Landon all diapered and bundled.  While we waited me and kids took some pictures.

The older kids were such good little models. Raelin posed herself and Ryker did his best to be like his big sister. (Notice one of his legs is up on the taller part of the rock like Raelin.

I love this picture.  Morgan I think you look so pretty!

Cute little Alain just wondering around by herself.  She was a hard one to keep track of.  She would just go wherever she wanted.

The boys were cranky..it was a little cold.

But I found a way to keep them happy. (notice the cracker!) Look at that smile and that hat. I love that hat.  OH I LOVE him.

One of the best parts was that all the animals were so active.  Every time I have gone to the zoo the animals were hiding especially the tigers.  But today they were so interactive it was awesome.

Sweet little ones.

The Somers Family

The REAL Somers Family.
 (Even Alaina knows how to make a funny face.)

The giraffes were so much fun.  This one was almost playing with us.  It was practically licking Morgan's shoe. We could have pet them but we were both chicken.  We had recently watched a video of two giraffes fighting in the wild.  They swing their heads and bash them into the other giraffe.  It was crazy...but it made us a little nervous to get too close.

Mommy and Russell.  A rare thing to get a picture together.

So this giraffe has his tung up his nose.  Morgan said, "Tell me you caught that." She was so excited when I showed it to her. I think this was the highlight of Morgan's day.

He is just getting so big.  It is so bitter sweet when ever I think about how fast he is growing.

 I tried to get Ryker in this one to get most of the kiddos but he was just not interested.

So sweet. I think these kids like being in front of the camera.

Morgan and Landon looking at the tigers.

So while we were looking at the tigers there was a man there that either worked for the Zoo or just knew a lot about them.  He would tell us all about these tigers.  But the things he was telling us were more about the personalities of the different tigers.  One of the things he told us was that if you started to run alongside the fence this one tiger would run with you.  So guess what Morgan and I did.  We ran, and the tiger followed.  It was so cool.  This picture was the best I could get while I was running...uphill.  That was such an awesome experience.  LAME I know but hey.  When we were telling my dad about this I said that it was so cool to run with the tiger.  He said, "It wouldn't be as fun if there wasn't a fence there."  Oh pappy you crack me up.

A gorilla family.

Look at cute little Landon.  

For some reason it just looks so funny to me when Brice holds Russell.  Maybe because his kids are practicly opposites from Russell.  But it is sweet to see these two together.  I foresee Brice being the ring leader to all these boys.

Ryker took this picture of his beautiful little sister.

Last time we were in the monkey house we could barely move, this time Russel was able to just explore all by himself or in this case sit there and enjoy his cracker.

Then there is Brice feeling at home with his brothers.

I had a lot of fun taking pictures of this family.

Alaina just patiently waiting to get in the car.  Good thing it was an empty parking lot because she was just wondering all over.

It was a great day.  I had such a great time.  Thanks Somers for letting Russell and I come.

Unfortunately when we got back to my parents house my battery died so I don't have any pictures of the birthday dinner, cake or presents.  But we had a great dinner and we had fun just hanging out and looking at the pictures of our trip to the zoo.