Lagoon!

We got to go to Lagoon with my family for my Dad's annual company party.  We took Jared with us too!  While all of the big kids went off to the scary rides my mom and I took Ethan around Kiddie Land. I am much more comfortable in Kiddie Land.

At first Ethan wasn't loving the idea of being belted down into a moving piece of machinery all by himself.

But he quickly warmed up to the idea.

He was racing to get into each line.  He had so much fun.  And we did too! I didn't have to ride one roller coaster so I was very pleased.

That night we got to say bye to Molly and Ben and the boys and stay in a hotel in Provo.  It was so sad to see them go, Ethan kept saying, "I wanna get on an airplane just like Hugh!"  He misses his cousins!

Tautphaus Park

Tautphaus park in Idaho Falls is the cutest little zoo!  Ethan got to go there with his cousins.  He liked feeding the goats, the birds, the lions, but most of all...the lion drinking fountain.  Holy cow, I couldn't keep him off of it!

Yellowstone

We have missed our time in Yellowstone so much!  When we were going to school in Rexburg, finding new hikes in Yellowstone was one of our favorite things.  This time we felt very touristy going to all of the favorite sites.  But Ethan thought it was awesome.  He kept saying, "Geyser! It stink like eggs!  The water go way high!"  Yellowstone is so incredible.  I always think about the first people that discovered some of the geysers and hot springs and what they must of thought!  I think that it would be kind of scary.

Home on the Range

Eric's sister Jency and her husband Joe live on a cattle ranch in Randolph, near Bear Lake.  While Molly and Ben were here we went out to Randolph to visit.  It was beautiful!

Right when we got there Jency showed us the snake that she had just caught in her yard.

And then of course there were the kitties. (That are seriously lucky to still be alive after four little boys mauled them all afternoon.)

Ethan was in animal heaven.

And so were his cousins.

 Especially after they saw the horses!

Everybody got a ride!

It took Ethan quite a while to warm up, he was pretty scared.

He was much more interested in the farming equipment...go figure.

 

After our fun at the ranch we headed over to Bear Lake. The water was so cold!  We still swam and played in it though!  Eventually we got rained out.

We stayed in a SWEET little 50's hotel in Garden City.  It was cute and fun.

We went to Jency and Joe's ward on Sunday.  Eric had been really busy the day we left so I told him I would pack for him...not a great idea. I forgot half of the stuff we needed. It was pretty bad.  I am used to Eric writing me out detailed lists, seriously he is too good to me.  So anyway, the boys ended up wearing jeans to church.  They actually fit in quite well with the ranchers in their Wranglers!

Real Game

We took Chris to a Real Game for his birthday!  It was a blast.  Ethan enjoyed everything but the fireworks at the end!

4th of July

 We celebrated the 4th of July by going to the Rexburg parade in the morning.  Then, we had a BBQ.

That night we tried to go watch the fireworks. They were supposed to happen right after the rodeo, but I guess the rodeo went late and we waited around until after eleven and there were still no fireworks!  We ended up leaving and then on our way home we saw them going off in the distance! Oh well, we still had tons of fun doing sparklers and playing with light sticks!

Cousins! Cousins! Cousins!

 The weekend of Christi and Brett's reception the whole Carson family was together! This hasn't happened in a long time, Eric's sister Molly and her husband Ben brought their three boys over from England.  And everyone else came and gathered in Rexburg too!  We had a wonderful time together.  The reception was beautiful.  Every detail had been thought of. Ethan's favorite part about it was the punch. He found out how to use the dispenser and kept going back for more.

 All of the cousins had a blast together.  Ethan has two cousins that are very close to his same age and he misses them so much now! He asks for them every day.

 

We got some family pictures taken because everyone was together.  Molly and Ben stayed another couple of weeks and since we are staying at Eric's parents house too we got to have even more adventures with them.  But this weekend when EVERYONE got to be together is one that will be remembered!

The Cabin

 We spent a few nights in the Cabin for Eric's mom's birthday!  I love the cabin so much it is one of my favorite places! One of my favorite things is all of the Aspen trees.  I love Aspen trees so much!

An ugly face contest was one of the highlights of the trip.

Ethan also had a great time at the cabin. His favorite thing was exploring! He is growing up so much. His latest phrase is "How 'bout..." For example, I will suggest something like, "Ethan, let's have a glass of water." And then he says, "How 'bout juice."  But he does it with seriously everything. He definitely has a mind of his own!  It has been a little hard on him this summer not having much of a schedule. His potty training has suffered. HE was hardly having any accidents and then he started having a ton of them. I figure we'll wait until we are back home and basically start over!

Summer Lovin'

 We took advantage of the time before Eric's externship started and spent a few weeks in Logan...just having fun!  We were spoiled, especially Ethan.  He loved that he found an Elmo and matching red hat in Grandma's toy closet.

 We helped my mom with a few projects.  We decorated Lexi's room and the basement.  The basement was a lot of work because we painted it and organized the storage room. I  am mad I didn't get pictures but it looks really cute.

 My mom runs a day-care so there were lots of kids for Eth to play with and he made tons of new friends!  He got the froggy swimming pool for his birthday from my mom and dad.  His favorite thing was to jump up and land on his bum in the water. It looked like it hurt, but he thought it was pretty funny.

We also celebrated Lexi's birthday at the park with a big celebration!  We played kickball and got to see lots of family. Ethan also got to meet baby Jack!  It was great to get together with our good friends Katie and David and meet baby Jack, he is sure a cutie.  We had so much fun in Logan, but it went too quick!  But now we are up in Rexburg having lots of fun too!  Eric's whole family was here for the first time in four years. I'll update on that soon!