Tyler Loves...

Tyler was able to do many things this week that he loves. My sister, Julie, came down for a few days, and Ty LOVES her! She brought her dogs along, and as you can see from the pics, Ty loves dogs too.
We also went to the Bean Life Museum at BYU. Tyler thought it was more interesting than the Zoo, probably because he is allowed to be closer to the animals, but I think he'll enjoy both activities better next year.
We also went to the Scottish Festival. It was fun to see the dancers, bag-pipers, and Highland athletes. Tyler loves to ride in his stroller and "people watch." He also ate his first Italian Ice at the Festival, and you guessed it, he loved that too.
All Festivals/Carnivals/Etc. are held in the city park which makes it really nice for kids. If you get tired of the events, you can just go play.
There is a little basin that has a drinking fountain at the park that all little kids love. Tyler staked his claim on it for 20 minutes, and we had to drag him kicking and screaming from it so that other people could get a drink too.I'm so glad that I live somewhere that has celebrations. The little carnivals, festivals, and shows are what makes living in a small town so much fun!

Camping at Woodland

For the 4th of July, we went camping at Woodland with Grandma & Grandpa. I know, most of you reading this are thinking, "Did I read that right? Jessica went camping?!?" Normally, I am not a big fan of camping, with not being able to shower, being eaten alive by millions of bugs, and having to squat in the woods, but this is a different kind of camping. This is camping at CamperWorld. Showers, swimming pools, playgrounds, and most importantly...toilets! Here are some pictures of our latest "outdoor" adventure.
The weather up there was wonderful! 85 in the day, and 50 at night. Ty would get a little cold in the morning, and have to sleep with us for a couple of hours, but he loved to snuggle with Mommy & Daddy.All in all, it was a great little trip.
It was Tyler's first camping trip. We weren't sure how he would do, but he loved it! He slept well, he ate well, and he played hard! He especially enjoyed being outside 24/7.
It was also the first time this year that he went swimming in a big pool. The first day he was a little tentative, and only wanted to hang out around the pool. But after that, he was jumping in!
Thanks to Grandpa for reserving an awesome site, and thanks to Grandma for cooking all the delicious meals.

Dry Mountain Fire

On Saturday night, Nathan took the dog outside and this is what he saw. Dry mountain (aptly named) was on fire. At first we thought that it was my parent's mountain, so I called my Dad to let him know. He drove up there to check things out, and thankfully it was the mountain directly South. Helicopters were dumping water on it for at least 24 hours, and it didn't burn that much (only 10 acres). But it has made our backyard view a little less beautiful.
We also finally finished Ty's sandbox. It took 3000 lbs of sand! Apparently, sand weighs a lot. If it took 1.5 ton of sand for our little hexagon, I can't even imagine how many millions of tons of sand it must take to make a beach. Needless to say, Nathan is glad that it is full and he doesn't have to move anymore 50 lb. bags of sand this year.
Lastly, a pic of Ty. I told him to "Smile!" and this is what he did. Is he cute or what?