DUCK CREEK DAYS

In the little town of Duck Creek there is a big festival called Duck Creek days every year. We had heard about it before and were excited when some of our friends decided to go. We don't get very many chances to go camping so we jump on every chance we get especially with our good friends and all their kids. I knew Claire would have a blast. Everyone else went up a day before us but because I had to work we couldn't leave till Friday afternoon. We got up there kinda late and just ate dinner and went to bed. We had the perfect camp spot where everyone could park their trailers. I guess I can't really say that we were camping because we stayed in our friends trailer and that is as nice as our house. On Saturday morning we rode the four wheelers and took the razor into town. Duck Creek is seriously so cute! There are just a few little stores and restaurants and a gas station and the whole town is just lined with cute cabins. When we went back to camp we just made lunch and hung out. Claire had so much fun just wandering around and playing with all the kids. There were a couple little girls that were about 7 or 8 that just took Claire everywhere with them. They made Claire feel so special and cute. They even took her on little (very slow) four wheeler rides just around our camp site. I have never seen a bigger smile on Claire's face!

Later that day we went back to town to go to the Duck Days festival. I was surprised at how big it was. There were so many food and craft vendors and so many toys for the kids. It was pretty hot so we didn't stay too long. We let Claire go down the big inflatable slide a few times and we ended up buying her her very first watch. She was in love. We then ate a cute little pizza place and then headed back to camp. We didn't do much else the rest of the trip but just hang out and it was so nice. It was so nice to get out of the heat and just relax all weekend. I unfortunately didn't take very many pictures but I got a few good ones.

There were 2 dogs up there and Claire would not leave them alone!

Claire kept picking me flowers and making me bouquets the whole trip

The older girls braided Claire's hair and put flowers in it because she "wanted to look like Rapunzel"

On our way home it started to rain and view from Cedar Mountain was so pretty.

It was so fun to spend time with our friends and let Claire play with all the kids. I think we will have to make this trip an annual tradition!

Pioneer Day!

Just like the 4th of July I love Pioneer day! Whenever I get sad that the 4th is over and the fireworks and games and fun are over I remember that we still have Pioneer day and it makes me so happy! Unfortunately Trevor had to work so Claire and I went and met up with some of our friends. We decided to go to the parade in Washington and they were suppose to have some games at the park. The parade was kinda lame (hardly any candy which is what they are all about, right?) and the park was kinda lame too! There were not that many games for Claire to play. She did play one game that was called panning for gold, it was cute and she loved it and of course for the prize that she got to pick out she chose a fake lizard...which she still caries around everywhere with her.

The highlight for that morning was seeing some celebrities at the park! Ok so they are no Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie but they do have more kids then them....the whole BROWN fam!

It was so weird seeing them there because, I will admit, I do watch the show and they all looked exactly the same in person! There were quite a few people stalking them and trying to take pictures and they acted really annoyed so I didn't even try to fight the crowds for some good pics. Sad day, maybe they will be there next year!,,, After that we drove all the way out Ivins because we heard they have a fun 24th festival at their park, which they totally did. I am so happy that we went because it was so fun! Claire's favorite thing was the bumper boats. She cruised around in those forever and was running into everyone and loving it.

She also got her face painted. She wanted a crown so bad. The girl did the best she could...but Claire loved it!

That night we went up to the Washington Baseball fields to watch the fireworks. I didn't have very high expectations because Washington never really does fireworks but since St. George was not doing any this year we decided to watch Washington's. I am soooo glad we went it was the best fireworks I have seen in a long time! It was really long and just as good as what St. George does on the 4th but we were a lot closer. We never go to the sunbowl on the 4th because it is so crowded but the baseball fields were perfect.

We had so much fun and sadly have to wait until next year for all this excitement again.

Birthday Boy

You've had a birthday shout hoorayyy!!! Another year has come and gone and Trevor is just getting older... I think I was more excited for his birthday this year than he was, and Claire was more excited than me! I took Claire to the store to pick out some decorations and of course she wanted EVERYTHING. We settled for some streamers, balloons and of course she had to get daddy a blue party hat. She tried to help me blow up all the balloons (so it too twice as long and every balloon was a slobbery mess by the time it got to me) and she helped with taping up the streamers.

We made him walk through this to get into the house from the garage... He got some fun stuff that he had been wanting for awhile and that he needed... Claire and I got him a pro fitted hat, some new cologne and a Nike Fuel band.

He also got some giftcards from family that he used the very next day! We were able to go out to dinner and a movie that night thanks to Trevor's awesome sister! Overall, I think the day was a success!

July 4th!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! There is always fun things to do all day and into the night and I love fireworks and so does Claire! The last couple of years we have to the Washington park to eat breakfast and this year we kept the tradition going. We met Trevor's parents at the park and ate breakfast and then did a few games. There were not as many games as usual so we decided to head over to the Vernan Worthen park in St. George. When we got there it was packed. They had a ton of games, food and toys going on. Claire was in heaven! We ended up spending most of the morning and way too much money there.

Claire's FAVORITE thing in the world. She always has the biggest grin going down the slide

Later that night we went over to my parents to eat some dinner and watch the fireworks. We stopped and bought a few small ones to do ourselves before the big ones. Claire has never been scared of fireworks and was excited to hold her own sprinkler.

Cotton Days

After we got back from California we almost felt bored sitting at home. Luckily that week was Cotton Days in Washington. On Friday we went to the movie in the park and on Saturday we woke up early to have breakfast, go to the parade and do all the fun activities. It was a little funny to see Claire's reaction when I told her we were going to a parade, but it was a little different of a parade.

They had a few little rides that Claire wanted to go on. She was already having Disneyland withdrawls and even though it was a ripoff ($3.50 for one ride!) We let her do it.

We decided our money was better spent on the blow up slide. These pictures crack me up! Her face is hilarious.

the BEACH...dun dun dun

No we didn't see a shark or even a beached whale but Claire did have a pretty crazy time at the beach. I insisted that we stop at the beach before we left California even though it was cloudy and only about 10 am. The only two days it was really sunny and hot were the days we went to Disneyland so this was our last chance to go to the beach. It was Claire's first time and I knew she would love it! I told her we could look for seashells and put our feet in the water. When we got there a guy was playing catch with his dog so of course Claire had to join. In case you haven't notice Claire is not very shy. The guy let her throw the ball back and forth a few times to the dog. Now Claire won't quit asking for a dog that she can play catch with.

We had fun just running and jumping in the water. It was pretty cold so we just ran from the water before it got our feet. Claire thought that was pretty fun until....I was running next to her and the water just came so quick and she fell to one knee and then flat on her face and as the water came over the top of her! I picked her right up and she was fine but was pretty upset. She kept say no water no beach. She had sand EVERYWHERE. In her ears, hair, mouth, down her shirt in her underwear, EVERYWHERE. This was great since we were just about to leave and drive for 8 hours. We had to strip her down wipe her off the best we could and unpack some clothes for her.

So sad, but kind of funny. Even after we left and were driving she still said she wanted to go back to the beach. Everyday for at least a week she said "momma member when I fell in the ocean?" She had to tell everyone she fell in the ocean, but she still says how much she loved it. And we kept her seashells to put on her bookshelf in her room. They are the perfect decoration.

Happiest Place on Earth day 2!

Yes it is the happiest place on earth but I am pretty sure it also one of the most tiring. I don't know how people do more than 2 days there! I wouldn't last and I LOVE Disneyland. On the second day we started out at California Adventures. Although a lot of the rides were too big for CLaire, there were a lot that were so much fun that she loved! They had so many rides from movies that she watches right now so she thought it was awesome! Some of her favorite rides were monsters inc, and the little mermaid. We went on those rides multiple times. She also loved the bugs life world.

We ran into a few of her favorite people which made her day! She thinks Mickey and Minnie are her best friends!

Trevor loved flexing next to Mr Incredible. (sorry trev i think his muscles win) Another one of Claire's favorite rides was the huge farris wheel. I tricked Trevor and just told him to follow me and then I went in the line that the basket you sit in swings back and forth. I knew Trevor wouldn't want to go in that one if he knew. Once we were getting close and I could see how high and fast they were swinging I was starting to get nervous. Apparently Trev and I are babies because Claire was laughing her head off the whole time and thought it was the funnest thing ever. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face but I was holding on for dear life so getting the camer out was not an option. You can see the farris wheel in this pic...

One of my favorite things to do was go to the Disney Playhouse Live! It was nice to go inside where it was cool and just sit down for a little while and Claire had so much fun. It is such a cute show it has life size puppets of the different shows that are on the Disney Channel and they play music and games. They even had bubbles and streamers and confetti come down from the ceiling. Claire danced along and shouted out answers the whole time!

Overall we had a fun day at California Adventures but after we had done all the rides there we headed back to Disneyland for the rest of the day to ride some rides we had missed the day before.

Claire had a blast looking for animals on the Tiki Tour Boat

It was a little embarassing that Claire would not get out of the street waiting for the parade to begin. She just stood out there and posed and danced and sang while everyone stared...hmm I wonder if she likes attention?? Once the parade began Claire was going crazy! She was waving and shouting to all the characters. She had a permagrin on the whole time. You can tell by the pictures she was a little excited...

After the parade ended we rushed over to California Adventure again to watch the World of Color Show. Everyone kept telling us to make sure we went to that show and I am so glad we did! If you have never seen it, it definitely worth going to. It was hard because you are suppose to get a ticket to in the morning and then you still have to get there about an hour early and you have to stand and the show is about 30 mun so it is a lot of standing but it's so awesome. It is hard to even explain the show. It is like a big water show and the water changes colors and shoots everywhere but then it turns into like a mist and they project different Disney movie scenes across it. Anyways, it is just cool and Claire thought it was amazing.

And that was it. That was the end of our Disneyland Adventure. Claire passed out on the walk back to the hotel and Trevor and I collapsed as soon as we got into the room. We had so much fun and I was kind of sad it was over. I knew that this was just the beginning, now Claire is going to ask everyday if we can go to Disneyland and she is gonna beg to see Mickey and the princesses. I guess she will have to start saving her money so that we can go again!