Hogle Zoo-Salt Lake City Utah

On August 1st we had a Crookston Family Reunion at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah. We met up with my mom and my sister Amy and her boys. My dad and brother in law were playing a round of golf before meeting us for lunch. The kids had a good time despite the heat.

Laney, Will, Sam, Machi and little man just before entering the zoo.

Sam and my little man checkin' out some monkeys. Little man lookin' like one too!

Machi, Sam and Will by the cool new elephant that they built that makes noises and actually blows air through his nose!

This is all of my mom's brothers and sister and their spouses along with my grandparents. So neat to see them all together again! I know my grandparents loved having them all there.

Me and my herd with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Lucy.

Laney with Auntie Haleigh

Little man on Grandma's back with Laney by the gorilla's trying to cool of in the misters.

Little man the size of a toddler gorilla, despite not having go go gadget arms!

His hands don't quite match up!

Machi's are a little closer but no match for the gorilla.

Mine are pretty darn close although you really can't see it since little man was taking the picture!

Me and the kids in front of a new gorilla statue.
They have made quite a few improvements since the last time we were there.

Laney and little man riding the train with Will and my brother in law in the background.

Machi and Sam chugging along on the train.

Laney chillin on the playground.

Little man posin' by the giant caterpillar

My mom, sisters Haleigh and Amy, my pops, and Laney staying in the shade while the boys played on the playground.

Machi hiding out in a giant egg.

We had a great time and it was awesome to see all my aunts and uncles as well as some of my cousins and their children. Being in California, we don't get to see everyone very much. We met for lunch and then all went separate ways throughout the zoo. Wish we could have spent more time together talking and visiting, but it was good to spend time with everyone. I had a wonderful time visiting with my grandmother and she told me some fun little stories.

First Day of School!

Yeah! The 2009-20010 school year had begun! Laney is pretty excited to be starting school again, Machi, not so much. He tried to tell Laney he didn't have to go today and that he was going to stay home and help me today! :) Laney was up at 6:30 all dressed and ready to go. Mostly because she has had her outfit picked out for the last week. She has Mrs. Plugge, the same teacher she had last year, and Machi has Mrs. Scales. I tried to take the camera with me to the school this morning, but Laney told me I couldn't because that would be embarrassing!

Machi-3rd Grade

Laney-5th grade

Family Photos in Elko!

While in Elko Rebecca's friend came and took some pictures for us! Here are a few I snagged off of her facebook acct until I get the CD.

My handsome Machi! Of course he found a board he could "surf" on.

All the grandkids minus little James.

Me and my little man! ♥

My beautiful Laney. She is becoming way to grown up! I can't believe she is almost 10!

Me and my kids. Wish we had the hub with us!

My sisters from youngest to oldest, Hae, Becca, Rae, Me and Amy.

All the ladies of the family, minus my sister in law Alanna!

Nevada Reunion! (its a long one)

At the end of July we had a fun filled family reunion where my sister Rebecca lives in Nevada. Her and her husband lease a dance studio which was right across the street from the hotel. We spent much of our time there eating, playing and spending time together.

The kids were so good and loved spending time with all of their cousins. I love little Livvy sitting in the chair. She loved that thing and stayed in there a lot of the time. She just wanted to fit in with the bigger kids. She was very comfortable there.

We had craft time, and

Played dress up!
In the basement of the studio there are years worth of costumes!
So me, Hae, and Becca all dressed up for the kids. Haleigh was Oscar the Grouch, I was an alligator and Becca was Big Bird! We were dying! It was so hot but it was so funny
us trying to squeeze into these paper mache masks!

The kids also spent quite a bit of time playing dodge ball and freeze dance.
Thankfully no one was hurt.

My little man wanted to dress up to and ended up putting on the alligator costume!

It was pretty big on him but he was in heaven!
On Saturday morning the boys; consisting of my dad, brother in law Josh, and brother in law Matt, headed out for a golf tournament. The ladies and children hit the local youth rodeo. The kids lasted about an hour there and then we went to a gigantic playground. We stayed there for about 45 mins and then hit the city museum. We saw the original Pony Express Cabin,

and lots of stuffed animals! I loved little man and his cousin Will jumping up and down like kangaroos! It was so funny!

Little man also loved the alligator and did his best imitation of it!

Machi with his head in the mouth and his cousins Sam and Will.

This is all the ladies watching the youth rodeo.
(Mom, Amy, Becca, Hae, Livvy, Rae, me and little man)

We went to Dairy Queen one night and had blizzards and ice cream cones!
(Me and my little man)

Sam, little man and Machi enjoying some cones!

Laney, Becca, Poppa Josh, Bryson and Josh chillin at the DQ!

Saturday night we had a BBQ at Becca's house and then enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Becca and Josh put up a screen on their garage and the kids watched "Bedtime Stories"

and the adults played "Ticket to Ride."

We had so much fun together. We always do. It is so great to get together. We had everyone there except my hub and my brother and his family.

Becca made a delicious cake to celebrate my mom's birthday!

It was a wonderful trip and Becca and Josh did so much to make it wonderful. All we need is a big space to meet and hang out. We are usually pretty good about entertaining ourselves with old stories, silly antics and lots of kids to keep us occupied! Thanks Becca for all you did to make it wonderful!

This is why no one ever wants to sleep with the little man in hotel rooms! ♥

Summer: part 3

The hub takes the kids out to play tennis pretty regularly but this day little man wanted his turn. Max was kind enough to pull him down to the courts! They had a grand time.

Little man decided it was his turn to play. I love this look on his face! He is so excited. he doesn't care about actually hitting the ball yet, he just wants to know he is involved!
I ♥ this picture! It is so great. I love it when the boys are playing nicely together and having a good time. It is even better having the tennis courts just down the road from us. The boys can't wait for it to cool off a bit more so they can play more often.

So most of July was spent prepping for this:
Our ward girls camp. Since May, when I was called as the young women's president, we have been working so hard for camp. With all of us being to mostly new to the program, and coming in in May, we had a lot of work to do. Thank goodness I had A-M-A-Z-I-N-G camp leaders. We had such a good time and we are all ready looking forward to next year and so glad we actually get a year to plan! We have already started planning and thinking of things to do. It was such a wonderful week. This was taken the night of our skits! We had 13 girls attend, 4 non-members and 4 leaders.