Bear World!!!

While we were in Idaho on our roadtrip we visited Bear World!!! I've driven past many times as a BYU-I student, and everytime I've visited since, but have never had a reason to check out the place! Well, some adorable kiddos looking for adventure gave us a GREAT reason to visit!!! We almost didn't go cause it seemed a bit pricey, but I'm so glad we did!!!

We let the kids get out of their carseats and wander around the car as we drove through!

Austin helped me drive... ...as we checked out the Bison...

...Rocky Mountain Elk...

...and on into the Bear area!!!

There's an extra tour you can go on if you pay for it where you can ride in the raised truck and feed the animals! We got lucky and ended up right behind one of the tours, so we saw a lot of action!!!

If you look closely, he's about to catch a piece of bread in his mouth!!!

Some of these bears were HUGE...

...and got a little too close for comfort a few times!!!
One of the black bears walked right in front of us and along the drivers side where it stopped and sniffed for a while. I'm sure it could smell all of the spilled food in our car from hours of driving with little kids. Mallory said that it was going to eat the tire, and my boys sure remembered that! They've been telling everyone that the bear tried to eat our tire while we were at Bear World!
After our drive through the park, we headed to the shop/attraction area/petting zoo!!!
Ryan and Austin were fascinated with this bear statue!!!

"Ahhhhh!!! He's eating my head!!!"

"Oh no!!! Now my hand!!!"
Austin kept asking where his tongue was!!!

First stop... THE RIDES!!!
Austin and Payton were too small for some of the rides and had to be accompanied by an adult! The train was one of them, but the rollercoaster was not! Funny!

The boys loved that we got to ride inside of a bear!!! This one was Austin's favorite, next to the train!

Around and around we go!!!

Up in the berry tree!!!

Scarlett was such a happy little girl!!! She just loved watching everyone have fun!!!

Next stop... PETTING ZOO!!!

The boys had a lot of fun getting up close and personal with the animals! Their favorite was feeding and petting the deer!!!

They even sat and had a little chat with one of the deers! It was so cute! It started to lick Ryan's face after a minute! He giggled, but I don't think he was too sure about that!

In addition to the deer, there were a lot of goats to feed!

Bear World was a lot of fun!!! I'm so glad we didn't let the cost get us down and cancel our plans! Although you pay quite a bit to enter the park, the rides and petting zoo were all included in the cost which made it so worth while for out little ones!!!

Waterpark...

While we on our roadtrip in Utah, we spent one day at the aquatic center in Murray. It was perfect for our kids! It had a huge pool that was really shallow and only got to about 3 feet deep, then had another deeper pool with two diving boards plus a water slide! Mal and I took the kids and her brother Danny came to help us out! It was a lot of fun!

Austin, Danny and Payton!!!
Ryan loved the water fountains and would swim under the water to get behind them!
He also watched the kids jumping off the diving board for a good hour before he finally asked if he could go try. I told him of course and he immediately climbed out and walked over. I discussed my rules for jumping off of the diving board which included no running. Walk to the end, wait for the kids before you to get out of the way, then jump! He did well and LOVED it!!!

After watching all of the other kids do it, he slowly swayed from my rules and began jumping on the end and slowly jogging to the end to jump. It went well! I realize that he's getting big, and he's a really cautious little boy, so if he feels that's too much for him, he'll quit doing it! He spent the rest of the day on the diving board!!!

Austin thought it was so cool that he could touch the bottom, but then got annoyed when he wanted to swim! We had to go to where the pool ended at it's deepest point to suffice him when he got frustrated with that!

He also figured out how to float on his back and would tell me over and over again, "I wanna fwoat!" It was cute!The favorite for EVERYONE was the waterslide! Ryan was the first to go and LOVED it!!!
After a while on his bum, he switched to his belly and had a great time!!!Ryan talked Austin into going which meant Mommy had to go! I thought it would scare him, but what was I thinking!?! Hello, the kids loved tubing on a lake behind a huge boat, why would he be scared of a little waterslide?!? He certainly wasn't!!! We went up and down that slide a ton of times and really enjoyed it! Danny took Austin for me so I could get a picture of him!

After 4 hours at the waterpark right during naptime, these boys were wiped out and all conked out in the car!!!

Road Trip!!!

Several months ago my friend Mallory and I were discussing our plans for the summer. Mine originally included attending Young Women's Camp for our stake as a counselor, but I wasn't able to find anyone to take care of the boys for me. My parents, who did it last year, would be out of town, so I had to cancel those plans. I really missed camp! I told her that my parents were out of town because my sister was graduating from BYU-Idaho and that i might try to go if I don't attend camp. Well, as my plans for camp fell through, we discussed it more and decided to go together and to make a road trip out of it!!!

So, Mal and I...

...loaded our four crazy kids into the car. This included my 4 and 2 year olds, and her 2 year old and 4 month old! Were we asking for it?!? Ummmmmm, yeah!!!
We drove all night and ended up in the Salt Lake Valley at the Cambra household! We spent a few days there and had a lot of fun! The boys ran through the sprinklers...

Payton

...played games and made HUGE messes!!!

We also spent one day at an awesome pool (post to follow)!

After all our Utah fun, we continued with our drive up to Idaho!!! Mal and I have made a lot of connections and realized why we each looked so familiar to one another. We both attended BYU-Idaho about 7 years ago, and frequented the same areas. Crazy! So, we wanted to go back and visit the place together!

Our first night we had dinner at Auntie May May and Uncle Allen's apartment!

The kiddos loved playing around and destroying the hotel room!

On Thursday we went to Bear World (post to follow)...

then headed to the temple later that day!

The Rexburg temple has been built since we each left Rexburg, so it was fun to check it out! My boys were admiring their favorite part of the temple, Angel Moroni!!!

Part of our Eternal Family!!! Daddy's at home!

We enjoyed walking around the temple grounds...
and came to this grassy hill! The boys LOVED running down it! The following day we took the boys around campus and told them about the different places we went. Where Daddy and Mommy met, got engaged, lived, all the fun things! It was really more for Mal and I than it was for the kids! Haha! That evening we went to the gardens, which is where Justin and I spent much of our time! They are truly my favorite part of campus! (post to follow)

The main event!!! Megan's graduation!!!
My beautiful sister graduated with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work! We are so excited that her and Allen will now be in Cali with us!!!
Three BYU-I graduates!!! Ash, Meg and I!!!
Auntie Megan with her boys!!!

Everyone who made the trip out to celebrate with Megan!!! And help them move back!!! The following day we headed out to Craigo's, a Rexburg classic, for some lunch!

Then out to the sand dunes and Egin Lakes for some riding and fun in the sun (post to follow)!!!
After all that fun and play, we had to end our trip with some delicious G's Dairy ice cream while we watched the Pioneer Day fireworks!!!

Aside from the tantrums, the meltdowns, the lack of sharing, and the midnight feedings, we had a GREAT TIME!!! Thanks Mal, Payton and Scarlett for joining us!!! Congratulations Megan!!! We are so proud of you and excited to see where your life takes you!!!