The 78th annual...

UTE STAMPEDE!!!

You all well know that the second weekend in July is a favorite tradition in our family.  We (or at least I ) love going to Nephi for the Ute Stampede!  I love seeing a lot of my family and friends.  

One of the highlights this year was staying with my grandparents in the home my Dad was raised in.  Baylor really got to know my Grandma Zoma this year and just adored her.  He was constantly asking her to play with him, he even got her downstairs playing ping pong!  It made me so happy to sit back and listen to them.  I'm so grateful for such an amazing Grandma, and even more that Baylor and Alexis are getting the chance to know and love her too.  My Grandpa is awesome too, but nobody beats Grandma :)

B got to play with all the toys I used to play with on the notorious red shag carpet.  My friends and I may or may not have rode this blue hoppity horse down the stairs when I was in 8th grade... sssshhh.

Thursday morning we kicked off the stampede with the baby contest!  Sweet little Alexis got 2nd place!  I thought she looked so adorable.

Here she is modeling her crown ;)

 

That evening we watched the horse parade.  Baylor loved waving at everyone and clapping for them.

Lex was happy to be there too... and please check out her kickin' classic boots!!!

Friday quickly came and we headed out for the Mammoth parade, our favorite.  

Baylor was SO EXCITED.  Here he is jamming out to the marching band :)

 But as quick as it started, the weather got crazy!  The wind started bLoWiNg like crazy and then the rain started POURING!  No one ever remembers it down pouring during the parade like that.  We ran to our cars and watched as a few floats attempted finishing the parade.

 Russ got down there after work and we went down to the carnival.  Baylor isn't the biggest ride enthusiast, but he told us he wanted to try ONE ride.  And he did exactly that.  He rode the car, and he was done.  Lucky for Russ, someone HAD to use the rest of his tickets...

 Russ got to release his inner wild child and ride some rides with our nephew Braxton and my cousin Brady.

 Saturday the boys had a breakfast with my grandparents and the girls went to the craft fair.  

We also got to sit around and hang out with family.

Here's Alexis and my Dad.

 She started army crawling that weekend

 And the girls had our annual luncheon with my grandma.  This year's theme was dolls and cupcakes.  

That night we had tickets to the rodeo.  Baylor opted to go to my aunt Molly's house to play instead of come with us.

We were having so much fun, but before it was even half over- that darn rain started again.  It was seriously tsunami rain.  We tried waiting it out, but after about five minutes of being DRENCHED, we had enough.  We had to run all the way to the car in slamming rain, soaking wet, and sweet little Alexis  was just a trooper.  It was a pretty big bummer to have the parade and rodeo rained out, but I guess our state needed the rain more than we needed entertainment.  

Sunday we had a family reunion in Levan, the city my Grandma was raised in.  (It's about 10 minutes south of Nephi.)

We attempted to take a Painter family picture.  My dad comes from a family of 10 kids, so it's no easy task.  Everyone was asked to wear navy and khaki... and sadly  I don't have a group picture.

Just some good old fashioned family fun.

Me and my sisters with our fabulous Grandma Z!

Fireworks, Food, and Fun!!!

We had a fabulous 4th of July this year.  We packed about as much as possible into the short time that Russ had off work.  We headed up to Stein Eriksen on the 3rd around lunch time.  

First thing, we hit the pool with our little fish :)  

That day was the unfortunate fire in Alpine and as we were swimming it started raining (pouring) ashes down on us.  The sky went dark and the sun was red, it was crazy.  We finished swimming and they had to clean out the pool.  And thankfully, they got that fire under control.

For dinner we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Baja Cantina down in Park City.  We attempted a 4 person self-portrait... 

Back at the lodge, Lex kept scooting under furniture LOL

Every time we turned around, she was under something else, silly girl.

 The next day, we hit the pool with the rest of the Olsen clan.  

Lexi girl is quite the little beach babe, and she loved soaking up the sun

Baylor has mastered the fine art of relaxation himself :)

Alexis kept laying back in her little floatie and kicking her legs, it was so funny

And Baylor became a world class diver...  

I got the best laughs over some of his jumps.  

Future Olympian?!

 After swimming we got our patriotic selves ready and headed to the BBQ. 

Phenomenal as always.  There is always so much yummy food I never know what to eat. 

(A problem I quite like having)

This is the dessert table- DE-LISH

 We attempted to take a pic of all 4 grandkids.  Little cuties.

My sweet Baylor boy

And my little Lexi girl

The Olsen Fam

We finished the day by rushing down to Provo for the Stadium of Fire.  The Beach Boys were there this year and they were AWESOME!  We had the best time.  Baylor did surprisingly better than I thought.  He hid under his blanket for a while and then finally sat and just plugged his ears.  He did jam out pretty good to some of the last songs and it just made me happy to watch him.  I look forward to the day that things like that don't bother him anymore and noise doesn't bug him.  Until then, I'm happy when we make little strides.  

 Lex even watched the fireworks.  

And then we rushed home so Russ could go to work the next morning.  It was a whirlwind day and a half, but it was fun and full of memories.  

God Bless America, Land that I Love...

Happy Independence Day!

These two...

These two make my heart happy...

 They bring so much love and laughter into our home.

 These two had an instant bond and I know they will be best friends forever...

 Baylor is the best big brother.  

He absolutely LOVES Alexis and takes such good care of her.  

I love watching them interact and especially hearing their giggles...

B always says "hi cutie pie"

Baylor just asked what I am doing so I asked him what he thinks about Lexi...

He said, "I just love her"

 Baylor can do about anything and it makes Alexis laugh.  

And if she's not giggling, she's smiling.

 Before she was mobile, I would always find a little toy placed by/on her.  

He's always looking out for her.

 These two are my sunshine

There are not enough words in the world to express the love I have for them.

There is not a minute that goes by that my heart is not full of gratitude.

These two make my world go round.  

Baylor the duck whisperer

 Since the weather turned warm, we've tried to take full advantage of the outside fun.  Two of the fun places we've gone were farms.  Baylor LOVES animals so I thought it would be fun to go during baby animal season to see all the babies!  Our first stop was Wheeler Farm.

 He acquired this AWESOME coonskin cap along the way :)  Thanks Grandma JuJu!

Feeding the ducks was a highlight.  We were even swarmed by some hungry geese, I thought it was funny, Baylor- not so much.

About a month later we went to This is the Place Heritage Park.  

They have an AMAZING petting zoo.  It was pretty much HEAVEN.

        

We named the little pig Wilbur.  Some kids accidentally let him escape the play yard and watching the workers try to catch him was some serious entertainment.  He was so funny.

 My Mom, sister Leanne, and her little girl Allie were able to come with us.  It was so much fun having them come along.  B loves Allie!

 

Baylor wanted nothing to do with riding the pony, but Alexis sure did ;)

 And the definite highlight to our trip were THE DUCKS and GEESE.  Baylor LOVED them.  At first he just loved petting them and quacking at them.  Then he discovered what they do when you CHASE them.  

 I'm sure people other than my family thought I was a horrible mom as my child was chasing the whole flock but it was priceless.  He was laughing harder than I've ever seen.  They were all just running in circles.  It was one of those moments I will never forget.  And really, anyone who wasn't entertained must be really boring :)

Thanks for the memories Baylor.  I love you.