We spent the afternoon last Friday at Lagoon, Utah's local amusement park. Colin made the comment the next day about it being like a little Disnayland. We rode a few rides, ate some dinner and came home.

Jane loved the carousel. She was heartbroken when the ride was over.

She still cannot help herself and has to explore with her mouth at times.

I need to take more phots of our guests who have been coming through. We have been inundated with old friends and love that so many people pass through Utah.

It was a beautiful day for Mia's blessing. (In Mormon culture, a father gives his child a name and a blessing, it is very sweet.) Ted and Libbie had the families over for lunch afterwards and it was great to be in their home.

Brian, Jane and I started our day at Temple Square to hear the National Youth Choir of GB perform with the MOTAB. We met one of the NYC of GB's founders in Honolulu and we had he and his lovely wife over for dinner the evening before. We also had an old friend and her family come over for lunch yesterday and saw some of Brian's old friends last week. We love being in Utah because so many old friends come through.

We have a very talented friend who made the darling neclace above. I love wearing my whole family on my neck. She has some things on sale right now, and Susan Hinckley, you have to check out what she does with felt balls! You all will love it!

jamjewelry designs

I do not think I posted these from when we met our friend Kara and her boys at the Philadelphia Children's Museum. It is called the Please Touch museum and was amazing. Jane has loved the playing the piano for a long time and was delighted to find one her size.

The building was amazing. I can't remember what it was built for presently.

Brian got this kind of scary carousel shot. We learned that at the end of the day the lady did not care if we had tickets or not. Good times.

Colin showing his 3 years.

We love the 3 year old enthusiasm. Colin has always been very enthusiastic.

All of him gets very dirty these days, but the feet at times are spectacular. Soon after this he was right up to the bath.

Jane is a major climber and surprises us all the time getting up places where we did not think she could. She has loved the dinning room chairs recently. The other day she found a surprise climbing reward in Colin's abandoned mini-cupcake. She did not mind at all.

I did some photos of my niece for her upcoming 2nd birthday. Since I do not think my brother's family checks the blog, hopefully the photos will be a surprise when I print them. The almost 2 year old is a very dear little girl and my kids have a lot of fun with her. Between my brother's family and Brian and I, we have a 3 year old, an almost 2 year old, a 1 year old, and a newborn all in the SLC valley. My mom calls these (and other young ones, thanks to Pat and April and Jeanie's family) her second crop of grandchildren, since we also have nieces and nephews in their mid-twenties. My mom has 25 grand kids now. Pretty impressive.

Not to forget the beautiful new baby. She is almost 9 pounds at two weeks and doing wonderfully.

Brian is an entire 34 years today! We have had a nice day visiting with family and now Brian is relaxing at the piano. Brian is such a wonderful husband and father. One of my favorite memories of Brian was when we were in Israel and trying to buy some baby wash for Colin. We wanted to make sure to get something that was tear-free and since we could not read the label, Brian tested a couple in his own eyes right there in the pharmacy. That is devotion to your children. We are so happy and lucky to have you! We look forward to many, many more birthdays!

We came home from NJ a few weeks ago with the garden leeks taller than Colin. We have a beautiful row of these tall leeks that the bees love. They are supposed to seed themselves so we shall see. The chard had also gone wild and was over 5 and a half feet tall.

Colin with bed head. I seem to get quite a few photos of Colin with bed head. It happens everyday.

Jane peeking out of our new racing stroller. I am a little over-protective with the extra intense sunshade. Jane has still not been sun burnt but Colin got a minor one the other day (the first in his 3 years).

Colin post hair cut and post berry smoothie.

I found out from my orthopedic doctor that I am the proud owner of a herniated disk. The month has been a little shot for me but hopefully, slowly things are getting better. I thought I had a high threshold for pain but this has been much, much worse than having a cavity filled without Novocaine or unmedicated childbirth. At least with childbirth you are rewarded with a baby you have been working on for 40 weeks. I do not think anything adorable is going to emerge from my spine. I hope for continued improvement so I can do things like basic childcare. Hmm. . . .

We had a fun 4th. Some of my sister's family was down from Seattle (but sadly, not my sister.) We had a family BBQ with all the Utah siblings and had a small fireworks display. Lucky for us, in Utah on the 24th it is Pioneer Day, which is also a firework holiday. I am sure the pioneers would have wanted it that way.

Hinckleys can't get together without some form of circle time.

Colin loves sparklers. We watched the Holladay fireworks from the Birth and Family Place's parking lot and it was a great view. We were glad that our time in Phily gave us the chance to tell Colin the story of our independence from naughty King George.

Sadly for me the Monday after the holiday I threw out my back but I am slowly on the mend. No fun at all.

While we were out East, Costco had this kid's camera for under $15 and we could not resist. He loves the camera, and so does Jane. It is obviously not anything fancy. Brian finally downloaded his first 300 or so photos today and it is kind of fun to see his little world. Above is me taking a photo of Colin, below him doing the same of me.

A Colin collage.
It really is fun to see some of the house details that he got photos of in the historic home where we were staying. Sadly, I never got really any photos of the house, the canal, or New Hope PA.

How scary that kids must see adults like this for a long time.