Cousins!

Usually the summer brings a lot of cousin time for my kiddos. We get some good vacations in and holidays, and just hanging out time. Before I had kids I told Steven that I wanted to make sure our kids had cousins to play with because when I was growing up I had none. So now that we have kids I just love the chances we get to have them play together and it always makes me happy that they absolutely ADORE each other. Korbin has so much fun with all of his cousins and it is about the cutest thing ever. Aubree is starting to get to the stage where she wants to play with bigger cousins and do what they are doing. Anyway, I am just thankful that my kids get live really close to most of their cousins and that they get the chance to play with them often. Here are some pictures of the kiddos/cousins this summer, thus far.

 South Ogden Days Parade

Dax and Aubree (3 mos apart)

All of the Rounds grandchildren!

 

SLIP AND SLIDE FUN!-

After the 4th of July Parade we went to Steven's parents and the kiddos had a BLAST on the slip and slide.. they played on that thing for hours!

 

 Aubree tried it.. didn't love it!

 At Korb's birthday party.. cute little bums!

 Leslee's kids and mine

 Lunch time!

 How freakin cute are these two?!

 Love the hooded stares

 Bath time never gets old.. thank goodness! (Korb wanted blue water and Makayla wanted pink)

 Makayla fell asleep in our backyard..too funny not to capture it.

 Time for some duck feeding!

 Some of the Rounds cousins.. this was about 20 mins before poor Braden broke his arm!

This picture doesn't do it justice.. but here are six kids in the van.. :)

Korbin's 3rd Birthday!

My little baby is now a big boy! Holy moly! Korbin is officially three! I have a three year old!!
Korbin wanted a Batman theme for his birthday. I decided I would just do a simple party in our backyard since our vacation was right before that.
 We started off the morning with the #3 pancake and opening a few presents from Grandma.. went to lunch with Grandma and then nap time.. Then it was PARTY TIME!
 The birthday party turned out well! It was rainy and a little windy but it was still pretty warm. The kids had fun in the sand box, tramp, pool, slip and slide, and on the bikes. They were all super cute and Korbin absolutely loved all of them being there.
 My SIL Leslee made an adorable cake for Korbin with the batman theme. She did great! (Thanks :) )
and I tried to decorate some stuff with Batman. I now know I should have convinced him to do Spiderman, or Superman because there was zero Batman decorations anywhere! Anyway, we had pizza and the adults got to just sit and talk. I always enjoy those parties where the kids can entertain themselves and the adults can just hang out.
 Anywho.. it was nice, he got some fun stuff that he wanted to stay up all night last night playing with. Thanks to all my family for coming and sharing Korbin's birthday with us!

Korbin's Batman cake made by Leslee

 Cake Face!

 Cousins riding bikes in circles

 Leah and Aubree had a blast in the sandbox.. cute kids

 Jax, Griffin, Kyla, and Ryker taking a break from bikes for a min.

Not a great picture but Aubree enjoyed stealing everyone's pizza, watermelon and drinks when they weren't looking. It was hilarious!

 All his presents!!

Super Grandma, Leslee w/Linkin, and Casandra

Opening presents

Leah, Korb, and Kyla

 

The only way to eat cake when you are young!

 

 

 

 

Illinois 2013

So as many of you know, my dad's side of the family lives in Illinois.  He is the only one from his family that doesn't live there..so we always try to make an effort to go out there every few years. The last time Steven and I were out there was 4 years ago (before kids). It is quite a different vacation when you take kids on a big trip like that. It was quite the success and I am thankful for my kids who were wonderful and made it pretty easy on us.
  Anywho.. we took our two kiddos to Illinois.. My mother, father, and sister came also. The flight to Illinois was a bit of a joke. The kids both did great considering the space we were in. Aubree fell asleep for about 2 hrs.. which would have been great on a 3 hr flight, but it was so stormy that our 3 hr flight ended up being 6.5 hrs flight. What a nightmare! We had to fly to KC and back to St Louis. The kids really did do well the whole time even though it was a lot longer!
 We spent all our days with our fabulous relatives who are always soo willing to help us and hang out with us. Our first real day we went to the Science museum with my cousin Sarah and her 3 boys. It was such a blast! They had a fun little discovery area where kids could play with anything.. so they all spent 2 hrs there. Korb also got a chance to do a build a bear and got a dinosaur which he loves (Thanks Grandma!). Tuesday we spent time with the family celebrating my dads birthday..and ended the night at our favorite casino..which was a blast. My Aunt and Uncle are super serious about the slots so its straight business. They ended up winning about $2,000. I also won a little money, and Steven got to spend his money at black jack. Wednesday we spent the day at my uncle's lake..which is always a blast. The kids got to swim and pretty much do whatever we wanted.
 Thursday was the Zoo.. which was awesome! The Zoo is free and has more animals then I have ever seen at a Zoo before. They had really cool exhibits. It was soo hot that day and add in the humidity and it killed us! But it was really fun to go to that zoo and see new animals. It was great because most paths had tree's surrounding it so there was tons of shade. Aubree LOVED the penguins and Korb was excited about the elephants.
 Friday I was too exhausted from the zoo so I decided to stay at the hotel with the kiddos while everyone else went to Six Flags. I did get the chance to hang out with my Cousin Sarah and her boys at the pool and that was really nice and relaxing.
 Saturday was our second lake day filled with 4-wheeling, swimming, fishing, eating, talking, and fireworks. It was soo much fun! Korb was in heaven and Aubree did well also. My Uncle Mike bought a bunch of very fancy fireworks and they put on a show for everyone. It was great.
 On the way home (Sunday) both kiddos slept about 2 ish hrs on the flight. Aubree got her very own seat.. so Steven and I were able to relax and read/listen to music.
 It was such a great trip! I was nervous taking kids on a plane and such, but it really did turn out well and they were such good travelers. I love seeing the Illinois Shaw's!
 Enjoy the pictures..sorry there is sooo many! :)

ON OUR WAY-

 

He picked out his own neck pillow.. yes, that's zebra print and purple..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SCIENCE MUSEUM-

 

 

 Crazy hair!

 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION-

 

 

 

 

 CASINO NIGHT-

 

 My cute cousin Sarah :)

 

LAKE DAY #1-

Cousins- Kinsey, Korb, Jace, and Sam

 

 

 

THE ZOO-

 

 

 

 

Cousins.. Kelsey, Sarah, myself, and Megan

 

 

 

Aubree absolutely LOVED the penguins!!

 

THE POOL WITH COUSINS-

 

 

The view from my Uncle Mikes backyard-

 

 

 LAKE DAY #2-

 

 

 

 

 

 My Dad's siblings- My dad, Debbie, Jill, and Mike

 Steven wanted to teach Korb how to fish.

 

 

 Aunt Megan and Korb

 I absolutely love this lake and all the memories!

 

Their first fish together :)

 

 Love this picture!

 

 

 

 haha I love this face! This is her face when we go really fast!

 

ON THE WAY HOME-

 Aunt Meggie and Korb with his new dinosaur he named.. Dinosaur!