The Alexander Family: July 2012

Bend Trip

This past weekend we took a Ryan took a couple days off and we took a mini vacation over to Bend. Grammy and Papa are super nice to let us stay at their house. While we were there we went on a little hike to Tumalo Falls. It was a beautiful waterfall and the kids loved walking. Next time I'll bring their tennis shoes instead of flip flops. I gave them a bag of chips to snack on and they carried it up all the whole way. It was a beautiful morning.

While we were in Bend, Brady got sick with Hand, Foot, and Mouth. But before he was sick we found this very cool Pirate Park. We took the kids scooters and they played pirates who walked the plank. It was so much fun!

We had originally planned to go to the bike races in Bend on Saturday night. Because Brady was sick, Sydney and I stayed home and played trouble. She told my Mom that she got to play games like a "grown up." Tyler loved going to the races with Daddy. He thought the bikes were super fast. Afterwards they stopped and picked everyone up milkshakes. It was a great end to a good weekend.

Tylers Birthday

Tyler is 5!!! He has been looking forward to this birthday for a few months now. Even though I begged him to turn 4 again, he said it doesn't work that way. He really wanted to turn 5. He is such a sweet boy. We celebrated his birthday 3 times. The first time was with family in Utah. I made him a Spiderman cake - which is what he wanted. When he went to blow out the candles, Brady decided to "help" him by doing it. So we lit the candles again and moved Brady. On his actual birthday we drove home from Utah. We tried to make this exciting by stopping and getting donuts in Twin Falls. Tyler also got to pick where we ate lunch (subway) and we stopped and got ice cream in the Dalles. Tyler got to watch movies in the car and was such a trooper about traveling on his birthday. When we got home he actually said, "well that didn't take too long." The next week we invited his friends to Papas Pizza. Tyler LOVES Papas Pizza. He was very excited to hang out with his friends and eat pizza. Some things I want to remember about Tyler are:
1- He is a complete jokester. He loves to be fun and silly.
2 - He hardly ever looks at the camera for pictures. Or if he does he makes a silly face.
3 - He loves Sydney and Brady. He is such a good brother. He is a big helper and loves to play with them.
4 - He loves to be outside. He got a scooter for his birthday and he loves to play outside with it.
5 - He loves playing with Legos and superheros. He also likes to play with his light saber.
6 - Tyler's favorite food is peanut butter sandwiches.
7 - Tyler reminds me of his Daddy every morning when he eats cereal for breakfast.
8 - Ty is very excited to start Kindergarten. He keeps talking about when he rode the bus at Kindergarten Orientation.
9 - Tyler loves to dress in sweats and basketball type shorts and pants. He doesn't like to get dressed up. He is such a boy!
10 - Tyler is a good helper around the house. He loves to help mop and dust. He also wipes down the kitchen chairs and helps unload the dishwasher.
11 - Tyler likes to laugh and have a good time.

I love my little Tyler, aka Ty-Ty and Tyster.

Tyler making faces.

Between these two pictures hopefully all the kids are looking and smiling.

2nd round after Brady blew out the first round. Sydney is too cute trying to stop him!

Donuts in Twin Falls

Pizza with my 5 year old!

Who wants to eat pizza and play? These boys!

Brady loves to say cheese.

Playing at Papas Pizza with his buddies.

Tyler got a red scooter for his birthday. He loves to scoot around the neighborhood.

Trip to Utah and Las Vegas

We spent the first part of our summer vacation going to Utah and Las Vegas. We started in Utah for my nephew Jake's baptism and my cousin's mission homecoming. It was fun being able to visit with family. Ryan had to leave during the week for work, but before he left we were able to visit with more family!! The kids really like playing with all their cousins! After he left, we drove down to Las Vegas to visit my Grandma Hicks, go swimming and go to Lake Mead. While we were at Lake Mead a military helicopter flew right over the boat. It was SO COOL!!! We also ate at a couple buffets and did LOTS of swimming. One night I crashed Alisa & Kurts date night and we went down to the strip. We saw the new Kardashian store in the Mirage and went and saw the Billagio water show. And went shopping at Cesears. Thanks Alisa for letting me crash - you're the BEST sister ever!!! The night before we left to go home, Brady got really sick and spent the night throwing up. It was a long drive home from Vegas with a really sick toddler. On Monday we ended up going to the Urgent Care in Utah to find out that he had the Rotavirus. He was sick a few more days before he snapped out of it. Poor Brady!! Ryan was able to fly back and spend some more time with us. We were so excited to have him around to enjoy our vacation. We spent the fourth playing games in the backyard and just enjoying each other. It was a perfect fourth of July.

The next Friday we went to Seven Peaks. The kids had a blast doing the slides and spending more time in the water. We stole Hudson for the day and Jake and Josh came down. It was super crowded, but fun being able to be in the sun at a water park. That night they had a sleepover at Katies. She was a trooper to let them spend the night. They had a blast!

It is always hard leaving family, but we had a great long trip! Thanks to everyone (Grandma, Grandpa, Alisa, Kurt, Jake, Josh, Katie, Brendon, Shay, Hudson, Rob, Aubrey, Jeff, Grandma Hicks, and Grandma Carol) for putting up with us! We had a blast!