BOISE CELEBRATION

We love going to Boise each year to get away and have some low key fun!  This year, Meridian canceled their Dairy Days parade which has become a beloved tradition of our family.  We love the parade best of all!  Aunt Sondra lives only 1 1/2 blocks from the excitement!  We can't wait to be a part of such a wonderful community again next year!

We headed up on Friday and made a quick dash to the mall for a last minute birthday gift for Brandon.  I really wanted to get him a new Notre Dame hat.  But there was not a single white Notre Dame hat to be found.  One of the salesman in the hat store said, "Come back right before football season and we will have a better selection."  I wanted to say, "But right before football season isn't when Brandon's birthday is!"  It was quite a funny ordeal actually!

Next, we headed to fun Aunt Sondra's to visit and get ready for the BBQ.  There were several other families (cousins) that were invited but didn't come.  It was very fun though!

Dawson, Brady, Faith, and Colt

Kate and Jadyn

Kate is all about the babies!!!

I LOVE Bristol's smile!

Bristol, Jadyn, Hallee, Kate

Bristol

Kaylor

I love both of these pictures.  They describe why I call her 'FUN Aunt Sondra.'

After the BBQ, we headed out to Settlers Park in Meridian to watch the family movie "Rio" on a giant screen outside.  I have to say that it was so much fun and FREE!  I definitely want to put it on our list for next time. We got there at the perfect time and had an excellent spot!

Love all of Dawson's faces too!

I love this little girl!

What the movie screen looked like

Saturday, we were invited to eat breakfast with our friends the Zanellis.  We figured out that we have been friends since 1998!  They cooked an awesome breakfast.  While the adults talked, Faith talked to Bekah, Dawson talked to Caden, and Kate talked to Kenna.  They had such a good time ... and I forgot to document with pictures.  :(

After lunch, Sondra, Dawson, Kate, and I headed out to Robyn's (leaving Brandon and Faith for naps.)  Robyn set out this fun blowup slide/pool that all of the kids played on the entire afternoon.  It was good to visit and have cousin time ... and I forgot to document with pictures.  :(

Brandon's birthday was on Saturday.  He is another year older and we love him so much!  We hope he had a special day!

While searching for a movie to watch, Aunt Sondra said that she gave away the Twilight movies because she just couldn't handle it.  And when I found them, I took that opportunity to take another picture!

We decided on Avatar which was really cool.  (I had never seen it before.)

We finished off the night with a bang!  Sondra and Brady gave us our own personal firework show which was really cool and fun!

Brady taught Dawson and Kate how to light fireworks.  They definitely enjoyed it!

Faith content to watch

Ohhh-ing and ahhh-ing for the show!

We came in to find that Dawson was "burnt bacon" (in his own words).  We put on essential oils to make this better!  The legs were perfect the next morning, but the back took a couple of days.

                            

And Kate lost another tooth!!!  And the tooth fairy found us in Boise!

Sunday, I woke up to see Dawson upside down in the recliner.  Quite a funny boy!

We finished up the weekend with sacrament meeting, which happened to be quite incredible.

Thank you Aunt Sondra for hosting us once again and to the Royce family for helping make our Boise trip so much fun!  We love you all!  Until next time!