Picnic in Cottonwood Mountains, SLC area

It only took under an hour to get to our destination ---A picnic in the Cottonwood Mountains. The day was gorgeous! These are my favorite kinds of activities because nature has something for EVERYONE!
We spent a lot of time building damns, throwing rocks and crossing bridges. I love being near the water. It is food for my soul, and I love my kids having moments like this often! It even more fun while being together with our family.


After a stroll on the trail, hide and seek, and family pictures, we headed back home.

Thankgiving Point Museum of Ancient History (Dinosaur Museum)

Today we spent a good portion of the day at Thankgiving Point at the Museum of Ancient History and Discovery Gardens. Jolynn and her boys met us there with their family guest pass...Thanks Jo! We were all so grateful for the discounts but really enjoyed being able to hang out with you some more.The museum is incredible! I can imagine being able to enter someday without Max and actually read all the information. Even so, the museum is fascinating! The kids really loved it.

This is an area where the kids create their own dinosaur...brilliant!

Here they have a huge snake shaped sink full of water, sand, dinosaurs, trees, etc. All of the kids loved creating their own Dinolands. They all could have stayed here for hours longer!

Here you see the Neyman/Numbers excavation site. They found more than Dinosaur bones.... binkis, cheerios and even a little money. Another fun area in the museum.

aAfter the museum, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at the restaurant on site there. Well, aside from 3 trips to the washroom with Max, countless tours to occupy Max while waiting, cleaning spilled water, and thrown food, etc, etc....yes CRAZY, but good food (what I was able to eat anyway.!) Thanks for the treat Grandpa!

While traveling to the Discovery Gardens, Max fell asleep, so we stayed in the car and both truly enjoyed a little peace and quiet while the rest of the gang explored the gardens. I hear they are abslutely stunning!

Another memorable day with Grandparents and cousins!

Sunday Dinner at Mike & Alisha's

Max, MaKenna & McKay

Neyman cousins all together. We miss not having Liz & Val with kids when were all together like this! It is ALWAYS such a blast to have everyone together!

Family pictures before Geoff leaves on another consulting trip to Oakland CA.

The Neyman boys.

General Conference

We celebrated my Mom's birthday in between Conference Sessions on Saturday. I was so HAPPY to be able to watch the morning session in Mom's home. There is nothing that compares to the inspiration and peace that comes from listening to and heeding the words of our prophet and apostles. It is one of my favorite times of the year! Geoff and I are anxious to catch up on the other 3 sessions!

Mom leaves for a church history tour next week (Yea for Mom!) so we celebrated her birthday early. I sure love my Mom!

A Couple of days at Dave & Lisa's house

Our family and Mike & Alisha's family all waited at Dave's apartment for George and Margaret's arrival (Geoff's Dad and wife). We were expecting their train to arrive around 10pm, but due to delays, it didn't arrive until after midnight. So all the grand kids had a hay day playing with each other until the wee hours of the morning.

Just after midnight everyone (except the two sleeping babies and me) went to meet Grandpa Neyman and Margaret at the Provo Train Station. (I sent the camera with Geoff, which is why there are no pictures of this exciting part of our story). When the train finally arrived, so did about 5 police cars with sirens blaring. Apparently they were after a guy who was on the train. Luckily, that person wasn't Grandpa! It was a little more excitement than we anticipated!

These days were filled with cousin fun! I hardly saw Justin as he was always busily playing with all his cousins!
Max keep himself entertained in Lisa's pantry where all the good stuff was in arms reach for him. I OFTEN found Max on the floor in the pantry will his goods layed out on the floor, enjoying a special feast of a symphony of snacks. He was VERY HaPPY at Dave & Lisa's!

It was nice to enjoy some relaxing time where George and Margaret and the kids could get to know each other. This is the first time Justin has met his Grandfather (His only living Grandfather).

Cousins! Justin, Josh & Kyle

I think Max has a big crush on Jessica. He literally blushed and acted so embarrassed when he looked at her. It was so cute.

Of course, having "the brothers" all together, we couldn't resist doing "shake face"-- a very comical site to see! The first picture is their warm up which is just as funny to watch as the actual performance (below).Below, is one of my favorite wedding pictures (taken Aug 1998)...the brother doing their famous face shake. It is hilarious!!!!


I had no idea that George had a similar talent. He imitates a rooster which was VERY FUN!

Max & McKay

Of course this blog entry wouldn't be complete without inserting Geoff and Jessica's dance performance. We all knew Geoff was talented, but this beats all and was the highlight performance of the evening!

Leonardo Davinci Exhibit

Our family took a little detour on our way to the next family visit to stop and see the Leonardo DaVinci Exhibit in the Woodbury Museum. I had heard about this exhibit several weeks ago and have really wanted to see it. I was not disappointed. It was a great exhibit... we all loved it.


The exhibit was basically a showing of all DaVinci's inventions in model form. There were over 65 models, and several that you could experiment with. I never realized how much he actually invented. It was really amazing to see it all, and to see how his creations have been the beginnings of many of the things we use today. For example, our helicopter, army tank, many of the levers and energy saving devices; even our scubba diving gear.


This is a portable bridge that DaVinci created for military purposes. The boys enjoyed the challenge of putting it together. (Not as easy as it looks).

Definitely a GREAT experience!

Romero Family Pictures

Cabelas

This fun day began as we met Jolynn and her boys and LeiLani and her girls at Cabelas.

We all love going to Cabelas! Our instructor, Carla, was so fabulous with the kids. We learned many fascinating tidbits about all sort of animals. Justin loved learning about the White-tailed Deer, and Max found it quite amusing to HOP like a deer all the way through the tour!

The Cabelas here has really put a lot of effort into their animal displays. They are so well done-- and fun. Very beautiful.

The Aquarium.

A little lesson on taxidermy.

Justin and Max both LOVED the shooting range and actually did rather well! I have to admit that I really liked shooting the guns as well (helping Max). I love when Geoff and I are able to go real gun shooting.
Max of course spotted some hats and insisted on the big and fluffy racoon hat. I think it suits him rather well!

A LOT of boys!

We LOVE (to express it lightly) spending time with Romero's!!! All of our boys love each other and can't wait to spend time with each other. I feel the same about time with Jo. Jo is such a good mom, and I love watching how she runs her home and interacts with her kids. I always come away inspired.

One of our trips was to the library. That was fun...5 boys under the age of 7. This helped me put things into perspective! Between Jolynn and I, we've had a boy every year except one (2006) starting in 2000.