Mother's Day Weekend: Saturday

Our Mother's Day weekend festivities continued on Saturday with a trip to Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls. Tyson, his mom, and I took Angie and Steve's kids, Dustin and Erika's kids, and Brycen to the zoo and it was a blast and a half. We had so much fun and the kids loved it! They were all so happy and really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. It was a perfect day all around.

At one point during our walk through the zoo, Tyson's mom overheard a couple of women talking on a bench. They saw us all walking by and one of the women said to the other (something like), "Look at all of those kids. And she's expecting another one!" Apparently Tyson and I looked like we were taking our six kids to the zoo and we've got one on the way! (The latter being the only true part of the moment.) I thought that was pretty funny.

 

 The otters were a big favorite.

 They put on a little show for the kids and they just loved it!

 Those big turtles were amazing!

 Jack getting a better look

The petting zoo was really fun for them as well. Those goats really wanted some food!

 Jack and Brycen loved watching the goats eat the food.

 the kids play area

 The lions are always one of my favorites!

Brycen liked them too!
"Kitty!"

 It's a must to take a picture of the kids on the tiger at Tautphaus! I had to make this one big so you can see all of those cute faces. (The tiger at the zoo recently passed away so it was sad not seeing him there. The kids sure missed him too.)

 The penguins were another favorite and one of the last stops at the zoo.

 We went to Arctic Circle for lunch after the zoo and the kids enjoyed chicken rings, fries, and chocolate milk. They each got a toy in their kids meals, which happened to be zoo animals. They were so excited about that! (In this picture, everyone is looking and smiling at Brycen because he's such a mess when he eats chicken nuggets and fries ha ha.)

 After some serious napping and relaxing, we celebrated Mother's Day and Steve's birthday with a bbq. I made a Cookies and Cream Cake for dessert, which is a pretty awesome dessert if I do say so myself. You can find the recipe here! Cooper and Easton helped put candles on the cake.

Steve blowing out the candles

 Jack and Brycen wanted to help as well.

 Present time! We got Steve a BYU t-shirt.

 After Steve opened his presents, we all gave Julie her Mother's Day presents. She really liked the card we made for her. Here's a close up:

 We made these for our moms this year, as well as great grandma versions for our grandmas. Everyone loved their cards from Brycen!

 The kids really liked it too.

We gave Tyson's mom some jewelry from ShopLately. It was hard not to get some for myself! I love that site so much.

 In the meantime, Brycen enjoyed some trampoline time with Easton.

 Dustin and Erika made Julie the best gift for Mother's Day. They went through thousands of old pictures of the Miller family (Milan, Julie, and their kids) and put a book together in Shutterfly. We're talking from the time Milan and Julie were married up to when the youngest (Clark) went on his mission. They did such a good job on the book. We're all going to be able to enjoy that for years!

 Dustin and Tyson catching the moment on video

Each child wrote a letter to their mom and the letters were put in the book. It was so fun to read them all! One of those moments where you laugh and cry at the same time.

I love this picture of everyone looking at the book!

 Brycen had other plans during present opening time.

 Jack and Brycen

Cute boys! They're six months apart in age.

 We weren't going to be in town for Kate's birthday the next weekend so we decided to give her birthday present to her that night. We made an "All About Me from A to Z" book for her, full of pictures of her and other family members. She loved it!

She kept wanting to look at her book. I was very flattered that she liked it so much!

 Time for bubbles! Brycen loves playing with bubbles.

 After everyone cleaned up and went inside, Gramps stayed outside with Brycen to jump on the trampoline. He sure is loved!

And there's nothing like snuggle time with cousins and a little "Phineas and Ferb".

We spent the rest of the evening playing games and laughing hysterically as we usually do. We just needed Tacie, Ryan, Clark, and Kristi and we would have been set! Sometimes I catch myself laughing out loud at random times just thinking about funny moments with Tyson's family. 

After everyone left, Tyson and his dad gave his mom and I our Mother's Day presents. I told Tyson I didn't want him to buy me a card, I wanted a homemade one that Brycen colored. This is how it turned out:

 I love Brycen's pictures! And I love this card.

For a Mother's Day present they got me this precious Willow Tree statue. They also gave me a box of See's chocolates (handpicked) but they didn't last long enough to get in a picture. This Willowtree is called "Quietly". It shows a mom and her two little boys sitting together. I cried when I opened it. It was a perfect Mother's Day present! I'm so excited for our baby boy to join us in a couple of months. I'm so happy we're adding another boy to our little family.