Xactware Summer Party

Yesterday Xactware held their Summer Party for Employees and their families. It was held in Park City at the Olympic Park. They rented out the whole park, and we could ride any of the rides we wanted. I have been really excited about this for a long time. Jennifer came down and babysat Annika for the day. (Thanks Jen!) I am sure that Annika had more fun at home playing with Jen, than waiting for us to ride rides all day long. Brian and I got up there a little after 2 and we went straight up the lift and headed for the Bobsled. We got to go Bobsledding. It was soooo much fun! We loved it! What an experience. I don't know if we will every be able to go bobsledding again. But it was amazing. The sled that they use in the summer has wheels, because obviously there isn't ice on the track. There is a trained driver and then they can take up to 3 passengers. It was just the driver and me and Brian. There are 15 turns on the track and we got going over 65 mph. It was amazing.
This is us in the Bobsled.
This is part of the track!
This is us back at the top after our ride!
This is Brian standing at the top of the Big Ski Jump!

After Bobsledding it was pretty hard for anything else to be as exhilarating, but we went down the Xtreme Zipline, and then the alpine slide and then the Zipline a couple more times. I am really glad that we went early, because by the end the line to get up the lift was so long and it took forever. They did this thing called Xtreme Rafting and they took a raft like what you would float down the river in, and then they turned on the sprinklers on the huge olympic jumps and they got to ride down the hill in the raft. It looked like so much fun. We didn't get tickets to do it, but it was fun to watch.

When we were done with the rides we walked through the Olympic museum. It was interesting to look at all of the things from the Olympics. That is where we took these great pictures!


After the museum we went to eat dinner. Then after dinner they had a show, the flying aces. They are Past Olympians and future Olympian hopefuls and they did a show for us. They went down the ramps and flipped into the water. It was amazing how high up they get. One of the skiers in the show is 13 years old. Crazy! They had some fireworks, and the whole thing was amazing!

Needless to say we were exhausted when we got home, but we had a really fun day!

Fresh Fruit

Annika loves eating the strawberries off of our plants. She has even been found eating a white strawberry that she picked for herself. (ew gross!) She will walk over to the plants and lift up the leaves and look for any strawberry she can find. This is how she reacts to any fruit she finds out she can pick.

Within the last couple of weeks our Raspberries are getting riper and riper. At least once a day we walk over and pick them. Most of the time they are gone before we even make it inside. I am so glad that Annika loves her fruit, but I like Raspberries too. I just want her to share a couple of them with me! I decided to take some pictures of her enjoying her Raspberries, because it is so fun to watch her inhale them. The fresh berries are a Summer favorite and I am so glad that we now have them in our yard for us to enjoy!

Summer Days

Last Wednesday, the day before all of the kids went back to school, we took them to a new splash pad in highland. I have never seen a splash pad like that before. It was so cool, it had this little stream with some rocks in it, and then at the end it had fountains like at the gateway mall. It was a lot of fun! It is always fun to get together with the ladies in the neighborhood, and Annika loves playing with the other kids.

Happy 26th Birthday Brian

It was Brian's birthday on Saturday! I was trying to make all of these plans and surprise him with a great date, and it seemed like nothing could go right. On Saturday we woke up, and opened presents. He got the new tiger woods game for the wii, and I think that we played it for about 4 hours that morning.

My plan for that afternoon was to take him to this Argentine place in Provo, well I called and their number was disconnected. So I drove down there, and they were out of business. I found another place on the internet in Orem and I called and their number was disconnected too. I was really bummed no Argentine food. So then we decided on this Italian place in American Fork. BJ and Neisha were kind enough to let Annika hang out with them for the afternoon. (Thanks Again!) So we went to drop Annika off, and they asked where we were going to eat and they said..."I think that they went out of business". Are you kidding me. All we wanted to do was eat some food. Well so we drove over to where the movie theater was, and there was a Pier 49 pizza. So we went and got some pizza and then went and saw Harry Potter. The movie was good. But it is always wonderful to just be out on a date with Brian. After the movie, we went to a wedding reception for one of his childhood friends. We came home and I was exhausted. It was a fun, long day! I hope you had a great Birthday Brian.

On Sunday Brian's family came over for dinner, and cake. Brian decided to try something new and he BBQ'd a brisket. We cooked it on the grill for 2 hours and then in the oven for 3. I just need to say that it was delicious. Brian did a great job. We had a great dinner, then we played a couple hours of tiger wood's golf and the Frisbee golf on the wii. Then Brian got to blow out the candles on his cake. Brian requested an Ice Cream cake and I have never made one before, but I thought it turned out really well. We also tried a new fondant recipe. I always enjoy making birthday cakes. And It turned out good. It was fun having his family over, and extending his birthday one more day!

It was a great weekend!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!

Blacksmith Fork Campout 2009

On Friday we packed up all of our camping stuff and headed up to Logan. We actually went camping up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Brian's family gets together every year for a campout up there. They have a great place they get to use so we go up and camp. My favorite thing about it is that it has grass. It gave Annika lots of room to run around and play. But we didn't have to deal with lots of dirt. It was a lot of fun. We got up there Friday afternoon and only Brian's grandparents were there. It was nice because we got a chance to talk to them for a while. We set up camp and then Brian's parents got there.

We had set up camp and Annika was getting a drink out of the cooler. She came over to me and said bug and pointed to her hair. I pretended to brush it out and said ok it's out. Well then she turned around and there was this huge Bark Beetle in her hair. Oh my gosh. I didn't want to touch it so Brian got it out of her hair. Poor girl, she was trying to tell me, and I didn't believe her.

After dinner we played a great game of Ladder golf. You throw the golf balls at a ladder and try to get them to stay on. Each rung is worth a different point value. Brian and I played a game and then we played against his parents. Lots of fun.

On Friday night it rained, but by the time we woke up Saturday morning it had stopped. It was still cold, but eventually the sun came out and it was a nice day. Annika got to play with one of Brian's cousins kids. Kiari and Annika were born about a month apart from each other. They fought so much, but loved following each other around. They played blocks for a while together which was really good, and they really liked playing in the rocks together.




Brian and Gavin decided to go fishing. I heard they caught some fish, but I never saw any. Annika and Karen and I had fun hanging out at camp. Saturday night we had another fire and we actually stayed up late and talked. Camping was a lot of fun! But I am really glad to be back home with my flushing toilet!

Isn't this a cute picture of Annika and her Great Grandma Nye!

Pirates and Bugs

On Monday night our Neighborhood had a BBQ. It was a lot of fun! One of the neighbors knows a guy who dresses up like Captain Jack Sparrow, so he came to our BBQ with his boat. He was really cute with the kids and let some of them hold his gun or his knife. He let us all get pictures with him. Then he left his boat and all of the kids loved playing on it all night long. It was fun to get to know our neighbors better and meet some new ones.


Annika loves to look at bugs, and the other day we had a praying mantis on the patio. I picked it up so annika could play with it. She loves looking at them, but kinda freaks out when she is holding them and they crawl around. It is funny to watch. I just thought it was fun!

Catch up

Last week was kind of a crazy week. On Wednesday Annika and I got to hang out with some friends from Logan. Robin and her cute little boys Corban and Jace. And Britney and her cute little boys Tai and Kua. We went to the swimming pool at Britney's house. It was so much fun to get to sit and talk with these girls. I haven't seen them in so long. We all had fun swimming, and eating lunch, but by the end it was definitely nap time. (The picture is of Tai, Annika who needs a nap and Corban)

On Thursday Annika and I drove up to Logan, it was Cache County fair time. Jordan and Austin raised lambs again this year, so we went up to watch them show their lambs. We got up there thursday afternoon. We got to hang out and watch them show.

Then we walked up to the 4-h building to see what ribbons they got on all of the other things that they entered. Austin got a big rosette ribbon on one of the ties he had tied. and Jordan got a big rosette on a poetry book he put together. Way to go! After the 4-H building we went back to my parents house and ate dinner. Then we went back in to the Rodeo. I dressed Annika up in her Wranglers, and her cute pink cowgirl boots. She was ready for the Rodeo.

Since the Rodeo didn't start until 8 she slept through most of it. But it was a lot of fun. There were these huge horses that pulled a wagon around. They were huge. I took a picture of Annika with them the next day just to show how tall and big they were.

Annika and I spent the night at my parents house, and went to watch lamb shows again on Friday. While we were waiting for one of the lamb shows to start, we walked over and sat on one of the tractors they had out on display. Annika loved driving it.

Then she got to ride on one of the mechanical bulls. I got her to even put her hand in the air like a real bull rider! We watched Jordan and Austin show again, and they did a great job! Then it was time for us to come home.

We had a great time at the fair!

Snowbird 2009

Brian's family gets together every other year at Snowbird for a big family reunion. It is so much fun. All of his aunts and uncles from California drive to Utah for the event. We eat a lot of food, and play about as hard as we can. (well there is a lot of relaxing too!)

We got up there on Thursday afternoon. After we got there we unpacked and got settled in our room. We went over to the playground and let the kids play. Scott and Allison had just got there, so they brought Abe and Henry down to play. It is so much fun to have them come to Utah. It is always fun to watch Annika play with her cousins. While we were playing at the playground we saw a moose. It was so cool. We came back from the playgound and decided to go down to the pool. After swimming we let the kids take a nap. After their nap we went out to dinner with everyone that was up there. After dinner we came back to the condo. Allison and Scott were taking Abe out to ride his bike so Annika and I tagged along. Annika really wanted to wear Abe's helmet. She got to ride his bike for a minute, but she is such a stinker, she doesn't want me to hold onto the handle bars, but she doesn't know how to steer. When we got back to the Condo, We had a surprise party for Scott. He is turning 30 at the beginning of September. He didn't know that the party was for him. We got him a Wii fit and a really fun game, so we stayed up late playing the wii.

Friday we hung out in the condo, and then Brian's whole family had a BBQ for lunch. We got a pavilion right next to the playground. It was really nice to be able to let the kids run around and play. Annika made some friends. I looked up and she was holding their hand walking out of the park. I guess I can't let Annika just run around without me close by. Friday night we had a dinner with everyone, and Grandpa LeBaron had made some Video's for us to watch.

Saturday we woke up and went to play tennis. After tennis, we came home and got ready and went over to go on the rides. They have an Alpine slide, and a zip line. We waited in line for a long time. We came home and ate some lunch.

Later that afternoon we all rode the tram to the top of the mountain. Annika loved the tram, she was laughing about the whole way up. Once at the top it is quite the view, so we looked around for a while, and rode the tram back down.

Then we left Annika at the bottom with Grandma and Grandpa and Henry and we rode the chair lift back up so that we could see the tunnel through the mountain. We came back down and went down the Alpine slide one more time. Then we headed back to the condo for dinner. After dinner the entire LeBaron clan took Grandma for a walk. We hiked up a trail and decided to take some pictures at the top. We got back and enjoyed some homemade ice cream, and went to bed. That night Annika didn't get much sleep. She woke up and got in bed with us and then was just squirming around. (this is not normal for her) She asked me for a drink so I got her one, and then she threw up. She threw up a couple more times, and then I think we finally got a couple hours of sleep. It was a long night.

Sunday the whole group got together for Breakfast, and then everyone was packing up to head home. Because Annika was sick, we didn't do much besides eat and pack up. It is always fun to go to snowbird. We had a great time.