look who came to visit!

mom and dad graf came down the last weekend in july so we could all celebrate dad's birthday.  chelsae & spencer, shawnae & baby brielle came too!  it was fun having some company.  mom and dad stayed at a hotel so we enjoyed several hours in the evening and the next morning swimming at the pool.

we had a pool-side pizza and birthday party with cake and ice cream for dad.  don't ask me why i didn't take pictures....?  shawnae if you have any....

i got to hold this chubby cuteness while everyone swam!

chelsae and spencer entertained the kids for hours in the pool and grammie got in on a game of marco polo too!

the next day, on sunday we took a walk around temple square and visited the exhibits there. unfortunately later on in the evening both zach and grammie got really sick.  i think we had a combination of a stomach bug and some dehydration going on.  we had a long, hot weekend combined with not drinking enough water and swimming in the steamy pool room.

thanks for coming to visit!

christmas 2013. part 2.

after we enjoyed christmas moring at our home with our little family and uncle bryce we headed down to burley for family dinner.  we weren't able to stay because chris had to work the next day, but we did enjoy a few hours of time together.

and just in case you're wondering, no, everyone does not just have really bad taste in clothing! nickie had the idea of doing an "ugly sweater" theme.  everyone has on the ugliest they could find (except Chris and I...i didn't find anything worth spending the $$$ on, so we kind of rebelled a bit. sorry!)

chelsae and spencer tricked everyone with an "ugly baby's 1st year" christmas stocking!  

no baby on board yet!

Tim's version of "ugly sweater" was pinning a Patriot's football symbol on his plaid shirt- ah, what a jokster!  He and Chris have a good rivalry going on!

and even Grandma Jones participated...

dinner was absolutely delicious!  dad out-did himself this year with his prime rib, au jus sauce and horse radish-sour cream sauce.

after dinner we had gift giving time around the tree

we didn't get to join in on Ticket to Ride but we did play Dominion before we had to head out.  It was a great evening and the perfect way to end the Christmas season together.

{graf family adventures} summer 2013.

we had a lot of fun and excitement with the graf family last summer.  as i've mentioned before, nickie and her family had moved here in mid-june from philadelphia to slc for the year so we tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could while we had them around.  we also had two weddings, two bridal showers and receptions!!! a BUSY year!!!

this will be a L.E.N.G.T.H.Y. post!!!

nickie and nickie move to S.L.C.-

the kids had some cupcakes with VERY bright frosting!!!

we got to meet evy for the first time (one year old)

and they got to meet zach for the first time (a year and a half old)

nickie and i did a kid swap in june and july, each for a week and i just updated that post here with some more pictures.

4th of July 2013-
chris and i and the kids spent the 4th of july up in sun valley.  mom and dad and chelsae were there for part of the time and we celebrated chelsae's 20th birthday together.

missing the 4th of july pics except for a few...

the kids dressed in their "sunday best"-

we enjoyed swimming-

got to go fishing!!!  

grandma too! (can you see her fish?!)

chris got to drive this fancy ride home when he had to pick up a truck from his sun valley office to bring back to idaho falls!

in late july we all got together in idaho falls at our house for olivia's "Tangled" 5th birthday party, posted about here and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach at Rigby Lake.

chicken fight?!  hannah & chris vs. shawnae & tim:

oooh, i under-estimated her!  that girl can fight!!!

and victory goes to.....shawnae & tim!

and what's a fun day without a motorcycle ride from Tim to end it off!!!  

mom had a blast going for a quick ride!!!

we all got together at Lagoon in August and had a great time!!!  (again, missing a ton of pictures).

Labor Day

Sun Valley, Idaho

August/September 2013

for Labor Day we went back up to Sun Valley. we participated in the annual duck races.  if you buy a duck (each one has a code on the bottom) and it wins the race then you can win prizes.

in the park we got to meet the duck mascot and listen to a band play for free while we waited for the race to begin

 

nick crossed the river with the kids so they could have a good view-

we celebrated Lexi's birthday (Sep. 9th, she had turned 6)-












went to Red Fish Lake-



the water was cold (as always) and it was an overcast day but we still had a blast tubing around-

                    

i had a hard time convincing zach to get in the water!

didn't have to convince the girls though!

lots of fun kayaking-

{mom & dad}

{hannah & chris}

{lexi and her daddy, nick}

{nick & nickie}

{olivia, shawnae & tim}

these kayaks were wobbly!  don't worry, tim!  you weren't the only one who capsized!

{evy & grammie}

and fun paddleboating too!

{brady, shawnae, olivia & tim}

and another trip to the fishing hole!  we are so glad for all of the yummy fish that we always catch! they are the best on the grill!!!

 

brady loved sharing his fishing tips with chloe and lexi 

lexi loved catching everyone's fish in the net

 

everybody got to catch a fish!

 

Trailing of the Sheep Festival

Sun Valley, Idaho

October 2013

Chris and I had to stay home (he had to work) and I had several projects that needed to get done (like re-finishing our kitchen table and chairs), so Tim and Shawnae took our kids up to Sun Valley for the weekend with everyone else.

they stopped at the Shoshone Ice Caves one of the days-

grammie and zach entering the caves-

they did it!

having fun on the statues out front-

lexi loves turtles!!!

what a GREAT summer!!!