We had so much fun staying with Brittney and family for a week, playing with boys Finn and Gus at home, going on walks, and to parks, water parks, gardens, the community pool, the zoo, and library with them, and celebrating Brittney's 32 birthday!

Playing at Home...Playing with Finn's favorite toys --his cars and trucksFinn giving Grandpa a ride on his bikeThe shirt we got for Finn from JapanDancingPlaying with bubbles on the deck with MimiMorning exercises with GrandpaMorning breakfastBedtime stories

And bonus: Spending time with Brittney and Sean, and Sean's gourmet cooking!!

And double bonus: Celebrating Brittney's 32 birthday (early) while we were there!

Brad and I made Brittney's birthday meal which was grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob per her request.Mom and Merinda came for the birthday meal and cake!

Sean lighting the candles, I was impressed that he actually found number 3 and 2 candles!

The cake was a red velvet cake from Nothing Bundt Cake (her favorite)

Finn had to be seating very close to the cake so that he could help his Momma blow out the candles!

Finn was just giddy with birthday cake joy (and so were we when we took a bite of that delicious cake!!)

Finn thouroughly enjoying his cake!

It just doesn't get any better than this!!

Ashton Gardens, Lehi Utah:Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point, just minuets from Brittney's house, was such a fun place for kids (and adults) to play and explore! Brittney has a season pass there so it's a place she goes often with the boy, and I can see why...what a magical place!!

I was personally mesmerized by the Velociraptor!

The dinosaurs were quite the show in and of themselves!

Next we walked over a bridge and saw some very colorful carp...

and an awesome shark!

I don't know which I liked more though, the dinosaurs or the bugs...

My favorite bug was the Praying Mantis!

This one was pretty cool too!

We stuck our heads into a couple of flowers on our way to the bubble pit!

Another kids paradise! And when the bubbles got low, they would blow a bunch more!

Gus and me watching Finn trying to keep standing in the pit (it was very slippery!).

After all the bubble fun, Finn's clothes were so drenched that Brittney had to take them off of him. She then slipped Gus' shorts off and put them on Finn and just had Finn go shirtless until his clothes dried.

After our gospel walk to the Tree of Life, we ventured over to Fairyland, which apparently is Finn favorite!

There were so many fun places to explore in Fairyland!A wishing well in the enchanted forest where you could make wishes with a bunch of shiney colored stones!

Mushroom drums that really vibrated sound! Finn wanted to stay longer and play on the huge pirate ship, but he started to melt down when he couldn't find his way out of the blow-up castle! So we compromised on the sand box with construction trucks, which was on our way out of the park.

Fun Parks:We went on several walks, with Brittney and the boys, which always led to fun little parks just perfect for Finn's age.

Lehi Splash Pad:Another kids heaven, especially in the scotching heat, was the Lehi, holy cow, splash pad!!

It was the fanciest splash pad I've ever seen with the coolest lazy river!

And the playground areas were just as fun. But the next best thing for Finn were the swings! We spent lots of time swinging!

Even Grandpa was getting some serious air!

Mimi and Grandpa had fun playing a game of "follow the leader" which Finn, the leader, got the biggest kick out of!

Unfortunatly, swinging wasn't really Gus' thing!

All too soon our fun day at the splash pad was over!

But not to worry, we did the splash pad another day with Sasha, Rachelle and Gwen!

The Hogle Zoo:I remember going to the Hogle Zoo when I was a kid! Now, fast forward a bunch of years (too many to count) how fun it was to go with my oldest child and grandkids!!

Finn loved drinking out of the lion's mouth,

sitting in the gorillas lap,

and riding on the merry-go-round's zebra!

He also loved looking at all of the real animals like the silly monkeys and Gorillas,

the alligators with the big teeth,

the huge tiger giving himself a bath,

the huge sea lion swim right next to the window,

and the polar bear rest his head on the rock!

And of course, the fun splash pad and playground!

This is the sign of a fun day spent at the zoo!

I loved sitting in the back seat of our rental "truck" and watching and playing with the boys whenever we drove anywhere!

Shaved Ice from a Truck:

The day we took the boys to get shaved ice a microburst came and about blew us all away!

But we did not let it keeps us from enjoying our colorful and yummy treat!

Even Gus enjoyed Mimi's tropical flavored shaved ice!

We also treated Finn to some real ice cream at Macey's after shopping one day (and after Finn pushed his own miniature shopping cart around the store filling it with groceries!)

Story and Play Time at the Library:After participating in story time at the local library, we played with the boys as they spent time in every kid area of the library! One of their favorites was the toy kitchen area, where Finn made some delicious food (and he should know since his dad has been a good example as the primary cook of the house!).

Another favorite area was the puppet show booth...Grandpa really got into it there (literally)!

It was so fun watching the boys belly-laugh at Grandpa's puppet's performances!

Srubbin' Pup:And of course we cannot forget about our visit to Scrubbin' Pup, Brittney & Sean's new dog washing buisness! It's a pretty cool place, and the dog-washing units are the bomb!!