Happy Easter

We had such a fun Easter now that Brexon is old enough to join in the festivities. The whole week leading up to Easter was packed with fun since it was spring break. Oksana brought Uliana and Nik to visit, and Carson and Cade were hanging out with Grandma for a few days. 

Here Brex is at Chick fil a with his Tucker cousins.

 Then we went swimming with the Rencher cousins in town. Brex has become quite the little fish since we introduced him to the floaty life jacket. He begs me everyday to go swimming by bringing me his swim suit and my swim suit. I have a feeling this summer is going to be filled with lots of swimming. 

 On Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt with all of the Tucker cousins. It was such a beautiful day!

 Brex got to search for all the blue ones so that there would be eggs left for him. It worked out perfectly. He had a great time.

 Then I took him to the Kimberly egg hunt to party with the Renchers.

 It was a good egg hunt. They had trains, bounce houses, tons of prizes, and lots of eggs.

 The 3 and under group was hilarious because the kids are so slow and the adults are trying to help them hurry and get more eggs. Talk about some crazy parents (myself included).

 Finally on Brexon's 3rd Easter we got a picture with the Easter Bunny.

 We stayed and played with our prizes and on the toys for a while since it was such a beautiful day.

 Our little boy is getting so big! I'm sure it will be even more apparent when baby girl comes in three months!

 Here's Brex finding his Easter basket at Grandma and Grandpa Rencher's house.

 We had a great Easter sunday with lots of family! And it was fun to be in Primary for Easter. They had a really neat presentation about the Resurrection and Christ's coming to the America's after he was resurrected. It is so great to focus on the basics with the little children on Easter.

 The kiddos in their Sunday bests.

 We hope you had a great Easter too!

Brexon's Despicable Me Party

My little boy has turned two. It was actually a month ago but still note worthy. We threw him a small party based on his favorite movie "Despicable Me" and invited our family in town to come celebrate with us.

 Here are the "caterpillars that never turned into butterflies" cheetoes, the "cookie robots", and his minion cake. I was thrilled with how his cake turned out, but I promised Brady that I would never spend that much time making a cake again. I should do a tutorial since it was such a project.

 We had a Box of Shame.

 Pin the tail on the Fluffy Unicorn...it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!!

 Knock over the itty bitty space ship. To represent the squid launcher, we also had some squids to launch at targets, but i didn't get any pictures. The squids were more fun to just stretch and squish.

 Brexon got so many fun gifts from everyone. I couldn't even get him to stop playing to go eat cake.

 He was pretty excited to see his cake though!

 He's growing up so fast!! We love each milestone he reaches and every new word he says. He definitely keeps Brady and I entertained!

Animals

 This boy LOVES animals! This summer has been animal filled. Even huge dogs that lick him in the face just make him laugh.

We start off with the Boise Aquarium. It is still very much under construction and a little ghetto, but Brex didn't mind. He was a happy boy petting the sting rays, sharks, and lizards.

 Here's Brady petting a hammerhead shark

 And now an iguana.

 Everything was so hands on. I'd never been to an aquarium quite like it.

 Brex was soaking wet by the end, but man did he love it!

 My review of the Boise Aquarium: We are glad we did it once, because like I said it is really hands on. I would suggest only taking your kids with one parent because it is so expensive and not to thrilling for adults. There is construction all throughout with a lot of empty exhibits. We will most likely not ever go again, but glad we did it once especially when brex is free!

 Afterwards Brady tried to prove that Cabellas is just as good but free. He may have been right. 

There was a big fish pool outside of Cabellas.

 And of course there were adorable puppies being sold outside of Cabellas also. Brex loves dogs!! (too much for my liking)

 Cabellas had way more fish in its aquarium.

 And turtles...the boise aquarium did not have turtles.

Later in the summer we went to the zoo for the first time. We started by chasing geese while waiting for Debbie and her kiddos.

 Brex is trying to swing like the monkeys.

 Sad that he would rather pet the statue than see the real giraffes.

 He really had so much fun and is getting so big.

 We also visited the Twin Falls Fair over labor day and saw big pigs, a bear show, and fed a lot of goats/sheep.

This kid is fearless when it comes to animals. It was so fun watching him.

 This last picture is from the Nature Walk in Downtown Boise. TONS of fish and we even saw a ginormous sturgeon fish! It was such a beautiful night and made me so excited for fall!!!

We love this little boy and are amazed by how big he is getting. He is such a little boy now! We are just loving each new stage in his childhood!

25th Birthday

We celebrated my 25th birthday the day after we got home from the cruise, by canoeing in centennial park. It was the perfect night for canoeing.

 Brexon did great and loved the water. He kept dragging his hand in the water as we rowed. 

 This boy loves his Grandpa and Grandma!!

 This lovely picture was taken by Brexon as I was eating my birthday cake. Thanks Brex.

Tucker Cruise 2012

We went on a cruise to the Caribbean in July to celebrate the return of our long lost parents. Tom and Annette have been serving a mission in Mississippi for three years and it was great to spend a week catching up with them while relaxing on a cruise ship. 

 The ship was The Freedom of The Seas with Royal Caribbean, and it was spectacular.

 It had an ice skating rink which was pretty neat. And the ice show was fun to watch.

 The best attraction was the Flow Rider, a surfing simulator. So Fun!! Way harder than it looks when you watch the instructors. The other attractions we had were; rock climbing, mini golf, tons of pools/hot tubs, and a promenade floor with little cafes and shops. 

 It also had a volleyball/basketball court. So when a volleyball tournament was announced, we of course had to enter. We actually won a game (without wearing bikinis or having a team of 6'5 guys). It was fun and we all realized that we need to play volleyball as a family way more often!

 The best part of the cruise ship was the dinning room. We got our own private balcony that the captain sits during the early dinner, and we sat during the late dinner. The food was delicious and the company was even  better! It was so nice being together as a family every night and having fun conversations.

 Our first stop was St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. It was beautiful! I can't say that enough. The water was crystal clear and sooo warm. And the snorkeling was great!

 

We spent most of the day shopping and the rest of it at the beach swimming, snorkeling, and playing beach volleyball.

 

The Beautiful streets of St Thomas.

 

Our next stop was St Maarten on the dutch side. The ship docked at a beautiful beach in St Petersburg that was easy to get too. We played there with Tom and Annette, while everyone else went zip lining through the forest. We did a little more shopping and just enjoyed the island.

 

 We had such a great time and still can't believe the timing worked out for the whole family (and our families back home that watched each kiddo). A HUGE thanks to my favorite sister Jaylynn who watched Brexon for us. She is such a good mom, Brex was sad to have me home. She got him going to bed at a normal hour and saying please, which has been SO nice, and he LOVES her kids. 

THANKS JAY!