Last Hoorah

(The troops)

We headed out almost two weeks ago, for the last big hoorah of the summer, with our friends the Church's to Zions National Park.
It is sad to admit in the 3 1/2 years we have lived here it was a first time going.
Boy have we missed out!!
This place is super GORG!!


We did a few hikes with kids.
~~1ST HIKE~~

The best part of the hikes are that they were fairly easy. The paths were perfect for the little kids too! It was funny how many sideways glances we received from tourists from other countries. I think they were in "awe" (or quite possibly shock) from how many kids we had!


After the second pool we let the kids play in the water and soak their feet.

After we ate lunch we headed to our next hike

We went as far as you can before the actual "water hike" part. I would love to do that, but with the kids, we figured best to stop. So we found a beautiful quite spot and let the kids play some more in the water!

I loved every minute of the day! We are so blessed to live by such beautiful places. When we were sitting by the water and looking up at the huge mountain ledges, I was so overcome with how lucky we are! What a beautiful land we live in.

(awww...love birds)


Before we left we ,of course, drove through the mountain tunnel and honked the horn the whole time! HA! The kids thought that was great!

We seriously are counting the days when we can go again! We hope to use our year pass often and hit Bryce and a few other National Parks too!

Vacay...Part 4

This was the first day on our vacay that felt like a vacay for me! (besides the reunion) No appointments at all this day! It was nice to relax and take it easy! We played for a good portion of the day here! It was a blast.

(Baby Dylan aka Baby bird)
This lil' rascal is so active and so fun to watch! Can you tell he loved the sand?

Sharla and Jamen

Cute Buster. Always smiling!

Silly sissy...soakin' wet!

We had such a great trip. It ended WAY TO FAST and we didn't get to do as much as we would have liked. But we feel blessed to have gotten as much time as we did to visit. A year is a little too long to wait to go home, we decided, so hopefully we can make it back at least twice this next year!

We miss you all already! Love you!!

Vacay ....Part 3

Beau lives, sleeps, eats, and thinks of nothing else than this trip all year round. We starting planning the meals, etc. after last years for this year. It is his favorite vacation we take. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go with him this year, cause the babe is just still too small for that weather. But hopefully next year.

Beau packed up the gang and headed out Sunday-Wednesday to the White Clouds. He took our two oldest, Savanah and Caleb, his friend Hans and his son Gabe, and Chris and his two oldest kids, Chandler and Gabe. My dad, brother Everett, and his friend Nick met up with them on Monday.

The first day they rode down to Frog Lake. Chris and Beau were the only two who caught a fish, and of course, Beau forgot the camera. He also got a flat tire on his dirt bike, the first day! Bummer. The kids had fun fishing, catching frogs, and playing.

Monday, they hiked into Crater Lake.

Beau said Caleb was like mountain goat. He was the first one down and the first one up. The hike is about 1 mile and 1/2 down hill, but uphill the whole way back.

Everyone caught fish there. Savanah and Caleb both caught their own fish and loved every minute of it.






I think Beau was more excited for everyone else. Listen to him on the movies!


Tuesday they all took it kind-of easy and explored Rail Road Ridge.

Tuesday evening, they all went to the hot springs and enjoyed a soak in the HOT water. the water was extra gren this year and it took some coaxing to get the kids to get in. But once they did, of course, they loved it.

~Other Highlights~
-yummy food/dutch oven
-teaching Caleb how to gut a fish and use a real pole
-having Hans come with Beau and Chris
-Spending time w/ grandpa/Father-in-law
-Beau's special time with both kids

(of course, he didn't take enough pictures of everyone, but I expected that)

I got to spend time with my sisters, mom and two youngest children. I worked most all of Mon-Wed., so I didn't get to see my fam as much as I would have liked. (to check out some sessions, click here. They are not all up yet either!!) Hanna also did a fabulous girls night at her house Tuesday night and that was a lot of fun too!

More to come soon...........

Vacay...Part 2

We had such a blast at our first Recoonion. Can I just tell you that my sister Rebecca seriously did a fabulous job! She really went all out. And we appreciate it so much! She had so much stuff for everyone to do. It really was a great time and we made wonderful memories from it!

~Some of the highlights~

My mom put $40.00 worth of change, shiny glass rocks, and shells in the creek for the kids to dig out. Man, did the kids enjoy it! They played for hours!
So did we!!

and

Loved this so much! I still watch it and giggle! I love that my family is so outgoing, spunky, and not afraid to make each other laugh!!

Another fav...

When I say Becca went all out...I mean she really went all out! She had activities for the kids to do non-stop. From swimming, talent show, bingo, rock painting, treasure hunts, and lots more!
(Yes, that is my son showing his awesome talent of the splits. The kid is flexible)

DIRTBIKIN' AND 4-WHEELIN' FOR THE GUYS

~Also~

Bear Lake on the last day. What a blast! The kids and adults loved it! And it was such a perfect day!

Other fun things
*making up songs around the campfire
*eating delicious meals
*telling "remember when" stories

Thank you so much Rebecca! That was so much fun. I hate that I am next in line to be in charge, cause how do you compete with what you did?

Vacay.... Part1

Finally I have a little extra time to start blogging. I have so much to catch up on...so I am sure I will be posting often. I am excited to have the kids back in school and time to catch up on all your blogs and my own!

This picture was taken at the beginning of our drive. It totally described how I was feeling. "There is sunshine...on a cloudy day.".
Like "YES Finally" our vacation has started!

We started out our vacation by spending the first night in Ogden with my fabulous lil' sister Alison's.

We went and saw my grandparents.

The kids love their great grandparents and had so much fun. My grandma gave Kenny rides the whole time on her new "set of wheels". It was so cute!
It was so nice to be able to visit and talk. We loved every minute of it!

We got to spend the evening with Alison and Brian (her new fiance) and get to know him better. We stayed up late laughing, eating, and chatting. Then the next morning headed out to Soda Springs for our 1st family reunion with my family!

Summertime Fun

We are trying to jam pack the summer before it comes to an end!
Can you believe only 4 measly weeks left of summer vacation?
WoW!
It has been flying by!!

Here are some of the fun things we have been doing!!

(Click on pictures to enlarge)
We spent a day in St. George with our good friends the Lovell's. We picnicked at the splash park, read mags, talked, and let the kids play.

Then we did a little shopping.
It was a perfect day!

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We headed South one day and swam in the Virgin River with our good friends the Church's.
We had a blast tubing, cliff jumping (Caleb even did it), visiting, and
soaking up the sun!

Even Ana's mom jumped off! It was awesome!

The kids found tons of little frogs and kept them in buckets.
It was such a blast!!
Something we will definitely do again!!


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We also took a family day and headed out to the Parowan Gap for some dirt bike riding! My kids love looking at the petraglyphs and playing around!

I got to ride a little too! The baby just sat contently in the air conditioned car!
Man that kid is happy!!

I took this with my dinky 4 mega pixel camera right as the sun was going down.


We are loving summer! Sad to see it going so quickly, but glad for the many more fun things we have planned! Before we know it we will have to be back on a schedule and preparing for school.