Summer Fun: Sand Mountain

We had yet another fabulous adventure out at Sand mountain! Six was the perfect time to arrive and we all started up the mountain only moments after arriving. Most of the family walked up, a few little kids got rides part way up, and the big boys rode to the top.
After riding around and playing in the sand we ran down the hill to enjoy our {ketchup less} hot dogs, yellow watermelon, and chips.
We had several friends come out with us and Donny continued the rides on his 5 seat rzr after the sun went down. It was a lot of fun and the kids were very worn out and happy!

Callie, Becky 

Crew drove his monster truck up the hill

Corrine, Megan

Callie, Corrine, uncle "Babe"

Crew, Abe

Aurora almost to the top and digging deep for the last stretch!

Will, Aurora

Owen, Richard

 Sawyer was really unhappy when I got to the top. He had been waiting up there for a long time and wanted another four wheeler ride.

Cooper

 All of the kids sat up at the top and enjoyed the scenery. It was fun to watch them all take it in.

Sawyer, Cooper, Callie, Corrine, Lyric, Quinton

Will, Rhett

Crew

Nate

Crew

Cooper, Quinton

I caught Aurora singing while looking out over the back side of mountain. It is breath taking!

Becky

It was a milestone for Sawyer. He ran all the way down the mountain and back to camp. He was very tired and thirsty at the end. I had to distract him by asking him to do animal noises and saying names/words.

Summer Fun: Breakfast With Cousins

We loved having all of these little ones running around! It was a blast every minute of the day!

Summer Fun: Cousins

 We had a spontaneous get together with all of the sister in laws and the kids. It was so much fun. Nearly every day was spent outside making something in the sand, riding four wheelers, and jumping. It was a lot of fun to have them all together. It was two weeks of fun!

Randall worked on perfecting his unicycle skills

Quinton had to try

Lyric

Franklin

Will

Rhett

Corrine

They all were very dirty at the end of every day. The only way to roll around here!

 One night we had five kids between the ages of 1-4. It was chaotic fun and a great to crawl into bed that night. Even if it was at 2 am and we had church in the morning!
At church the kids little kids were well behaved; I don't think I can give the same compliment to Abe, and his sister, who had a little too much fun on the end of the bench. It gave me a good glimpse into what their childhood was like!! Those too are quite the goofy pair!

Build and Grow

My boys love to go to build and grow! To be honest I love it as well. It's a good opportunity to get out, be creative, and build. 

Crew is able to do much of the building himself and does well finding the parts on the instructions. His hammering is much more efficient and accurate now. He shows frustration when it's not working how he would like it too but he is very happy and ready to show off his work when he is done!

Sawyer is a little crazy with the hammer. On this trip he smacked himself in the head with the claw side of the hammer. He wants to use his left hand but it gets a little tricky as I am trying to help him with my right. He gets good practice with both. Sawyer is very good at putting the nails into the holes to hammer them. His hammering skills are less refined and I have gotten a good blood blister!

Crew likes all of the pieces out where he can see them. Sawyer likes to mix them all up and swipe them off the table. Sometimes we have a crisis on our hands . . .

Crew: Riding His Bike

We headed over to DI and bought Crew a used bike. He hoped on that thing and was able to take right off! He got a little distracted by the brakes and had to test them out frequently or he would take his feet completely off to glide. Overall I was impressed.

This video is within the first few minutes of him riding! What a champ being able to ride a pedal bike at three years old! He even got to ride in the rain for a few minutes.He still prefers his balance bike to his pedal bike and I don't think he fully realizes how cool it is that he can ride a pedal bike!

Idaho Visit: Playing In the River

We pulled our jet ski up to Idaho with us and made sure we got a lot of playing time in. I think we went on three different occasions and Abe took Anne and her friend out another time! 

I was impressed with Crew's adventurous side and his decision to get into the water more. It was nice to see him actually want to get in and long awaited on my end!

Crew was begging me to let him use my point and shoot camera. This is the picture he got of Grandpa!

I loved Crew's description of how he felt when he would come out of the water. "Mom, I'm really heavy!"

We loved having Randall along for the ride to and from Idaho! We dropped him off for an adventure camp through BYU-Idaho on Monday and picked him up on Friday. 

Sawyer blowing raspberries: a favorite past time for him!

Sawyer can saw, "Cheese!" with the best of them!!

 

This is how Sawyer feels about me holding him when his Dad is around. I am most definitely not the favorite!

 

 I love creating memories with my family! It is the best to end the day exhausted and having a smile on your face! I am pretty sure Sawyer would live on the jet ski if we let him!!

Happy Anniversary: 7 years {part 3}

The second half of the day we were able to go white water rafting with a little more action! I had booked an eight man raft but it ended up only being the two of us, plus our guide. Everyone else in our group was together and didn't want to split up. Abe and I got our fair share of paddle time! We dubbed it the "love boat."

We weren't able to talk our guide, Tom, into letting us jump off of the cliff but we were able to surf a strong rapid. It was pretty intense when the nose of our raft went under and the back was up in the air several feet. Abe had to jump into the back of the raft to pull the nose up out of the water.

I have floated this section of the river multiple times and I was surprised to find that a new set of rapids has been created. A few years ago they had a massive amount of snow and there was a land slide that went into the river, narrowed the channel by 20 feet, and added some rapids to a part that used to be smooth.

We had a great time and really enjoyed working together.

the other part of our group

By the time we got back onto the bus and to our car we were starving. We grabbed some food and headed back to Idaho Falls. We got there just in time to smooch our sweet boys and tuck them in for the night!
After kickin' it for a little bit we then walked down the street to watch the fireworks. After an hour delay the fireworks started and did not disappoint; even from a few miles away!
It was a great surprise for Abe and a wonderful way to celebrate 7 years of our marriage! I was glad that I could be the one to surprise Abe and keep him on his toes. The day of our actual anniversary Abe took me to Cafe Rio and then gave me a matching set of pink saphire earrings and necklace.
To seven years and no need to itch!