More Summer Fun

Dinner up the canyon is always a favorite past time in the summer.  And s'mores....who can deny s'mores?!?!

Nathan and I have spent many hours with this train set.  Our sweet nephew Ashton outgrew the set and was kind enough to give it to Nathan.  We have put the track together and taken it down countless times.  Nathan absolutely LOVES this train set.  I have to admit that I have enjoyed trying out new ways to put the track together and have even requested certain track pieces for Bill to find for us!  It gets a little addicting.

For the 24th of July, Matt brought over his paper rocket launcher.  The kids went crazy over it!  They loved putting together their own rocket and watching it fly.  Of course, Bill and Matt had to get a little crazy and started attaching fireworks to the paper rockets.  Men!

We also whipped out the slip'n'slide and put it at the end of the big slide.  Nathan was so light he just flew across that thing!

Our tiki torches....they were fun.

Lauren and Kaitlyn had this grand idea of creating their own campfire.  They pulled the chairs out and put them in a circle.  Then they gathered the right size of bark to make their fire.  Then they found sticks and leafs to roast.  It was one of the cutests things I have ever seen.  They are such creative girls; they must get it from their father.

Grandma Bonnie came to our house for a visit.  We truly loved having her here.  She was great with the kids and they still talk about having Grandma Bonnie come back.  One night Bill and I stayed up playing games with her until 11:30!  And she beat us both games!  Of course, it was Trivial Pursuit and Bill and I can't really compete with eighty plus years of wisdom, but we sure had a great time.  Thanks for the fabulous visit Grandma!

More dinners up the canyon.  This night was actually our attempt to go camping.  Brooke and I slaved away all day getting everything ready to go and loaded up.  We headed up the mountain only to discover that there were NO camping sites left.  It was a sad deal.  The poor kids, they were so upset.  So we settled for just cooking our yummy dinner and heading home.

Nathan and Luke were hilarious!!  They were playing with the wagon and pulling it all over the place.  They are such cute, good boys.  And Lukey's sunglasses are just too funny!

Our cute neighbor friends had a back-to-school tea party.  Lauren and Kaitlyn had the best time!  Thanks girls!

Whew.  Summer seems to really be coming to a close.  It will be nice to breathe a little bit, but we sure will miss all our outdoor activities.

Farm Country

We love Farm Country! It is a great way to spend a couple hours.

This alpaca cracked me up!

The pony ride is always a favorite.

Nathan is such a funny boy. Whenever he is outside and it gets windy, he puts his hand up on his hair because he thinks his hair is going to fly away!

First Grade

Lauren had her first day of first grade today. She was pretty apprehensive last night, but when she woke up this morning, she was ready to go. She had a great day and she absolutely loved first grade. She said her favorite part was eating lunch. The day was pretty normal for us, except when lunch time rolled around. It was so weird to not have her home. I even got out three plates and started loading them up with food before I realized that I only needed two. During naptime, I missed my reading buddy. Lauren loves to read as much as I do and most of quiet time at our house consists of Lauren reading her book and me reading mine, or the two of us reading together. It was a little bit of a sad day. Over six hours is such a long time! I suppose it will get easier with time, but today, I felt the loss of my little girl and mourned the fact that she is growing up very fast. Isn't she beautiful?

Walking to school...

Anxiously waiting for the bell to ring.

School is a wonderful thing and I love that Lauren LOVES school. It makes life so much easier. I hope she has a fabulous year!

Water, Water Everywhere!

Towels and swimsuits have become permanent fixtures on our kitchen chairs and on the back porch. It seems like the kids have lived in their swimsuits! Even Nathan has some serious tan lines. We spent quite a few afternoons outside playing in the water.

One of Lauren's and Nathan's favorite things to do was to put the big pool at the end of the big slide and make our own waterpark. It was so much fun!

Luke loved wandering around with a bucket on his head. He had no idea it was full of water the first time he tried to make a hat out of the bucket. It was hilarious to see him accidentally dump a bucket of water on his head.

The girls did swim lessons for a couple weeks in July. They both did really well. It was fun for them and I think they learned a lot. Kaitlyn is still pretty afraid of the deep water, but she seemed to loosen up as the days went by.

Emma was a super swimmer by the time she was done with lessons! I was so impressed. She is so brave!

Kaitlyn had one boy in her class. After lessons on the first day, she was telling me all about her class and the names of the kids. She names the girls and then says, "And that boy; his name is Iron Man." As casual as can be. She has no idea who Iron Man is and it totally cracked me up that she thought that was a normal name AND that the little boy said his name was actually Iron Man. Throughout the lessons, he insisted that the kids and teachers call him 'Iron Man'! It was too funny.

The kids get to go down the slide on the last day of classes. They look forward to it every year.

We spent an afternoon at a new aquatic center near our home. It was very kid-friendly and the kids all loved the various activities. They had dumping buckets, little kid slides, big slides, pirate ships, baby pools and a great lazy river.

Also near our home is a splash park. It is a favorite with my kids. We have been lots of times and enjoy going with all our great friends. Nathan loved jumping into the little river. He was so happy just jumping away. I tried to get a good picture but he jumped too high. I love the expression on his face!

We had our last swim playgroup this week and I actually washed and put away all the towels and swimsuits in drawers yesterday. Our water fun is coming to a close, but hopefully we will get a few more adventures in.

The Fire Station

Nathan LOVES firetrucks. He has been on his firetruck kick for a couple months now. A few weeks ago, I called the fire station to see if we could take a tour and check out the sweet trucks. The fire fighters were so great! They had fun with the kids and we really enjoyed the tour.

Lauren trying on the gear. It was pretty heavy.

Emma....I love the look on her face!
Checking out the ambulance. They loved the 'bed'.
Nathan got to sit in the driver's side of the big fire truck.
Lauren trying on the headset. We really had a great time. Thanks PG fire fighters!

Fourth of July

Oh how we LOVE the fourth of July! It is Lauren's favorite holiday and she gets excited about it for weeks before. I love seeing American flags everywhere! It fills me with such a great feeling of joy and love for the great country we have the opportunity to live in.

To celebrate the holiday, we had a yummy BBQ with our friends and then played the night away. The trampoline was a hit that day. The kids played on it for such a long time. Check out Lukey's grin...he thought he was something else. Such a great picture!

Bill was bouncing the kids from underneath the tramp. I love how they are all flying in the air and the looks of pure excitement on their faces! They laughed and laughed.

This is by far one of my favorite pictures. These girls are such great friends. I think they have experienced more things in life together than they have apart.

My sweet fourth of July shish kabobs (had to look up how to spell that one!), they turned out great. The kids gobbled them up.

The start of our firework show. Snaps are such classic fireworks.

We enjoyed a few of our own fireworks until the city fireworks started. We live just a short distance from the junior high where the city lets off their fireworks and from our driveway we can see them perfectly.

All in all, it was a great holiday!

David and Amy

We were so happy to be able to travel down to Salmon, Idaho to see David and Amy married. They are such a sweet couple. They had the wedding at the Sacajawea Center. The kids loved this statue of Sacajawea. It was great to tell them the story of such a strong, brave woman.

It rained and rained the day before the wedding, but wedding day dawned bright and beautiful. They look so great together!

Nathan loved the glass cups at the reception. Maybe he spends a little too much time playing with his sisters?! Good thing he is absolutely adorable.

Congrats David and Amy! We couldn't be happier for you. We love you both!