24th of July Camp-out, Finally

100 years later, here's our camp-out to Deer Creek Reservoir. We went camping with all the fam for Pioneer Day weekend up Provo Canyon.

We set up the boys little Lightning McQueen tent to play in while we set up camp.

Here's Lana first thing in the morning. She was such a good sport and slept great! She kept slipping on the rocks on the road and got a little black eye.

The boys saying "I love camping".

Cousins Dillon and Brecken belly bumping!

Lana and I hanging out on the beach.

Lana loves her daddy, look at those snuggles.

It took the boys a little while to warm up to swimming without clinging to some one but they had a blast once they did.

Ahoy! I'm a sailor, I'm sailing.

Dillon got a little burnt out, so he took a nap on his mommy.

On the new tube. Caden and Brecken were really nervous about this but once Caden did he loved it so much he didn't want to stop.

It looks like I'm just floating on the water but I was actually on a tube.

Here I am crashing into Tay and Grandma. The name of the game in tubing with us big kids is see who can stay on the longest. Yep, my whole body was pretty dang sore and hurty.

The boys entertained themselves by whacking chunks of rock off.

Here's the whole gang having a little lunchy-poo.

This was the only way we could get them to take naps while camping. Lana zonked out every time she got on the boat.

Dawna, her hubs Brandon, Muncle Moe, Branson, and Caden hanging out by the beach.

The boys went for a ride with Aunt Ari, Brecken was pretty much freaked out the whole time.

He like it better when she was holding on to him this way.

Caden went for a little more wild ride with Muncle Moe and Ari. He was so proud of how Brave he was going fast.

I was pretty much completely bushed by the time we headed home Saturday night after only two days of camping. A fantastic sunburn, sleeping without an air mattress, chasing Lana constantly, and one heck of a sore body from tubing wiped me out. For some reason we are still crazy enough to go camping again in a few weeks.

We really had a fantastic time camping with all of the fam. Thank you so much Karl and Karie for getting our campsites and everything organized!

Cowboy Caden & The Gang

My Cowboy Caden:

Caden told me he wanted to ride Grandma's horses, so we called her up and set a date. He was so excited. He's never been this into it before. He even wore his cowboy hat the entire day (he doesn't usually keep a hat on for more than five minutes). He was so brave and wanted to just keep riding. Trotting made him a little nervous but he still did well. He begged me to go back the next day he enjoyed it so much.

Brecken had fun but didn't quite get into it as much as Caden. Maybe next year.

He was pretty nervous the night before. He did great the day of though and was very brave too.

Thank you so much for sharing your horses with us Grandma! The boys were in heaven and I had a great time too!

Here are a couple of videos of the boys riding:

A Diaper Shower for Olya

We had a little diaper shower for Olya, just in the middle of the day with the crazies (children) running around. It was pretty fun. I think Olya is the most beautiful, happy, and energetic OVERDUE pregnant woman I've ever known.

This was just some of us, Olya had her mother snag it before we all split. I think we have fun together....

Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point

We decided to take advantage of Thanksgiving Point's $2 Tuesdays and headed over to the gardens. They have a children's garden that is a lot of fun, that's where we hung out.

Here's Caden climbing down from the top of a child sized light house.

We were so excited that Aunt Britty and Cousin Dillon came to join us! She looks so beautiful and 8 months pregnant too.

There is a Noah's Ark fountain the kids could splash and play in. Lana is giving her good buddy Anna a hug.

Brecken standing next to Noah.

Lana absolutely loves the water. No fear there, she just splashed right in.

Here we have Lana, Anna, Dillon, and Caden catching the water.

Me, my boys, and a bear.

What is in that caterpillar?

Oh, it's Brecken.

Jessica and I were chillin' on the bench for a minute.

There was a big sandbox the kids could dig in.

After a few hours of fun in the sun we called it a day and snagged some ice cream cones on our way home.

Summer Vacation Part II

Tuesday we went to see "Wallace and Gromet: Curse of the Were Rabbit" at the local theater in the morning. That afternoon we went swimming at the Kroc Recreation Center. I'm bad about pictures when we go swimming since I'm in the water with my arms full of babies. It was a lot of fun though.

That evening I got some good hang out time with my sister Julie while her husband was at meetings and my hubs met up with a friend. Julie and I mostly watched kids, got them to bed, chatted, and had a late trip to Target. Brans and his friend went cliff jumping into the river:

My mom and dad arrived late Tues. night. Wed we wanted to visit Spokane since that is where I spent the first 16 years of my life. It was about a half hour drive from where we were. My sister and parents were a little burnt out from visiting Spokane so we just went by ourselves.

Brecken was entertaining himself in the car by creating a fruit roll up mustache.

This is the house I grew up in.

We spent most of our time in Spokane at Riverfront Park. It's a big park in downtown with some cool stuff left over from the world's Fair back in the 70's. I actually worked here as a ride operator for part of one summer.

Brecken the pilot, all systems checked and ready for lift off!

Pilot Caden

Bumper boats. Brecken got Caden.

At the carousel. It's over 100 years old.

Brecken checking out the garbage eating goat.

A giant wagon for the kids to play on. The handle on the front was a slide.

These two really love each other.

Caden said to me on the ride home, "Look, I'm the mommy and my babies are sleeping." Aaahh

These are the falls at Riverfront Park.

Thursday we all went see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." We really love free movies!

After lunch we headed over to the lake. It was so beautiful up there. Everyone had a blast and Caden even learned a little swimming without his life jacket.

Friday we mostly hung out around the house getting ready to head home the next day. Julie found a slip n slide at a yard sale, the kids loved it. The daddy's and grandpa went shooting guns.

Saturday morning before heading out my Mom wanted pictures of everyone and I'm so glad she did.

Nana and Grandpa, aren't they the cutest couple ever!

All of the crazies. Poor Julie's house was quite over run with all of us there all week. THanks Julie! From left to right: Lana, Leah, Brecken, Branson, Caden, Robert, Lexi, Jessica, Spencer, Julie, Kaylei, Cody, and Emily.

The boys had fun racing at the rest stop on the way home.

We had such a great week. Thanks again to Julie for feeding such a massive horde and letting us trash her house all week. We were glad the kids could spend some time with their cousins!