Wait! We Still Own A Wave Runner?!?!?!

We decided to get our wave Runner out again this summer and see if it still worked. It's been a long time since we had it working and we weren't sure if it would run or not. We decided to take it to Utah Lake and to our happy surprise it ran. We blew up the tube and took the kids for a ride and Kenny and I even got to water ski once. It was so wonderful and I'm sure we'll have to get it tuned up, registered, and out in the water next summer.

Pulling Ben and Sarah on the tube.

Hannah and Grace ready for a ride.

Such a beautiful day for fun at the lake.

Mendon Days

Crazy Cousins

My sister-in-laws town of Mendon has their Mendon Days on the weekend closest to the 24th of July. Because we happened to be in Logan I decided to take the kids to Mendon Days with their cousins. It started out with a small parade, followed by the firemen hosing down all the kids with water and foam. After that the kids all played on the bounce houses for hours. It was so much exhausting fun. We finished the night with a spectacular fireworks show. I think we may need to go back next year.

Getting hosed down during the parade.

Adam watching the big firetrucks go by during the parade.

Those firetrucks sure like our cute girls (and Ben too)

Getting all wet from the fire hoses.

Helping Lilly get all wet.

Adam got all wet and therefore cold. Poor boy.

Gracie enjoying the foam.

Riding the horses was a highlight for the little kids.

Adam and Lilly going for a ride.

Dan's turn on the train.

Enjoying the biggest horse.

Jiggle Fest Fun

Thanksgiving Point has what's called a Jiggle Fest every year. They get a bunch of Jello Jigglers in buckets and set all those in attendance loose to throw Jello at each other. I thought if sounded like a ton of fun so on July 17th we headed to the gardens to throw Jello. It was tons and tons of fun. When the Jello fight was over they turned on the sprinklers for everyone to run through. I wasn't sure if the Jello would stain our clothes so Kenny and I didn't get too into the Jello fight, but luckily all of it came out. Next year I'll be going all out on the Jello fight.

The beginning of the Jello fight. You can see a little of
Sarah but the others were off somewhere else.

The aftermath of the Jello fight. We were a little messy and sticky.

YAY for Jello fights!!!!!

Sarah and Ben had tons of fun and got pretty sticky and messy.

Gracie and Hannah got the messiest.

We discovered that legs are VERY sticky when covered in Jello.

It was awhile before the sprinklers came on and so when we found a hose, Kenny
took the liberty of turning it on and spraying people. It was very fun and very
appreciated by the adults (we all wanted to get the Jello off our kids clothes).

Battle Creek Waterfall

All the hiking kids, minus baby Tyler.

On July 17th we hiked to Battle Creek Waterfall with my sister-in-law Sarah and her boys. It was a little steeper of a hike that I thought it would be (and read about), but the kids all hiked it with no problems. The waterfall was very impressive and the kids enjoyed playing in the pond a little further down the trail. I loved hiking with Sarah and having a chance to chat with her. I sure do love getting outdoors and there's just something wonderful about playing at the bottom of a waterfall.

Trying to get Ben to stand near the waterfall. (It was cold and very loud.)

These cute kids are getting really big, really fast.

Ben and Hannah near the waterfall.

I love that these guys moved Utah and we can hang out together now.

This girl is so much fun. I miss my little Sarah Kate, but I'm loving my big Sarah.

Best sisters playing in the pond.

Man I love hiking.

Seven Peaks Time

In mid July Kenny was scheduled to train customers in Australia which meant he didn't need to train until 8:00 at night. We took advantage of the schedule and headed to Seven Peaks in the morning. It was so nice to have some family time and the park was fairly dead. 

First Cookout of the Season

Spring and summer are in the air and we decided to take advantage of it and head up the mountains for a cookout. We love being in the mountains and living so close to American Fork Canyon is such a treat. Being that it's still spring there weren't many people in the canyon and we were able to get a good picnic sight without much trouble. We cooked some chicken, had frog eye salad and tried out our peach cobbler recipe (even though I forgot the butter.) After dinner I took the youngest 4 kids on a little walk while Kenny taught Ben and Sarah how to make a fire. We ended the cookout by roasting marshmallows and have Smores. It was a great evening with the kids and something we have to repeat often.

Dan loves being outside.

Adam and Hannah playing around on the rocks.

Dinnertime.

We always have to stop and look at every sign we see.

A hiking we will go.

Starting his first fire.

They did a good job on their fires.

Yummy peach cobbler.

Hannah was a fan of the peach cobbler.

Showing off his Smore.

Roasting marshmallows on the fire she built. Way to go Sarah.

My girls enjoying their Smores.

Sarah thought she needed a picture of me.

Roasting marshmallows

I love how these 2 still goof off together.

My beautiful Sarah the Kate.

After dinner we decided to take a drive up the canyon. It was dark, but Kenny wanted to drive up to the upper lake. The road up there is a dirt road and when we got almost to the top we got a flat tire. Being that we didn't have a spare, we knew we were in trouble. Kenny drove down the dirt road as fast as he could and when we got on the pavement we realized the tire was completely flat. Our only option at that point was to drive slowly down the canyon. We drove about 5 miles an hour down the entire canyon until we got within cell phone range. At that point we called Kenny's cousin Chase who nicely came and rescued us. It was quite the adventure.

Hot, Hot Aviary

Grandma was around for a few days into the next week. We decided to take advantage of having her around and went to the Tracy Aviary. When we arrived there we discovered they were having free school lunch at the park. We decided to eat before heading to the aviary.

Eating lunch before the aviary

It was a very, very hot day and almost as soon as we made it to the aviary I knew we weren't going to last long. The kids were all hot and whiny and Aunt Mindy, Grandma, and I weren't too far behind them. about 20 minutes into the trip Carlie got stung by a bee and we decided it was time to call it a day. Hopefully we'll be able to try again on a not so hot day.

Seeing some of the birds with grandma.

Adam cooling off in the water sprayer.

Gracie dancing under the water.

Hannah and Cadence getting wet to stay cool.

Sarah and Savannah under the mister.