River Trip 2010

We are so glad we got to go on the River Trip this year with our good friends from University. It was such a blast!! We drove down to ABQ and stayed the night with Brad and Lisa, then drove the rest of the way to the river house (near Lake Havasu). The boys did great on the drive - I think I got more grumpy than they did! It's probably because they got to watch all the movies :). Here are most of us on the dock ready to float down the river back to the house:

It was around 110 degrees (or more) every day, so the water felt SO good. We could hardly wait to jump in!! Parker and Landon were a little skeptical at first, but I think they enjoyed it in the end. Then we went boating:

It was so hot that each time someone switched out of the tubes, we all jumped in!

I got up on the wakeboard even though it's been years (woohoo!) but it's harder than I remembered! With that and tubing, my muscles were sore! Here's our family on the tube:

This was the tradition each afternoon - smoothies and lollipops (Brad brought a whole box of blow pops and the kids really loved him for that!). Smoothies tasted so good after being out on the water! This is the life:

Landon is getting so big these days:

Here's Parker, Brad and Ashley out in the little bay by the river. Parker spent so much time swimming here. He's getting really good! The boys had so much fun playing with Ashley. When we weren't outside, they were inside playing pretend games every second. It was quite the vacation for me and Scott :)

This sprinkler is awesome - the water shoots the hat up high and water goes all over. Fun!

It was so fun to see everybody's kids again. Eden and Dallin have both gotten so big!! Here's Heather taking pictures of Eden:

Landon fell in love with the jet ski's. At first he didn't really want to go, but once he got out there, he was totally addicted. Scott took him out and then he wanted to go again with me:

On our way home, we decided to stop in Las Vegas for lunch. The kids have never been there, so we wanted to show them some of our favorite (quick) things. We showed them the main strip and then parked at the Bellagio to show them the gardens:

And of course, the water show. We got there 15 min. before the first show of the day - perfect! We pulled out our packed lunch (classy, I know) and waited for the show:

They loved the pretend Eiffel Tower:

And REALLY loved the water:

Then we drove....and drove....and drove. Seriously, it felt like forever! It was well worth it, though. We had SO much fun with our friends and miss them a ton. We'll have to plan another reunion soon!

Just for Brad: "Do you have a brick?" I will never forget that laugh....so funny!

Quotes of the Week

L: Mom, I really like girls......but only ones with handsome hair.

(In our car driving)

P: Mom, I saw that guy riding a motorbike and he wasn't wearing a helmet!!

M: Well that's not very smart is it.

P: Why not?

M: What if he got in a crash? Then there wouldn't be anything to protect him. Motorbikes are pretty dangerous anyway though. If we get in a crash in our car, at least we have the sides of our car to protect us, but what would happen if a motorbike got in a crash?

L: Their body would get hit!

M: Yep, that's why they're dangerous

...a few minutes later, Landon spots a convertible...

L: Mom, that's a REALLY dangerous car.

M: Oh, that convertible? Why?

L: Well, what if something dropped out of the sky? They wouldn't have anything to protect their bodies!

(driving in the car another day)

L: Mom, what's that cross on top of that building?

M: That's just showing that it's a church.

L: Oh. Does our church have a cross on it?

M: No, our church doesn't have a cross on it. Do you know what the cross means?

L: It's where Jesus died.

M: That's right. We don't have a cross on our church because we want to remember Jesus' life instead of his death, but our church and the church with the cross both teach about Jesus.

L: Oh. Mom, do all of our friends go to our church?

M: Not all of them, but some of them still go to church, they just go to different churches.

L: Do our friends know about Heavenly Father?

M: Yep, most of them do.

L: What about Bubba and Lisha...and Stacey and Brandon and Tamsin and Mama Kit and Papa Len and Grandma and Grandpa!?!?!?!? Does Grandma know about Heavenly Father too??

M: (laughing) Yes, Landon. All of our family knows about Heavenly Father and they all go to our church too.

L: Oh good. 'Cuz Heavenly Father is super important.

M: Hey Landon, can I have a drink of your juice box?

L: Yep. Mom, you don't ever even have to ask.

L: Mom, why do people grow up and leave their families?

M: What do you mean?

L: Like people that grow up and get married and then they never see their families ever again!

M: Landon, I got married, but do I still see my family?

L: Yeah...

M: Yeah, so you can still grow up and marry someone but still see your family.

L: Well, I don't ever want to grow up and get married. I want to stay with my family forever.

M: Sounds good to me!

L: Parker, do you want to stay with our family forever?

P: Yep. I want to get married!

L: Well Parker, if you get married you will never ever get to see us ever again. Do you want to never ever see us again?

P: No.....

M: Landon, that's not true buddy! Parker could get married and still see us.

L: Well, no. If he gets married he will never see us......I don't want to get married Mom.

July Camping

We have really started to love camping with our kids. Yes, they still get exhausted after a day or two, but it's so fun to play all day and enjoy being outdoors at night! A few weekends ago we went camping with a few families from church. The first night we all did hot dogs and s'mores together. Landon was a big fan (Parker just ate the bun):

Here's everyone trying for the perfect marshmellow:

Success!!

I had to get a picture of me and my boys....and my insane amount of freckles...

In the morning the boys (with their friends Adam and Jacob) had so much fun playing some make believe game under this big tree. I have no idea what the game was, but it entertained them for a long time!

Then we went to the swim beach (there was a reservoir at the campground). Being at the beach is still one of our favorite things to do. The sand at this beach (rough and grainy) made me really miss Hawaii sand. Sigh....

We stayed at the beach for around 3 hours and this was the result. It was REALLY hot that day, so Parker probably would have died if we put him in the tent to sleep. We settled for a shady patch of grass instead:

After resting, we went to the park. It was still unbearably hot by around dinner time, so we all went and got soaked by the pump. Landon's face was so red, poor kid:

Then we tried out our Dutch oven (because who doesn't want a piping hot meal when it's 100 degrees out...). As you can see, we burnt it around the edges - apparently the fire was too hot. Lesson learned. It was still pretty delicious!

We've got one more camping trip left this summer - can't wait!

4th of July

This year's 4th of July was definitely not what we expected...but in a good way! Since it was on a Sunday, we couldn't really go to the parade in the morning, but we did plan to BBQ with some good friends in the afternoon and then watch the fireworks. The BBQ was so much fun!

Here's Jed and Parker:

After we ate we played some games in the field. Scott and I were watching the kids and I noticed that our shadows were pretty awesome:

This was the favorite game of the evening. The kids were racing from one side of the field to the other - the little ones got a head start as you can see from this picture. They all usually ended up finishing around the same time. Parker and Landon LOVED running with these guys. Parker ran back and forth about 6-7 times (it was so cute watching his little legs!) and then he just fell over in the middle of the grass from exhaustion. He couldn't take another step! Scott went and picked him up and Parker said "Dad, running is hard for me". We had a good laugh over that one.

The boys always love the park (and this time we made the Dad's do an obstacle course)

I love this picture of Landon. This is exactly how his life is these days - he is always in his own exciting imaginary world.

As you can see from the sky, the fireworks didn't happen. So, we decided to all have a sleepover since the Dad's didn't have work the next day. It was so fun!! Things like that make me feel like a kid again and I love it.

Stupid in America

I saw this 20/20 episode years ago and just came across it again - it's very interesting to say the least! It also makes a lot of suggestions on how public schools here could be run in a more successful way. Obviously, programs like these are always a bit sensationalized, but it's still something to think about:

Best Rainbow Ever

Scott may still be mad at me for making him stop the car...in the rain...after we'd been driving for 10 hours...just so I could take pictures of this beauty. Worth it!

P.S. Scott's really not THAT mad :)

Ward Campout and Canada Day

We took the boys on their first overnight camping trip a few weeks ago. It was the ward camp out, so of course they were thrilled to have all their friends there! It was really fun - we've already got another two night trip planned this summer.

Here's Parker eating a s'more:

Roasting marshmellows:

Landon was on the lookout for pine cones, really cool/big sticks, bugs, you name it. He loved being able to roam free!

In the morning the boys played soccer in the field. Scott had to go to work early, so I was in charge of taking down camp. I was so glad the boys stayed happy and busy so I could work. It was beautiful out!

The boys with their "bestest friend" Jed:

This year I decided to have a little Canada celebration at one of our favorite parks. This park has a playground, sand box, swings AND a splash park AND it's never crazy busy. How much better does it get!? I brought Canadian flags for all the kids to colour (yes, this is a post about Canada so I WILL use Canadian spellings!):

Tia did hers the real way - Ethan got very creative :)

Parker just didn't have the patience to colour for very long. He drew a few lines with his blue pencil crayon and then ran to the centre of the water feature. This kid loves to get wet!

This post also celebrates our one year mark here in Colorado. I can honestly say that we love it even more than when we first moved here. We've been blessed with enough work, a wonderful ward, fantastic friends for us and our kids and a beautiful place to live. We are so grateful that we ended up in this area. Here's to another great year!