Smith Morehouse

The beginning of Aug, we went on our annual campout with Jon and Tammie's family.  It was one of the best ever.  We went just above a reservoir called Smith Morehouse, I believe in Weber Canyon.  I found out later that Amy Jo's parents cabin is up that same canyon.  It's so beautiful.  The girls spend hours playing in the water and climbing on the logs.  We often went on obstacle courses with them.

The boys spent a lot of time chopping wood and shooting bb guns, which apparently I didn't get pictures of.  Con also made a bracelet and of course, they were always eating.

All of the kids spent hours snake hunting, catching and holding.  They really loved this, I certainly don't know why and Jadyn only got bit once.  Luckily they were just garter snakes.  Half of the campground was closed and the snakes were all over in there,  They would even name them, but did let them all go after holding them for a long time.

We all had a super fun marshmellow gun fight.  We only had four guns, so we teamed up to go 2 on 2 and did it tournament style.  Whoever wasn't playing was a judge. It was pretty intense.

Last, the adults spend a lot of time doing whatever the kids were doing and also playing games.  It was a fabulous trip.

Good bye July

Whew, summer is going so fast.  To start this blog, let me just say someone at our house has been really bad at taking pictures this summer.  Oh boy. These pictures are all out of order for the month, but I'm going with it, because it will take too long to move it.  Last week we went to Lava with our neighbors the Mikesells and the Thompsons.

 Connor, Chase, and Katelyn went down all of the slides.

                                                          Here's the big slide group.

 Kenna and I went down the red slide.  I had so much fun, I just got to hang with Kenna the whole day.

                        Chase went off the platform.  Out of pressure to be a cool mom, I went off it with
                        him once also.  There are no pictures of that, too bad.  We love Lava.  We make sure
                        to go at least once each summer.

                        We went to the 4th of July parade in Lewiston. Connor drove us out there.
                        Lewiston is a little tiny town, so we thought the parade wouldn't be too busy.
                        Wrong.  Everyone from Cache Valley was there, I swear.  We still had fun.

 Apparently I have a smudge on my lens for some of these.  Sorry.  Kids are out getting candy.

In June, Chase took a class called forever Levers.  This trebuchet was the result. It's pretty cool and has shot a baseball around 100 yds.

                                                          Filling water balloons.

                                                          Some random dressing up.

                                                  She looked so funny when she walked, I laughed out loud

                                            Mike had a birthday.  We spoiled him and he deserves every bit.

                          The kids took their friends the Mikesells rafting at First Dam.  In all the
                          time we have lived here, this is the first time we have done this.

            When Connor was at EFY and Chase was at scout camp, Katie and I got a painting bug.  We
             painted her bike and

                           we painted the "red room"   The kids are a little mad at me, but I love it.  It's Wisteria, my favorite bluey purple.  In between all of this was girl's camp, Chase coming home from scout camp sick and many trips to Layton.  Papa and Nanie took my kids for a weekend to hang out and go fishing.  They had so much fun.  We also got to go to the temple with my nephew as he got ready to go on his mission.  He leaves for the Scotland/Ireland mission on Thursday.  Good luck Tyler.  We love you and appreciate your example.

Summer (maybe)!

It's so warm today, we have our fingers crossed that summer might actually be making an appearance.  It's good to see her!
Foot Update:  After 6 fabulous weeks on crutches, my foot still hurt when the doc pressed on it.  He felt something unusual and took an x-ray (a different angle than normal apparently) and found a lump of bone growing where it shouldn't on my big toe bone.  He had never seen it before.  Now, after an MRI and consulting with a podiatrist in Washington State with many more years experience, he is fairly certain this little bone wart is causing all my pain.  The Washington doc has also never seen this, is kind-of excited about it and thinks my doc should "write it up"  Not sure how I feel about this.  Definately don't think it's "cool".  Anyhow I will probably have surgery to remove this in the next month or so, when I have time.

More exciting and fun news, my neighbor and friend, Michelle and I are trying to start a prom dress rental business.  I don't know if it will work, but we have been having lots of fun.  Michelle explained it very well on our blog http://www.thepromlocker.blogspot.com/.  Check it out

 Kenna had her 7th birthday.  The best present of all was having her best friend Gracie come from Rexburg for the weekend.  These two just don't forget each other and when they get back together, it's like they were never apart.  We are looking forward to a weekend with them in Aug.

 Kenna also "graduated" from 1st grade.

 Last Tuesday, we had a very fun day at Lagoon with our Wallace family.  It was actually warm.  The big kids took off on their own and tried to ride every ride in the park.  They almost made it.  Mike and I spent most of our time with Kenna.

Connor is taking drivers ed.  He will be done today and we will get his learner's permit and start practicing. That's it for now.