Summer 2015 finale

I feel like we really took advantage of our summer this year maybe we decided not to take our 6 weeks for granted. With year round school you never know when you'll end up with 3 weeks instead.

Here are our final activities....

My brother Kalvin got a surprise birthday party from my sister in law Morgan.
He's such a goof ball! It did allow us to get a sibling picture.

 

We took the kids to Antelope Island (which none of us had been to except for Brad). It was actually really fun to see the "old sheep farm" I am a huge fan of old buildings and artifacts. I love the feel of history they leave behind. They loved playing in the sheering barn, my little sheep. We took a hike ( a pretty steep one since I am a go big or go home hiker) and checked out the buffalo.

 

 



And here are some random pictures that I took of the kids this summer that just make me smile!

 

Kids enjoying the IHC employee and family party :) yay for face painting!

 

Maren running around without shoes on and tearing the skin off her toe, ouch!

 

Another hike, one that started out with the whole family, but dad and the girls headed back early while Garrett and I kept exploring to find a hidden water fall.

 

 

$1 movie with our friends the Johnsons!

 getting caught in the rain

 

 

 My little entrepreneurs and their summer sucker stand (they made them!)

 

My kids just might be weirdos. Their  love of learning about wild animals inspired this "National Geographic" moment where they pretended to be predators catching and eating zebra....hmmm. Should I be concerned?

 

Chore day! Weeding the garden. Get to work kids!

 

Garrett's final day of school in July was field day (here with friend Keaton)! Maren and Embrie helped me keep the 3rd graders in line.

 

and finally... washing every bike, scooter, wiggle car etc. from the garage. We like to keep it clean around here. 

 

Happy Summer!

 

 

Our Summer 2015!: July Holidays

We had fun in July! School had just gotten out and we spent the 4th of July with the Callahans'.

We went fishing, we went to a parade and picnic lunch. Grandma had a do-it-yourself tiedye t-shirt craft that everyone could do. AND hold the phone.... Grandpa & Grandma planned a adult against kids surprise water fight. It was a blast and I think the kids loved that the adults were willing to get wet and play with them. It was a super fun time!

 

 

 

Then for the 24th we visited the Kemp/Watsons. Went the town rodeo and parade. Since grandma was in charge of a float the kids got to ride on it and throw the candy! yay!

 

 

Our Summer 2015!: Cousin Sleep Over

I made a last minute plan to have Jaxon and Jerzee come spend a weekend with us, finally! How much fun and free stuff can you pack into 2 days? Apparently a lot!

 

 

I think the pictures sum it up well enough. What a bunch of cuties!

Our Summer 2015!: Baseball Season

This actually happened in the spring through summer. Garrett had his first "try-outs" for a baseball team. I was so nervous for him. Having not played any baseball for a few years pervious I thought he did fairly well. He had a really fun team. Herriman Gray and some great coaches.

He got to ride with his team in the Herriman Days Parade too!

We can see that he has talent and that is exciting. He's working on overcoming some timidity at bat (yeah it hurts a little when you get hit with a baseball), but we think as his confidence grows he'll overcome that, especially since he seems to have a great swing. He also throws a baseball much better than his mom. ;)

Our Summer 2015! : The Looooonnnngg Hike

Yeah it's not a very original title, but hey we actually had a summer this year, so I'm going with it. We had 6 weeks of summer and we really seemed to fill every moment! Here are a few things we did:

We drug our children on a 5 hour/ 8-10 mile hike to Cecret Lake. We didn't really intend to hike that long,  (you can blame it on me), but we made it! We wore the kids out in the process! We saw 3 moose, some rock chucks, squirrels,and salamanders (or something like that).  Maren was quite the trooper, they all were really, but I did have to carry her about half the way back. Not too bad for a then 3 year old on a surprisingly long and sometimes steep hike.

We also saw snow in summer which the kids thought was so wild! We passed the ski lifts, Dad picked wildflowers for the girls. And see that top right corner picture? That is from where we parked. We hiked to that furthest peak that you can see the sun is still touching.

Good thing we took snacks and water! They were all asleep by the time we drove home. :)

 

 

Boys Summer Trip

Since the girls were going on a little trip, the boys needed to go too!

Brad took Garrett up to Scoffield Lake and they camped and fished and slept in the tent. Grandpa Callahan showed up to camp with them!

 

 

 

 

Then Doug & Ian Rigby came down the the 2nd part of the weekend. They fished some more, rode 4-wheeelers, and went to see "Ant Man" !

In total Garrett himself caught 41 fish that weekend!!! 26 of them were in one day! crazy!

You can bet that if I had been there, there would be more pictures to share, but beggars can't be too choosy ya know! Garrett really seemed to have a fun time even if the other boy cousins didn't make it.

Summer Girls Trip

In place of a major summer vacation this year the boys and girls did a little split trip weekend. Grandma Callahan, the Staley girls, Sydnie, Janelle & Izzy Rigby and me and my girls went down to St. George for the weekend to see "Beauty and the Beast" at the Tuacahn Theater.

Now this was a really big deal for my girls and I'll tell you why: Their mom (aka me) gets to go on an annual girls weekend to St. George with friends once a year. Just moms -so fun by the way-. So when they found out that they got to go on a girls only trip to that same place mom takes her girls trip, they were over the moon! Couldn't wait.

 

We all shared a condo that was great! 5 Adults and 5 younger girls. The young girls thought their room was awesome as it had two bunk beds and two roll out beds so that they could all sleep together. Plus there was a pool! what's not to love? And they all fit in the one big tub haha! Very effective for cleaning as you can obviously see.

 

Janelle (Brad's cousin) bought all the young girls little Belle bags and filled them with all kids of fun stuff and they all thought it was fantastic! While Izzy was the expert in hair makeover for the weekend. And no one cooks like Grandma Peggy! She made them their favorite breakfast one morning, her famous pancakes, and steak and hotdogs another night!

The Tuacahn has a little market on the weekends so we went shopping there and at the outlets. I admit that not being a big shopper myself I have never really taken my girls on a shopping trip... fail? I told them that they could each pick out a new school outfit. They had a lot of fun with this! 

 And Beauty and the Beast? Awesome! we loved it. I had never been to the Tuacahn either and it was great to see an outside production and how well they used their surroundings as part of the show. It was really fun. Embrie and Maren were mesmerized!

We stayed behind to meet the cast and didn't get home that night until midnight, but everyone slept in and had a blast!