Wolf Creek

We had such a great time on our weekend at Wolf Creek this summer (July 10-12)! We picked up Dave from work at noon, stopped to get Hadley and Zach, and got up there on Friday at 2. We were splitting the condo with the Sinemas so we got to have some time with them before they left.
The Foxes were in another condo just two stairwells away. We got to celebrate Brandon and Katelyn's birthday with a marshmallow war, pasta bar, and yummy, adorable dragon cakes. Easton and Skyler even stopped in on their way down from Logan. After dinner everyone went for a swim. It was so much fun to have time with our cousins and friends.
On the way up to Wolf Creek, we asked Maddi if she was going to go down the slide. Every year she says she will do it, but when we get there, she gets too scared. I think she has even gone up to the top of the slide, but then come back down the stairs. So this year in the car, she said, basically, "No. I am not going down the slide, and you can't make me". Right then, I reminded her, "Maddi, you rode on the Jet Star at Lagoon over and over. You can go down a tiny little slide." And she immediately agreed. When we got to the pool, she didn't need any encouraging. She went down it lots and lots of times and loved it.
After the swim, Kimee and Audrey talked Easton and Skyler into staying for a game of mafia before they had to leave. They played 3 rounds, with Kimee, Audrey and Easton each taking a turn as narrator. It was so much fun! Hadley and Zach stayed for breakfast Saturday and then had to get back home to work. We were so glad they were able to come.
Saturday, we did more swimming, playing volleyball, bug catching, and games with the Foxes. Maddi and Katilyn were inseparable. Kimee, Audrey, Blake, and Derek played a few more rounds of mafia and Apples to Apples. We even squeezed in a few games of Rummikub.
Sunday we packed up, went to the Eden ward, and headed home in time for my camp meeting:) Wishing we could stay up there forever.

the Farm

Dave's friend Cheryl from work has an awesome farm with all sorts of animals at it. We usually go visit once or twice a year. It's been on our summer list, and we finally made it out there on Thursday, July 9 The baby goats are so fun!

This time we brought Sarah with us and also met up with Maddi's teacher and her family.
It had been a stormy week, so we were hoping the rain held out. Luckily for us, it did. Right when we were getting ready to go, the rain came and the wind started blowing like crazy.  We jumped in the car to come home. There was a giant double rainbow that we could see the whole way home. It was so amazing!

4th of July!

Once again, we had a fun and family filled 4th of July! We started the day with the America's Freedom Festival parade. Jill and Duane and their three boys were able to come with us this year. The girls loved the ribbons Jill put in their hair.

After the parade, we went to Brick Oven for a really yummy lunch.

After resting for a movie and for some of us a nap, we went over to Hadley's apartment for a swim in her pool. It was so fun to have time time with our favorite grown-up cousins.

For dinner, we went to the Foxes and grilled up some yummy steaks. Maddi got her very first wasp sting. Then we watched the amazing Sinema and Fox firework show for our first time ever.

Easter Weekend

We had such a wonderful Easter weekend. On Saturday, Dave got to go golfing with some work friends and the girls and I headed out for an adventure. We went to the "brown park" that Maddi loves so much for an Easter egg hunt. We got there early so we could play for a little while first.
At the end, we saw some friends from our ward who told us about another Easter egg hunt not far away that started at 11am. So we went up to that park and played for a while before it started. We got coupons for free ice creams cones and drinks at both of them. Afterwards, we headed to Macey's to get some groceries. They had a vendor out front selling bbq ribs, so we got a full rack, stopped at Sonic for our free Cherry Limeades and headed home. Dad got home just after us and we chowed down on our delicious ribs.

After lunch, the girls and Dad did Easter egg coloring and decorating. Afterwards, we went for a swim. Then the girls spent a lot time playing with their egg characters. It was so cute!

We had on our list for the day to go for a bike ride, but Kimee and Dad were too tired. So Maddi, Audrey, and I rode our bikes up to the "green park". Some of the terrain was a little scary for Maddi, so she had to walk her bike for part of the time. But we did it and had fun. I called my friend MaryJane and talked the whole time we were there. So I didn't even have to tell the kids it was time to go- they came and got me! We got home in time for dinner and a movie (and eating Easter candy we got that day.) What a full and fun Saturday.

On Sunday, we had a living room full of eggs left from the Easter bunny. The girls got matching dresses and we headed off to church (early I might add). The primary children, with me conducting, sang He Sent His Son. My singing time went wonderful and then I snuck into RS for the last 15 min. It was wonderful! At home, we had lunch on a blanket in the backyard and told what we learned at church. Then Kimee did an Easter lesson for us that she got at activity days. It was the one with the eggs. We each took turns reading the scriptures that went with each egg. It was really special.
The kids played for a while and then we got our fancy dinner ready. We ate in the dining room using Grandma P's china. Audrey asked that we go around the table saying things that we were thankful for about Easter. Then we did about Spring. It was really neat. I love my family!

Conference Weekend

One of our favorite things we look forward to all year is General Conference. Every October, we spend the weekend with our good friends the Sinemas. We've gone to different locations, but finally settled on Wolf Creek as our favorite and have started to go there every year.
The girls get to play like crazy. Lots of Build-a-Bears. We do crafts and conference packets. We settle down to watch conference and have great meals. In between, we try and do something fun to get the wiggles out.
This year we decided to stop at Scheels on the way up and just happened to get there at the same time as the Sinemas. Fun! Fun!
Dave went over to the golf course club house restaurant to watch the BYU game. It was on a cable channel they didn't have at the condo. So he ordered a big meal and took a long time to eat it. He enjoyed it very much. Finally, they had to switch the channel to another game (the other TV was not working).

We love spending time with our first besties!

Camping at Granite Flats

At the end of the summer, we went on a campout up AF canyon to a campground named, Granite Flats. And believe me, it was appropriately named. There was a lot of granite there!
It is fun to put our truck to use for something other than work. We packed it up and that it the vehicle we took camping. We drove up later than we would have liked on Friday, September 13. We didn't plan anything for dinner so we stopped at the first drive thru in Highland and ate in the car on the way up the canyon. There had been quite a few storms that week, so we were hoping fewer people would be going camping. We got there just in time. There were only a few sites left that had tent spots. And after we started setting up, we heard car/truck/trailer after trailer driving through trying to find a spot to spend the night. We were so grateful we found ours. And it seemed to us like the perfect spot. Not too far from the bathroom, but not too close. Just down the road was the big granite climbing rock- not too far, but not too close.
We went with Dave's friend from work, Jonathan and his family. Our kids get along well with his, especially Maddi and Laney. They brought their dog along this time, which made it lots of fun for my kids. (They love dogs!)
We finally retired our old tent that got broken last year during a wind/rain storm at Strawberry. So Dave bought us a new tent, and this was our first time putting it to use. It wasn't too hard to put up. It rained during the night, and we stayed dry so two thumbs up!
On Saturday, we went for a drive up the canyon to Cascade Springs. It was a first for our family, and very worth the drive. Since we had late church, we stayed over Saturday night too, and headed home pretty early Sunday morning. It was a wonderful experience to spend that much time in nature. It really made me wish we did it more often.