Off to McCall!

Erin and I left Utah Wednesday morning. I left Ryker there to spend time with Ben and we brought Isabelle home with us. When we got back to Idaho we had about an hour to unload, unpack, repack and reload because we were off to McCall for a few days. On the drive up Avynlea got sick and threw up in her puke bag and Rylee did not like the smell so she stuffed tissues up her nose.

Erin and I went on hikes in the mornings and on our first hike we found the biggest dandelion either of us had ever seen. It was huge!

Erin really loved all of the blue dragonflies that we saw. 

Avynlea really wanted to ride the four wheelers but she did not bring long pants with her. She cannot go on them without long pants on because they get really hot and we did not want her to get burned. So she got creative with her clothing so that she could ride.

Thurday morning Brit came with her kids. Kelsey was at the girls camp in Cascade and Brit came to stay at the McCall house so that she could join him Friday night for the Bishops dinner and help him with his Laurels experience he was doing. We kindly watched her kids for her while she did that which was super easy since they were so good for us. 

I sent the picture of the girls in the Hot Tub to Emily and Stephanie and Emily sent me one of Ryker reading scriptures with their family.

It was pretty hot up their especially since the house does not have any air conditioning. We finally went down to the lake to swim and cool off.

One morning Kefford took the girls with him to hike up the mountain. He sent me these pictures he had taken at the top.

Back to the lake pictures.

I like showing off my dives for my kids because they get so impressed. My Dad taught me to dive when I was young and it would be an embarrassment for him if I could not do it. I have been teaching my kids and having them practice and they are slowly getting better and more confident with it. It helps a lot to have had lots of access to swimming pools and lakes this summer so far.

Rylee wanted to wear the life jacket into the lake just for the fun of it even though she can swim.

My family likes to do funny dives.

Erin and her buddy Asher

He liked her because she had fun games on her phone he could play with and also because she is so cool and fun and nice!

Asher, Brielle, Isabelle, Alyssa, Kenedy, Avynlea, Rylee and Qiana

Emily also sent me this picture of Ryker, Ben and Andrew playing Magic

This was Erins first time being on the four wheeler and she did really good. There are two different four wheeler trails we went around and on each one there was a part that would make her nervous and she would not be able to stay on course. She was super determined to conquer that fear and kept trying. Finally Saturday morning right before we were to leave she did it and managed to stay on the trail and she conquered the fear! Avy and I were so proud of her!

Avy was my riding buddy

Utah Trip!

We drove to Orem Saturday morning and got to Emilys about 10. Her new apartment complex has a pool and so after lunch we had the kids go down with Andrew, Maddie (his girlfriend) and Matt. Emily and I were planning on going to see some Parade of Homes but decided to go hang out at the pool for a while. Once we got down there I sat and watched the kids swim for a bit and then Emily and I both expressed a desire to go swimming. So we went back up and put on our suits so we could swim for a bit. 

After a lot of fun swimming we changed and headed out to look at some homes. We tried going to the first house but after Emily's phone took us no where near it, I put it in my phones map and it took us to the general location and then we found it by sheer luck. But then neither of our phone maps could get us to the next place on the list. It had no idea where to take us and so we skipped that and went to the next one. The third and final one we went to was a huge 9,ooo square foot home. It had a trophy room, an exercise room, a movie theater, a boat garage and many more rooms that just seemed over the top and too much. It really is a sad display of wealth when you look at all these unnecessary rooms and think of all the other useful things that can be done with that money. We spent a lot of time driving around looking for these homes and by the time we were done looking at the third home we were tired and done. Emily really needed to get gas and so we did that and then we started talking about shaved ice and how that sounded so good. Happily we passed a shaved ice stand and we stopped to get some. I ordered a small because I knew that would be plenty and a lot. Emily did not believe me when I told her that even the smalls were big and so she ordered a medium and it was so big she had to throw some of it away because she could not finish it. Next time listen to your big sister!

On Monday Emily had to go into school for a collaboration meeting and I drove Ben to meeting point for Scout Day Camp. He looked so cute in his uniform!

At the end of the school year Erin expressed a need for a distraction and so I invited her to come and visit us. She seemed keen to the idea and so I called her up and we discussed plans as I told her what we had going on for the summer. She decided to drive up to Utah while we were there to spend some time with Emily as well and then drive with us to Idaho. Kenedy and Alyssa have been wanting to get together for forever and I thought this would be a great time to make it happen since Alyssa could drive up with Erin. Alyssa was at Girls Camp that week and Erin would have to wait a couple of extra days to drive up but she seemed ok with that. So Stephanie called Jim, Alyssas Dad and asked him if it was Ok. He was fine with it but needed Alyssa home on the 30th since it was his birthday and he had a surprise for the girls. Erin was not planning on going back that soon and so we agreed it wouldn't work out and were bummed but thought better luck next time. 

The next day Stephanie called me and said if Erin were still willing to wait to drive to Utah on Saturday when Alyssa gets back from camp that Jim called and said he would buy a plane ticket for Alyssa to fly home on the 30th! I could not believe it, that was incredible news and I was so excited! Erin said she could wait and i was so excited that Alyssa could some up with her. I didn't tell Kenedy because i thought it would be a fun surprise. They arrived really late Saturday night and the surprise was a bit anticlimactic because Kenedy was half awake and super confused. 

Monday after Emily was done with her collaboration meeting Erin and I took the kids over to her school to see her classroom and help her out with getting set up and organized. The kids had fun looking at books and playing with her color counters and such while I decorated her door and Erin and Emily worked on the Calendar board.

Avynlea asked me what she should make with the geometric shapes and I told her "Me", so here is Me!

I had two ideas for her door decor, one was popcorn and the other used cookies. Emily could not decided and so we had the kids choose and they unanimously decided on popcorn and so I went to work. The door turned out so stoning cute and Emily was so excited when she saw it. All she has to do is add the names of her kids to the popcorn pieces.

After a couple of hours working in the classroom we went back to her apartment to eat lunch and then we headed down to the pool for more swimming. After Erin and Emily swam for a bit they left to go to the store while I took a little snoozer in the lounge chair. 

Later we went up and got some food ready for a barbecue and more swimming. Seriously we are a swimming family and we cannot get enough of it. I love the pool so much! It is fun having kids who can swim so that we can all enjoy playing and being together and nobody is stuck on the sides not being able to participate. Having grown up in a swim team competing family having kids know how to swim has always been important and that is why I had them start younger so that they can be good at it.

Alyssa. Kenedy, Avy and Isabelle

The next day we packed up lunches and after stopping at a couple of stores headed back to Emilys to do some more fun stuff. I had an idea for a cute reading corner and I made tissue paper pom poms and hung them from the ceiling around the tree I made. I did not have my Cricut so I could not cut out the quote to go on the tree which when I do get it done will say, "Wherever I am, if I've got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy." by J.K. Rowling

The tree turned out so cute!

Kenedy put up the shapes posters and the girls all painted and glittered clothespins to put in the hall to hang kids work.

While we were at Hobby Lobby we saw this Lamp that would look so cute in the classroom on Emilys desk. It was on sale for half off but Emily could not get it yet. Erin said she would buy it for her for her birthday and I said I would go in on it since with the two of us sharing the cost it would have been about the price I would have spent anyway so we bought it for her and it looked perfect sitting on her desk.

I strung paper clips on fishing string and had Kenedy and Alyssa hang them from the ceiling so that Emily could use them to display kids work in the classroom.

We did so much and her classroom looks so good. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch her teach and see the kids enjoy what we did. I had so much fun being creative and really wish I could have done more. I now need to find more creative things to do to itch this need.

After we were done we, of course, headed back to the pool for more swimming and barbecue.

Rylee and Maddie

Lagoon

This year we were invited by Bob and Alison to go with them to Lagoon. The last time Kefford went was before his mission and the kids and I have never been so we were pretty excited to go and spend time with some of Keffords family and have this new experience. 

Dustin's work had a special family day on Friday June 19th in which they also got discounted tickets so that was the day we were all going. Kefford had to work in Baker on the 18th and would not get back until later in the evening and so we planned on leaving that night, staying over in Burley and then driving the rest of the way friday morning. Bob and Alison were leaving Thursday morning and agreed to take Ryker and Kenedy with them so we could take the car and save on gas. That morning after we read scriptures I told Kenedy and Ryker they needed to get their chores done to be ready for when Bob and Alison come to pick them up. Ryker was not in the best of moods and decided to throw a fit about cleaning. I told him that if he did not get done by the time his Grandparents came I would make him stay and let them take Avynlea instead. He was not appreciative of that and didn't change his attitude, after warning him one more time I left it at that and went to get my own stuff done. A little bit later Ryker came up and apologized for his behavior and said he was going to work really hard to get his stuff done. I was really proud of him for his attitude change and happy that it wasn't a huge long fight to get him to do anything.

Before she left Kenedy took a picture of herself with my phone and then Trista sent me a picture of Ryker cleaning his plate at dinner. I am always so grateful for any opportunities my kids have to spend more time with their Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, family is super important to me and my kids having great relationships with their extended family is really important.

Kefford had rented a cheap Mom and Pop Motel in Burley to stay at and when we pulled up and I saw what it looked like I told Kefford this is where we die. It looked pretty sketchy to me ;). The girls were excited about sleeping in a motel and it was a good stopover.

The next morning we got up and finished our trip to Farmington Utah. The park didn't open until 11 and so we hung out with the Petersons in their rooms until it was time to head over. Bob decided he wanted to get some food at Ihop and we went there to eat before we got to the park. 

We met up with Dustins family once we got inside and those 5 minutes were pretty much the extent of our hanging out with them. I expected everyone to stick together to go on the rides and be with each other but looking back that does seem pretty unrealistic in that we have older kids who can and want to go on the roller coasters whereas Dustin and Whitney, whose family also came, have younger kids who cannot do as much. So after getting in and saying hi we went off on our own to ride the rides. Isabelle came with us for a bit and Trista along with Sara and her roommates met up with us for a lot of the rides.

Avynlea was a sport and went on most of the roller coasters even though she is definitely not a fan. Rylee loves them and is always up for adventure and so not surprisingly she went on them all and loved them all.

I had my hair up in a bun which I thought was pretty good for a hot day of riding coasters but I had to redo it after every ride because it would get loose. I laughed and snapped this picture when I saw that Trista had the same problem.

This ride was Avynleas favorite ride, she rode it a couple of times. It basically spins you in a circle and since it is a bit tilted you end up squishing the person on the outer edge.  

We rode the tram to the other side of the park and I did not like it much. I am not fond of heights and this was just a bit scary for me, what a wimp I am. I just tried not to look down.

The ferris wheel was also nerve racking for me, I just do not like being up high, too scary!

The kids wanted to ride this airplane ride and because they wanted their own plane it worked out that Rylee had to wait and not go when our other kids went. We all loved watching her enjoy this ride, she is seriously the cutest in her enjoyment of things. I am quite sure it was worth the extra wait for her to have her own plane and she loved it!

Hand stamps selfie

The second time we rode the tram I was with Kenedy and it was not quite as bad. It sure was a convenient way to get to the other side of the park without walking.

By the time it was aout 7:00 I was hot and tired and done with Lagoon. It was a really fun day but I was ready for it to end. We met up with the rest of Keffords family for dinner at Red Lobster where I got a steak, the only turf on the menu. I was a sport and did try some of the surf off Keffords plate. It was fine but I will stick with the turf. 

Because we were in Utah and so close to Emily I asked Kefford a couple of weeks earlier if I could take some time to stay with her for a couple of days. I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Kefford was fine with it and we had talked about me leaving Friday night after Lagoon to go to Emilys and he would stay with his parents at their Hotel and drive home with them. Well, I was so tired after the long day and Alison had an extra room so I decided to stay the night at the Hotel so that I would not have to drive an hour at midnight to get to Emilys.

After dinner Kefford wen track to the Park with Kenedy, Ryker, Trista, Dustin and Whitney. While I took Avynlea and Rylee swimming in the Hotel Pool. Isabelle was going back to Nyssa to spend time with her Grandparents for a few weeks and so she was at the hotel and went swimming with us. 

The next morning Avynlea got ahold of my phone to take some pictures of the view out the window.

She thought her Grandpa snoozing in the chair was pretty funny so she snapped a picture of him as well.

Three little cuties

Rylee, Isabelle and Avynlea

I love any opportunity to spend time with family and this was a fun trip, now it is off to Emilys for more family fun!

Overheating

A couple of weeks ago our A/C decided to stop working. It steadily got hotter and hotter in our house. Luckily it was not during the heat wave that has his us but it was still not very comfortable. After Kefford left to go to Mutual with the oldest two, myself and the younger two rode our bikes to the snow shack for some cooling off with shaved ice. It was delicious and sure hit the spot. I love that we have these shacks close enough for us to ride to. When we got back home Kefford was  there with an A/C guy who was finishing up his repairs on our unit. It was so nice to feel the cooler air flowing throughout the house again.