2-day camping trip

     We took advantage during Jason's last vacation week, to go on a two day camping trip. We usually only get to squeeze in one night of camping so going for two nights was a real treat. We packed up and headed out Thursday morning to the same area as the last time we went camping.

     After setting up camp we enjoyed exploring, getting wet in the river and playing a few cards games and board games too. Korbin taught us a cool card game he learned at school, it was easy and fun to play. We finished the night with foil hobo dinners and (extra good) s'mores.
     The next day was uneventful. We drove to Snow Basin for a gondola ride but it was closed. We ended up taking a scenic drive up to Causey Dam and watched a few cliff jumpers.
After going back to camp it was time for Madison and I to go home for a bit.  I volunteered to take Mads to tumbling mostly so I could shower. Jason and Korbin went tubbing down the river while Mads and I were away. The rain followed us up the canyon on our way back. We had to cook our hot dogs in the rain and since it wasn't clearing up we decided to call it a night. The next morning after everything was reasonable dry we packed up quickly and headed home.
     It's fun to take a break and get away from everything and do a whole lot of nothing. If we get lucky maybe we'll able to take squeeze in one more camping this summer.

Summer List 2013

Our 2013 summer list (or at least what I have so far)...Derby, Rodeo, Manti Pageant, Navoo, Lagoon passes, Tuachan/Zion,a fair and maybe the circus. Just making this list cheers me up a little as we wrap this summer.

Swimming Lesson 2012

     Just wrapped up two sessions of swimming lessons for the summer as of yesterday afternoon. Our swim instructor Diane, a lady in our ward, is fantastic!
     The kids can do the crawl stroke, back hand stroke, elementary back stroke, front float and back float. I'm more relaxed in the water and even did a few dives this year. I did a decent dive and that was the end of my diving ambition after getting a lot of water in my ears. Madison's diving has been fun to watch. My visiting teachers daughter told her she wants to dive just like Madison. It was really cute. Mads likes to go deep into the pool and pop up a few yards away. Korbin's diving is great too. One of his legs would always bend no matter how many times Diane told him to keep it straight. He'll keep working on it.
Both kids like to be in the water. Hopefully, swim club for Korbin next year. Yesterday he worked on his breast stroke. It's tricky but he kind of got the rhythm of it. He just needs to practice. Both kids are fun to watch in the water.
      At the beginning of the summer I told them this was it I was done with swimming lesson however treading water and side breathing is still something the kids and I need to work on so we might be back in lessons next year.

Tumbling and Whips

Madison has been taking tumbling twice a week this summer. She's made huge improvements in the last 3 months. She loves to practice! She has good form and has her back handspring and her roundoff back handspring and both left and right side of her cartwheel. Madison really wants to work on her whip next. Her teacher made a deal with her, if she can get 5 decent back handsprings in a row she'll help her work on her whip. She's been working super hard. In her last two tumbling lessons she's been really excited to show Tammy what she's been working on at home. She loves doing whips! 

Jason's 31st Birthday

Jason turned 31 and had a great birthday this week! 

 Jason's birthday landed on a Tuesday this year. Jas was able to take a few hours off of work to sit, relax and hang out with us for his birthday. We had two cute extra guests for the night to help celebrate (our friends JD and Callie went to girls camp for our ward so we watched their girls, Lex and B). They added some giggles to our family night.

I made one of Jason's favorite foods for dinner, Cafe Rio and Quesadillas for the girls. After dinner Jason opened a few presents.

The big hit for the night was some Flarp! noise putty we got Jas. Totally an immature gift but it was a lot of fun! For dessert we made Jason's new favorite cupcake, Snickers Cupcakes. They're a labor of love but they sure taste good! 

The rest of the night was spent watching The Olympics and putting the kids to bed. We let the older girls have a sleepover on an air mattress and fall asleep watching a movie. B slept on Madison's bed. Putting B to bed was a huge reminder of our kids growing up. I read a few books to her as she laid down. It brought back memories of when Jas and I use to read to our kids at bedtime, it was part of the routine. The sweetest part was the next day as I laid B down for a nap she insisted on having me read to her again. As much as I love the kids being more independent I sure do miss when they were little. 

Good thing I can always go back and look at pictures and watch videos of us reading to the them.

Camping with the Nelson's

Our first time using the trailer this summer was going camping with our friends the Nelson's.

The weather forecast was rainy for our overnight adventure. In reality, it was overcast with spurts of light rain until we were packed and ready to head home, that's when the rain started to really come down.

We stayed at Willows Campground in a double spot by the river. We love staying by the river, so it was a perfect spot. Jason had to work so I decided to head up early (with the crew) and have him drive up separately later in the day.

We made some fun memories over a period of 24 hours and you would have thought it was our first time camping with all the little things we forgot! Thankfully only 3 miles down the road my phone had service. After sending a handful of text messages to Jason and a few phone calls he brought us the stuff we forgot. 

A few memories from our camping trip;

 -A moose hung out really close to our camp spot for a while.

-The kids played and played and then played some more.

-We played board games.

-We went tubbing down the river which was a ton of fun (not counting losing my shoe).

-Korbin coming out with a mouthful of leaves from a bush he ran into as we were tubbing, now that was funny!

-My favorite memory was playing a few rounds of night games! 

-Ben slept over. Ben and Korbin sleeping like rocks. 

-Jason making duck call sounds out of horsetails the girls collected. He was the only one that was able to do it.

-Trying bag omelets for breakfast.

Of course, it wouldn't have been Friday the 13th without us having a bit of bad luck. Malinda tearing her favorite swim shorts and I lost one of my favorite flip flops in the river while tubbing. 

Our overnight adventure brought fun memories of us hanging out with our friends!

Splash Pad

Malinda and I took our kids plus a few friends to a splash pad. We were quite the crew! We didn't stay long but the kids found time to get wet, lay out in the sun and do some tumbling on the grass.

I can hardly imagine 3 skinnier 6th graders!