Payson Lakes Camp Out

This year we invited the Kuhnis and the Mayletts on our annual Marshall/Thorsted camp out.  We had a great time and the only catastrophe (which was minor in my book, but maybe major in Tyler's)  was that Thea peed on Tyler's sleeping bag.  HA!

We drove up Friday night and roasted hot dogs.

 Then, that night Derek and I made some berry cobbler as we all sat by the fire.

The kids were all thrilled that Derek purchased each of them their own flash lights and proceeded to shine them in everyone's eyes.

We picked a perfect night for sleeping under the stars and were able to admired the "blue moon." 

Derek got up early in the morning to do a hike with London and Dave.

I took the kids fishing before breakfast. We never caught anything (which they were sad about), but they loved tossing out the fishing line and reeling it in.  When they got bored of fishing the girls sat in a line and braided each others hair.

The Kuhni's and Mayletts naive to camping offered to do breakfast and made the works: bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, eggs, tortillas if you wanted to make a breakfast burrito....The next time, we will be nice and let them do lunch.


Then, we spent the majority of the day at the lake. 


Someone gave us this inflatable crocodile the night before our lake day since they were leaving the next day.  Camden monopolized that.

We rented a paddle board and inflatable kayak.  

The kids loved it and paddled all over the lake.  We set up a little shade and ate picnic lunch by the lake.

 I felt like I spent a majority of the camp out taking someone to the bathroom or nearest bush as potty training boys needed to always go right then.

After a day at the lake, everyone was plumb tuckered out and we headed back to camp for some tin foil dinners.  Camden fell asleep on Annie's shoulder as we were packing up and then snoozed in the tent until dinner was ready.

And after, we all packed up to go home, take showers, and get to church the next day.  I am determined to stay more than one night the next camp out.

Little Mermaid

 

I saw that the local Hale Center was performing Disney's junior version of the Little Mermaid, and knew I had to get tickets for me and my Liv loo.  I love the junior plays.  They are only an hour and half (perfect sitting time for Liv) and only $8 for adult and $6 for kids.  I'm considering getting season tickets for the junior season.  Liv loved the play, and it was a fun "girl date" as Liv termed it.  If you ask her what her favorite part was though, it's the end where she got to take pictures with all the cast members.  It was as good as Disneyland for this littler girl.

Qualtrics Carnival

We scored big in our friendship with Lily and Abe.  Abe's work (Qualtrics) puts on a summer carnival every year and they invited us to attend with them.  They had catered BBQ from Goodwood, face painting, balloon animals, bubble balls you could run inside, bounce houses galore, a ferris wheel, a train, trampolines, pony rides, a petting zoo and a fireworks show at the end all for free!  My kids were in heaven and will forever be disappointed in any future carnivals because I can never afford to allow them to do all those things.
 
I was so impressed with the face painter.  She could do anything the kids asked for and my kids challenged her for sure.  Camden asked for an elephant (turned out so cute), Liv wanted a rainbow Cinderella carriage, and Carter asked for woody but got a cowboy hat. 


The boys wanted balloon swords which they quickly popped and Liv asked for a unicorn.

 The ponies were a little overstimulated by the time we got there and I feared the whole ride that one of my kids was going to get bucked off.

My 32nd Birthday

I had my 32nd birthday this year.  My Dad was sweet and sent roses for me and Liv and chocolate covered strawberries which all the kids enjoyed.
It was overall a fabulous day.  I started the day really early with a long hike up to lake Blanche.  My friend Annie invited me to join her and a bunch or her friends.  I had to twist Derek's arm to go with me, but he ended up loving it.

He has really gotten into hiking this summer as his form of exercise.  He goes 2-3 times per week early in the morning and will either hike the Y or dry canyon or rock canyon.  I feel sad for him that soon the darkness and weather won't allow him to continue this.

My sister sent me this pin for my birthday that says "Queen for a day" and I felt it only fitting that it be pinned to my camel back.
 
Sadly, somewhere along the trail it fell off.  Steve and Diane were kind enough to come over to our place at 6 am to watch the kids for us.  The Lake Blanche trail head starts up Big Cottonwood canyon.  It is quite the hike.  It took us about 2.5 hours to get up there, and the lake is literally at the the top of one of the mountains up that canyon.


 There are two other lakes real close by and a beautiful view down into the valley at the top.  I took my first panoramic picture at the top and am pretty proud of it!
We stopped and had lunch, and then Derek and I headed back down the mountain.  At one point, I almost slipped and had to catch myself quick, and I must have jammed my R big toenail real hard into the front of my hiking shoe because the rest of the way down every step I could feel it.  That dang toe bothered me for two weeks after.  More painful than it looks I swear!

 I was totally handicapped, could hardly walk, and it was so painful more painful than following child birth for sure.  It would throb at night and oozed clean liquid out from under my toe.  The more I walked and had my foot down the more it throbbed, so I spent a good 3-4 days elevating it and icing it every chance I got.  A toe!  Ridiculous!  I couldn't run or really walk well or wear shoes or socks for two weeks!  It's finally better thankfully, and I am expecting this nail will fall off at some point.

Later that night, Derek took me to the Tree Room at Sundance for dinner.  It's hands down my favorite restaurant around town!  Of course I took pictures of all our food because it was so beautifully presented.

The kids didn't think it felt much like my birthday with no singing and birthday cake, so Derek got a cake for the next day after church and we invited a few friends over for cake and ice cream.

Pioneer Day

We celebrated Pioneer Day by going on a family hike up Big Springs.  We intended to hike the Y, but got blocked some temple to temple 5K.  Then, we roped the Mayletts into going to the Museum of Natural Curiosity with us.  I love going to that place with older kids because they keep tabs on my younger kids.  Surprisingly, it wasn't over crowded. They all loved the museum as usual.  We let all the kids even the boys ride the zipline all by themselves.  We fed some very hungry fish.  I was afraid we were going to get some fingers bit off, but everyone left in one piece.
Carter the pirate:

The floating head display is always a crack up:

Spider wed climbing structure:

Afterwards, we introduced the Mayletts to Mo' Betters which was also much more manageable with their assistance.

All the kids were so worn out from the day, that they fell asleep before the fireworks show and didn't even wake up to all the blasting music and fireworks around the neighborhood.

July Jumble

I added some vinyl to my Mother's Day wall and have to hold back tears every time I really ponder what it says: "Miracles have not ceased" 

T-ball is now over and done with.  Not sure if Liv loved it or will want to play again next year, but at her last game she did hit the ball twice from a coach pitch instead of off the tee.  I was impressed.

 

During girl's camp week.  A bunch of ladies in the ward each took Angelica Oler's 4 girls for a day.  I was amazed at how well we managed 7 kids 6 and under.  They played outside mostly.  In the morning, we blasted Disney tunes and colored, then I braved the Scera kids movie with all 7.  They were good but each had to go to the bathroom at least once, which meant 7 trips to the bathroom.  So, I feel like all I did was accompany someone to the bathroom and back the whole time.  Then, all 3 littles took a nap and the girls played on the slip n slide and it was time to go before we knew it.

 Went to a splash pad with the kids.  Camden was having major swim suit trouble that day.  It kept falling down.

 

My turn for art group was this month.  We made these glittery fireworks using bendy straws as the stamp.  We invited Lydia and Mary to join us.  The kids loved it.  Especially the glitter.

 

Aunt Kylie went to China and sent back a fan for Liv and trainer chop sticks for the kids among other things.  The kids are getting quite proficient with the chopsticks and love to eat with them.Derek did a backyard camp out with all the kids one weekend.  The boys had a hard time going to sleep until I came out and laid down too.  I think they all slept well except Derek due to some neighbors partying until 3 am that night.  The kids thought it was so fun and begged Dad to leave it up all the following day so they could play in it.

 

We took all the kids to the Scera to see the new Minions movie last weekend.  The kids were pretty thrilled about it.  I was thrilled to have almost the whole theatre to ourselves, with refillable $4 popcorn, and the boys got in for free! 

The kids snuggling up on Grandpa's bed to watch a movie one evening that we dropped by for a visit:

 

Liv pics:Once again dressed for a winter storm in the heat of the summer

These 3 have been inseparable this summer.  Liv is going to be so sad when school starts and Kenadie will be gone every day.  Here they are playing Go fish:

 

Boys pics:  Carter's latest fiasco was to dump out the egg container.  He did the first few on accident. Then when he saw my reaction, he hurried and dumped out all the rest before I reached him.

 

On the way to swim lessons:

 

Olive fingers:

Food and Garden:  I made homemade tamales one day which was a fun adventure they turned out great.  But, Derek was a little sad they were vegetarian (corn, pepper and cheese). 

Tomatoes are starting to be ready to pick, so I christened the season with bruschetta.

 

 We have grown onions for years but they always turn out really small.  Well, this year they have finally grown big enough to be put to good use.