JULY: a recap

July went by like a flash.... but I couldn't leave it undocumented... if you want to know what we did for the bulk of our summer, here's the highlights...
{click pics to enlarge}

Cam and the boys spent the night in our backyard sleeping in a tent just before he left for TDY. The boys LOVED it! I joined them for indoor s'mores and a game of Uno. They were on their own after that! They still talk about the scary ghost story Cameron told them - he got 'em good with that one.

The first week of July the big boys were in summer Science Camp. I thought it would make the no-dad transition a little easier. It went 5 days from 8:30-5:00. They had so much fun and pretty much ate dinner and went to bed after they got home every night - they were so tired. They went to the sand dunes and made valcanoes and sand candles. They went to an Elk Refuge and then swimming in a little lake. They went to the Discovery Center in Boise. They did an egg drop (Landon has plans for a parachute on his next attempt!).

we spent a LOT of time swimming this summer

I got to experience my first set of stitches - okay, it was actually Isaac's first stitches but with three boys I'm surprised it took this long and I'm sure it won't be the first visit to the urgent care for stitches. We passed the time waiting for the doc with a sticker puppet, practicing writing I-S-A-A-C, and a phone call to Cameron. Luckily, I have a great neighbor who took the other kids to her house, gave them dinner and entertained them so I didn't have to drag all the kids with me.

We headed to Utah. Our first stop: Lagoon. Cameron's mom watched the little kids so I could focus on the big ones. It was so fun to do something with just them. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them, watching them have so fun. Austin took his first ride on a roller coaster and it was pure thrill. I love that I got to see it.

next on our Utah agenda was, of course, spending time with Cameron's family. As always, good food and good company.

My dad spent an entire day with my boys. They helped him with yard work and then worked on some of Landon's scout requirements. He helped Landon build a bird house and took extra time at Home Depot to show him all the tools and what they do so he could pass that off in his book too.

After a day with a great friend from highschool - it was so fun to see Lara again and I wish I had a picture - we headed to Park City for a week. We stayed at the base of the alpine slide. The kids looked out the window of our condo every morning anticipating the "rides". They were so excited to be there. We spent a lot of time swimming, hiking, walking, and even a little time on the "rides" (if you can call a bungee trampoline and rock climbing rides.)

We spent a day on the Jordenelle with the boat. We spent a morning at the Farmer's Market at the Canyons. Landon went around asking for free samples. We went on the gondola at least three times. The kids thought it was, yet another, ride. My mom's cool like that and let them ride it as much as they wanted.

Our last night there we went to a disney concert that was so fun for me - music from Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast... you know the classic disney shows that we watched before Pixar and Hannah Montana took over. Seriously, when I told the kids what we were doing Landon asked if Hannah Montana and Zack and Cody were going to be there!

Also, while we were in Park City our Little Miss Ella learned to sit up on her own. At first it lasted just a few seconds but by the end of July she was a pro.

Last, but not least, we met up with some friends from our Iowa Days. Oh so fun. I'm wishing I had at least one picture. I saw a couple girls I hadn't seen in a year or two. It's as if no time's gone by. I love that.

Then back home to Idaho to wait for Daddy to get back from California. It really was a great summer... I can't believe it's over, but I'm excited to move on to my favorite time of year - Fall!

Oh WHAT a Summer!

We have had so much fun the past six weeks; The stuff lasting memories are made of! School starts on Monday so it's back to the real world. I'm trying to frantically get caught up on everything from housework, to email, to haircuts (no kidding, Landon hasn't had a hair cut since June!), to all the errands and responsibilities I've been putting off the past month and a half.

-

Most recently, we gave ourselves our first ever real family vacation. The first time we weren't traveling to visit family (although, you know we love to do that! And there are plenty of pictures of us doing that this last month too - we had a great time with our families this summer). Just the six of us; we went to Big Sky Montana. Montana, you ask? Yes. Montana. A resort town 40 miles from West Yellowstone. The perfect combination for a family of {mostly} boys all different ages. It was a great great week.

click on images to enlarge (it REALLY bugs me the way this all downloaded - sorry about the spacing and jumbled sentences. I might try to fix it later, or not. Gotta get going on dinner and then Young Womens... no rest for the weary, I tell ya!)

We spent an afternoon eating at a motorcycle-theme resteraunt and watching the kids do "rides".

We took the kids to Toy Story 3 one day, after a hike, exploring Bozeman, lunch at a great mexican place, and play time at a park. Isaac loved the 3D glasses and called them his Popcorn Glasses from the Popcorn Place. {I think that's the only reason he cares about movies - popcorn}

We stayed in a 3 story town home in the middle of the woods at the top of a huge peak. It was so beautiful there. In the winter you can just and ski down to the lifts from your front door. (200 acres of lifts) We were at 8,000 ft and surrounded by trees and mountains. We saw a bears just outside our "little house" twice.

We spent a day at Yellowstone Park, of course. The kids LOVED it. So did I, actually. They kept saying how awesome it was. Isaac kept telling us it was
"goy-geous". Perfect place for three little boys to run around. How do you know they had fun? They were covered in dirt by the time we were done.


One morning Cameron took the older boys on a white-water raft tour (I wanted to go but the hotel daycare was closed for the summer - next time!!). They all had a blast, and came back exhausted. While they were doing that I walked around "down town" with the little kids, and explored. Isaac found a tee-pee and a playground so we were quite entertained.











More pictures of Yellowstone. It is beautiful there.

The wildlife was unbelievable. I've never seen so many buffalo! We probably saw over 200 - including one up close and personal in the parking lot where our car was. We saw every animal listed on the map of animals in Yellowstone. Seriously, we were in wild-life heaven.

Ella was an angel-baby, as usual. She was so so good. Didn't mind the stroller, car, or strange bed. Little champ. I love her!

To be honest all the kids were so well-behaved. We had little fighting and lots and lots of family bonding.

I love how he is so excited about little things like this tree trunk.

Good kids, I have. I just love 'em!