GPa's Surprise

My Dad called me one night to tell me he had to make a quick trip to Boise and asked if we had a few hours to spend with him.  Even if we hadn't we would have made time.  We had lunch at the park and took Kyleigh to her pottery class.  Then me, Dad, Katelyn, and Ridge went to the zoo and hit it just in time to feed the giraffe.  This was so fun.  You pay $3 for a leaf of lettuce.  You can break it up into 3 pieces.  Then whoever wants to can feed the giraffe.  Ridge almost kept it in his hand long enough to feed it to him, but when that big head got too close he dropped his lettuce.  Katelyn was brave and held on. 

It was so fun to have GPa here for a quick afternoon.

Pulley System

Hats off to whoever planted this tree in our backyard.  It is the source of hours and hours of entertainment.  This particular day the girls decided they needed a system for raising and lowering equipment into and out of the tree.  They devised a pulley system with a paper cup and some yarn.  It took some time, but they were so proud of themselves when they were done. 

Every kid needs a good climbing tree.

Holly's family has a super fun summer park day schedule.  Every week they meet at a different park  and play for a few hours.  Everyone brings some lunch and treats to share.  Kids and adults alike have a great time.  They were kind enough to invite us to park days and we went as often as we could.  One park day Kyleigh decided we needed to have a party for everyone at our house.  She and a few of the girls planned it all out.  They had the idea to make invitations for it at the following park day.  They made assignments for the invitation supplies.  Kyleigh wanted to start calling and reminding them of their assignments 5 minutes after park day was over that week.  I was able to convince her to wait until the day before park day, but only after lots of coercing.  The next week all of the older girls sat under part of the playground equipment and crafted invitations.  It was super cute.  We decided on a day and got the invitations out to everyone. 

For our party we set up our famous slip n slide (black visqueen with a sprinkler and dish soap) on the back yard.  We made rocket dogs (hot dogs on a skewer baked with bread dough wrapped around it and a triangle tip of cheese at the top) for lunch.  I had found some huge inflatable boxing gloves for boxing.  We also set up a marble racer off the deck.  I cut a noodle (flotation device) in half and you raced marbles down the grooved middle.  We also had a make your own bubble wand station with lots of bubble juice. 

The kids had a great time, and I was so happy to do something to say thanks for inviting us to park days all summer. 

4th of July Park City with the Keeps

I have only two incredibly random pictures to show for a really great long weekend in Park City with the Keeps.  "Uncle Shawn" and "Aunty Debbie" invited us to Park City over the fourth of July.  They were able to get an extra condo with their timeshare deal so we got to stay in the Marriot.  I had no idea Park City would be so fun.  We had a GREAT time.  Rusty and I brought our mountain bikes and, along with Shawn and Nathan, we bought lift tickets to the top of the mountain.  They loaded our bikes on the ski lift.  No riding up, just down!  I don't think mountain biking could get much better than that.  Debbie watched the kids while we rode.  They had a fabulous time, including a trip to the candy store. 

The resort had a big pool with 6 hot tubs around the outside.  We spent lots of time in the pool.  Shawn's family came up one night for a barbeque.  The kids made friends with a few of his nieces and nephews and played all afternoon in the pool with them. Rusty and I were blown away by how much one of the Keep brothers is Dale's twin in every way.

The resort also had a kids club room where we went with the kids for some fun crafts and activities.  Two different nights we went down by the pool and roasted s'mores over gas fire pits.  We were inspired by the no smoke, no showers all around s'more making and are currently researching putting in a gas fire pit in our backyard. 

I think a highlight for the kids was the big pillow fight they had with Uncle Shaun.  Two months later Ridge randomly sat down at the piano and started playing it and singing a song about having a pillow fight with Uncle Shawn.

One day it rained and we went down to Salt Lake.  We went to temple square and visited the new Book of Mormon Celebracion exhibit, the Brigham Young house, and watched "The Testaments."  That particular movie has new meaning for us as it was filmed on Kauai and we like to watch for extras that we know and love from our Kalaheo Ward.

We attempted the Park City fourth of July parade but it was completely candyless.  LAME.  We left halfway through because the kids were bored out of their minds.  Whoever decided on a parade without candy was not thinking clearly. 

We had so much fun and didn't even get a chance to do some of the famous Park City things, like the Alpine slide, which was right behind our hotel.  We look forward to going back and to seeing the Keep's again, hopefully soon!

Tying Flies

Daddy and the girls spent one scorching hot Sunday afternoon in the air conditioner trying to figure out how to tye a pretty fly.

Cherry Season

It's been awhile since we've been able to eat our fill of cherries.  We miss the back yard oranges and apple bananas but, MAN, cherry season was a big hit!  Our neighbors down the street had a loaded tree that was all falling to the ground.  We asked permission to take some and they requested we take them all.  We took all we could.  We canned cherry juice and cherry pie filling.  I also pitted and froze a bunch for smoothies.  They are still tasting good right now. 

Peterson Visit

When the time came to walk through security and leave Auntie Dawn behind on Kauai we were all so sad.  However, before we left they already had had a trip planned to Boise so we knew it wouldn't be long before we would see the Petersons again.  We got to spend a few days with them in Boise and made the most of it.  We went ice blocking, ate at the Pita Pit, visited municipal park (where we saw a deer running through the park), had a barbeque, and most exciting of all went white water rafting down the Payette River.  Of course, the kids got spoiled with new Hawaiian outfitted toy story toys and iphone use by Auntie Dawn.  I didn't get any pics of the rafting but we got lots of ice blocking pictures.  We had a great time and hope to see them again soon. 

P.S.  The big question... will it even be Christmas without Mexican rolls?