Week 1: Camping

Thursday evening, we packed up all of our stuff at Grandma and Papa's and headed to Palisades Reservoir for a family reunion. We left later than we had planned and got to the campsite around 9:00 pm. We had to set up our brand new tent in the almost dark. The floor was all bunchy, and my wonderful husband put pieces back in the bag that I'm pretty sure were supposed to be used. But it stayed up so I shouldn't complain. We started blowing up our air mattress, which was also brand new, after dark. The pump that we brought didn't fit in the hole for the mattress. We had to borrow a pump from someone else. And our lantern wouldn't turn on. It was kind of a rough start to our camping trip. We decided to take a breather, roast some smores, and head to bed, hoping to start over the next day! Roasting smores was a disaster. The kids got the marshmallows all over the place, including other peoples chairs, we couldn't find our chocolate bars, and Gage screamed through it all! So much for a taking a breather!!! We decided it would just be best to call it a night. The kids went right to sleep only to wake up a few hours later FREEZING! Did I mention it was 40 degrees at night? Shaun and I were freezing too! So, all four of us ended up in our bed!

This is what you look like when you are going on only a few hours of sleep!

It even took a toll on this little guy!

One night down, one to go!!!

Friday we spent the morning playing games and going on walks.

Gage made dirt/gravel angels.

Then in the afternoon we went boating with Papa!

That night we had a big family dinner and spent some time exploring.

Gage claimed this rock as his rock! If he was ever out of your sight, he was sitting here! Funny boy!

We played a little bit of frisbee, until I threw it in the creek TWICE!!! The second time it was long gone!

Papa helped the kids roast marshmallows

Maisey and her new friend Madi enjoying some smores! They were pretty much inseperable the whole weekend.

In the evening, the whole family, (like 80 people) sat in a big circle and caught everyone up with what is going on in their lives!

Night #2 went very similar to night #1. The kids got cold and ended up in bed with us but it was fine. It helped keep us warm too!

Week 1: Randoms

We hung out at Grandma and Papa's house a lot between activites. The kids enjoyed playing with all of the fun toys and games that Grandma had for them.

Unfortunately, Gage thought he was a puppy and spent a lot of his time down on the floor chewing the dog toys.

And eating dog food! (No Joke!)

We also went to Rexburg Rapids! It had just opened and we were really glad we went. I forgot my camera that afternoon so I snapped just a few pics on my phone. It was really windy that day so it felt kind of cold, but when you were in the water it felt good. The lazy river was a favorite for everyone, and the older boys enjoyed scaling the climbing wall in the pool!

Week 1: Lagoon

On Tuesday, we headed to Lagoon. Janel met us there, and Grammy surprised us and came up from Provo for a few hours. The kids were so excited to have them with us, but they were more excited about the rides. My kids are ride-addicts! They seriously LOVE all rides and love to do them by themselves. The only ride they didn't like was the bumper cars. I thought that would be one of Gage's favorites because he loves to crash his cars at home, and I didn't worry about Maisey at all. Gage started crying about half way through because some kid kept crashing into him over and over again. I felt bad, but it was funny to see him get so sad. He hardly ever cries about things like that.

The whole fam on the swings!

Maisey has this fascination with ferris wheels. We had to ride it last year too. I don't mind them until you get stuck at the top for 15 minutes.

Or until you ride it with a maniac 2 year old who doesn't hold still. There were definitely a few times when I was scared he was going to fall out!

Our next ride was a boat ride. Not THE boat ride (see below), but still a fun boat ride.

Look at my brave girl! She surprised me all day!

Before Grammy headed back down to Provo to help with Baby Brock, she watched the kids so Shaun, Janel, and I could go on a couple of rides. The kids thought it was fun watching us on this ride and also on the adult bumper cars. We tried riding them to show them that they weren't really scary!

After Grammy left, we rode the lift back across the park to hit up a few rides on the other side. When he got off, Shaun said it probably wasn't a good idea for Gage to be on that ride. He had to hold on to Gage pretty tight.

Maisey and I enjoyed a nice, quiet ride!

This is THE boat ride. The pirate ship!!! Maisey rode this ride probably 8 times. I rode it the first time with her and almost got sick! She loved it, so Janel and Daddy were good sports and rode it all the other times with her.

They totally owned this ship! Once again, she surprises me!

While they rode the pirate ship over and over and over again, Gage and I rode a much gentler ride, the train! A couple of times!

Then we got off, but kept watching! It kept him entertained for the rest of the afternoon!

The day started off super HOT but breezy, then rainy, then overcast for the rest of the afternoon. It was really a great day! The kids had fun, the parents had fun, and I hope Janel and Grammy had fun! We really want to make Lagoon a tradition for our family! Such great memories were made this day!

Week 1: Mesa Falls

Monday afternoon, we headed on a hike to Upper Mesa Falls. We stepped out of the car and in the 5 minutes it took us to walk to the visitor's center to buy bug spray, I think all 6 of us ended up with 10 mosquito bites each. Once we got the insect repellant, we were all able to enjoy the hike a lot better.

The water was raging, and simply beautiful!

Maisey sure loves her Papa! I love this picture!

Week 1: Visiting Papa at School

On Monday, we headed to BYU-Idaho campus to eat lunch with Papa and to see his office!

There cafeteria area has all been redone and it is really nice. The kids enjoyed the HUGE cookie Papa bought them and I enjoyed my lemon bar, along with our nutritious lunch!

The kids loved seeing where Papa worked. And then loved that Papa sent them home with a toy gun from his office.

Gage loved checking out all of the engineering equipment!

On our way back to the car we walked through the gardens on campus. They were beautiful, but by this point the kids were very ready for a nap.

Week 1: Fun with Family

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the fam! We walked to a park near Grandma and Papa's house. The adults kicked the soccer ball around while Grandma pushed the kids on the swings.

Nathaniel and Gage walking back home.

Madison was exhausted from the walk to the park and needed a ride home. Maisey was more than willing to let her ride in the stroller. It only took Maisey a few hours to warm up to Madison and by the end of the week she wouldn't let Madison out of her sight.

Sorry the pic is so dark, but my kids totally LOVED Hannah (Ryan's gf). Maisey asked me all week, "Mommy, when's Hannah coming over again?" She was a good sport entertaining them!

And Gage sure loved his Uncle Ryan! It was fun to watch them connect. This is only the third time Gage and Ryan have met, but you would have never guessed it!

Week 1: Splash Park and Carousel

Our first day in Rexburg was spent at the Carousel and Splash Park. The kids were so excited to be able to run around!

Gage is sitting on a fountain! :)

Playing on the slides

I thought this park was totally awesome. I love that the slides and water features are FREE for the kids! The kids really enjoyed themselves and even talked Daddy into playing on the playground for a while too!

Random Thoughts

- This morning I went to a contact kick boxing class! It was AWESOME! I was way better than I expected to be and had a ton of fun! Anyone watch The Bachelorette this week? Bring it on Ames! Oh and P.S. if I ever meet Bentley, you better believe I will be using some of my new moves on him!

- Speaking of AWESOME, that is Gage's new favorite word. Everything around here is AWE-SUUUUUUUM! And he's pretty dang cute, I might add.

- Gage also thinks the word "wet" is funny! He will say it and every time he follows with this little chuckle like he is thinking "I'm, the funniest guy in the world!" His mommy doesn't think it's so funny when he dumps out his cereal on the table just so he can splash in the milk and say "wet" and laugh hysterically!

- You wanna know what word I think is funny? Hanky. Not like the abbreviation for handkerchief. Maisey calls things that she doesn't like hanky. I have no idea where she got it from. She usually uses it as an adjective, like calling something ugly, but she also used it as a verb yesterday while we were packing her suitcase. There is a brand new Gymboree outfit hanging in her closet, tags still on, and she won't wear it because she hanks it.

- Maisey is also obsessed with death and people dying. I had to take her to the hospital a few weeks ago and she was so curious about where people die and where Papa died and she is always asking me about how Papa died. When I was in Utah in April I bought her this book called "What Happens When People Die." I thought it would help put her mind at ease, but she is still very interested in the subject. She was playing with her cousin the other day and he got hurt and said, "I'm dying!" This really freaked her out. Her pediatrician was also talking to me last week about her repeat UTI's and was talking about how her kidney could die if we don't take care of the issue (more to come on that later!). Her eyes got huge and she was so scared. Anyone have ideas on how to discuss death with a very smart 3 year old?

- On a happier note, yesterday, I made these:

I got the idea from here and here. I also made a brown pair yesterday, and I might make Maisey a matching white pair! :) I love how they turned out!

Silver Creek Falls

We wanted to see how the kids would do in the hiking back pack before we left on our trip, so we decided to take a trip up to Silver Creek Falls and hike around. 

It was pretty cool up there, and VERY muddy! But we all had a great time.

Gage started out in the backpack and totally loved it!

Miss Maisey hiked all the way behind the falls all by herself! She was awesome! She kept asking me to tell her "Mommy and Daddy stories." She asked me to tell her about when she was born, when Gage was born, when Papa died, and how Mommy and Daddy got married. Let's just say other hikers now know our whole life story! :)

Isn't this just beautiful?

We hiked a little bit longer and then Maisey wanted a turn in the backpack, so we let the little man run wild!

He didn't stop very often, but he was very interested in the little stream that ran under this bridge. 

Gagey landed himself back in the backpack after about 15 minutes when he decided to sit down in a huge mud puddle! That is why he is now shoe-less. Shaun didn't want his muddy shoes up against his back! Gage didn't mind too much though. He got to throw rocks into this stream from way up high, which made a bigger splash! He is ALL boy!

We had a great time hiking as a family and we are really looking forward to all of our adventures that are soon to come!