June Excursion

We scaled things back this year for our summer vacation.  No RV or California coast.  We headed to Washington to see family and Utah for BYU football camps and had a wonderful time.  Jackson was rocking the superman snuggie we received as a white elephant gift.

Kennedy was so impressed with these clever tags at a restaurant we stopped at so they made the blog.  Ice Cube and what else, Ice T:)

We made it to my parents house in Washington just in time to celebrate Ashley's  30th surprise birthday party.  She was definitely surprised.

All 7 of us siblings were able to be there.  Actually, only my family and Shannon's (green shirt) don't live within 45 minutes of Ashley.  We usually win the award for most miles traveled.

Things are nice and green this time of year.

Boston broke out the Bingo to keep us all entertained.

Allison was the party planner and is hired for any event I have in the near future.  She thought of everything.

Allison's little guy, Boone, carried this balloon around all evening.  It didn't leave his hand.  I think he even went to bed with it.

Jackson is finally about the size of Beau (13).  Beau hung out with the twins and went hunting with them.  He's pretty quiet and lets them do most of the talking.

There is always an assortment of kitties this time of year.  Jackson was feeling brave and wanted to hold one and insisted I take his picture.

Even Boston wanted in on the action.

As cute as these kittens are, I still dislike cats.  I don't trust them.

We enjoyed lots of leisure time like floating in the pool.

And swimming with cousins.

We attended my cousin's wedding reception - country style.

We went to church and listened to Ashley and Allison talk on Father's Day which meant we got to help Tony with his kiddos.

Leighton loves his little cousins and tried holding them whenever possible.  Too bad they didn't want to be held.

The guys gave it their all for a cherry pit spitting contest.  The winner - you guessed it, Eric.

We did our fair share of sitting and visiting.  Probably my favorite part of being Washington.  Things are much more laid back.

The guys giving me their pumped up pose.

Boston played dress up with the little cousins.  He felt like king of the hill.

And he got to go on a slip n slide.  Kennedy was so jealous she didn't get to do the slip n slide.

We watched Kaden play basketball (he's going to be a freshman and he was playing with the varsity high school team - he's pretty good) and play baseball.  He's quite the athlete.

Lizzie and Krew were watching other things.

Krew, Boone and Meg were the envy of all the kids.  Even my big kids.  They so wanted to drive that thing.  Too big.

Kennedy takes on the older cousin roll very well.  She's good to entertain them.

We went bowling and Big Mama stole the show.  Yes, I am Big Mama.

Boston has officially received his four wheeler driving license.  He couldn't wait to take me for a ride through the orchard.

More of Boston holding the kittens.  I think he dropped it right after the picture.

Kennedy and Hunter always do photo shoots when they get together.  I think this picture steals the show.  She's a beauty!

Of course there were lots of stops like the above picture...

Boston went to a morning and afternoon session at BYU football camp and was fortunate enough to play at LaVell Edwards Stadium the whole time.  He was the biggest 7 year old there and won a hat for being the fastest.  The hat was too small so he went with a football instead.

The twins checked into the dorms for their camp and practiced at the indoor football field during their stay.  If there was an award for most social they would've won it.  They are every body's friend.  One of the coaches told them to stop giving sumo hugs (full on hugs) and just do fist knocks and then go in sideways.  

There were so many BIG kids there I realized they are just little fish in a big sea.  Nothing like going to BYU to figure that out.

The dorms aren't anything too exciting but they said they are ready to move in.

Kennedy has been doing online PE so she spent much of the Utah time in the hotel room studying.  Her and I were able to enjoy a little exercise up the Provo Canyon a couple of the days.  Exercise is so much easier with a view like that.

We spent much of our off time with Melinda and her family.  I bought the Pass of All Passes so we went to Trafalga and did laser tag, mini golf and rode some rides.  We had a fun evening.

Kennedy came with a bucket list of things for the trip.  One of them was to eat at Brick Oven.  How could I deny her that one.  We ordered more than we could eat and left with a doggy bag and then treated ourselves to pedicures.

I took this picture the last day of the camp.  Everywhere I looked I was seeing double.

To top it all off, I took the boys to Leighton's gym right after they checked out of the dorms.  He worked them over and grab their love handles until they were dripping with sweat.  They said they learned more in that work out than they did at the BYU football camp.  Is that so....

It's a good thing they really like him and he likes them.

Boston finished his camp with his new BFF, Bronco.

We also celebrated Hogan's 13th birthday (Melinda's son) at Lowe's Extreme Air Sports and then went back to their house in Cedar Hills for pizza and night games.  My kids played fugitive for the first time. We dropped them off at an elementary school a couple blocks away and they had to make it back to Mike & Melinda's house without us catching them.  The parents drove around in cars.  Now that's what summer is all about.  The kids had the best time.

As we were leaving to go to our hotel, Katelyn broke out her motorcycle gear and the twins eyes saw stars.  Leighton told Katelyn he was very impressed with her.  

We ventured to 7 Peaks with the rest of Utah on Friday afternoon. Had a grand time but will probably pick a less buy day or time to go next time.

Melinda and Christian soaking up sun rays.

We spent a couple nights with the Bell's in South Weber.  Nate took us out to Willard Bay for a day of boating.  The kids took turns tubing.  Kennedy seems to be the tubing champion.  It's hard to flip her off.

Our captain, Nate.

The real captain, Eric.

A day on the lake with friends and family is really what a I call living.

Jackson never disappoints.  He brought the snot big time.  Nate had to look away to keep from puking. Such a proud mom moment.

These two sleep like this every night.  Rain or shine.  Although I don't know if they slept together in their dorm room.  I forgot to ask. Jackson did tell me a secret.  He didn't brush his teeth the whole time he was BYU football camp.  Another proud mom moment.

We finished the trip with breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with Leighton and Rosa.  They gave us a whole room to ourselves.  We ate and chatted for hours until we said we had to get on road.  I wish we didn't live so far away.  Utah grows on me more and more each time I am there.  We will be going back for Kennedy's volleyball camp at BYU in a couple weeks and get our money out of the Pass of all Passes. 

Until then, we'll hunker down and stay close to a pool or the air conditioning.  The joy of living in the desert.