Happy Back 2 School Day!

The girls have been SO excited to get back to school...and after a fabulous summer, I was ready to send them back! They got up at 6:00 a.m. and could hardly stand to wait until 8:25 to get on the bus! They all reported that it was the "best day ever" when they got home and it seems that it was the perfect beginning to a great year ahead! Spencer and I will have to find ways to fill our days together...I am afraid he will be so bored just hanging out with me all day! His preschool starts in 2 weeks...that will help a bunch! Anyways, here we go again!

Monster Trucks (said in your deepest manliest voice)

Spencer has been in love with anything fast and big his whole life...everything from bullet trains to jets to Monster Trucks to dirt bikes. He can't get enough of the boyish loud and fast things out in the world. He says Bigfoot is his favorite (and he won't say the words Monster Truck, Bigfoot or dirt bike without using his most manly deep voice...so funny!) So, when we found out that there was going to be a Monster Truck rally in Salt Lake...Jake absolutely HAD to take him! I was jealous that I didn't get to see the look on Spencer's face when he saw them up close...but Jake tells me it was priceless...and it really did need to be "man-time". I took the girls out for a night on the town in Salt Lake (we did Applebee's and the Clark Planetarium together!). It was a great evening and we all came together for ice creams at the end of the night.

Summer Campout!

Last summer we went on our first family camping trip...the kids have been begging to do it again ever since then! Our summer has been so busy that this last weekend was our first opporunity to do it! We decided to tryout a campsite this year instead of just finding a spot in the wilderness...we loved the hiking at this place, but we did decide that we missed the seclusion we had last time. Next time we will know exactly what we're looking for...always a learning experience! Anyways, we played games around the campfire and had s'mores (of course!) and we did some great hiking. Rylee brought her butterfly net on our hikes and frantically tried to catch every butterfly we passed (and there were tons!). She had a few successes and was SO excited! At one point on the hike Audree said, "Mom, you can see the prettiest things when you are in the nature!" When we came home and asked the kids what they would have changed about the camping trip they said they would have like a LONGER hike (which is surprising since they were begging to be done after a couple hours). We just had a great time hanging out together and remembered why it was so fun...hopefully we can do it again soon!

Lake Powell- woo hoo!

We were all so excited to go to Lake Powell this year...the kids were counting down the days for several weeks. I was actually a bit anxious about it because I have heard of WAY too many drownings this summer (including a close friend of mine's child)...but I decided we can't live in fear, packed up the best life-jackets I could find and we headed out! I am happy to report that it was a great trip and we all had a blast! Karlee and Rylee got up on the knee-board and waterskis without any trouble (I even got up on the kneeboard and skis...for the first time in 11 years...I was stoked!). Spencer tried out the tube with Quincy and they loved it! We all just enjoyed relaxing, swimming, a bit of cliff-jumping (well, me, Jess and Megan had to practically get shoved...but we jumped off too!). The water was perfect, the weather was fantastic and the boats worked a fairly high percentage of the time. Glad we went, can't wait to go back next year!