First Day of School 2010

And we're off....to school, that is. Zack entering 7th grade, Colin is in 5th, and McKena in 3rd. Kade will be starting preschool next Monday. In other news, here is Kade trying to make himself a piece of toast. Good thing he has a helmet on in case he falls of the counter, he was having trouble navigating around the can opener. I should probably consider making the toast for him.

Lava Hot Springs

With school coming quick we ( along with the Karrens) decided one last little outing would be a good thing. We tried Lava Hot Springs (never been there before). It was awesome for these reasons:
1. They had started school up there and we happened to go on a Tuesday when there was absolutely no crowd.
2. The weather was perfect--not too hot, and the water temperature was 89 degrees.
3. There were lots of slides and diving boards to keep different ages of kids happy.
We will definitely be going back sometime in the winter to try out the actual "hot" pools.

Grandma's House

We just got back from spending 2 weeks up with my family in Washington. We spent the first week at the lake for a family reunion. My cousin, Randa, and her family were able to stay with us for a night. McKena is in heaven when this happens, as they have 3 girls her age! We played a rousing game of Pit before sending all the kids to bed and visiting.

John was able to help my Mom with some projects around her house because she has just remodeled. He hung up towel bars, light fixtures, took down wall paper, painted, and moved furniture. We spent a day in Seattle shopping and going to the Pacific Science Center. We saw movies, swam, and played hard with cousins. Zack and Colin were able to get some work in for my Dad. They enjoyed the freedom of a 4-wheeler and a big farm to ride around on. Uncle Nick took them fishing--Colin caught 21 fish and Zack caught 19. We picked a lot of raspberries and made a lot of raspberry jam. We always enjoy our summer vacation up there--thanks Mom and Dad!

Priest Lake, ID

Every year since I was little (since my Mom was little in fact) we have a family reunion at Priest Lake, ID. It is one of my favorite places ever. John does not share this opinion however, so I think some of it must be its sentimental value to me. If you are not familiar with Priest Lake, it is in the top of the Idaho panhandle. It is surrounded by beautiful forest. The lake is clean, and shallow for a long way out. We go to the beach from 9-5 each day. We sit, visit, swim, eat, nap, jet ski, tube, and just relax. I played there with my cousins growing up, and now we watch our kids play together. There are about 150 of us now, bigger every year. After a day at the beach, we go up to camp and have a delicious dinner together, prepared by the aunts and uncles. The kids play behind the camp, with parents warning that there was a bear around camp that morning. We do this for 3 days, then pack up, already making plans to come back the next year. I love it.

July...what I can remeber, anyway

Apparently I have been taking a break from blogging. I don't know how the time flies so fast, but it does. School starts in just over a week and I don't feel bad about saying that I am ready! So, a little bit of catch-up (if I can remember, it's all such a blur!): There was a soccer tournament here in Cache Valley that both Zack and Colin's teams participated in. That is always hot, but we do enjoy watching soccer. Then, Zack played in another tournament in Layton the next week. We took the opportunity while we were down there to stay with cousins for a couple of nights. They took us up into the canyon for a cook-out (my brother and his wife joined us). The kids had fun exploring and hiking. It was perfect weather and scenery. The next day, we decided to take the kids to Cowabunga Bay, a fun waterpark close to their house. It was pretty fun, I'd recommend it. I, of course, also made the time to do some shopping. We also celebrated the 24th of July with them.
The next week Zack was able to attend his first ward youth conference. They went up to Oneida to float the river and go boating. I had the car packed and right when he got home from that we jumped in the car and headed to Washington for our annual 2 weeks up there.

Fourth of July 2010

The party started on Saturday this year--cousins, Toy Story 3, cookout in the park, ice cream, softball games, golf for the guys. Then Sunday we went to church, ate, and relaxed. Monday was the usual 4th activities: parade, park carnival, Hall party, more softball games, and the fireworks. This community loves this holiday (I've even heard many say they love it more than Christmas...)! We look forward to it every year and this year didn't disappoint. Happy Independence Day!!

June in Review

I noticed it has been an entire month since I last posted. There are several reasons for that (although most of them are not documented by photo). Here is a little rundown of our month:

--Zack and Colin took part in a basketball camp the first week that school was out.

--A trip down to southern Utah for Zack to play in a soccer tournament. Just Zack and I went, stayed with friends, ate out a lot, and had a good time. We won a couple of games but did not place in the tournament. The other kids got to stay with Grandparents which they quite enjoyed.

--Came home for a few days and then back down to southern Utah (this time with all the kids) for Zack to play in a basketball tournament. We mostly swam at the hotel for entertainment. We won 1 game and lost 3 but we still had a good time.

--Started the yearly swimming lessons. We are mid-way through these and learning a lot (I hope). We sent Zack off to his first scout camp for a whole week! He seemed to have a good time and came home very dirty. He got his first class rank and 5 merit badges.

--John picked Zack up a day early and brought him to meet the rest of us in West Yellowstone where we were having an Allen family reunion. The other kids and I went up on Wednesday via Rexburg, ID, where we met the rest of my family from Washington. Before we headed up to Yellowstone we visited Bear World. The kids loved it and we saw lots of bears so that we did not have to worry about chasing one up in the park. We did get a lot of good looks at other animals in Yellowstone though, and of course great scenery. The kids enjoyed hanging out, swimming, and some short hikes. We also got to see "Beauty and the Beast" at the Playmill in West Yellowstone. It was very good. I did actually take some pictures of this trip so I will post some of those in no particular order. Thanks to my siblings and parents for a great trip!

Up next: Getting ready for the 4th of July this week. From the looks of my neglected yard, I will have plenty to do!