4th Fun

The 4th was so much fun this year! Kathy and Gerald came up to celebrate with us. We had some BBQ then watched the fun fireworks show behind our house on the 3rd (Jodi and Dane stopped by with some family too). We had about 30 sparklers for 4 kids (which we went through in roughly 5 minutes) then just hung out and chatted for awhile.

I think we were all a little tired on the 4th for the Lander Parade. Kaycee and Riley were on "candy patrol" in their matching outfits. They did eat a little cereal before all the sweets came down main street. They were too cute.

The best part of the Lander parade is at the end when the firetrucks hose down all the spectators. Kaycee and Jackson were WAY to chicken to stand under the enormous cascades of water... but Riley was right in there soaking it up - wish I would have had my camera to capture it! By the time we left, they all were pretty much drenched from playing in the excess water gushing down the street.

After the parade, our friends Jim, Connie and Bill came over for lunch and to visit for awhile. Then we rested a bit before the big fireworks show our neighbors put on every year. It was so cool! They were seriously right over our heads (Kathy was even hit by a few of the firework shells). The kids each had their moments of loving the fireworks, then being scared by them. We found out we could really use TWO pairs of ear muffs instead of one.

Of course, Kaycee and Jackson's favorite part of the weekend was being spoiled rotten by Granny and Grandpa! Jason and I were able to sneak away for awhile too to ride the horses. THANKS AGAIN Granny and Grandpa!!!!!!

Summer Nights

Every summer we come across a couple of big horn sheep that hang around the rise of the sinks canyon. Don't know what happened to one of them... since this guy seems to be going solo these days. We've seen him a lot lately, and happened to have our camera on our way up to Fry Lake. Jason and John (and their cousin Brian) caught him trying to ram into a black Toyota back in May. The people in the Toyota had a video camera and posted their footage on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPdLtRexwqw . I'm definitely more cautious around him when I am running up the canyon after seeing that ...... :p

After snapping some shots of the BH Sheep, we headed up to Fry Lake. The kids had fun collecting rocks, sticks and wading around in the cool water. I think Jackson threw rocks for seriously 2 hours. Kaycee's little "krusty" by her stick collection is the result of Jackson using her head as a target for one of his flying rocks. LUCKILY, it was just a small pebble!

Jackson's favorite target was trying to get his rocks to land in between the exposed roots of this huge pine tree. He was getting fairly good at it by the time we left. We all had fun.

LOVE LOVE LOVE SUMMER NIGHTS!

Run, Ride, Rest, Refuel, Repeat...

Was able to run in the Ragnar Wasatch Back last weekend. What is is you ask???? It's a 188 mile relay race that begins in Logan, UT and finishes in Park City. Had SO much fun. Was able to do it with my little sis Heidi and some good friends Jeff and Laurie. Met a lot of fun people on our team and had some big laughs. We were a bit delirious by the end, but running the last 50 or so yards in a crazy thunderstorm certainly made finishing a memorable experience. Thanks so much Heid, Laurie, Jeff, Krista and Ed... I had a BLAST!!

Upcoming Cousin!!

We finally found out that John and Shaunel are expecting a GIRL in October!! You're outnumbered 3 to 1 now, John! Wooo hooo!

Splish, Splosh!

One advantage to living on a dirt road is all the great mud puddles we get when it rains! Our neighbors Tori and Jake came over for some "splish, sploshing" around in the mud. They didn't have one square inch of dry clothing by the time we were finished with them!

Out on the hill....which they practically skied down! Mud-pie anyone?

No more school books!

Friday was Kaycee's last day of Kindergarten! Where in the he@! did this whole year go??? Jackson and I were invited to come join their party and we had so much fun! We played games for two hours and ended it all with a pizza party. I know I'm gonna miss hanging out with her class every Monday !!!

Will never forget Kaycee bawling her little eyes out those first couple days of school. We couldn't have asked for a better Kindergarten teacher to help her get through the whole transition.... Mrs. Perez, you ROCK!! Kaycee has changed so much - we can't believe she is the same person from 9 months ago!! That little sponge is going to be teaching us calculus by the third grade! THANK YOU Mrs. Perez.... we are going to miss you!!

Alligator Abuse

Last year we had a little Alligator slide/pool. It lasted most of the summer and the kids LOVED it! We eventually had to throw it away because I couldn't patch all of the holes in it from all of the abuse it took. I was thinking maybe we should graduate to a bigger - more sturdy kind of pool this Summer. BUT Kaycee and Jackson promised that they wouldn't get too wild and crazy on it if we bought another one. Well.... I found one that was half off, so I caved and bought it. After taking a few "nice" pictures for me - I left them alone to play. They didn't realize I snuck back and caught them red-handed (hence the middle pic)! Four patches later... it is still surviving, but I suspect that Alligator's number is coming up. Awh well!