Random Cell Phone Pictures

After vacation, I downloaded all the pictures off mine and Scott's phones.  I found lots of random pictures that I haven't used on the blog, but are too cute to pass up.  So is a random selection of photos from our summer.

We've spent many evenings this summer at the pool.  This was one evening when Owen had just had enough and couldn't make it any longer.

We've also frequented Aspen Leaf (build your own frozen yogurt).  The kids love that place.

The kids play hard, and then crash when they are forced to sit still for a moment.

I often sit my phone down and come back to "selfies" from the kids.

And sometimes Mom tries it too.

Kate is usually the subject of the photography. 

We got out the exersaucer to try with Kate.  She mostly just wanted to chew on the seat.

Josh decided he was old enough to mow the lawn.

Nate decided he was old enough to take off his training wheels.  It didn't end well for his knee.

Owen wanted to be just like Nate.  He still needs to figure out how to pedal forward.

School starts next week.  I hate when summer comes to an end.  I love the carefree feeling of summer.  I love that I can let my kids just be kids and love life.  There are good things about the structured schedule of school, but I'd take another three moths of summer vacation if I could. 

Golf With Famous People

Scott's company was a sponsor this year at the Albertsons Boise Open (which is kind of a big deal).  With that sponsorship, came the opportunity to play in the tournament.  He played two days of golf with some pretty famous people.  One day he was on a team with Mark Johnson, the news anchor from Channel 7 (in the orange shirt).  The next day he played with Larry LaRocco (a well known Democrat who ran for Lieutenant Governor).  Scott really does get some great perks with his job.

The End of Vacation

 We finally come to the end of our vacation story.  On our last night there, we recreated this photo from last year.  It was fun to compare and see how the kids have grown.  We can't wait to add another picture next year.

We got everything packed up and ready to go Saturday morning and headed home.  We took a different route home, so we got to enjoy some different scenery.

We also had the fun of dealing with a couple of car sick kids on the way home.  I had to stop a few times for Sara to throw up.  And Scott got to make a stop to clean up car puke from Owen.  I'm glad I had Sara, because she was old enough to give me enough warning to stop.  All the kids sitting around were Owen were thoroughly grossed out.  Luckily, his blanket caught most of it, so Scott threw it in a bucket in the bed of his truck, and continued on home.

When we got home, Scott took Kate into Primary Health to get a prescription for her Thrush.  Nate headed off to a little friends' birthday party.  The other kids quickly scattered to play with friends that they had missed during the week.  And I was left with all the clean up.  There is so much work that goes into getting ready for a vacation, and so much work when you come home, but it was totally worth it.  The kids are already talking about when we will go again next year.

The Barn

Just up the hill from the cabin we stayed in, the Moses family (the family who owns the cabin) is building a new barn.  They have done it all by hand, and all the wood (other than the OSB on the outside) has been cut from trees on their land by their own sawmill up behind the barn.  It really is an amazing thing to see.  The kids loved going up every day to see the progress on the barn and to see Bryan.  My kids loved Bryan, and would watch every morning to see if he was coming up to work that day.  He's also the one who led the horseback rides.  He was so great with my kids and let them help him with things the whole time we were there.  He let Savannah brush down the horses after each trail ride he did during the week.  Every time he saw Josh, he'd ask him how many fish he'd caught and one day he showed him how to lasso a hay bale.  He just went above and beyond to make our stay special.

More Vacation

Last year when we were here, the holding pond had been washed out.  So this year was our first time getting to enjoy it.  It totally made up for the other toys (zip line, trampoline, and swings) being gone.  We all had so much fun going for rides in the paddle boat.

Josh coming in from a swim.

 

Notice Aaron in the background posing.

 

The kids loved having Scott give them a ride out to the rock, then hanging out there and fishing (they were convinced the rock was the "sweet spot" for fish).

 There was a lot of fishing that went on during the week.

They fished from sun up to sun down.

Scott spent many hours tying lures and fixing broken fishing lines.  He was such a good dad and so patient with little kids that didn't know how to take care of a fishing pole.

The kids enjoyed the non city life of being up in the mountains.  They drank straight from the well...

They enjoyed target practice in the woods....

They got up close and personal with "wildlife" (a calf that had been separated from the herd).

And at night, they all slept together in the loft and talked about the day's adventures (and did a fair amount of fighting, too).