Leaving Skamania

Lucky for us, the only day it was cold and windy in the Columbia River Gorge was the day we were leaving.  We had planned to have a nice picnic out by the dam before heading into Portland . . . but it turned out to be short and quick.

We were sad to leave our beautiful hotel, but happy to be heading to hang out with family again.  We loved all the amenities already mentioned at the hotel - swimming, bikes, hiking trails, etc.  The hotel also had a little playground where we stopped several times to play or eat at the picnic tables. 

But I think one of our favorite things, or at least the boys' favorite, was the free hot chocolate in the lobby whenever we wanted, which was at least 3 times a day.


Thanks again, Dad, for the awesome hook-up.  We couldn't have done it without you!

My Short Term Identity Crisis (aka. My week in the Swagger Wagon) cont'd.

In case you missed the first post, you can click here.  And I'm not kidding about the identity crisis, I just know that every where I went people ere looking at me and thinking "Oh my gosh, she's one of those moms with five little kids who doesn't know how to park her van."  Serious.  Every where I went people were looking at me and I know they were when I was driving.  I could feel it.  (Sorry to all of you who have a mini-van, and I know that most of you love them, but I'm a Jeep girl and this was a really difficult transition for me.)

But enough of my wallowing in self pity or whatever it is.  I was actually really grateful that I got to have my neice and nephew for a week and that we had a car we could all fit in so we could go and do super fun things every day.  So onto the happy stuff..

Day Four (Tuesday)

Horseback riding, Ziplining, and Swimming in our underwear (the kids, not me).

Colton's first time on the horse by himself.  He liked it, but lasted about 20 seconds once they actually started moving before starting to slip to the side.  He rode with mom after that.

I was very proud of Corbin.  He doesn't ride very often because he is allergic to horses and because of that has developed a slight fear of them.  But he did great and I think he had fun too.

Lexi LOVED riding the horses and was very happy that she got an extra turn at the end and her and Uncle Russ got to ride fast.  She is a natural with those horses!

Levi was a little bit more timid, but they had fun riding together.  Aren't they cute?!

Cody still doesn't like to do it, but everyone else had a great time doing it over and over - even Colton!

[Sorry, not going to post the underwear pics, there are some weirdos out there.  But those boys sure had fun in Grandma Sharee's little plastic pool!]

That afternoon, after "quiet time", we all went to see Toy Story 3.  It was good, the kids loved it, Colton was almost entertained, but I'm still not convinced it was worth the $60 we dished out.  Maybe next time we'll just stick with movies at home.

Day Five

Hiking the Grotto Trail and a Service Project.

(Why are my sisters kids smiling and all my kids are grumpy pants?)

We made it to the waterfall!

And of course you have to have shaved ice after working so hard on the hike.

You can read more about our service project on my other blog (which is quite sad at the moment and woefully behind on our Summer of Service), but the long and the short of it is we went to a park, had a picnic and picked up trash.  We noticed last time we went to this park that it was in serious need of a clean up, and we were right.  We filled our trash bag and could have done more.  Of course we did plenty of playing while we were there too, but every time they brought me a piece of trash, they got a jelly bean.  It worked out great!

Day Six

Swimming!  (We did clean the house in the morning too, but who wants to blog about that.)  Russ and Colton stayed home and took naps and Grandma Sharee went with me and the four kids, and we had a great time!  It was such a hot day, I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Cody jumped in the pool about a thousand times, right in the same spot, over and over.

Everyone loved the lazy river.

Corbin went down the fast slide!  What a brave kid!

And now for the real truth, obviously (or not) this is a back post, and right now we are actually on vacation in Oregon.  And now it is 11:15pm, which is really past midnight our time, so I am getting quite sleepy . . . so much to your sadness, I'm sure, this post is once again . . .

To Be Continued . . .

My week in the Swagger Wagon

If you haven't seen the video (and you live in a bubble), you can click here, but that's not what this post is about.  While I did drive a mini-van for an entire week (don't worry, I wore a disguise), I had good reason.  Why?  Two extra kids who couldn't legally ride in the back of my jeep everywhere we went.  While my sister was a leader at a girls youth camp, I kept her to little hooligans and we had an awesome week!
Day One

Driving home from camping in Colorado, not too exciting, but everyone fit and we got treats and watched movies with a quick stop at one of our favorite parks. (Although I did discover that its alot more fun in the cool of the spring than in the heat of a summer afternoon.)

Day Two (Sunday)

Church. No pictures. Even though everyone did look very cute and I was quite proud of myself for taking five kids all by myself. After church we did laundry and tried to recover from our camping trip.

Day Three

pLaY dAy!!  We built a backyard water park, ate ice cream sandwiches and then got all dry and snuggled up for an afternoon movie and popcorn.

For Family Home Evening that night we went downtown to the LDS Church History Museum (if you haven't been, you HAVE to go to the Children's exhibit before they change it.  It was so fun! And free! And the kids loved it!  Maybe I will write more about it later) and we made a quick visit to Temple Square.

 On our way home, of course we had to stop by and see dad/Uncle Russ at the firestation.  Unfortunately he was on a call so we had a little picnic at the park while we waited...

And eventually we got to play on the firetruck. Yippee!

Yes, that was one day.  Day three was Monday and the week was just beginning.

To be continued . . .

Just teasing

I am REALLY wanting Spring to come. . . for real.  We keep having these beautiful, almost warm days and then a freezing cold, windy day.  What's with that??  I want the sun and I want to play outside with no shoes and I want to plant my garden.  So COME ON ALREADY!

Last Saturday was one of the teasers - sort of warm, yet with a slight chilly breeze, but we took advantage of it anyway.  I can't wait till we can really enjoy warm weather again. 

Corbin: "Take a picture of my bum."

I just can't let it go!

Ok, so this post is a little over due, but it still holds true. Although I love colored leaves and football and fall decor (more on fall to come), I have a seriously hard time letting go of summer. For one, I love the outdoors and there are just so many fun things to do in summer. Once it gets cold, everyone shuts themselves up in their houses and there is no more visiting out in the street every night while the kids ride their bikes.

Besides all the previously posted excitement - Bear Lake, 4th of July, Fish Rodeo, Africa, the Maxwell Reunion, etc., etc. - here's what I love about summer:

Playing at the park:

Running through the sprinklers:

Digging in the sand pile:

Camping in the mountains:

Shaved Ice and Otter Pops

Swimming at the Payson pool:

And of course, playing with my boys:

What do you love about summer?

Lest you think I have forgotten them

Since I am actually home now and not actually IN Africa any longer, life has continued its normal crazy pace once again. Motherhood is back in full swing and not slowing down anytime soon. I have only been back a week, but with the holiday and family in town it has been full of excitement . . .

Playing at the Park:

Colonial Days:

Provo Freedom Festival:

Corbin and Cody with their Colorado cousins Haley, Lexi and Levi

Riding the Firetruck in the Murray Parade:

(Colton got to hang out and watch the parade with Aunt Megan. One year olds don't sit so well on top of a moving firetruck, especially for an hour and a half. Thanks Aunt Megan!!)

Horseback Riding:

And sparklers, of course!

We also played at the Spanish Fork reservoir one day - more on this to come, it deserves its own post.

Thanks to my sister and her kids and my brother Mason for coming to visit, watching my boys, and staying to play with us for the week! We miss you already!