Let the Celebrations Begin!

In the spirit of the holiday this weekend, I have been trying to think of ways to get the kids to know a little bit of why we are celebrating it and why it is important. We decided to something every day to prepare for the big celebration. Yesterday we talked a little bit about why we celebrate the 4th and then we made our own flags. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun and were so proud of their flags. For today's activity we went to story time at the library. They told funny stories about how the bald eagle became the nations bird, George Washington, and the National anthem. It was so cute. I am hoping the kids learned a little bit & continue to have fun this week.

Crazy kids

Our silly kids

The other night when we were getting ready to go on a walk, I came outside to see Michael riding his bike with his roller blades on. I laughed so hard. I thought it was awesome! He was pretty darn proud of himself.

At our favorite "park with one swing" Luke decided that he was old enough to climb the big tree by himself. He had never even tried this before, so you can imagine my surprise to see him make it all the way to the first branch without help. Silly kid.

Kiersten insisted on wearing her roller blades during the walk. Silly girl had not even made it half way before she was ready to collapse. But she was a trooper, she took a few rests and then made it all the way home!

Five stitches Later...

Last night ended up being busier than I ever wanted to. I was making dinner and heard Kiersten just start screaming. I guess she and Luke had been fighting over a stupid toy when Mikey went to help break it up and he bumped her and she fell and hit her poor cheek on the corner of our metal bunk beds- thus the screaming began. We went to see what was the matter and she started walking from her bedroom just gushing blood from her cheek. Her clothes were already covered in blood. Mikey had went to go and get her a band-aid (like a good brother), but that was not all she needed. So I took her to the after-hours clinic and the whole time was freaking out that she did not want stitches. She was so upset and nervous that it took a lot of convincing just to let them clean her up. But they put L.E.T. gel on it- that takes time to work, but numbs the area up so there are not any shots!!! So after about 45 minutes of waiting for the gel (and watching all the "extras" on the Enchanted movie) it was time to stitch. She ended up needing 1 stitch underneath and 4 on top, for a grand total of 5. And all that was done without a single tear during the procedure! So now she brags that she got five stitches and she did not even cry.

Today she has a shiner and a little swollen cheek, but hopefully in a few days she will be as good as gold.

Payson Lakes Camping Trip

Rain. Rain. Rain. More Rain. That would describe our four days at Payson Lakes.

We knew it would rain a little, but not near as much as we saw fall. Clouds were constantly gray. In my opinion, if we are going to be camping there should be at least a few hours of the day where you can go without a sweat shirt. There was not one of those times for us this trip. Oh well. We still ended up having a lot of fun. The Madsens came up with us and helped make the trip enjoyable and entertaining. (Thanks guys!)

One of Lance's co-workers let us borrow their canoe and it was so much for the kids. Funny enough, the only people who fell in because of the canoe was the Dads. Ha Ha Ha!!! But the little kids LOVED being in the canoe. Luckily, Jim was willing to row the kids around the lake again and again. Even in the rain, the kids held up their umbrellas in the canoe and enjoyed the ride.

One afternoon Tami and I went back early from fishing (because it was raining) we got back to see a lot of the food that had been left out (opened or not) had been pecked at by the silly birds that loved our campground. Stupid animals. They were not afraid of us and especially not afraid of eating our food right in front of us. The picture with the bird did not need any zooming because it was ringt in front of me at the picnic table.

We did get a chance to fish and that was an important part of the trip. With the float tube, Lance was on a roll and within just a short hour had caught over 15! He even kept four of them to fry up and eat. In my whole 15 minutes of fishing from the shore, did keep the fish in the picture, but he was set free. I was glad we all got a chance to at least try.

And what trip would be complete without seeing Lance & his buddy doing some fishing time!

During one of fishing outings (Tami & Jim were watching the little ones), we had just made it half way around the lake when we got hailed on. It hailed for over 10 minutes and was not a highlight- just something to laugh about now.

The kids had a lot of fun at night. Between S'mores, flashlights, glow sticks, sleeping in the tent...it was a great time!

Lance even made sure Mikey had a chance to catch a fish. He was so proud and he loves to brag that he caught the biggest fish of the morning! (It was the only one caught that morning!)

The kids had a lot of fun together. It was cute to see them playing in the rain, in the canoe, around camp, chasing woodland creatures, and just doing tons of fun things.

The last night up there it was just us. It rained almost the entire day, and most of the night. It was fun because we all cuddled under the canopy and in the tent (when it was raining too hard to be outside) and listened to Lance read a new story. We all loved the chance to be together and just relax.

And of course, I did get chances to take some fun pictures. This time I seemed to love the pathway around the lake. It just had some beautiful turns and was just so pretty to me.

New way to pass time

Last week, while doing some pre-camping shopping I ran into a local thrift store in Orem to see if they had something for our camping trip that we needed, and I ran across some roller blades. Not just one in the right size for my kiddos, but in all three sizes! So for a whopping $16 bucks, I got something for all three kids to play with for the summer!

Mikey was not so comfortable on them on his first day, but is improving daily and is doing awesome!!!

Kiersten is also doing so much better than I thought she could.

Funny kids

Although they are still learning, I have a feeling that they will be hard to stay caught up with by the end of summer!

Last Weekend

This past weekend we wanted to get away and to Lance, that means fishing.  I had no problem with it because we were headed up to one of my favorite spots- Big Lake  (Payson Lakes).  It is absolutely beautiful up there.  To add to the fun, they have spots along the shore that have been cut away and someone has put in pavers to make seating and an area to fish (as seen above).  It is just so fun there.  They also have a walk way that goes around the whole lake.  Just perfect. 

One of the beautiful pathways along the banks.

The kids had so much fun while we were up there.  Lance worked very hard on getting all their poles ready before he went out on his float tube.  Then after an hour or so, he came back in and let the kids go on a "ride" with him on his float tube.  It was so fun to see how excited they got.

Luke especially loved every second.

Kiersten was daddy's little helper and was more than ready to take her turn on the float tube.  It was fun to see how much she loved to be right there by her daddy.

Mikey was not so sure about going out there with his daddy, but he did and he loved it!  The water still was a little cold, and he let everyone know about it!!!

Nothing else needs to be said about this one!

(Cutie hubby)