Summer - Part 1

Wow! Where has the time gone? 

Summer is almost over and I am now finally finding time to document the fun we had. 

I just love summer! I could have summer for 6 months out of the year.

Our first adventure of the season was Alexander Reservoir. It was a tad bit cold but the kids had so much fun. We decided to go because Jeslyn was nominated for the Cold Water Challenge.

Clay made the No Cavity Club!
He was such a champ. This little boy loves to brush his teeth, he never misses a chance to!

 

Lava Hot Springs!

We had to get in a swim before Jauncee left for half of the summer. It was super warm and a lot of fun. I think I need to put the 2 little ones in swimming lessons...it was quite a job for me hanging on to both of them and catching Clay at the bottom of the slide while holding onto Dakota, oh, and not getting either ones face wet! Phew...we need to make sure Daddy goes with us next time!

At the end of June we made a loop through Wyoming. It was a fun little get away. Our route: Cokeville, Kemmerer, Farson, Lander, Riverton, Thermopolis, Worland, Hyattville, Greybull, Shell, Granite Pass, Cody, Meeteetse, Cody, Powell, Yellowstone, Jackson, Alpine and HOME! We saw a lot of wildlife, antelope, elk, mountain goats, mountain sheep and babies. 

I only wish I would have taken more pictures!

This little one LOVES to be outside! She can't seem to get enough of it. Not sure what we are going to do this winter.

Clay is the BEST BIG BROTHER ever! He is always so willing to play with and entertain Dakota.

 

I was asked at the beginning of the summer to participate in a Tough Mudder with a group of friends here in the valley. I had never before really ran a day in my life other than in 6th grade when we had to run 4 miles for PE. I foolishly signed up and started running at the beginning of June. (More to come in another post.)  At least once a week I would run into some kind of critter. This week it happened to be a raccoon which my dog chased up the power pole. One week it was  badger another a skunk! Thankfully I always made it home safe!!!

 

Dakota not only loved being outside, she also loved picking all of my flowers.

 

  

Anytime I would ask Clay what he wanted for dinner he would always answer with a weenie roast. Which was great for me. Super easy cooking and clean-up! We had several weenie roasts this past summer.

4th of July
We spent the holiday here at home and started it off in the park at a Foam Party!
Dakota hung out in the stroller observing Clay and Jeslyn running around having fun.

 

It took quite a bit of coaxing to get Clay to play and have fun. He started out getting just the bottom of his legs foamy, then quickly decided it wasn't scary and dove right in.

 

Jeslyn thought she was too big in the beginning but quickly participated as well.

 

The worst part was rinsing them off with a hose so they could ride home in the car. We had to physically hold Clay against his will just to clean him up. But hey, it was July so he should of dried super fast....right?! Well, we do live in Idaho!

We spent the morning of the 4th curbside, watching the parade and gathering candy. 

Jauncee was spending time with her dad. She did send us a cute picture of her. She was missed dearly and thought about every moment!

 

We decided that next year we are going to have a float advertising Vertical Edge Genetics some ideas we had: pull a flat bed trailer and on half of it have a cow and calf pair in panels and on the other half have Jeslyn's show steer in the fitting chute on display. I think it could possibly be a big hit and a parade favorite. Definitely something different.

After the parade we headed to the park. Clay wanted to ride the train.

 

Then jump in the bouncy house.

 

Of course you can't visit the park without a push on the swings,

 

and a visit to the teeter totter

 

and a ride down the slide!

 

It had rained really hard the night before, the temperature was around 73 degrees, but the humidity was awful, somewhere around 100%. We decided we had had enough of our clothes sticking to us so we headed for home. When we got there we happened upon this................................

What!?!?!?

  

Luckily Dirk got him out and the horse was fine. 

 We relaxed for a little bit, put Dakota down for a nap and then later that afternoon we headed over to Lava Hot Springs for a swim. It was so crowded, but still we had a lot of fun. We met up with Dirk for dinner and then hit the baseball fields for the fireworks.

 

Clay spent a lot of time this summer playing in his sand box.

 

Jeslyn spent time taking care of her flower garden.

 

And Dakota took many naps in the high chair!

 

El Nino did not disappoint this season. We had a rainstorm about every 10 days. I love rainy days in the summer!

We celebrated several birthdays this summer, starting with mine.
I actually had a Birthweek instead of a Birthday!
My hubby couldn't remember the actual day, which played in my favor! I was pampered, gifted and loved...4 days in a row! Wednesday I received a dozen roses, Thursday I was gifted with presents, Friday we took a day trip over to Bear Lake and rented a paddle boat for a couple hours in the morning and rented a ski boat and a tube for the entire afternoon. We grilled beach burgers, swam and swam some more. It was sooooo much fun! I think the girls finally hinted that my actual birthday was on Saturday. They all took me shopping and out to lunch. They were suppose to keep it a secret that it was my birthday, instead they embarrassed me beyond belief at the Roadhouse! It was such a super fun day. I love my family so much and am grateful to them for making me feel special!

More fun to come!