Caliente Time

I am, once again, behind on my blogging.  I meant to get this post up a few weeks ago, but it never happened, but I did want to make sure and record it. 

At the beginning of August, my three boys and I had a wonderful trip to the great metropolis of Caliente, Nevada.  Where is that you ask?  It is a very small town which consists of about 1,000 people which is where I grew up.  On Wednesday, August 4, my amazing mom flew up to Boise.  We picked her up from the airport and we began our drive to Caliente.  Because it was lunch time, we had sandwiches packed which we ate as soon as we got in the van.  Our drive went well and we arrived in Caliente around 10:30 that night. 

Thursday morning, my Dad along with most of the guys in the family went on their annual Guys campout/Fishing trip.  Andrew wasn't able to go this year because he wasn't able to get the time off.  Because all the guys were camping, my sister Marie came over from Cedar City with her 4 girls Thursday afternoon.  We had a lot of fun playing with them, here are some highlights:

On Friday, we helped my Mom get her classroom ready (she teaches 3rd grade), by putting up bulletin boards and a few other things.  The kids had fun playing on the playground outside her window and drawing.

After that, we called our Sister-in-law, Melissa that also lives in Caliente and we all went swimming.  My boys did not like that idea, but after talking, asking, begging and finally just dragging them in the water, they finally decided that it was OK.  Keagan decided it was OK when my sister, Marie, took him and showed him how the scoop the water with his hands like a tractor digs the dirt.   Deker decided he loved it after we started throwing him up and dipping his head in the water.

We enjoyed the nice cool evenings by on walks each night.  One evening when we were headed out for a walk to the park, Marie and I thought that my Mom was inside, but when we looked out, we realized that she had already started walking with the grandkids.  I thought this was too cute a picture to pass up. 

Deker had fun crawling  under Samantha.

And then trying to do it himself.

Bauer enjoyed sitting on his blanket and being outside.

Marie left on Saturday and my Dad, my grandpa, my brother Cory and his oldest boy got back that afternoon.  We had a nice relaxing Sunday.  On Monday, Andrew flew to Cedar City and drove my parents car to Caliente.  We all enjoyed having him with us again.

That evening we had went to Kershaw Ryan State Park which is a beautiful park about 5 miles away.  We had a cookout and enjoyed our last day in Caliente.  My boys started by playing in the little wading pond with their Dad.

After that, they had fun digging and playing in a dirt hole and climbing around. 

On Tuesday, we sadly said goodbye and started our long drive back home. 

We all had such a wonderful time visiting with our family that week.  Thank you Mom & Dad for such a wonderful time and for making this happen for us!

Cristie's Visit

My Aunt Cristie's oldest girl, Amanda is now in College at SUU in Cedar City, Utah.  We had the privilege of having them come visit us on their way through.  They arrived late one Sunday night in August.  On Monday, we all went Minature Golfing.

Then, while my aunt, cousins and I played another round of minature golf, Andrew took the three boys inside to the kids play area, where they had a lot of fun.

Keagan was quite enamored with Samantha.

On Tuesday, Cristie left with her oldest daughter to take her to college, but Samantha stayed with us for a few days and Cristie picked her back up on jer way back to Washington. 

We had fun with Sam and we hope she had a great time with us as well.  Please come back anytime!

Water and Skating

I have been wanting to get the sprinklers out to play in this summer and we finally did it this past Friday. I wasn't sure if the boys were going to like it, but they liked it a lot more than I thought they would. 

Bauer enjoyed watching from a nice dry place in the shade. 

A few weeks ago, Keagan & Deker were playing out in the back yard.  At one point, Andrew and I looked out the window and Keagan had gotten a board and was Skating/Skiing down the hill.  I was pretty surprised that he thought of it and did this all on his own.

He had a lot of fun until he happened to fall and get a bee sting on his knee.  We were able to get this video of him doing it again a few days later. (Sorry the movie is sideways, I can't figure out how to change it.)

Backyard Camping

We really wanted to take the boys camping more this summer, but with a new baby we knew that it wasn't going to happen.  Andrew and I have been talking for a while about setting up the tent in the back yard and Andrew, Keagan and Deker sleeping in it. 

Last Sunday, we finally did it.  After dinner, we told the boys of our plan and they were very excited, to say the least.  They had so much fun helping Daddy set it up. 

After the tent was set up the air mattresses and sleeping bags went in.  Can you see how excited they were?

When it was bed time, we read books in the tent, then Andrew and I said goodnight. 

They didn't end up falling asleep until after 10:00 that night and woke up at 6:00 the next morning, but it was a lot of fun and they can't wait until we can do it again.

The Zoo

Last weekend (July 23), our good friends Angela & Dan had Angela's Mom & Grandma visiting.  They decided they would like to go to the Zoo and invited us along.  We had a great time and my kids got a little spoiled.

The first couple of times that I went to the Zoo, I didn't know that they had a little petting area, but we discovered it when we went with Keagan's preschool this year.  I made sure that I had some quarters so that we could feed the goats as well.  Keagan loved this part and Angela even showed him how to kiss a goat (Dan got a picture of that, but I haven't gotten them yet). 

Deker didn't really like the petting Zoo, but here he his sporting the latest big bump that he received earlier at the zoo. 

When we came upon the Carousel Angela & her mom paid for my kids to go on it twice.  That is something that we hadn't done before, and we all really enjoyed it.  The boys weren't quite tall enough to ride by themselves, so Angela and I got to go with them.

Towards the end of our Zoo visit, Angela's brother bought my boys a Root Beer Float to enjoy complete with an Elephant straw for each boy. 

We ended our Zoo visit by eating our picnic lunches.  We had a fun day and the boys took really good naps that afternoon. 

Thank you Dan, Angela, and their family for the wonderful day at the Zoo!