Temple Trip as documented by Owen

So on the Tuesday Eric was gone at scout camp, we did something amazing that I've been planning for months. :)  I wanted to take the kids to see as many temples as we could in one day, since we live so close to so many!  I had planned it all out and thought we could get to at least 10.  Eric thought it was a crazy idea, that the kids wouldn't like it, it would be boring, etc.  He's kind of a pessimist (realist!) like that. :)  So we did it while he was gone!  To combat the boredom factor, I had little brown paper lunch sacks (and sometimes bigger bags) to open at each temple with various things inside that I will explain in another post.  They also got a little temple book to write in at each temple. And in one of my most genius (inspired) ideas of all, I made sure they each had a camera to carry around and take pictures of beautiful/interesting things.  Owen and Whitney have their own cameras, Katelyn used our "family" camera, and I had my phone. (Also we picked out of a bag at each temple a slip of paper with something specific to take a picture of at that temple-- a pretty window or flower or the gate, the angel Moroni, the Holiness to the Lord sign, etc.)  It was PERFECT.  The kids LOVED walking around snapping pictures at each place!  Not to mention they looked adorable doing it. :)  I wish I could post all of the pictures they took; it was really interesting to see what they thought was beautiful and picture-worthy.  But they took WAY too many for the blog, so here are about half of Owen's pictures-- and he didn't take any at about 4 of the temples (either his camera got left in the car or he didn't feel like it at that temple- he did get a little tired of picture-taking about halfway through!).

He got some great shots of a couple of temples, like Payson!

 with it's hundreds of beautiful windows!

and he also got plenty of pictures like this:

cars in the parking lot,

 his nose,

or the grass. :)

 But I love that he noticed things like these columns, 

 and got one of the only pictures of ME all day,

 and apparently took a selfie??

 I also loved this picture of how long Whitney's hair is getting!  She refuses to even let me trim it.

 He got this pic of the Angel Moroni on the under-construction Provo City Center Temple,

 and asked me to take this one in front.  I love the lighting.  And the bow tie and suspenders he insisted on wearing!

 Great Provo Temple picture, I even love his finger. :)

 picture of a pretty Mt. Timpanogos Temple window

 and Mt. Timp flowers. They might have had the best flowers! Well besides Salt Lake.

 Most of the temples had golden doors!  This is the Draper temple.  It was hard to get a picture of them though because people were always coming in and out, which was awesome!  We even got to talk to several temple workers who were manning the doors of busy temples.  It was neat for the kids to see them in their white suits!

 An architectural feature of the Ogden Tabernacle?

 And then we skip ahead to Ogden!

 I think this is a random building in Ogden??

 the reflecting pool in Ogden :)

 his sisters at the Ogden temple,

 and then the Logan temple!  I'm so glad we made it up there, it was the perfect old pioneer temple to finish at!  And it was sunset, so perfect.

 I love this last one he took.

Great pictures by my sweet boy.  

More to come from the girls!

While Dad is away....

.....Mom and the kids will play!!

Here's what we did while Eric was at Scout Camp, minus the amazing temple trip- it gets it's own post/several posts haha!

Monday we went to Salem Pond with two of my favorite friends from Santaquin that I really miss!  And they each have 4 kids and our kids play really well together!  We were there for 3 hours with no fighting=awesome!

Brody and Whitney renewing their friendship

 Briley, Lily, Jonah and Katelyn- they dug in the sand forever!  Katelyn and Whitney both especially had fun with Jonah, he is such a cool kid.

 Owen and Peyton, she's a few months younger than him, they had fun together!  And with Sophie, who is that same age.

 Maris was in heaven!  ducks, water, sand=happy girl.

 Anna, Cassidy and me.  I really really love these girls.  They are best friends but are happy to include me, I"m just not as social as them or maybe we'd be better friends. :)  They are amazing righteous women, my sisters in Zion.

Then Tuesday we went on our epic temple trip.

Wednesday we hung out at Grandma's, and since it was pouring rain we went to the Children's Museum in Ogden.  It was fun!

 Katelyn and Whitney got to be in the play at their story hour:

Katelyn was a billy goat gruff,

 and Whitney was little red riding hood. :)

 Then that night we went mini-golfing- Katelyn is getting the hang of it!

 Then Thursday we hung out with our MacKay cousins, and Friday relaxed at home.

Meanwhile, Eric enjoyed his time up in the Uintas with his silly 12 and 13-year old boys.

 his setup

 the boys' tents

 canoeing

 walking an average of 11 miles per day!

 and he also spent a good amount of time in his hammock reading. :)

 It rained part of every day, 

 He shared his shelter with Bro. Peterson,

 silly scouts singing silly songs. :)

Yay for good times apart and for coming back together again!  Saturday was an awesome day full of all of us telling each other stories from our week and looking at pictures.  Cute.

Independence Day!

Such a great family holiday.

On July 3rd we went to the hot air balloons, and they actually took off this year, yay!  The kids were enthralled by the 20 huge colorful mountains around them, even though you can't tell from this picture lol.

Then I took the kids running on the Provo River Trail (I run, they ride scooters or ride in the stroller) while Eric shopped for Scout Camp supplies.  It was funny, becasuse on the way to the trail Whitney wouldn't stop complaining, but after we had been going for about 3 minutes she turned around and said "never mind Mom, this is really fun!!" Oh my.  She and Owen each ran with me for a few minutes, and surprisingly even Katelyn ran a little! We've done this 4 or 5 times this summer at different points on different trails, and it's been really fun.

Then we met Eric at the new Springville Reservoir, it was fun.  Maris was in heaven even though the water was COLD!

Then on the 4th we met the MacKays, the Cravens (who were in town!), Karl, Melissa and Jonathan to hike Bridal Veil falls.

 Yes Mom, I used temporary hair dye on all us girls, it was fun! :)

 The cousins were adorable together!

Then we went to a park to play games.  Owen fell and gashed his cheek, so by the time we decided not to get stitches, the smallest kids all didn't want to play anymore.  We ended up with 5 teams:

We started out,

then Caleb fell and Natalie and Karl's cloth came untied,

and Jonathan and Whitney surged ahead to the lead!  They ended up winning!

Katelyn and I continued on slow and steady, 

Natalie and Karl got passed by Katrina and Lydia (the youngest to compete, woohoo!)

after we all finished weplayed a fun relay game with balls and spoons.  Even Ryder got to play!

Karl and Eric taking it very seriously!  I love to see Eric run haha.

 We tried to take a sibling picture and got interrupted by a runaway baby!  I love her face, and Allison and Jonathan's.  She even tried to get Allison with her chocolate hands.

It was a fun morning, and then I got this picture of us all before we headed up to Fruit Heights!

We have only celebrated the 4th of July with the Murrays like once before, so it was fun to spend some time with them!  We swam at Oakridge...

notice Maris' top teeth!  only 4-5 months later than her siblings!

and then came back later for dinner, fun activities, and fireworks!  Maris LOVES playing with balls, kicking them, picking them up and throw/dropping them and then chasing them.  We have high hopes!

the kids playing/fighting with Cleo haha.

Grandma waited in line so the kids could get their faces painted!  the girls chose butterflies, and Owen picked his favorite superhero BATMAN!  It looked awesome, especially with his huge bandage on his cheek. :)

Whitney and ERic waited in line for a golf cart ride, and whitney drove, apparently laughing hysterically the whole time!

watch out world when she turns 16 lol.

By the time the fireworks started the kids were exhausted, and the music was way too loud, but it was still a fun time with family.  And Owen and Maris weren't scared this year.

God bless America!