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!

4th of July Part One- Colonial Days.

This was so cool, how have I lived in this valley for so many years and never been to it??  They have all these people dressed in Colonial American attire, and they re-enact all this cool stuff and have a TON of fun learning activities for kids.  Hello Mrs. History Major, this is for you!

 Owen was in heaven when we found out he could TRY ON REAL ARMOR and hold a giant sword!  

 Then the girls had to try too.  This was at the Mayflower exhibit.  They also had a cool "then and now" matching game with old items from the 1600's and their modern equivalent.

 Whitney playing old time kids games,

 my cute little colonials at the dress-up booth!

 Katie in the stocks,

 Whitney at school,

 Maris making friends with chickens,

 and Whitney being a spy!  She had to deliver a secret message to a man with a black arm-band in the background, super cute.

A great way to start off the weekend of the Glorious Fourth!