Dad's finally here

 I hope this is the last installment of our fun times we had on vacation this summer. It has taken me a while to find the time to do this, so bear with me there are lots of pictures and not a whole lot of commentary.  Just enough for me to remember how much fun we  had.  Most of the summer we spent in Utah without Carrson.  This post actually has him with us, and we were so excited for him to join with us.

Carrson arrived around 11:30pm July 3, just in time for the Kearl Reunion, which is his mother's side.  We get together with his family and have a great time.  There are games for the youngsters, food and lots of visiting.  It's nice because the older kids help out with the kids games and it keeps them occupied so their parents can visit.  This year the reunion was held in Bern, Idaho (just outside of Montpelier, Idaho).  With the threat of rain it was decided they would set up in the pavilion.  As you know usually when you are prepared the weather turns out nice and the rain never came.  The kids still got wet thanks to some of the prizes they got from the fish pond (water guns, water toys get where I'm going).  That's kids for you.  All in all it was a great time had by all and thank you to those of you who planned it. 

 

 Carrson and his sisters.

Yes, if you already didn't know he is the youngest of six kids and the only boy.

 Playing ping pong

 Knocking over cans

 Ryan helping with the dart board

 Fishing for some awesome prizes.

 

 Three silly cousins!

 Getting wet.

Brothers from another mother, getting reacquainted.

 Playing Minute to Win it games.  

All had a blast playing.  Thanks again!!

 

 

 I even had to do it.  Which was awesome since I won this particular game.

 

 

 

 It was a great afternoon that ended with fireworks for the Fourth of July at the park in Montpelier.

Hiking the Paris Ice Caves.  As you all know we can't go to Idaho and not take a 4-wheel ride over to the ice caves. 

 Dad climbing down into the cave.

 Throwing snowballs at mom and dad.
Andrew has never really seen snow before and he had a blast with it.  He even tried to slide down the hill of snow.

 

 Me and Andrew.

He didn't want his picture taken, he wanted to play in the snow.

 Coming out of the hole the kids like to climb in.  There is a big room just on the other side of this rock where you have to have a flashlight and there is lots of ice. The kids like to go spelunking into the cave.  Not me, too small of a hole and too dark on the other side.

 Where's Ryan?  (Can you spot him?)

Ryan climbed out of the cave instead of into the cave.

 Snacking at the Ice Caves.  Gotta fuel up for the ride back!

Helping grandpa attach cables to the posts.  Clark was the brave one who climbed up the ladder to help.  Never mind it was thundering and lightening in the distant.  Notice the clouds in the background, nasty looking things.  The storm never reached us, it went around towards Soda Springs, Idaho (I think). 

 While Clark was up there there was a bird trying to get into the pole to give her babies food.  It was funny to watch the bird, she finally made it inside.

 Andrew couldn't resist playing with the gate.  What a cutie he is.

 

Grandma and Charlie.

We hear she has another new dog, now Charlie will have a friend.

Our trip home.
It seemed like it took us forever to get out of Ogden.  First we needed to gas up, then stop at Smith and Edwards to return something.  When we thought we were finally on our way, we realized we had forgotten to get ice (we forgot to get it at the gas station).  So after a couple of hours (it seemed) we were finally on our way.

 

 

Devils Slide, Utah 

(I-84 towards Wyoming)

 We have passed through here so much that I finally had the truck stopped so I could get a picture.  I think it is so cool how the rock was formed.  I also wanted to get a picture of the rocky mountains that Utah is famous for.

  

This is what we ran into just as we left the St. Louis, Missouri area into Illinois.  We saw the clouds and heard the thunder while we were going through St. Louis hoping we were going to miss the storm.  Nope, once we crossed into Illinois we hit it.  It was raining so hard cars and trucks were pulled off the side of the road, and the speed limit dropped drastically.  We almost witnessed an accident, but thanks to quick thinking on the cars around nothing came of it. The pictures don't do it justice but it was nasty!

 

Thank you for being patient with me. I hope you have enjoyed our journey with us.

More summer fun.

Swimming at Heidi's and Rob's.  The kids had a blast.  We swam a few different times, had pizza, birthdays and lots of fun.  I think if my kids had a choice they would be fish, they love the water, especially Andrew.

While we were visiting home this summer, some of the businesses had a "Free" Saturday.  So we took advantage of one of the Saturdays and enjoyed some fun.  First the kids and I went to the Boy Scout Office where they had some COPE courses for the kids to climb.  Clark actually did the COPE class last year at camp and really enjoyed it.  

Here Clark is climbing the Giant's Ladder. I am not sure what he is climbing here (below).  But he had to climb the pole and cross on the hanging ropes.  Man they are high, me I wouldn't do it.  But he made it all the way across.  Way to go Clark!!

Ryan climbing up the Giant's Ladder.  Ryan tried to climb a few different things before trying the giant's ladder.

 A pole with rungs and a hanging rope. 

 Me not even gonna try, I have no upper body strength.

Even Emma and Andrew were able to participate.  Neither one was too sure, but look how high Andrew got.  He did it on his own. 

Clark's and Ryan's turn on the wall.  Clark is the only one that made it to the top and rang the bell.  Way to go!  Just watching the kids made me a proud mama.  I am glad they are willing to try something even though it might be hard.

Our next destination was to the Dinosaur Park but the wait there was a couple of hours just to get in, so we decided to head on over to the Ogden Nature Center.  We met up with my parents, two of my sisters and their families.    

Checking out the giant turtle.

We were waiting to go on a walk with a guide that was also going to do a craft with us. 

The craft ended up being collecting flowers, leaves, seeds and putting them on a piece of tape and then saran wrapping them into a bracelet.  It was fun learning about some of the flowers and seeing what beavers can do to a tree.

Making their bracelets.  

Clark and my nieces showing off their bracelets.

 

Looking out trying to see the birds and fish. 

(Below) Taking turns.  

These three are all three years old and  are all within four months of each other.  As I write this two of them have already turned four.

The "younger" kiddos in and eagles nest.

There were a couple of turkeys wandering around. They would walk up to this building with floor to ceiling windows and fan out their feathers, gobble and strut.  They think it's another turkey in the window.  It was quite impressive to watch and a little frightening.  The kids wanted to get closer then I would let them.

One of the beautiful sunsets that Northern Utah offers.  It looked like the horizon was on fire.  I just had to pull over to capture it. 

Camping s'more!  (hehe I crack myself up)

Emma and Ally

 Watching Papa whittle a stick.  (More like wanting to help Papa.)
Putting up the boys tent.

We had gone on a 4x4 ride and Andrew fell asleep.  I don't know how he does it, too much bouncing for me to sleep.

Our group this time (minus me, taking the picture).

 Looking over some of the burned trees from last years fire.

Mom and Andrew.

Part two

 of our trip.  This is probably going to be in sections since I am trying to play catch up.  We had a lot of fun this summer and I can't believe school has already started.  I think the kids are ready and looking forward to going back.  This year we have a junior, freshman and a sixth grader and a pre K.  No, we are not doing an actual preschool (they are quite expensive here) we will be working with him at home.  Enough of that, lets get back to our trip to Utah.

One thing the younger two like to do is go to the Splash pad.  We met two of my sisters and my mom there and let the kids play in the water (well those kids that actually like the water spraying them).  They had a blast. 

 

 

Camping (trip two)
If you know me I love to camp, camping is one of the things I miss most about moving to the south.  So while we are in Utah we take every opportunity to go to the mountains and camp.  We sold our trailer last year while were back there so this was our home away from home this year.  Carrsons sister let us use her trailer while we were there and of course the kids had to put up the tents.  Which is great since there really isn't enough room in the trailer for all of us to sleep.

Hanging out with Papa.

Andrew and Charlie were constantly picking up sticks.  We had to ban them from the trailers. Andrew had a stash by most of the doors by the time we left.

Clark And Ryan helped grandpa fix one of the hydrants at one of the trailer pads.  Clark had to climb in the hole and attach the new hydrant.  Try doing that while you are balancing on a couple of boards because there was water in the hole.  The boys had to work together since it took team work to get it done. 

Checking out the view.  Last year there was a fire that came within  mile of Cedar Ridge.  Since we had already returned home we went to check it out.  There was still a lot of burned trees and sage brush, but there was a lot of new growth too.  It is funny how one tree/bush could be burnt and two feet over nothing trees still green and untouched in some of the areas.  It was sad to see where the fire was but as we weren't able to get to close since the road we usually take was closed, this is as close as we got (I don't know the other ways to get around).  This was enough for me.

Saw the fence and had to take the opportunity to get a picture of the kids.

I know I am extremely slow at getting these up, but I am working on it.  It takes a while to get pictures uploaded so I am going to stop here and upload more. 

Andrew is finally 4!

I am playing catch up.  I still have a lot to blog about from this past summer but I figured this was more important than our trip.  

Andrew was so excited to turn four.  It is all he talked about for the longest time.  If you asked him how old he was he would answer with "four in Duly (July).  Now he is already counting down till he is five.  We were still on vacation over his birthday so we were able to celebrate with our extended families.  We were also hoping to celebrate outside in the nice, cooler air, but as we approached grandmas and grandpas house it started to rain, and it didn't want to stop.  That is okay he still had a great time blowing out his candles and opening his presents. 

We are so glad Andrew decided to join our family.  He is such a great kid.  He keeps up on our toes.  I have made the comment "now I understand why we have kids when we are younger, he keeps me busy" once or twice before.  I wouldn't change it for the world, though. 

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

We love you!