Father and Sons Campout
I wasn’t there but it looks like they had a blast at Deer Creek!
Month: August 2017
Timpanogos
Tuesday afternoon conversation: Jana: I want to hike Timp sometime. LaNell: Lets go tomorrow. Jana: I can’t go tomorrow but I can go Friday. LaNell: Ill be here at 5:45am.
And that is how it happened. I hadn’t hiked Timp since 2004. And I hadn’t hiked anything that wasn’t kid friendly since Havasupai however long ago that was. But I got up early and LaNell and Moki picked me up and I LOVED IT.
We started hiking at 6:20. It took us 3 hours to get to the saddle (7 miles) and then another hour to get to the very top (8 miles total, 22,000 steps)!
We ate a little lunch in the meadow by the toilet trail and made it back down to the car before 2pm. My fitbit says that it took us 7.5 hours. We went 17 miles and had taken 44,000 steps.
The amazing parts about this hike was that I still had energy to do girls night with my girls and to function the next day! And Benji babysat all morning and into the afternoon so that I could be gone for 9 hours!
And then it was August
Benji made it home from Scout Camp on Saturday morning and played with cousins and then in the afternoon we asked him to do some chores and he just CRASHED. He couldn’t comprehend and had a melt down. Ben helped him figure it out and tried to teach him that even when we are worn out and tired we still have to choose to do what we are asked and we choose our attitude 🙂 His buddy Seth stopped by in the middle of that life lesson with a late birthday present.
And that night Benji got to babysit while we went to the game! I love being at the field and I love when it is good weather
On Sunday we had our Nettesheim Fireside and then celebrated Grandpa’s 70th Birthday!!
THESE GUYS! ready for JR. HIGH? I love that they still play and have fun and don’t have to be too cool.
Ray and Rose are so excited to start school. They both have the same size shoe right now.
FHE! FINALLY
Friends over at the house on a summer day: Millie made a new friend when LaNell brought Andrew over to play.
my genius child?
working on their Dr. Mario skills and getting high scores:
I am still the Wolf Den Leader:
Kelsey and I took the kids to the pond. We stopped and got XL drinks at Maverick cause they were free so… And then Brady! showed up at the pond and surprised us!
Thursday Night I went to Ben’s soccer game! He is blurry in the pic cause he was running really fast 🙂 And right after the soccer game we picked LaNell up at the mouth of the canyon and drove to Sundance to watch Jacob and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. We met the Hancocks up there and sat through a little rain. It was a fun show!
And then the kids finished THE SUMMER CHART!! They were so happy to be done!
Scout Camp
Benji had his first year of scout camp this year! We got home from the cruise Saturday night and he left Monday morning!
He worked on 6 Merit Badges while he was there. He did Astronomy, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Science, Woodcarving, Rifle Shooting, and Swimming.
On Wednesday night Ben went up for parents night and had dinner and campfire with the boys:
His leaders said he was fun and responsible!
He was pretty proud about doing the Polar Bear swim at 6:30am:
and something about going out with Ryan and trying to sink other canoes:
That’s about all of the detail that I know but he said he had a great time!
Josh and Mal came to Visit
Wednesday after the cruise Josh and Mal and their 5 kids came to play for a few days. We just chilled and let the kids play for 3 days:
Laynie and Tiago had a great time trying to play.
lots of xbox for the older kids. They created lots of mine craft awesomeness:
We did leave the house on occasion 🙂
And Tiago has been obsessed with the “slide” so they all had fun doing that:
All of our peaches were ripe so we had a peaches lunch:
More sliding and exhaustion from no naps and lots of late nights:
Packer and Payton in the kitchen – did not turn out!
A bunch of us went out for dinner one of the nights – Us, Josh and Mal, Joel and Megan, Kelsey, Bracken and Talia!
Millie and Tiago LOVED having baby Eden in the house. They thought she was a doll and would not leave her alone. I also LOVED having a baby in the house 🙂
On Friday we took the kids to the new splash pad in Orem! Tiago took a nap first. Cali had a horrible stomach ache BUt we still had some fun and finished with a game of Red Rover:
And I sent Josh and Kelsey to Salt Lake to get me a Dr. Mario arcade game!!
Saturday morning we played a little more. Benji got home from Scout Camp! and Payton needed some Benji time and then they all left for home. It was fun to have some time with them and let the kids and us build relationships.
home sweet home
Saturday July 29th we got back to Seattle. It was a great trip. Perfect amount of time away. We had a blast and feel blessed that we got to go and that our kids were all taken care of back home. We got off the ship and had about 6 hours until our flight. We ended up catching a ride to the mall. We watched a movie, Dunkirk, and did a little shopping. Then we headed back to the airport and flew home. We got home around 10pm and all of the kids were excited to see us!
I got the early shift Sunday morning, back to reality:
My mom took care of everything and everyone while we were gone! A bunch of my siblings were around on their family vacations so they had a busy week:
The Princess cruise Ship Murder…We had lots of texts asking if we were ok and if that was our boat:
My mom stayed a few more days to see me 🙂 and her mom and her sisters and spend Kelsey’s birthday with her… And Tracie and John came Sunday night 🙂 and John helped me prep for my new appliances!
Monday morning Tiago was playing nicely in the toy room and threw his finished wooden cupcake at the window 🙁 cracked it! But it was an accident and he loved playing with Hadley:
Ryan installed our new faucet while we were gone!
I took my kids and Tracie’s kids to the park while they did bday stuff with Kelsey. Everyone was happy until Millie got stung by a wasp 3 times!!!
Kelsey’s Birthday! I love having Kelsey live close. We have lots of fun, especially when mom and I win Nertz.
Victoria
Our last stop was an evening in Victoria, Canada.
We saw the Huntingdon Manor – with the Gatsby Mansion:
We walked through a fun park and enjoyed time with Rick and Jen and Emily and Mom and P&A of course:
Then everyone went their own ways and Ben and I found the water and the FLOATING VILLAGE! So cool. Lots of boats converted into houses. And of course we had to stop at the ice cream store boat before heading back to the ship at 10pm:
Ketchikan
Thursday we had a short day in Ketchican.
Some of the group hiked up this hill but Ben and I just went to the right into the brownish area of the map:
We explored the town with Michelle and Udine!
And then we watched the Lumberjack show:
After that we wandered the streets with Matt, Jamie, Pete, Amanda, Udine and Michelle. We saw totem polls and a fish hatchery.
Then we walked back to the dock area and Ben wanted to try a Fish and Chips Restaurant that had really good reviews. Pete and Amanda joined us and they were not disappointed!
I’m not a sea food lover so I grabbed a milk shake back on the ship:
Then we had real dinner – yes, we did eat too much.
and we ended the night at the after hours dance party!! Yes we were a site to see. The drunks weren’t quite sure how to keep up with us. 🙂
Glacier Bay
On Wednesday we spent the day on the ship but they took us right in close to Marjorie Glacier. The glacier was beautiful and loud! We spent most of the day watching the glacier and the water. We saw a few sea lions and whale spouts. I saw a Puffin and we saw a few dolphins and lots of seagulls. There were several large waterfalls on the way in and out of the inlets. The water was still hundreds of feet deep even though we were so close to the “end”. Everything is steep and deep.
Skagway, AK
On Tuesday we went to SKAGWAY. We got off the ship and went right to the train. We had a long train ride up the mountain on the old gold mining track. It was rickety and Beautiful. So many trees and waterfalls!
We crossed over into Canada and then came back down the same track… and I took a little snooze to get ready for the rest of the day 🙂
Skagway is a little town. we got a picture at the driftwood building then found ice cream and tacos!
After lunch we met up with a lot of the group to go on a “scooter tour”. SOOO MUCH FUN. Our tour guy was a young fun guy who decided that we were all capable scooter riders so he took us all over the back country for 4 hours! First stop was the cemetery: with fake gold to attract people, the bad guy buried and still in jail and the monument to the good guy who killed him:
Up the Hill from the cemetery was Lower Reid Falls:
Then we jumped back on the scooters and out a back road to some good lookout spots and scooted the dirt roads by the water:
We stopped in the low lands by a river that was FULL of salmon:
Dumb and Dumber:
The low land pot holes where I almost crashed! I think a few of us had some close calls but we all made it!
We got back around 5:30 and did some souvenir shopping and then back to the ship. That night I was exhausted. I watched a few waterfalls as we left town and went to bed early. Ben went out with the family.
