Utah Vacation Take Two

After our stay in CO with my family, we went to UT to stay with Jeff's family for a few days. We had a lot of fun going to the cabin during the three days we were there. Our trip in the past involved spending one week with each family, but this year with the family reunions as book ends, and some work scheduling issues, we had to get creative and only spend about three days in each place. Here are some pictures of the cabin. The ones of Emily in the hammock were taken right before she fell out and cut her head open. I don't think I'll ever forget her screaming, walking into the cabin with blood pouring out of the back of her head. Luckily we were able to stop it, and no stitches were necessary.


Having a camp fire and roasting marshmallows is always a must at the cabin. Sometimes it's hard to fit in though because we are doing too many things and it gets late. The first night was out because of Emily's injury, but luckily for the kids (and the adults since we would've have had to endure angry children) we were able to do the marshmallow roasting (and flinging - a family tradition) the next night.

Family Vacation to visit family

We had a great time this summer on our annual trip out to Utah. It's hard to really say "trip to Utah" because we actually spent a lot of the time in Colorado and Idaho at two family reunions. The first family reunion we attended was with my side of the family. You could say it is the Bain family reunion even though none of us have the last name Bain. Our family reunion consisted of my mom, her sisters, and their kids and grandkids. Anyway, it was a lot of fun seeing my cousins again. We are all spread out, so we rarely see each other. It was nice to catch up again, and meet their kids. I was also glad my brother and his kids came. Our kids spent all day playing together, and they never seemed to get tired of it. Karolee was also able to come, and she is always a favorite for the kids. Everyone loves Karolee and her dogs Jesse and Hannah. We spent our family reunion at the YMCA camp in Estes Park, CO. What beautiful country they have there. My kids were awed by the beautiful mountains. Here are a few photos of some of the things we did.



There were a lot of fun things to do at the camp. Ashley and Emily really enjoyed doing the crafts with Grandma. We also had fun hiking, and just hanging out at the cabin.


M.y great sister and mom.

Yes, Blogging World, I am still alive.

Well, it looks like my blog is starting to follow the pattern of my journal. (My poor roomates will be so disappointed to hear this since I used to write in my journal every day!) I do pretty good for a little while, but then I get behind and give up because I am too far behind to write about everything. It takes a few weeks (like 8 or 9) of feeling guilty about it to push me into the catch up mode, and then I do a mass of entries. So, sorry for those who those who are already living in the present, but I am going to record my past a little bit for my own history sake.

The last of July brought with it fun summer days in the baby pool. Here are a few cute pics of the kids. Yep, I did not want to waste a swim diaper on a fifteen minute dip in the baby pool. It made for a big laugh for the older kids. Treats after swimming are also important.


We have found through the years that being outside in Kansas usually involves a lot of bug bites. Poor Carter got a bad one by his eye and had an allergic reaction. Luckily Zyrtec cleared it up.

In addition to playing outside a lot, we had a fun spontaneous trip to the circus one afternoon. A friend of mine called about something, and in the conversation I found out she was going to the circus camped outside our mall. It was only there for one day, and she had an extra adult ticket, so we decided to join her and her girls. I had to wake up my kids from their naps, but they didn't seem to mind. Taylor didn't get to go because he had scout camp.

Finally, the kids had their summer camp right before we left for our family trip to Utah. Here are a couple of pictures from their final program.

Cow Pictures

Old McDonald

So lately our family has felt like we've become Old McDonald because we are taking care of our friend's little farm. We are actually really enjoying it too, and I think the kids are going to miss going to feed the cows twice a day. When we do it without them they get pretty upset. Anyway, our friends the Christensens just moved to a new place where they have a barn and some land. They decided to add twenty-five chickens and six calves to their household. Unfortuneately two of the little calves got sick and died right before they left on vacation. One more of them was acting sick, so they asked a vet in our ward what to do and he gave them some pills that need to be taken twice a day, and a shot that has to be given once every other day. Guess who gets to give the medicine. Now we are not only farmers, but vets too. Anyway, it has been quite the experience for all of us. I especially enjoy watching Jeff feed the give medicine to Buddy, the little sick cow. It's cute. We are grateful for the opportunity.

Happy 4th of July!

I love the fourth of July here in Kansas. People go crazy with fireworks! It literally sounds like a war zone with zips and pops coming from all directions. There is a large fireworks show done by a lake here, but we have only go to it a couple of times. We've found that staying in our own neighborhood with friends is just as entertaining. We had fun having the Dodds, some new friends in our ward, and the missionaries over for dinner. We then did our fireworks in the cul-de-sac behind our house which is where the Dodd family lives. I don't know who had more fun with the fireworks, the men or the kids. Anyway, it was a fun day. We also had fun going to a neighborhood parade in the morning. This is the best parade because it lasts about 15 minutes (if that) and the kids get a bunch of necklaces and candy. I do wish they had a big parade with floats and all, but this one does the trick for now.

Choo choo!

Since Taylor's swim lessons were not at the same time as the rest of the gang, we had to find stuff to do to pass the 50 min wait. We were too far to go home, so we ran errands, went to library programs, and rode the train and carosel in the park by the pool. Here are a few pictures of the fun. The carosel we actually rode after Taylor's lesson.




Carter was pretty intense on both the train and the carosel. He really seemed to like them.