Our Oregon Trip August 2009
I was trying to do a slide show of our trip to Oregon this summer, but I got frustrated and gave up. I couldn't figure out a way to upload all the pictures at the same time, and since there's 93 pictures here, I didn't want to do it one by one. I started to, then it lost the pictures I saved and yada yada yada, this is what I ended up with. Just thumbnail pictures. Maybe if I get more time I'll try to do a slideshow again so it will be easier to see these pictures. Our trip to Oregon was so much fun. My brother and his family live there, and the kids got to visit with their cousins for a week. My brother has kids pretty close in age to Jacob and Kera, so they really liked hanging out with them and getting to spend time with their Oregon cousins.
I would go into more details about our trip, but now I'm tired and just want to post and go to bed. But basically these pictures are of a watergun fight the kids had outside the day we got there, then a hike to Munson Falls, near the Tillamook Factory (which we went to), then the Tillamook beach, trip to the local swimming pool, the Portland Children's Museum, and then Multnomah Falls. It was an action packed week with lots of fun things to do. We loved all of the trips we took this summer. I don't think we could've fit any more activities into one summer.

Do you like green beans??

Bear Lake 2009

Last summer we went to Bear Lake with our friends Jeremy and Heidi. We had so much fun there and thought the lake was awesome. It's as close to a beach as you can get without actually visiting the coast. So this year we decided to continue with our July 24th tradition that was started last year and visit Bear Lake again. Jeremy and Heidi recently got a great deal on a ski boat, so we got to have lots of fun riding around on that. We did some tubing; Dave started us out, Jacob was brave enough to give it a try with dad, then Heidi and I took a turn together on the tube. Dave and I even did some kneeboarding later. I should say that Dave made the attempt, and I succeeded at getting up on the kneeboard. We didn't take any pictures as proof, but you'll have to take my word for it. The waves were really choppy, so it was extremely hard to stay holding on wihout severely tearing up my arms. But it was fun nonetheless. Hopefully we'll be invited back on the boat for some more fun times!! Thanks Jer and Heidi!

This stop at La Beau's is a must! Especially for their onion rings and raspberry shakes- yummy!

The color is very washed out, but this is a closeup of mom and daughter

I lost these sunglasses I had on shortly after this picture was taken. I jumped in the water with them on my head! They were my favorite glasses too.

Mikey on the "beach"

hanging on!

Mr. Cool


Dad and son havin fun!

Here's Dave giving Jacob some swimming lessons. Jacob really wanted dad to show him how to swim in the deep water. He did a pretty good job, although it wasn't too deep!

Swimming Lessons

Jacob and Kera wanted to take swimming lessons again this year. They took them for the first time last year and really enjoyed the classes. Last year I found someone in the phone book that advertised swimming lessons. They teach it in their backyard swimming pool, and it's a brother and sister who teach them. So we took them back again this year for another 8 lesson class. Kera has really taken to the water, and now she's not afraid to go under and swim around without a life jacket. Jacob's getting better, but is still a bit afraid of the deep water. He must be able to touch the bottom. Maybe next summer we can get him to overcome that fear and even jump off the diving board without his life jacket!

4th of July Fireworks Show

Our favorite place to see fireworks is right here in our hometown. The local high school does a great fireworks show, and ever since the first year we went to watch the show we've tried to go back. This year Chris and Jennifer and their kids came up to Kaysville to spend the day withour family. Dave had a friend from Texas come up in the morning for the parade, which the kids love, then Chris and Jen came up for a BBQ later and stayed to watch the fireworks. Dave decided the 4th of July is his new favorite holiday because you don't have to worry about buying gifts, there's no big meal to prepare, and you just chill out and watch fireworks and celebrate the wonderful country we live in and the freedom we enjoy. Yeah he's right, it is a pretty neat holiday.

We had to get two pictures, the second one you can see Michael and it even looks like he's waving at the camera!

Goar/Richey Camping at Strawberry Reservoir

My sister and I decided to take a family camping trip together this summer. We picked Strawberry Reservoir as our desired spot and loaded up the kids for a weekend of fun. The Richey's gave us a taste of what RV camping would be like as opposed to the tent camping that we're used to. I have to say that after hanging out in their trailer and being able to use a bathroom, wash dishes, sit Michael down on a clean floor, have a bed and a table to eat on, the RV wins out! Hmm, maybe someday.

The kids had fun with their cousins Zane and Maya. Jacob, Zane, and Troy got up early in the morning to go fishing. No fish were biting that day, but they did come back with some crawdads. Maya and Kera took a liking to them and they were playing with them for awhile, until we decided to roast them over the fire. Dave, Jacob, and Zane even tasted them. Poor little crawdads.

We had a fun time together and we want to go again next summer! Some pictures of the trip....

Stay tuned...I hope to be posting like crazy very soon!!

I have really been inconsistent with my blogging these days. I don't know what my problem is. Poor time management I guess. We've had a very busy summer between taking trips to Texas to visit Dave's side of the fam, then a few camping trips here and there, and recently a trip to Oregon to visit my brother and their family. Because of this, the summer has flown by! I suppose it's a good thing. Jacob will be starting 2nd grade in less than two weeks and Kera will be starting preschool in September. Wow, my kiddos are growing up too fast. Michael is finally crawling and now he wants to explore everything. Luckily no major falls or incidents, yet! His favorite thing to go after is shoes! All kinds of shoes and of course he puts them in his mouth. It's quite a challenge to keep all our shoes away from him.
So that's it, a quick update and warning that very soon I will be posting a whole summer's worth of pictures and events.

Primary Temple Trip

We took a trip to the Bountiful temple for our summer primary activity this year. My kids were very excited to see the temple up close. We even got to go inside the waiting room and the downstairs area outside the door of the baptismal font. Even though we weren't able to go throughout the whole temple, the kids had a great time and both Jacob and Kera said they couldn't wait until they're 12 when they can go and do baptisms in the temple. As part of the primary presidency I was able to help plan the trip and drove my own kids as well as a few other primary kids to the temple. Somehow I ended up with 3 crazy little boys in my van. They're cute but they all have endless supplies of energy. It was extremely lively in the backseat of the van on the way over to the temple. I tried to play church hymns really loud so they would get calm down and prepare for the temple, but they just talked louder and got crazier. Oh well, boys will be boys! Here's some of my kids and the three boys we took in our car.

The whole gang

crazy boy #1

crazy boys #2 and 3