Five

Cade turned 5! I think sending him off to kindergarten will be tough on me. It will mean 3 kids in school and only one at home. Does that make me old? I am not ready to let him go. He is such a cuddle bug and is so good for me in stores now-well most of the time. He loves to play games ALL the time and is very social. He can't wait for kindergarten!

 

Here are my boys on Cade's slip n slide he got for his birthday.
Ethan

 

Cade

 

Carson

 

Trevor didn't try it out. He came down with Strep throat hours before the party so he hung out in my room the whole time. Never a dull moment!

Cade "allowed" girls to come to his birthday party this year.

 

 

Goofy poses...

 

Ethan loved being the one they chased all over the yard for target practice.

 

 

 

There was some serious shooting going on.

 

Presents on the trampoline...

 

Smiles during pizza and cake...

 

Happy Birthday big boy! I love you!

 

4th weekend

We spent the 4th of July weekend up in Coloma on a mini vacation. We started it off rafting with friends and aunt Nicole. This was Trevor's first WHITE water rafting experience and even though he didn't show it outwardly-he LOVED it!

 

Later that day Trevor and I were rivered out so we hung out with Aunt Nicole while Carson got to go kayaking with daddy...

 

Cade with grandpa...

 

Silly fun grandma went too.

 

Ethan took his FIRST solo kayak ride down!

 

On the 4th Trevor made his first 7 layer dip. He had a hard time getting past the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect. If you mess it up you just cover it up and no one knows! After he was done he smiled for me. (note: the pile of extra olives is grandpa's doing because he didn't think there were enough so that corner is for grandpa only.)

 

Later that day we had cousins come by. The little ones wanted to help grandpa barbeque. Little cuties!

 

After a yummy dinner the kids enjoyed grandma's snowcone machine with red and blue flavors to choose from.

 

We went to a little fireworks celebration about 15 minutes away. We had 9 kids and crazy grandparents to entertain us while we waited in a parking lot.

 

Watching from the top of the car is way more fun than the cheap seats.

 

 

Carson wasn't scared of the noise. He just loved it!

 

Monday brought funny uncle Ben and wife Dara (or Dora as Carson calls her) and friends to go rafting and Trevor had his second white water rafting trip. NO ONE wanted a picture so I don't have that, but later that day they went kayaking.

 

Ethan went on his second solo trip and was doing so well that the other rafters and kayakers kept asking him how old he was. This time he went down to turtle pond. He was SO proud of himself!

 

Cade got to go with daddy.

 

We had a great weekend celebrating our freedom and our great country. I especially loved singing patriotic hymns at church and spending time in the outdoors with family. I'm so thankful for the freedoms we enjoy.

warm summer nights

The police found Ethan's bike. Very special people bought Trevor a new one. So my boys have been out riding again!

 

The first time they went out together again they wanted to show me their "tricks." Cade did them too. I don't know when he learned these. Totally surprised me.

 

 

Carson noticed dad come out to sit and watch so he ran in the garage and came out with a baseball and mitts.

 

 

I love watching my boys be boys.

Loving the Lake

We did a lake trip in June with friends. You can tell it was fun in the sun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trek

On June 24th, 25th, and 26th, Brent and I went on a pioneer Trek with the youth in our stake up near Mormon immigrant trail. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I felt an increased appreciation for those that left all they had and lost family members in search of religious freedom.

Day one was 11 miles with the last 4 being STEEP uphill. Day two 7 miles and day three was almost 6 miles. Brent was involved in a lot of the planning because he is in the stake young men's presidency and actually chose this route and left the detail of the last 4 miles out when he told me what we were doing. Nice huh?

We had 7 kids (5 boys and 2 girls) and an aunt pulling the handcart with us. There were 10 "families" total from our stake. Here are some of our family pictures. We loved the kids (and aunt) that were assigned to us, they were AWESOME!

Family Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was lots of pushing and pulling...

 

Grave sites on the way...

 

Crossing of creeks...

 

Lots of downhill, but even more uphill-at least it seemed like a lot of uphill!

 

Day two it rained when we were starting out for the day. I'm not a fan of rain unless I am inside, but I smiled anyway! (The first night we awoke to rain several times and we were not in tents so I was pretty tired of rain by now.)

 

Mormon Battalion. After suffering insane amounts of persecution and being driven out of their homes the government came and demanded the saints give up all the men to go march leaving women and children alone to finish their trek.

 

 

Men getting their instructions before departing.

 

Girl power! We are all by ourselves now! We can do it!

 

 

My girls pulling hard. I am helping them I promise! (You just can't see me pushing from behind.)

 

Men lined up to watch and not able to help. They had previously watched from up above without our knowledge. I was so happy when our 5 boys and my husband returned. It wasn't the same without our whole "family" together. I'm sure the feelings were magnified immensely when the saints were reunited with their loved ones.

 

These amazing women are all in my ward here. I love our ward and all the awesome women we have in it. 5 of us were Ma's with one kitchen helper and one walker/supporter. While taking a rest and waiting for the men to return we took a quick picture.

 

All the Mas and Pas together. We had a great time with all these people.

 

Our Stake President was such a trooper. He was there the whole first LONG day with us and helped push as well. I think he is in better shape than I am.

 

Our bishop from before our ward was reorganized a couple years ago and is still a bishop for another ward and our current bishop and wife came to walk with everyone and support our youth. Jeff and Cher were Ma's and Pa's with us. This is on day 2 in camp taking a much needed break.

 

We had a great time with the youth and appreciated so much the time we had to learn about our ancestors. We were so lucky to have such great youth to learn from and with. We shared stories along the trail and made memories that I won't forget. I was VERY happy to get home to a real shower and flush toilets and appreciated them that much more.