Yellowstone National Park

I meant to put his end as the very last picture in this blog but, dang it, life doesn't (and blogs) don't always turn out the way you want them. So..., instead I will begin by telling you that, although the kids had lots of energy, we actually enjoyed the trip to and from Yellowstone. The car is where you make the worst and the best memories of the trips. I have to say that on this trip, it was some of the best. The kids got along so well. It was fun to hear them cracking eachother up. Okay..., now on with the show that is here....

I am still behind in my blogging (2 weeks to be exact) but here are some pictures from our 3 day camping adventure to Yellowstone National Park. It truely is beautiful up there! I haven't been in YEARS (not since I was...I don't know....10 or 12?) and am grateful to be able to share this experience with my own "little" family. We did lots of hiking, went to all the "popular" sights, swam in rivers, ate lots of yummy food (gained 3 lbs.), saw wildlife, saw some beautiful scenery, laughed, played games, slept hard and made awesome memories. The collage above is of the kids in the water at Moose Falls and Firehole River. The weather was so nice! It was in the low 80's until the last day and then it was in the low 60's...but that didn't stop the kids (well, all but Ryan) from jumping in and swimming.

Here are some pictures of some falls we went to. One was a 5.2 mile hike to Fairy Falls and the other is Yellowstone falls (upper and lower) which really weren't hikes but we saw it from every angle you could see it from. The lower falls was a hike though if you count 328 stairs you hiked down and 328 stairs you had to hike back up. Yea, did I mention that the 3 lbs was all lower body muscle;-)?



Now, we weren't lookin' (or smellin') all that great but the scenery was! WOW! The water in some of the hot pots were bluer than the sky! The views around Yellowstone falls were amazing. It really is refreshing to be outdoors and see all the beauty that God has created for us.

I think I have more pictures of us eating food than any other collage of pics...LOL! We ate well and it was all good. The kids were assigned to pick out what dinner and breakfast they wanted to help plan and prepare this time and they all chose well. They know how to eat well...they get that from their father. We did, however, skip the last nights dinner and instead decided that since we were in town (because we had run out of bug spray and NEEDED more) to just eat at the Dairy Queen there. Cheaters! I know.


We were sad that we didn't see any bears or moose but we got to see lots of buffalo, a coyote, lots of hawks and bald eagles and an elk. I had to include the picture of the squirrel too. I was really suprised that Chase got this close to a squirrel because the day before this picture was taken, when we were hiking to Fairy Falls, a squirrel jumped out onto the trail and on the Chase's foot and freaked him out. Dave and the girls and Chase were ahead of me and Tyler and Ryan so I didn't get to witness it myself but I heard lots of screaming and then lots of laughing. Were is the video camera when you need one:-)? Okay, so here we are at the most popular and well known sight in all of Yellowstone; Old Faithful. We arrived about 15 min. before it went off so didn't have long to wait. We then walked the the 2.8 mile trail to see all the other geysers and hot pots. The clarity of the water was AMAZING! The kids didn't like the smell of sulfur very much. I can't count how many times I heard one of them say, "ewww, it smells like rotten eggs". Really, can you say that just one more time?

I will end with each childs favorite memory of the trip.

Meagan- I liked the Fairy Falls hike the best. I liked looking at all the burnt trees and the waterfall.

Chase- I liked Fairy Falls the best. It was fun playing around the water fall and climbing on the logs.

Jenna- I liked Firehole river. It was neat that we got to swim out far into it and play without worrying about any currents like Moose Falls had and it wasn't rocky like Moose Falls either. I got a cut from Moose Falls.

Tyler- I thought it was funny when I called the coyote a squirrel accedently. I also loved the mega marshmellows we roasted.

Ryan- Seeing you (Mom) get really close to the Bison when you weren't supposed to freaked me out. I was scared.

Dave- I liked the Yellowstone Falls area. The hike down the stairs to the lower falls was my favorite.

Mom- honestly, just being with my family and enjoying their company. Nothing specific that stands out. I just enjoyed playing all the card games and laughing with each other in a beautiful part of America.

Trying to catch up....

I have got to keep up with this better so I don't feel so overwhelmed with it.
Tyler has has a VERY busy summer. First week he was out of school he spent all week at EFY with his cousin from Idaho, Shane Fitzgerald. Out of everything he has done thus far he still says that EFY was his favorite. It must have been amazing because he has also had Youth Conference and gone to New York with his Grandma and Grandpa Boden and 2 more cousins (Nicole and Makayla) and to see Niagra Falls. Right now he is at home and doing Tennis lessons which he is enjoying alot.
It was fun to have Shane around and get to know him better. He is a really neat kid. This will have to become a summer tradition.

Chase and his Pinewood Derby car. I love the face he is making. It has "proud" written all over it. I was a little frustrated this year because there were fathers in the other ward who should have been disqualified for the things they did to there childrens cars (thin wheels, taking one wheel off the car, ect). REALLY?!?! Are you that obsessed with Pinewood Derby? Grow up and let your kid have some fun and be proud of his OWN accomplishment. Great examples, uh? Whatever...proud of my little man, Chase! He just lights up my life!!

This lasted a day....just long enough to give Grandma Boden a heart attack when she stopped in SLC on the way back from NYC for a night. It worked:-) Actually, Ryan was just as anxious to cut it off as Grandma was to see it go.

Meagan had her very first violin recital. It went REALLY well. She didn't look nervous at all and didn't mess up at all and sounded great. She played two pieces and the second was with her teacher...a duet. It sounded SO good. We are all very proud of Meagan.

Don't try this at home?

For the first year we are watching America's Got Talent (not even sure how many years it has been on). The girls saw this one women do a back bend and a man climb on her and stand up so they decided they wanted to try. I was a little nervous (hence the standing close ready to help) but they did it. Jenna is the one doing the back bend and Meagan is on top. I guess that wasn't so impressive after all...or my girls are really impressive too:-). I tend to think the latter.

More Father's day fun!

Hot dog time! At the end of our "high" adventure day, we all sat around a firepit in the ampitheater there and roasted hot dogs and made smores. We had yummy fruit and veggies and chips to top it off and call it dinner. This was such a nice way to end the fun we had.
Jocie roasting her marshmellow.
We were all very hungry. I think we all had at least 2 each. I couldn't get enough of the watermelon. It was a good one.

Our adventure went on with the GIANT swing. We all took turns getting buckled in and then the others would grab the rope and pull you up until you were at least 50 feet high...then the person in the swing would release the hook and.....wooooossssshhhhh! and, "AHHHHHHHHH" and "that was SO fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I did a flip or two but no one got my spectacular feat on camera:-).

Last we did the zip line. This was alot of fun too. The kids wanted to go on this one twice but we didn't have time. I recommend this place to anyone. Clas Ropes down in Provo rocked! What a fun day. What a fun memory!

Father's Day

For years I have been planning on making a t-shirt quilt out of some of our Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. It is Dave and my tradition to go to the Hard Rock Cafe where ever we go if they have one. So, for father's day this year I decided to make it. It isn't quite done but it was done enough that he can see what the final product will be. About a week before Father's day he asked me if I had seen any of his Hard Rock shirts. I just said, "well, the kids probably wore them for pj's", cause they like to wear Dave's t-shirts as pj's sometimes. My secret was kept:-)....until the girls kept telling Dave that I was at Aunt Marge's or Aunt Marge was up here. Aunt Marge helped me make it, you see, and so Dave put two and two together and figured it out 3 days before Father's Day! UGH! I was SO excited to suprise him, dang it! Anyway, it turned out great and he loves it so we had a happy ending. Thanks to Aunt Marge whom I could not have done this without!

For Father's day we also went to a rope coarse. Rachael and her little girl were in town and joined us. It was an eye opener to see how our family works together at "problem solving"....not as good as I would have hoped/thought. Above; we had to get each member of the family through a whole in the spider's web without touching the web. Once one "hole" was used (or touched) it was closed and couldn't be used again. For this one I learned that it would be easier to have a smaller family.....heehee just kidding. It was tough though!

This was a little easier but we still didn't get it until the 3rd try. Each person had to throw a foam square and try to make a path across a certain grassy area. We had to only step on the squares to get across. It was hard to aim. There was one on the third time where we really had to LEAP! This was probably my favorite one.

Then there was the truely "fun" stuff. Rock wall climbing was done by all but mom who is afraid of hieghts. I was proud of all of them!!!!
We have some more pics of this day but I don't have time to upload right now so I will try to get them on tomorrow. What a fun memory! Happy dad's day, Dave!

Scouts, cinnamon rolls, awards and haircuts

A big part of my boys lives has to do with scouts. Thank goodness for scouts. If it wasn't for scouts all they would ever want to do is play the Wii or PS2.

Ryan loves scouts! He was so excited to be old enough to start...., so excited to graduate to each new level...., SOOO excited to go on his first camp out...., and gets very excited to receive awards. He is a very expressive child so we all get to hear, see and (sometimes) be patient with his excitement. Here he is earning a required merit badge. He is very close to having another required too. Way to go Ryan!!!!!!!!! Thank you to Brother Scott Gaylee for all his hard work and to Sister Ann Gayheart for keeping on top of things and letting us know what we need to do to keep our boys climbing the ladder to EAGLE SCOUT!

We LOVE dad's homemade cinnamon rolls. Ryan wanted to help Dave make them this time and we were more then happy to let him since he doesn't ask to help with the cooking very much. We were also more than happy to eat them after they were done.

TAH DAH! Yummy! We actually got to share them with some neighbors/friends who invited us over for homemade scones (shout out to the Brown's- thanks for the good company and good food).

I REALLY wish we had brought the camera to the get together because we were all outside and it started to pour and the kids had so much fun jumping on the trampoline in the rain and running around.

At around 10:00 am yesterday I get call from the Principle of the kids school who informs me that Chase is in his office and he needs to tell me something and that he is going to put me on speaker. I am thinking, "Oh no. What did he do? And on the second to the last day of school." Chase gets on and says, "Mom?"...."Yeesss"...."I won a bike!" My reaction was overly enthusiastic with relief that it wasn't something bad. Mean, mean principle. He says he loves to do that every year. LOL! It probably is pretty fun/funny.

During the school year the kids are challenge to read 20 minutes a day and for those who do they get their names in a drawing for different prizes....the GRAND prize being a bike. Here is Chase's version of what happen; "The lady drew the name and said, 'The person is in 3rd grade' and all the 3rd graders started screaming. Then she said, 'This person is a boy' and all the girls went 'ahhhh' and all the boys screamed. Then she said 'This person is in Ms. Timothy's class' and all the other 3rd grades went 'ahhh' and our class went, 'yeah!'. Then she said, 'This person has a grey shirt on' and me and one other boy in the class had a grey shirt on and so we were on our knees. Then she said, 'This person's name is Chase' and I went like this (threw his arms up straight over his head without making a sound). I said, "Didn't you SCREAM?!?!" He said, "No mom. That's embarrassing". LOL! Anyway, we are going to sell it in the classifieds and he is going to get the money from the sell (he already has a bike). He wants to get some Wolverine claws.

So, the girls didn't win a bike but they did earn their "Mustang Pride" award. This is quite an accomplishment. They have to go above and beyond to earn this. Do extra things in school like read at least 400 minutes a month, run at least 70 miles around the school track during the course of the year, you had to pass subtraction and addition tables in a certain amount of time and start on your multiplication, etc. There were like 9 things but I can't remember them all right now. Anyway, they were just as excited about this award as Chase was about his bike. Way to go, girls!

My sister, Rachael, and her two kids are visiting from North Carolina. Rachael decided that Fletcher (4 yrs. old) needed a haircut and that I should do it. Here is the before, during and after pictures. He is such a cutie. He looks even more like my 11 year old nephew, Connor, now.

All ready for summer, right?

80 degree weather means....

Hot air balloon rides,......... bouncy houses (not pictured),......

.....buying a new battery and starting up the boat. Hopefully we can take it out next weekend.

.....buying a new slip and slide (yes, those cheap things never last past one summer) and letting the kids enjoy the cold, cold water. I love each of their faces as they slide down the first time but Ryan's was the most animated (suprise, suprise). The next few pictures were taken in succession.

"HOLY FREAK THAT'S COLD!"....

"Let's do it again", says the skinny white boy in the red swimsuit.

FUN! Next weekend; setting up the pool and family comes to visit! Stay tuned.

Gymanstics!

So proud of my two girls! They have taking tumbling for 7 months now and are doing so good. They are always doing cartwheel and front and back walkovers. If there is an open space, they are doing gymnastics! A little irritating when it is in front of the tv while you are watching your favorite show though. They have a hard time sitting still:-)

Meagan was VERY excited about being "on top" for the final pose at the end of their routine. Look at that grin!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenna didn't get quite as lucky but still had a huge smile on her face (on her knees, second from right).

They get excited when they get to wear a little make-up....except for Jenna when in comes to mascara. She no likey. Weird to see them in make-up. I can see what they might look like jumping into the future 5 or 6 year. BEAUTIFUL!

All the girls got one of these ribbons at the end of there performance. They are now proudly displayed on their bedroom walls.

A little bit of the routine as it was happening. Hopefully the video camera (Dave) got them doing their "tricks" better then mom did with the battery going dead on the camera.

Chase's long awaited b-day party.

We don't do birthday party with friends on every birthday but age 8 is one of them. Last year when the triplets turned 8 we threw a birthday party at a place where they did roller skating, bumper cars, roller coaster, laser tagging, video games and they all got to stand in one of those booths that had "money" blowing every where and they had to catch as much as they could in 30 seconds. They had so much fun! Except for Chase. He invited 3 of his closest friends and not one showed. They (unbeknownst to us) all were on the same baseball team and had a game (really wish we would have gotten some rsvp's). He was heart broken that he had no friends to hang out with AND he had to hang out with a bunch of girls. SOOOOO, I told him we would have another birthday party just for him. Well, 2 months later we sold our house and had moved to Utah (we were in Omaha, Nebraska) so Chase never got that birthday party I promised. Well, if you know anything about me then you know I HATE breaking promises. SO, this year on for his 9th b-day (which is not a year we throw a "friend" party on) we had a party for Chase. He wanted to go laser tagging so we invited 8 boys and off we went! They had a blast (no pun intended):-). Chase is such a patient child. Thank you for waiting so long, sweetheart! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Another 5K, Wolverine and new clothes

Our Stake put on a 5K and Ryan, Meagan and Jenna wanted to do this one. I had to teach a class so I didn't go with them. Dave took them this time. I threaten him to get him to take pictures:-).

Meagan in her 2nd 5K....

Jenna in her 2nd 5K....

and Ryan (to the left of the kid on the bike) in his 1st 5K.

I think the free food at the end is always their favorite.....hey, whatever keeps them motivated!

Chase, for months, has begged me for a Wolverine costume. I told him if he saved his money and paid for half I would pay the other half. He is my only child who can do this....save money that is. I was proud of him for not being tempted to spend it on other things.

So, when it came in the mail (had to order it off the internet because halloween isn't on display in May) he tore it open and put it on right away....and wore it for the next 2 days after that. Now he wants the claws that go with it. Start saving, Chase. :-)

If you remember..., I reconnected with some friends I had lost contact with for 17 years about 5 months ago. Bob and Vivian came up for a visit in March and have basically adopted our 5 kiddos as neices and nephews.

They have sent the kids several packages since leaving. Seriously, chill out you two! The girls could not be any more excited then when they get new clothes. They LOVE clothes. I am in trouble, I know.

The kids feel the same way about you two, Uncle Bob and Aunt Viv! Thank you so much!