First Hike

I took the boys on their first ever hike with the help of "Auntie" Heidi. They loved it. As I type, they've been zonked for 3 hours now!

We took the simple route and went to Donut Falls. This is a great first hike for anyone with little, little kids. We immediately started with some skinned knees. But they got the hang of it. We ended with some tears and "hold you," as Jackson got tired. But little AJ was a trooper and walked the whole entire way, up and down. Alex was way ahead prodding us to "hurry up!" It was a lot of fun!

Some highlights:

AJ, Heidi, and Heidi's "service animal" pooch, Jackson. Best behaved dog you'll ever meet.

Some of our fun moments and pretty wildflowers:

The Falls!

The log:The glasses. So vogue:

Family Photos

They're here! We took family pictures at the end of June, and we just got our prints back. We love how they turned out. I know I'm a little biased, but don't I have the cutest boys ever? And, surprisingly, my naturally curly hair didn't get too curly when I was out there sweatin' and trying to control these crazy boys in the humidity. phew. :) Fun times.

St. George

Last week, I took the boys on their first road trip. All by my lonesome self! We went to St. George. They did so well! (I was super nervous about the drive down.) We went with our good friends, Leslie and her three darling, tiny blonde kids: Lily, Lucy, and Luke. We had six kids ages 5 and under in a two bedroom condo. It was a bit crazy at times, but we kept our schedule super relaxed, and we had an enjoyable time. It was so nice to soak in some nice, warm sun. Especially after our rainy month of June.

My oldest and youngest went from total fear of water (Jackson wouldn't even get in the pool) to lovers of the water. I'm so glad!

We also went to a darling little splash park that the kids really enjoyed.

And we spent a lot of time eating popsicles. They were a great relief in that heat!

Thanks, Leslie, for sharing your condo with us. It was a blast!!! (Oh, and sorry about the mouse,

Becky... Becky joined us for the last night and she had to get a new room because of a stinkin' mouse... sheesh.. haha)

So much to catch up on!

Goodness, where does the time go. It's been a busy, crazy June, but loads of fun! (and of course, I forgot my camera for ALL events... bummer)

Midway

On the 14th of June, Mark took a week off of work, and we headed up to Midway to Gma and Gpa's place. We affectionately call their vacation home the "Party House." The boys were so excited to spend a whole week with Daddy. They kept saying, "I go Pahty Haus? Daddy coming?" over and over. Alex was beside himself with excitement. Poor kid couldn't handle the excitement and thus took it out in roughness on his brothers. Made for a rough start, but we all "chill-axed" by the end of the week.

We tried to get some swimming in, but it was a crazy, wet, chilly month, so that didn't happen much. We played Legos, football, soccer, and went for walks. We headed to Park City one evening to play on all the mountain rides. Alex had never done the Alpine Slide, and neither of us had done the Alpine Coaster. So up the mountain we went. It was a blast! The babies hung out at the base, riding the Merry-G0-Round and the little electric powered backhoe. They loved it too!

I think Alex's favorite activity of the week was bowling. This was another first for him. Mark took him into Heber to a little bowling alley, and Alex was in heaven. He begged to go again, so the second time, we took the brothers. Ha. Interesting experience with AJ running around and down the bowling alleys. Good thing it was fairly empty! I'm sure the manager gave us a few concerned stares.

Girls' Night Out

On Friday, we drove the kids back home, and Mark took over the parenting reins while I headed back up to the Party House with 7 other girlfriends. We stayed over that night, and played and hung out on Saturday. It was such a blast! I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful, neat ladies surrounding me! We talked until 4 am (I never realize how late it is... my, how time flies!) and got up for an early morning jog. (9 am seemed VERY early.) Can I just say that my body doesn't move well on 5 hours of sleep and a diet of cookies and candy? Sheesh... I can't imagine why!


While we were on our jog, there were all these decorated vans driving by. There were also people standing on the side of the road. Then we noticed runners with numbers on their shirts. We passed some "official looking" folks who had walkie-talkies and they said, "What're your numbers, ladies?" We obviously responded that we didn't have any and finally realized that we were running on the course of the Wasatch Back. This got it into some peoples' heads that we should do that next year, but I'm going to gracefully bow out. Not my thing.

Anyway, it was a good time!

Boating


On Tuesday, the 30th, we went to Pineview Reservoir with our good friend Becky and Gary. This was the first time that Alex, AJ and Jackson have been boating. They loved it! They did so well, especially since it was such a long day. This was the first time in the babies 26 months of life that they've skipped a nap and they did well! (The next day was payback, but even then it wasn't horrible...)


AJ absolutely loved swimming in the lake. It was fairly cold, but he didn't mind at all. When I tried to get him back in the boat he kept saying, "No boat! I swim! No boat!"

Jackson started the day by sitting absolutely still on someone's lap, with his cap over his eyes, and his hands over his ears. But finally, by the end of the day, he had relaxed and was enjoying himself. He even took a couple of cat-naps on people's laps.

Alex loved every minute of it, and even rode on the tube. He was having so much fun, and asked if we could go again soon.

I hope we can go soon too! Thanks to our wonderful friends for a great time!