Provo River Falls

Provo River Falls- On July 30th we went up to the Provo River Falls, up by Kamas. Holy Cow they are simply amazing. It is such an amazing sight. Thank you Mena, for telling us about it!
Tyler and Jill at the bottom of the Water Falls.
Climbing down to the falls.

Sara was the BRAVE one. She got into the water, and walked over to the other side. The water was ice cold. Tyler tried, but slipped, and was basically soaked. It took him forever to dry off, since it was a cool breezy day.
After the water falls we drove a little ways to Mirror Lake. The drive there was simply breath taking, and we kept passing other lakes, thinking what is so amazing about Mirror Lake, because the others were so beautiful. Well when we got to Mirror Lake I got the answer. IT was simply Beautiful! We are so lucky to have these beautiful creations around us.





After walking around Mirror Lake, we drove home. But before we could get to Provo Canyon, we had a quick stop at Granny's. My kids had never been there before, so we had to go!!!

The shakes are so big, that we all shared 3 different flavors- Snickers, Chocolate Banana, and Rocky Road!!! What a fun day!!

Air Force Base and the Tree House

On July 29th we went up to Roy to have a fun day with Cindy and her kids. We first went to the Air Force base to look around at the air craft. It was so neat to see the planes from the past to the present. They are so big. The boys had a blast running from plane to plane. They all had their favorites.


Nicole and Andrew underneath the plane. It just shows how big they truly are.

Inside the museum they had a kids section, where they could dress up and play in air craft simulators. They had so much fun pretending to be driving the planes.
Sara and Ty made it to their location--- The Moon!!!

Good Luck Nicole!!! Way to get your wings!
Nicole got everyone safely to the moon!

They wanted to try flying again. There were tons of different helmets for the kids to wear. I think Ben chose the best!!! LOL After we visited the Air Force Base, it was time for lunch. Cindy fixed us sloppy joes, a pasta salad, chips, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. We were spoiled!!! And she did it all before we got to her house. She is a wonder women.

Then it was time to go to The Tree House. We didn't know how the older kids would like it, but by the pics below you can see the LOVED it!! The tree house is made up of different themed rooms that the kids can play in, for example a doctors office- there were doctor outfits, babies, Xray machines, tables, ect. These are some of the kids favorite rooms.

Rodeo Time!!!

Nicole at the rodeo.
Ben riding the Bronco, while Ty was the clown.
Where is the Fire??? Here we come!!!
Today Class we will be learning basic addition . . .
The Whole Clan- 12 in all, with one on the way!
Thanks Cindy for having us up for this special day! You are the best!!!

Pioneer Program

Sara and Nicole were asked to sing in a program called the Trek. They sang the song Somewhere theres a Mountain. It was so neat. They sang with a live band. It was such a special day.

Lets Play Music

Sara and Tyler graduated from the Let's Play Music program on July 27th. Many might not know what this is-- it is a music program that helps children learn perfect pitch, piano and voice skills while having fun. You are suppose to start when you are 4, but I had Tyler and Sara take the excelerated class (going through the summer), so that they could enjoy all the benefits of this program.

Tyler started off singing monotone. He stayed on the same note no matter how hard I would try to get him to go up and down. He is an amazing athlete with gross motor skills, but his fine motor skills were struggling. But know that the program is over, he can sing on key, play piano songs (he begins regular piano lessons next week and is able to skip all the primer books), and can do things he other wise would never have had the confidence to do. Sara also improved. She is already taking regular piano classes, but LPM helped her understand theory and techniques easier with the fun ways they teach.

Sara and Tyler for the final assignment had to write a song, and I was very impressed. Tylers of course was titled, Lets play Baseball, and Sara's was called Springtime. Wow! is all I can say about the program!!!
Thanks Melissa for being such a great teacher!!! We love ya!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I hate making decisions. I hate deciding were to go to dinner, or what movie to see. I hate deciding what to cook for dinner, but I think the thing I hate most are the decisions I have to make that affect my kids. I hate having so many different choices and opportunities that are out there and knowing if I pick the wrong thing than I could scar them for life. So this year I had to decide if I leave Sara in public school or do I switch her to a charter school. All of her friends are in public school, but there are programs that the charter school offers that I think will benefit her. Will she be left out if we switch her by the girls in the neighborhood. When I was little my mom didn't have these decisions, there was one school. And it is good we can decide but man it is hard.

Then Tyler got asked to play on a different baseball team, so do we switch??? Do we hurt friends feelings by switching to a better team that will help him get better??? Is it worth it??? It seems like all summer long I have been faced with decisions like this. It would be so much easier if it was between a good thing and bad thing, but when both choices are good with different pros and cons man it can be challenging. I just wish I had a magic ball that told me immediately what to do in situations like this. But I guess I have to be patient and keep praying and hope I make the right choices.

Spanish Fork Reservoir

On Saturday July 25th, we went hiking at the reservoir. We went on the "other" hike. It was cloudy, and so we didn't know if we would go swim or not, but after the hike, we knew we were going swimming. It was so hot!
Ben had fun playing in the sand (rocks). He made many birthday cakes and sang Happy Birday to himself. I love how he says birthday. He is so excited for his birthday that he talks about it all the time.
Grandma brought some rafts for everyone to float it. It was so fun!
Craig was swimming all over, diving down looking at the fish. Tyler is holding a fish. Then Craig took Ben and Ty out for a ride.
We packed a lunch and had a great time swimming, floating, talking, and eating. It was a fun day!

Real Camping

On July 23rd, we started out little vacation. We went campjng at Whiting Campground up Mapleton Canyon. We had to go somewhere close because of Craig's work schedule. Four wheeling was great, and bumpy. Craig and my dads took the kids that morning, and met my mom and I plus Amys kids at the campsite for our camping fun.

Grandma brought l0ts of crafts for the kids to do while there was down time.
It was so hot so we decided to play in the creek to cool off a bit.
Then we had to get some work done- setting up camp.
Ty was still so hot. Which I can't figure out why. He was wearing his LONG SLEEVE BLACK under shirt with a t-shirt over it. We finally convinced him to take off a shirt, but he chose to take off the cooler of the two.
Then it was time for hiking fun.
On the way back we found a small pool of water, and decided to wade our feet to help cool off.
Well Craig decided to dive in, therefore, others followed.





I was actually quite impressed that Ben got completely in, because the water was freezing. Hence why he sad now and can't walk because he was so cold.
After dinner, Sara, Sammie, Craig, Tyler, Jeff, and Nicole put on a skit. Sara and Nicole sang a song, Tyler told a few jokes, and then it was s'mores time.

The next morning Craig made us a yummy breakfast! Thanks for treating us to good food.
After a few more hikes, and the rest of the family four wheeling, and an explosion of other things we decided to go home and get ready for dinner at Ryan Lemon's and to watch the fireworks.