Our Summer Trip Home

Be prepared.  This post has A LOT of pictures!!!

We took a lot of pictures and it was hard to narrow from our 6 week vacation.  But here are some of the highlights... (not in any particular order).

We went and enjoyed the beach at Rigby lake twice during our stay.  This first time we took the boats and Grandpa Dean took everyone for a ride.  The second time we went with Grandma Ellie and focused more on playing int he sand.  It was fun that it was actually hot enough to enjoy wading in the cold water.  

Both My sister Julie (below) and Jason's sister Ana are due with babies the same time as I am.  It was fun to compare our baby bumps and talk about everything baby wise with them.

Jason came to join us in Idaho just in time to run the "Hurdle for Hope."  It is a race to raise money that is then pretty much taken personally to orphanages in Ecuador and Africa and spent to better the lives of  children there.  Jason was actually the one to start this race when working for Gugelman Photography so it was fun to watch it in it's third year.  Jason, his brother Nick, and my brother Brian all ran it.  So Jason's parents and I volunteered to help out at the race and my parents volunteered to watch the kids.  We all had a BLAST!

One of Clair's best friends from Houston's mom... did that make sense :)  We worked together during college at BYU-Idaho.  She was in Idaho visiting her husband's family during the same time we were in Rexburg.  So of course we couldn't resist planning to get together.  Clair and Leslie were in heaven being together all afternoon.

Jason and my dad went on a hike over a pass through the Teton Mountains and ended up on the other side of the mountains at Jenny's Lake.  It was a 25 mile hike!  They had so much fun and even jumped into one of the pools on their way, brrr.  

Brian, my mom, the kids and I drove to Jenny's Lake to meet them with a picnic dinner.  Oh, I love being in the mountains!  We even had a deer walk right past our table as we ate.  So amazing!

One of our mini vacations during our vacation was to a resort up Ogden Canyon at Powder Mountain Lodge.  It was a crazy drive to the top of the mountain but the view out our window was so worth it!

While in Ogden we visited the dinosaur park.  Clair was SUPER nervous with the moving dinosaurs and the sounds coming from hidden speakers.  Once we convinced her they were not real she was very excited to walk around and play.

We were able to go on one hike while up on the mountain top.  It was tricky picking an easy hike the kids could do.  Clair loved running down the hill with Grandpa.  Caleb couldn't collect enough rocks :)

At the destination point of our hike was a dirty little cattle watering hole... they called it hidden lake :)  We weren't going to go swimming in it but we still enjoyed swinging on the rope swing and throwing rocks of all sizes into the water.  It was so peaceful just to sit there and enjoy.

Jason and Brian went indoor surfing.  They did really well for it being their first time.  They were pretty sore the next day, mostly from the falls.  They both said it was totally worth it!

Some of my favorite moments was just sitting and watching my kids interact with the people I love.  Clair was totally Grandma's girl!

Clair and Caleb had Grandpa Van help them build a bird house and paint it.  They were so proud of the houses they built.  

I was able to help throw Jason's sister a baby shower.  Ana's sister in law is also expecting around the same time and so after the shower we all got baby bump pictures together.

Jason and I woke up early one morning and left the kids sleeping to drive to his favorite spot, Falls Creek Falls.  We went without the kids because to really get close to the falls you have to climb down a small cliff and I was not going to do that with kids and I was not going to be left at the top by myself with kids :)  It was so pretty watching the sunrise with Jason as we sat on the rock and listened to the waterfall.  I sure love my man!

We drove up to West Yellowstone with Jason's family.  On the way we stopped at Mesa Falls to take a family picture.  Caleb and Jason found some huckleberries to pick and enjoy :)  Caleb thought it was so neat when Grandma Ellie went exploring with him.

Of course when you stop in Wet Yellowstone you have to stop at the candy shop :)  Clair and Caleb did not argue!

We then enjoyed watching Playmill's play "Beauty and the Beast."  Clair loved watching Belle.

Jason's mom helped me find a white shirt for Caleb and now my two handsome men can wear their matching ties that Grandma Becky gave them for fathers day.

Jason and I were in heaven with the raspberries.  For breakfast we happily walked out to the backyard patch and picked a couple handfuls to have with our breakfast.

Another mini vacation we had was going to Salt Lake with Jason's family.  We stayed at a hotel all together and then had two days of adventure.  

Here we are Sunday night eating our picnic :)

Sunday night we also went down by Temple Square to tour the Conference Center.

On Monday we went to the zoo.  We tried getting a whole family shot of us at the bird show (Jason took the picture)

Caleb, Me, Peter, Clair, Grandma Ellie, Grandpa Van, Aunt Linda, Aunt Gini, Uncle Dusty, and Aunt Ana.

After the show we went down to see a couple of the birds closer.

Here are the kids sleeping in the hotel.  We rolled up blankets and put them under the sheets for dividers.  It worked really well!

beginning of the night...

End of the night :)

Tuesday we went to "This is the Place"  Clair's favorite was riding the horse.  Pour Caleb was sick during this day and so he mostly slept in the stroller.

We planne dour vacation so we could be at my Mom's family reunion and Jason's family runion.  It was amazing to see cousins and how much we have grown up and how many of us have children of our own now!  Our Vacation ended with us going to Jason's Christman family reunion.  The last night Clair and Caleb enjoyed being read to by Grandma and Grandpa.

still more pictures :)

My parent's backyard neighbors had turtles and would put them outside in buckets sometimes.  Caleb loved going over to watch them.

At the beginning of our trip my sister Julie stayed a couple days too.  Clair and Caleb loved playing with their cousin Asher.  

My brother Brian is really into drawing.  Caleb loved getting up by him and drawing too.

Here was what we did on the 4th of July...

We went to Rexburg's 2hour parade!  It was amazing long (the longest they have ever had!)

That afternoon we went up to Jason's parent's house and relaxed.

The kids tried the poppers...

made chalk drawings...

some fireworks...

and scooters.

Playing outside around the house was the kids favorite.  We were outside with no shoes most of the time.

When it was time to be inside the kids loved collecting all the cushions and pillows and then jumping on them.

Caleb tried to learn how to blow a ping-pong ball in the air from Uncle Brian.

I was in heaven with cool enough weather to actually go walking.  We took one early morning walk to the park.

We enjoyed having it rain Idaho style where it was cold and not so much like a bath.

picnics in the backyard were another one of my favorite moments.

My parents recently put in a fire pit in their yard so we tried roasting corn on the cob.  It was SO good!

My parents, Brian, and Jason also took the opportunity and went indoor sky diving.

Being with family was amazing.  I feel so blessed to have such great families.  And two families who work together and make splitting time and sharing time so easy and enjoyable. 

It was defiantly worth being there the 6 weeks!