She's on WHEELS! Just TWO OF THEM!

I never would have guessed that this would be the summer for Erika to learn to ride a bike, but she did!!  Noah deserves ALL the credit for that.  They worked on it several evenings before coming up with the finished product.  I have videos of her riding in the dark, the day they showcased it.  It was so late at night you can hardly see... that's how hard they worked!  She is really good!  She was happy to get her own bike a few days later.  She learned how to brake on our bike ride to 7-11.

Independence Day

We were so excited for the parade this year, after the surprise water fight last year, we were all geared up for it.  We invited Heidi and John which was really nice since Nate was working, we had a few extra hands to help out.  Found THE PERFECT place to park at the Kung Fu Gourmet and then were able to sit right above our car, on the grass, to watch the parade.  Doesn't get better than that!  John went in and bought some egg rolls just in case they wanted us to be customers to park there.  We were cooking through most of the parade, luckily I'd brought enough water, and food to keep everyone happy.  They LOVE catching the Frisbees and Otterpops, picking up taffy off the ground.  It was a lot of fun.  I was bummed that Jack didn't really get into it all- he did enjoy it from a distance- but he'd had a rash on his tummy that morning, so he was doped up on Benedryl.  He did sit and cuddle with me most of the time and that was a nice trade off.  We all enjoyed his trying to get John's attention and slapping his knees to show him stuff- that was adorable.  The kids had fun, we loved the water fight, even ran into Sherice and Kambree.  Jack sure wasn't interested in getting wet!  He was screaming "NO! NO! NO!" at me just at the thought of walking out into the road.  Kinda cute.  We kept him dry somehow.  Everyone else was drenched.  Felt so good after sitting there in the heat.  I'm convinced that's why they have it later in the day.  And to not compete with Centerville and West Bountiful's parades.
After the parade, we brought John home (he had a really bad headache) and then went out to get some Snow cones.  We waited in line for about an hour, but we got our snow cones!  Came home and basically just enjoyed the air conditioned house for most of the day.  Watched a little of the World Cup too.  It was a nice day.  I was glad to have Nate home for part of the day.  We got a little housework done and cleaning for the party the next day.
We went over to our neighbor's house for fireworks.  Nate had to leave shortly after they began and missed most of the excitement.  I think that was about the freakiest fireworks display I've ever witnessed.  Things shooting out all over the place, hitting garages, old people, minivans and boats... not safe at all.  I don't think we'll be going to those ones next year.  We like Todd's display better.  He seems to take more safety precautions as well.  Anyway- it was fireworks.  The kids enjoyed it.  We listened to hours and hours of fireworks all night long.  Long night.  7-4-14

One day I'm going to make a collage of all my pictures like this one, the backs of my kids in front of the Fire Truck in the parade :).  I don't know why I love it, but I do.  However, Jack is missing from the picture... bummer. (sidenote: Erika's cute pigtails done by her big sister, Kelly, make me happy)

These two will die when they find out I posted this one :).  I think it's good enough :).

Logan Temple

On the way home from camping, we stopped to get a picture of the Logan Temple.  I love this temple!  It's so magnificent.  It's right up there with Manti and Salt Lake for me.

Camping with the Idaho Maynes'

CAMPING WITH THE IDAHO MAYNES'
We got to go up to Idaho, just east of Preston to camp with Rob and Heather and their family.  It's a lot of fun to get together with them.  Our families get along so well.  Nate and Rob took a lot of the kids fishing during the day both days we were there, Heather, Rachel, Erika, Jack and I held down the fort.  Played Garbage, talked, played in the water, even had a fun water fight :).  Good times. They caught about 6 fish the whole time we were there.  I loved watching Nate smoke the four they caught the first night, on top of the wood over the fire- he really knows what he's doing- it was really good!  Didn't even have any real seasonings or foil or anything fancy to cook with.  Somewhat reassuring for when the world comes to an end.  jk.  Bradley caught a fish the next day and cooked his himself and then ate the whole thing himself :).  He was pretty proud of it.  Why didn't I get pictures of the fish?!  Darn it.  The kids enjoyed exploring, going on the little hike across the dirt road.  Most of the kids said that their favorite part was the little hike we went on up to this big spring.  It was really nice and pretty refreshing.  I wish Jack could walk a little faster is all :).  Poor Hannah and Bradley both rubbed up against the Stinging Nettle while we were there, which- with how much there was around our campground and everything, that's pretty darn lucky.  I'm sure they didn't think so.  We played Mafia around the campfire, made woofums on their stick biscuit sticks, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, did our tie dye shirts.  Sat around (my favorite part :) ).  And just had a lot of fun visiting.  We decided this needs to be a tradition for our two families.  I'm looking forward to it!  6-1-14/6-3-14

You'll notice this little photo-bomber in many pictures :).  Here's Jake :)

The beginning of our hike up to the spring.

I can hear Grandpa Russ singing, "Follow me boys, follow me...." when I look at this picture.

Jake :)

Kelly and Charity enjoyed finding places to pose for pictures :).  

This makes me laugh.

Jack kept finding rocks and holding onto them for dear life.  this big one was a little more than he could truck around after a while, but he sure tried to make it his!

We love these guys!  Stinks that they live so far away.

Luke had fun posing too.

This was Charity and Kelly rapping... almost as good as a video of you scroll fast :)

We played a LOT of cards :).  Lots of fun.  They introduced us to Garbage and Hearts.

We introduced them to KENT.

What a great picture!

We were lucky to be right next to this little creek, Jack was able to throw rocks in it to his little heart's content.

We all enjoyed playing in it.

Even covered in dirt this face is still adorable.  

Erika and Heather really hit it off during this camp out.  Heather made a fun game to keep Erika entertained.  She wasn't too shy and looked at her and responded, it was wonderful!

now that's appetizing

See!  Total buds :)

I think this is one of my most favorite faces of Nates :).  Makes me smile.

oh, the hatchet... good times :) HA!

I love that my kids all know how to start fires with the flint and steel.

Another favorite.  I LOVE these two pictures of him... they're going to be printed for sure.

These two are hilarious.