Palisade Campout!

On Father's Day weekend we headed down to Manti for the famous Mormon Miracle Pageant. We forgot the camera in the car but it was a good time. I loved Manti, it's such a cute little down.
The night before the pageant we camped out with some great friends at Palisades State Park. We have never camped in such a "parking lot" like atmosphere but it turend out to be a GREAT trip. We were right next to a lake that was warm enough to swim in and the kids had a blast. We got there at bout 5ish Friday evening.
First order of business was to blow up the boat. Kalei and Tavita were determined to get that sucker blown up on their own (Kalei is laying down so she could reach the plug to blow in)

Meanwhile Uncle Daryl and Brayden preped the fishing gear

Then we had a crazy pirate wonder into our camp

Tavita and Kalei pausing for a drink (one of the best parts of this trip, these two were total pals, a rarity!)

Daddy taking the kids out on the lake

At first Tavita was excited to go with Uncle Rodney until Rod announced he was rowing to Samoa and Tavita tried to jump ship cause he wanted to stay and go camping. (he eventually settled down)

Kalei LOVED picking all the flowers

Then giving them to Mommy

Beautiful girl, beautiful flowers, beautiful sunset

This girly lived in the water

Her brother would join her occasionaly

Not sure drinking the water was the smartest thing (notice the progession of her clothing, or lack there of a she spent time in the water)

Uncle Rod and Tavita skipping rocks

Proof this handsome little guy was on the trip. Poor kids was still trying to recover from a double whammy of strep and some other killer virus. He'd get a wind, go play for a few minutes then was laid out again.

A couple of posers!

Brayden and Uncle Daryl heading out for a cruise

At around 8:00 the rest of the crew showed up and the kids immediately introduced everyone to the glorious combination of rocks and a lake. (no that isn't Tavita in the front, it's his twin Trent. Even us moms confuse them when we're looking with half an eye. We accidentaly scold each others kids all the time!)

Polynesian blood runs strong in my kids. They NEVER have shoes on (it's a feat just to get clothes on them. bit of a joke in our neighborhood)

Tavita and Trent soon tired of little rocks and moved on to bigger and better

It was an incredible sunset

The campsite didn't have firepits so we smuggled a portable one in. You can't camp and not have smores!

Tavita with his gooey goodness

Brayden chowing down

The next morning Uncle Daryl took all the kids down to the dock while breakfast was being made. The prices to rent these little guys was INSANE, they were perfectly happy just peddling while they were anchored to the dock!

Brayden feeling a bit better and enjoying a nice breakie!

The hard working cooks (Rodney, Junior and Gary, in the background)

Nothing like kicking back in the boat eating breakfast, even better when done naked!

All the kiddos loaded in (this was shortly before Kalei took off streaking through everyones' camp. Any suggestions on how to keep her clothed would be appreciated!

The boys were warming up on the asphalt after swiming and started forming letters. Here's their J

And their T

Daddy and Kalei (she was never taken very far out cause she'd always try to bail out and swim)

Tavita taking Daddy for a ride

Kalei and Maddie were frozen for FOREVER watching a duck. Kalei wanted to go play with it. Maddie just stared it down as if to say, "Don't you dare take a step in my direction!)

Gary found a snake in the water and everyone came running to have a look

As if still having lingering effects of an illness wasn't enough, Brayden managed to rub up against some stinging nettle. We had him take a tip in the cool water to help sooth things a bit. Take a close look at his back. It looked MISERABLE

We spent a good amount of time having some good ol' foot races. Maddie left Rod in the DUST!

The spectators relaxing and taking an occasional dip in the water

Brayden and Adalyn taking of for a race. (even with being sick/stinging nettle his competitive side took over and he left the poor girl in the dust. He needs to learn a gentleman lets a lady win! haha)

Trent would start the races then run a "trophy" to the winner. He was so celebratory as he ran and presented it. HILLARIOUS!

Stewart Falls

In the four years we've lived hear I have heard about Stewart Falls countless times. Finally decided to further initiate ourselves as Utahns and do the hike.
We loaded in van (minus Daryl with and injured hamstring and Brayden with strep) and drove up to Provo Canyon. I've said it before but I LOVE having such beautiful mountians so close to us. The hike turned out to be every bit as gorgeous as everyone said it was.
Only in Utah could you go hiking in June with 80 degree weather and still enconter snow. LOTS of snow. Got a bit scary at time. There was times where the snow was so deep there was no trail just a steep snow field that you had to slowly work your way across. There was also still downed trees covering the trails. Kalei was NOT a fan of those. She was in the backpack carrier and everytime we climbed over/under/through the trees she freaked out a bit.

Beautiful scenery with a cute kid in heaven playing in nature's playground

The falls from a distance

More of the incredible scenery

Falls upclose

Taking a break for a fun dip

Please not all the branches and rocks sticking out of the snow. People were sking
(minus the skis) down this sucker. There was even a guy belly sliding without a shirt!

The hiking crew

What poor Brayden was doing while we were playing

There was still so much snow taht even though the falls were flowing freely you couldn't see the river underneath. There was a glacier like sheet of snow still over it. There was a little natural ice cave you could climb through, cross the river and come out the other side.

Going to the light at the end of the tunnel

Standing where the river should be

Playdough Cookies

Looking for something fun to do with your kids?
My kids LOVED these. It's everything good in life.The LOVE playing with playdough (I HATE the clean up) At first they were really confused why I was baking the playdough, even though I told them it was cookie dough they couldn't comprehend it. Once they sank their teeth into one of these babies they were hooked.
Total blast to make, delicious to eat (and you don't have teh smashed playdough everywhere to clean up afterwards

Brayden workin on a catepillar

Tavita wih his monster

Kalei and her "flawar"

If you want to make your own batch of these bad boys go here: http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2011/06/introduction-rainbow-cookies-and.html
Make em, you won't regret it and your kids will love you!
Had to end with this picture. It totally depicts the relationship these two share. Brayden ADORES his little sister and is always looking out for her. Kalei totally looks up to her big brother and has even started calling him "Mommy Brayden" the past couple days. We temporarilymoved Kalei in with her brothers while we had family here and that situation has turned permanent. Whe is absolutely unconolable if we try to get her to sleep on her own. That night she had ben having a hard time sleeping, I had put her in her bed several times. Came in to check on her and found this. Such a sweet moment for me!

*Two questions that might be going through your head right now
1. Yes, that is straight food coloring on Kalei's chin. She LOVES it, and gets into it whether it's off the spoon I used to scoop the color out or out of the container itself. All that artifical coloring can't be good for her and I try my best to keep it out of her reach, but she always somehow winds up covered in it.
2. Yes, Kalei dresses herself (hence the dress and hoodie while sleeping) day and night. I finally hid all her winter clothes so that way even though she never matches she's at least dressed for the elements!

Doin' the Dirty

Finally catching up on blogging here. At the beginning of July we did the Dirty Dash with a group of family/friends. It is by far the most fun 5K out there and aas an added bonus the proceeds are for a good cause.
The "Dirty Mammas" ready to kick some booty!

The ever so animated "Dirty Old Men"

The whole group gearing up to go!

Taking a break from the race to give some hugs

Brayen was a good sport about the whole thing

Tavita on the other hand was not amused

The dirtiest group in the race!

We are one good looking couple

After we finished our race the kids had the opportunity to take part in the Piglet Plunge. It included the best parts of the race. The giant inflatable slip n slide and the muddy pools/dirt hills.

Wading through the muck!

These kids were troopers. They had such a determined look on their face the whole time.

Brayden splashing down. This kid is a track star, he was always ahead of the pack.

Can't make it to the finish line without a little wrestling match.

We did it!!!

Muddy Buddies!

Our best family pic ever. We were so coated in mud we couldn't open our eyes.

Tavita trying to crack his face.

Hiking the "Y"

This past Memorial Day we decided to turn last years activities into tradition. Only problem is we have been having HORRIBLE weather. We have been recieving insane amounts of rain, as in never in the 150+ years they've been tracking weather they have never seen anything like it. We knew the weather was supposed to be horrible on Monday so we decided to hike the "Y" on Saturday instead. Our good friends and neighbors, the Halls, joined us. It's always an enjoyable hike with a beautiful view.
Didn't get too many pictures for some reason but the hiking crew was Luke and Erin Hall, their 4 crazies (Emma, Jeremy, Bree, and Brooke), Us with our 3 crazies, Rodney and Bowzer.
Erin helping Brooke release her pocketful of "pookie pookies" (rolie polies) she faithfully packed all the way to the top.

My hot hubby and me

The kiddos were all troopers and did great hiking! (Just not so great posing for a picture)

On Monday we had freezing rain, hail and sleet so thought our 2nd annual cul-de-sac bbq would be moved indoors. We were set to begin at 5:30 and miraculously at 4:30 the skies seriously went from torrential rains to beautiful blue skies. It was a VERY welcomed thing as we had encountered a pretty major house catastrophe, (more on that later, turned out not being as bad as we thought but now have 1/2 the drywall cut off from the outer wall in the basement and we have a whole to the outside behind our cabinets.) Anyway, between the FREEZING weather and the house ordeal I was ready to pound in the "For Sale" sign and leave. Luckily by the time 5:30 rolled around it was beautiful weather, the grills and tables were pulled out to the middle of the circle and the festivities began. After the bbq and LOTS of laughing and playing we all headed to the Shorts' house for a fun movie night. It was just what the doctor ordered to remind me how much we love where we love and lucky we are to have such wonderful neighbors!
I am so grateful to all those that have lost their lives fighting so we can enjoy the freedoms we have and live the peaceful lives we do.

LeiLei turns 2!!!

So pretty far behind on blogging here, whats new right! Anyway, on May 22nd our little firecracker of a princess turned 2!
Few stats:
Height- 35 1/2" (90%)
Weight- 24.6 lbs (10-25%)
Head- 50 cm (over 95% big heads is the common theme with my kiddos!)
She our tall little stringbean and can't seem to keep her full. She eats non-stop but is obviously putting it somewhere)
Few fun facts:
Favorite foods: smoothies, Costco Chicken, blueberries, juice and ICE CREAM!
Movie: Cinderella
Book: Cinderella
Toy: Baby dolls and Cinderella (starting to notice the obssesion?)
Cereal: Captian Crunch (only gets it once a week, other favorite breaky is oatmeal&blueberries)
Activity: Anything outside. Especially swinging, slides, and bubbles
Animal: Cats (meows), horses, dogs, birds, you name it!
Kalei is full of personality and life is never dull with her around. She knows what she wants and will fight to get it. No matter where she is she can find something to explore and discover (makes for A LOT of clean up). She loves to walk around the house singing and dancing. Her brothers adore her and put up with her bullying (yes she bullys them rather then the other way around). She loves to laugh and be around people. Despite how "intense" she can be around other people, she is an absolute sweetheart around babies. She loves to mother then, sing to them, rock them etc. We love having LeiLei in our family and can't imagine it anyother way!
Blowing out the candles on her "Mousecakes" for breakfast!

Kalei played with this cake all day and was so excited to be able to take her "Rella" stuff down to play with.

Getting excited while everyone sang!

The best part of the cake is the turrets made for killer ice cream cones!

The party crew (thanks to the Halls, Shorts and Beasleys for celebrating with us!)

The final two kicking back, enjoying life!

Leilei in heaven! She was a disaster by the time she was done!

Opening her presents!

She is in love with her new baby and stroller. Loves to push her baby around and add more and more stuff on top of baby

Don't forget to check out our Disney post below. I started it a week ago but am just getting it up now!