We're Back!

So as I mentioned in a previous post, we went to McCall, Idaho for a family reunion last week. We left Monday afternoon and after 7 hours in the car, we arrived at the cabin. Casey has two brothers who own cabins up there.

We went on a hike on Tuesday. The first part of the trail was the Lily Marsh Trail, which was a mile, but we extended the hike to an overlook which was another mile (more rocky and steeper). The first part of the hike was actually more of a walk with LOTS of mosquitoes. Casey and two of his brothers decided to mountain bike on a biking trail, then luckily, they went and got the cars and met us at the overlook. We would not have survived walking back to the cars.

Getting ready to start the trail.

This is the overlook of the lake. (Sorry, I'm not good with remembering names of places).

Wednesday, my sister-in-law had planned some fun games and contests for the kids at a park. They did a 3-legged race, potato sack race, wheelbarrow races (adults participated after the kids - nope, no pictures.), and a bubble gum blowing contest. After the fun, the guys went to get their boats and did some waterskiing and "surfing". The kids stayed to play on the beach.

Shelby finally gave up trying to do the wheelbarrow race the right way. She made up her own way of doing it. (Pulling didn't make it go any better). Casey's niece, Madison, trying to help Shyann. Shyann had a hard time getting Madison across so Grandma ended up helping with one of her legs.Shelby and Shyann trying to do the 3-legged race. They were so funny as they would trip each other and then try to help each other back up. Needless to say, they didn't win.

Chandler doing the potato-sack race.

On Thursday morning, we went on another hike to "Goose Creek Falls". That was quite the trail. Now remember, my kids really only started hiking the week before. That means we did 4 hikes in less than two weeks. (Great motivation if you need kids to go to bed easily.) These falls were pretty, but we didn't actually make it to the lower falls, I guess the trail is stepper and really rocky. We didn't feel safe taking all the kids down that trail. That afternoon most people went waterskiing again. A couple of kids, me and another sister-in-law ended up staying behind.

The Goose Creek Falls (upper)

On Friday afternoon, some of us didn't want to go sit at the beach again so we did some crafts with the kids while the guys went and hit a bucket of balls.

Here they are making keychain-beaded animals.

That night, we had a paper airplane contest. There was a kit with a ton of different plane ideas. I did not even attempt one, I don't follow paper plane instructions very well. I couldn't help most of the kids with the folding instructions. Casey got his made though!

Hiking Anyone?

So a couple of weeks ago, Casey got a "wild hair" to start taking the kids on hikes. I grew up doing hikes all the time and really enjoyed them, but we've never really done many as a family. We took a couple of last minute hikes, one being to Adams Canyon. Apparently there are some beautiful waterfalls in this canyon, but when you decide to go at 7:30 pm, you're not going to make it to the first falls. Oh well, I got some great pictures along the way. Here's just a couple.

Casey and the kids (missing Colby who was already in Idaho) going into the Canyon.

The river in Adams Canyon.

The sun set as we came out of Adams Canyon.

Gonna Be Gone

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. We are spending time in McCall, Idaho this week for a family reunion. I won't be posting until I'm home.
Also been reading "Breaking Dawn" and loving it! I actually had a hard time sleeping that first night because I was obsessing over what was going to happen next. (That's what happened the first time reading "Twilight").

Dinosaurs, Water, & Rides, Oh My!

What a busy week we have had. Monday night we went to Dinosaur Park in Ogden with two of my sisters and my Dad. We had a picnic dinner and then walked around the park. The kids had a great time looking around at the different dinos and then playing in the park. At one point, my brother-in-law took a dirt side trail, while we had the kids go around from the other side, needless to say, they had a great scare. Chandler happened to be first in line and my brother-in-law said he jumped across the path to the fence (wish I'd seen it).

Inside the building they have this animation of a t-rex trying to get to this mom's babies. The sounds scared a few of the kids.
Playing at the playground:

Thursday night, Colby's orthodontist rented the Roy Aquatic Center for his patients. They served a chicken dinner and then we were able to play in the water. It was great being able to spend time with each other.

Friday was our Stake Lagoon Day. We got there as soon as the rides opened at 11 and stayed until 11 pm. I only got a few pictures of it because I had put the camera in the swim bag when we went too Lagoon-a-Beach and when Casey took the bag back to the car, he forgot to grab the camera and put it in our backpack that we carried around the park. Neither of us really wanted to go back to the car to grab it. We had a really fun time! The first ride they went on was "music express" because the Colossus was still opening. I talked Shyann into going on it with me. When we finished, Casey asked if anyone wanted to go on it again and Shyann said "I'll do it!" We were surprised. Of course after a few of the bigger rides, Shyann was ready to spend time in Kiddieland. So when we got off of Tidal Wave, Casey took the others to Rock-o-Plane and the swings while I took Shyann to Kiddieland. We had an awesome time. The girls have a friend that we ran into around 8. Her parents were ready to go home (they only had a non-ride pass) so she hadn't been able to ride too many rides. So we kept her with us the rest of the evening while they went home.

Sitting on the train.

(Shelby, Me & Chandler)

Casey and Shelby on the Wild Mouse (I HATE this ride)!

The kids had a great time and were worn out by the end of the night. That's the goal sometimes, right?

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa's

Sunday night we loaded up the family and headed out to my parents. Casey had to work on Grandma's computer. I took the opportunity of taking some pictures of the kids and the cattails. When I told Chandler I wanted to take some pictures of him by the cattails he said, "Why would someone cut off cats tails?"

Shelby:

Shyann:

Chandler:

Colby:

Enter the Blogging World

I'm going to attempt the blogging world. I'm so excited to be able to share our family memories with all of our friends and family. Hope you enjoy!