Vacation Days 11-14

We spent a few days hanging out at my parent's house, letting the kids play with their cousins.  We also did some school shopping.

This is Ashton with his size 9 men's shoes......he was only 9 at the time we bought these..... I think I am going to be in trouble later.

One day we meet most of Jake's brothers and sisters for a fun day at the Treehouse Museum  in Ogden and then dinner at 5 Guys.

Erick, Nathan, Jake, Lexie, Ryker, and Heather (with her back to the camera)

Our kids outside the place.

Being firemen,

Nice catch!

Let me make you something

They built a birdhouse.

The art center.

Most of the cousins

Nathan, Kirsten, Maren, Erick, Jake  (BJ was missing)

All of the cousins who were there that day.

And Ashton of course found a baseball horse for a picture. 

Vacation Days 6-10

Last year we went on a bunch of hikes and trails and had so much fun it was the one things the kids said that they wanted to make sure we did.  More hiking.  The first place we went was Bridal Veil Falls.  My parents came along and we had a picnic.

playing in the trees and along the Provo River at the picnic spot. 

Fun along the trail.

At the base of the falls

We all got our feet wet.  The water was ice cold.

It is an easy hike, we had a fun day.

A few days later we decided to take on a little harder hike. We hiked to Doughnut Falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  I had done this once before but it was a long time ago.   I didn't remember the trail being so long or hard.  Lisa and her boys came with us as well as my parents so we had quite the group.  We still had a good time, but were disappointed that when we got to the base of the falls it was too hard for everyone but Ashton and Jake to go up and see the "doughnut".

Vacation Days 1-5

We left for Utah on the 25th of July.  We made the drive in 2 days which is hard but what I prefer to do.  It's bad either way, but at least this way you get it over with faster.
To break up the monotony of the drive we try and stop at rest stops and other fun places along the way.  This time we stopped at the Lincoln memorial on I80 in Wyoming.

These two pics are from a rest stop right on the Wyoming/South Dakota border.  At least I think that's where it was. :]

Lincoln Memorial

Playing around in the visitors center.

Myles loved all of the taxidermies animals.

We made it to Utah even though for a while it didn't feel like we would ever get there after running into major construction in Wyoming.  

One of the first things we did in Utah was go to the Aquarium.  It was a lot of fun, we had only been there once before but rushed through it because Jake wasn't feeling well.  This time we took our time and had a great time.  

Looking at cool stuff.

Myles refused to join the rest of the family for this picture.  He was busy playing on the other whales. 

The shark tank.  

Walking on the rope bring.  Thankfully Jake went and helped Myles across because he freaked out at the last minute and wouldn't go across or let Lexie help him.  

In front of the trash sculpture.  It was really cool. 

Trying to touch the rays.  

July Happening (before vacation)

Baseball fans! 

 Our new next door neighbor happened to be on Ashton's team and his dad was one of the assistant coaches.  We have gotten to know them pretty well and the kids play together a lot.   These two boys look up to their big brothers and are also some of their biggest fans.  Usually Abbie is right there with them, but on this night she was busy at a wedding reception.  This was in preparation for the late game.  

July saw baseball season come to a sad end.  But it did afford a teaching/learning experience about how sports are unpredictable and it's okay to lose.  Ashton's team was favored to win the end of the season tournament.  Unfortunately, fate was not kind to these boys.  In a combination of late games and tough calls.  They were the second team eliminated from the tournament.  There were lots of tears after the final game.  They boys had a great season and learned a lot.  Baseball still rules!

Pep talk before the big game.

Let's go Red Wings!

Nice hit!

This picture isn't from that final tournament, but it is one of my favorites from this season.

We also did some non baseball things..  Shocker I know.

We had a primary activity at Hok-sa-La.  (this was the only picture I really took)  But we had a fun time.  

We spent a lot of time in our neighbor's pool.  That is the best way to have a pool!  So much fun.

We also spent one day at the Reid's playing and swimming.

Then we left for vacation.  Lots to tell about that.  But that will be for another day.