Summer is the Best--Part III

I went to YW camp this summer.  Although it was amazing, I didn't take any pictures...I do have some "selfies" from the Young Women taken with my phone, but I figure they don't want me to post their selfies on my blog. 

*Note: I was only using my phone for the camera and the clock.  There was no service up there...this is important because phones weren't allowed.  And apparently I wasn't even using the camera...so I guess it was just a very large watch...

I did the girls hair in a lot of braids so Trevor and the babysitter wouldn't have to worry about their hair.  It took longer than I thought, so Ashley's braids are bigger since I had to leave and didn't have time to make her braids tiny.

Braids:

After the braids:

We took a second trip to Utah this summer that was FULL of fun..each and EVERY day.  We went for a couple reasons:  Trevor was going on a fishing trip to Yellowstone with some guys (so I wasn't invited) and I figured we should visit Grandma and the attractions in Utah.  And I needed to drop off the kids at my mom's so she could watch them while Trevor and I went on a little trip...to be posted later.

We did so many fun things.  I had bought the kids a "Pass of All Passes" which is a pass to a whole bunch of fun places in Utah.  And it was only $10 for a year!  Actually $30, but then you get to chose a $20 gift certificate to one of the places they list on their website...I digress.

We went to the Trafalga's.  These pictures are of the Lehi Trafalga.

Hailey and Ashley REALLY liked the rock climbing.  Jason wouldn't try it because he was busy playing on the slides.

Tyler tried it...I think it scared him to get higher than this...

 We went with the Howard's (Aunt Saralyn and Uncle Sam and cousins) and Grandpa and Grandma.  The kids loved the time they spent with their grandparents and cousins!!

Hailey in the go-cart.  I just think they're a little weird about the rules these days.  I got to drive when I was her age.

I met with some friends one morning for a picnic breakfast.  I have such fond memories with these girls from high school.  We missed the rest of The Collective!!

We went and visited Trevor's sisters.  Briana bought a house in Murray and Britta was visiting.  Her house is beautiful!  I only got to see Scott for like 3 minutes before he had to leave for work.  But I DID see the amazing things he's done to their back yard!  It looked so good and he wasn't even finished yet!  It was so great to talk with Briana and Britta while the kids ran wild in her house.  I wished I had taken some pictures...

We stopped by Scheels when we were driving past one day.  They have a ferris wheel INSIDE the store.  It's huge.  All the kids wanted to go on the ferris wheel, except Jason--who I FORCED on the ferris wheel.  I knew he'd like it if he tried it.  He did.  He LOVED it!  That eased my guilt.

That weekend Mike and Alicia came to Orem to go to a wedding. We went to the Orem Trafalga.  I secretly want my kids to be best friends with the cousins their age.  It's working like a charm!

Tyler and Trevor got mustache's with their game winnings.

If you haven't read the two previous posts, those are new today.  I have to stop for today to pick up kids from school, but there will be more Summer posts to come!  Maybe not until after the Labor Day weekend though--we have more fun plans :)

Summer is the Best--Part II

When I think of summer fun, I think of pouring concrete...don't you?  But actually, it was kind of fun.  Considering a lot of it was mostly watching my hot husband do most of the work.  10 yards of concrete!!  To many of you, that means nothing. It's not 10 yards long, but actually 10 cubic yards (I think). To those who know the construction lingo, that's a whole truck full of concrete...all poured for one and a half (the half is me) people to do all that work.  Seriously folks, he's amazing.

Here it is all formed and ready to go.  Trevor did all the work and I helped shoot some heights with the transit.  That means I sit there and look in a little telescope and read numbers to Trevor off of his measuring pole...easy for me.  I also tied some rebar.  That's a good time.  I seriously recommend everyone learn to do this.  It maybe a dying skill since they have fiberglass fibers in the cement these days--which they say are millions of little "rebar"...but Trevor wants to make sure his work will last--so we used both fiberglass and rebar. 

We poured a sidewalk and a base for our basketball hoop--the base took 3 of the 10 yards by itself! During this summer fun, I was a raking fool (as in: an amazing raker--is that a word?)  I also helped with the edging...Trevor did the rest.

 Wouldn't it be awesome if I had some "after" pictures?  Well, I don't.  And I'm too lazy to go take one right now.  I'll post some house pictures in a different post, and although there's not a good one of the concrete--you can see there's some there.  For now, use your imagination--and take my word for it, it looks amazing.


Later that day...after pouring concrete...we went to the parade.

Now, the fourth of July isn't just a one day holiday around here.  More like a 3 day party.  The parade is on the 2nd every year because it begins the weeks celebrations.  It's so much fun.  There are rodeos every night with fireworks to follow (REALLY good shows that you can see from our deck), awesome activities for kids and adults, a little swap meet kind of thing where people sell their goods, and if you're into the drinking scene--there's PLENTY of that going on.  We aren't, but Trevor gets a lot of emergency calls due to drunken falling/fighting, etc. Good times.  My husband's a genius because he set up the shade for us and brings a dry ice cooler full of popsicles to enjoy (and share).  It was over a 100 degrees that day.  That's hot for where we live :)

We have rabbits.  Not pet rabbits, but pest rabbits.  SO many rabbits.  The kids caught three baby (adolescent) rabbits and wanted to keep them.  I let them hang around in a box in the garage for a couple days while they fed and named them. Finally I told the kids we should let them go.

Ashley gets attached to things, and I thought she may cry herself to sleep for the next couple of days (weeks) so I was worried what this might bring on.  But after I read some things on the internet to her about how wild rabbits get stressed and don't eat well when they're in a box, she decided we needed to let them go RIGHT AWAY. So we took them down the street a couple miles and let them go.  Look, Ashley's even happy :)

 The rabbits had it too easy the last couple of days, they needed some encouragement...or a foot nudge...

 Ashley still catches rabbits every day.  I'm pretty sure it's the same rabbit.  I'm happy she doesn't ask to keep it, though.

We took swimming lessons.  Since I'm a good mom, and I take so many pictures--this is all I've got: Jason's class talking about safety rules before they get in the pool.  Swimming lessons really were great, though!!

We took a few hikes this summer.  This trail is nearby our house that is a perfect hike for kids.  Not too long or steep, but not a short and groomed trail either.  They love it.

What is it about your children holding hands that melts your heart?  I had to take a picture.

There isn't just a Part I and II to my "Summer is the Best" series.  So stay tuned...again...

Summer is the Best--Part I

This summer I went to a church Youth Conference in Helena with the youth from my church.  I can't tell you how much I love these girls.  They're so much fun to hang out with.  We had a LOT of fun.  

Some of the youth and I stayed at Trevor's uncle (and aunt's) house in Helena. They were a "host family".  I always have a lot of fun hanging out with them--they're barely older than us, and I just REALLY like both of them.  I fully took advantage of the time with them and kept them up until 2 a.m. each night (morning) talking their ears off. Trevor's aunt is the YW president in their ward, so I got to hang out a lot during the days with her, too!

These are some of the amazing YW--we stopped for lunch on the way...always time for a little food and fun...

This is during our service project one of the days.

We had a lot of fun with service projects, games, the dance, testimony meetings, and talks from several youth leaders/stake presidency members.  It was an amazing weekend.



This town is the coolest place.  One of the banks here had a carnival one Saturday, so we decided to take the kids to it.  They had games, face painting, food, etc. What cute faces!  Tyler didn't partake in the face painting fun.  I guess he's too old for that... :(

The duck race was part of the carnival.  It was really fun to see the kids run along the banks chasing the ducks.  None of our ducks won.  I think we should've received a prize because we were one of only two families that came to watch the race.

The finish line...

Stay tuned...there will be lots more summer fun pictures to come!