A SUMMER AT A GLANCE

June 11, 2008~HAILEY'S BIRTHDAY

We spent Hailey's birthday at the cabin with Bryan's family. We had so much fun riding four wheelers, climbing the tree house, and eating lots of food!

June 11-June 15, 2008~FAMILY CONFERENCE

One of my girl's favorite things to do is to swing!

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grand kids!

Grandma and the girls!

June 28, 2008

Family Featherville Trip

We love to go to Featherville every chance we get! We feel so blessed to be able to go to the cabin, and spend some quality time as a family. Every time we go we have endless hours of fun playing in the streams, and four wheeling around the ranch!

Amber and daddy getting ready to go through the tube at the culvert! I never caught a picture of Amber doing it by herself ...I always remembered my camera as she was going through with daddy.

Amber and Daddy coming out of the tube on the other side.

Hailey swimming in the culvert.

Amber and Hailey thought it was so funny to see how much mud they could cake on themselves after playing in the water!

Hailey and Amber posing with muddy hands!

After swimming for many hours in the culvert, my girls had some more fun swimming in the stream.

Amber running through the water!

The three of us posing for a picture!

The three of us posing some more!

Jacob and Daddy were the ones catching the girls on photo...they decided that it was time to catch them in action as well. (Bryan taking a photo of himself and Jakey.)

June 18, 2008~JACKSON HOLE

We went to Jackson with my mom to get fireworks for the 4th of July, and we decided since we were there we should enjoy what Jackson had to offer. Our first stop, was at the Jackson Stagecoach Company. We went on a stagecoach ride around the metropolis of Jackson Hole, Wyoming--my girls had a fabulous time!

Our second stop was the Alpine Slide! We got to ride on the ski lift to the top of the mountain, and then slide down on the mountain! We had so much fun that we wanted to do it again, but our pocketbook couldn't handle the cost.

Here is Piper (Hailey's cousin and best friend) getting ready for her big slide. She was a bit nervous!

Here is Hailey preparing for launch! Hailey and Piper were very careful the whole way down-Amber and I had to keep encouraging them to go faster.

Amber was so excited to be riding with me! She had no fears! She kept insistently begging me to drive faster and faster! It got really hard to go faster when there were two sweet kids in front of us without similar motives. Amber let them know they were going too slow.

July 1, 2008~LAGOON

Every summer it is a tradition to go to Lagoon with Bryan's family. This summer was no exception. We had such a great time with our family!

Jacob on his first ride!! We weren't sure how he would handle the rides, but by the time the day was over, he was having a fabulous time!

Hailey and Amber on the swings!

Jacob and Hailey on the little cars.(Hailey humored us by going on the "kiddie rides", so that we could have some good quality "family time".) She was really excited to finally get on some of the "big kids rides".

Ava Mae on the planes!

Hailey, Jacob, and Amber on the planes!

I finally took a break with Hailey, and we went on the "big kid" swings!

Jacob and Daddy!

We arrived at Lagoon as the doors opened , and we left as the doors closed. We even spent some of our time at Lagoona Beach soaking up some sun. So, as this picture depicts, Amber had a right to be extremely tired! We started our drive home around 10:30 p.m., and we didn't arrive in Boise until 4 a.m. (We had to stop and sleep on the way.)

July 8, 2008~HAILEY DONATES TO LOCKS OF LOVE

Hailey really wanted to donate her hair to locks of love. She had been talking about it for a while. She had a friend in preschool who had alopecia, and I think she had always thought that someday she would donate to help her friend. I wasn't as sure as Hailey was about donating, but I am so grateful to Hailey for her sweet example, and her willingness to serve! She is such a special girl!

This is how Hailey's hair looked before the big cut! The hair dresser kept measuring over and over again, because she wanted to make sure she wasn't cutting more than she needed to cut. I was grateful!

This is right before Hailey's hair was cut. The hairdresser had to put Hailey's hair in a ponytail in order to cut it. (Hailey was really excited the whole time!)

Here is a picture of how Hailey's hair looked after she was all done! Hailey was excited the entire time! She was really happy that she was sharing something with someone else. I can't say that I was entirely tear free the whole time, but I was proud of her!

July 25, 2008~Cabin

Our favorite thing to do during the summer is to go to the cabin. Every once in awhile we get a chance to invite others to enjoy in our blessings. This summer we were able to invite the Pruett family to the cabin. We had a great time! We feel so blessed to have so many great friends!

Amber, and Brooklyn always wanted to ride together, so poor Vaughn got to take a lot of kids with him on the four wheeler. It was fun to see Brooklyn and Amber being such great friends!

Heather and I cruising the ranch!

Amber, Brooklyn, Jackson, Jacob, and Hailey posing for a picture!

August 8, 2008~Kids Triathlon

Both of our girls really wanted to compete in the kids triathlon held in Emmett, Idaho. We heard about it at swimming lessons, and as soon as our girls caught wind of it...they really wanted to compete. We were not so sure Amber would be able to compete, but she was extremely insistent that she was capable, and after several begging sessions--we conceded and allowed her to enter. They swam 25 meters, rode a bike for .75 miles, and ran for .5 miles. We were so proud of them both for simply finishing the race.

This was a picture taken right before they were about to swim 25 meters. It was so fun to see both of our girls excel in this area! They had each kid jump in the water one at a time, and then they would allow the next kid to proceed when the first kid had a head start in the pool. When it was Hailey's turn to swim, she caught up to the little boy who had jumped in prior, and almost passed him. When it was Amber's turn, all the life guards were ready to jump in to help (they kept commenting on how little she was), but Amber did fantastic! She swam like a pro!

This was a picture taken after the girls had finished the race. They both got little medals, which was extremely exciting!

August 14-16, 2008 ~ Featherville

Day 1

We have been able to go with my sister to the cabin now for three years running. We have a fabulous time every time we go! This year we spent our first day hanging around the cabin, playing in the stream, culvert, tree house, and riding four wheelers!

Hailey getting her feet wet in the stream by the cabin.

Jacob getting his feet wet!

Amber getting more than her feet wet!

Every time we would drive our four wheelers through the stream the kids would beg to get off and play. It was really hot, so it must have felt nice to get wet (even in their clothes)!

Jacob's favorite thing to do is to throw rocks, so when the girls were playing in the tree house, Jacob spent his time throwing rocks, and playing in the dirt.

Here Jacob finds himself in the dirt once again! (Not much of a surprise!)

Danner and Amber peering at me from the tree house.

The tree house is so much fun, but it can be scary too! The ladder to get up into the tree house is that board with the metal pegs. One of the pegs wobbles. My father-in-law built the tree house a couple of summers ago (with the help of all the other men in the family). He did a fabulous job, and the kids love it! It is such a fun thing for the kids. My girls love to play like they are Jack and Annie from the Magic Tree House Series. They told Grandma Jo that they needed books in the tree house, so they could go on adventures. I am not quite sure if she believes them or not. I am getting more comfortable with my kids being in the tree house, because they are getting better at safety precautions.

Hailey holding on to the "ladder" of the tree house! Fun times!

Day 2 ~ Boat

The second day of our excursion was spent on the boat. We had such a great time skiing, and tubing! My sister was so kind to have brought her boat, so we could spend some time on the water!

Amber was hilarious! She would constantly signal for us to go faster; however, when we did speed up, she would start getting scared and want to get off. One time I was on the tube with her, and I kept trying to convince her to not hold up her finger; however, my efforts were to no avail...she soon was able to get her signal across that she wanted to go faster, and not even 10 seconds after the increase in speed she wanted to get off.

Hailey and Easton were definitely crazy tubers! They let Uncle Dave do just about anything. In fact, sometimes we would look back to see the two of them taunting Dave for more. One time (thinking it would be funny) they both jumped off of the tube! They said it was so much fun; however, I didn't see either of them do it again!

Hailey was a little bit nervous about getting up on skis. Dave got in the water with her to help her get started, and after that she seemed like a natural. Amber also tried to get up on skis. She was so close to succeeding, but I think it exhausted her--after the second time trying she decided to take a rest before she tried again.

This is Hailey's second time on skis. She had to concentrate hard! We were so proud of her for trying!

Bryan amazes me while he wake boards. I love to watch him!

This is Bryan clearing the wake. I wish I would have gotten a better shot! It was way fun to watch! My sister and brother-in-law also showed great talent on a wake board; however, I was a different story entirely. I was thrilled when I managed to stay on top of the water for more than a minute without a major crash. I could never figure out which foot to put forward, so I spent a great deal of time switching feet while I was up. I had no idea how I was managing to switch my feet back and forth, but every time my edge caught...well, let's just say that my face became acquainted with the water! Actually, I feel this trip was probably one of my best experiences on a wake board. I was thrilled to stay up as long as I did (which still wasn't that long, but longer than I ever had).

Jakey was so fun on the boat! He was a good sport cheering on everybody else as they took turns getting in the water. He also rode on the tube for awhile, and he was hilarious. I kept thinking he was going to get upset, but all he ever did was throw his head back and laugh. In fact, while he was in the tube the girls wanted to go faster, so we put Jacob back in the boat, and he threw a fit that he wasn't in the tube anymore. He was really funny!

Jacob also liked to play in the water a lot. Every time we stopped the boat to change from tube to wake board, or ski, etc... He would insistently point at the water and want to swim. He had some good times swimming with his sisters and daddy.

Day 3 ~ Culvert

One of our favorite things to do while at the ranch (Featherville) is to swim in the culvert. We love to ride through the tube, jump off the tube, and swim in the water hole. It's quite a novelty actually!

Hailey jumping off the tube!

Jumping off the tube is loads of fun! Hailey, Amber, and Easton did this for what seemed like forever. By the time I remembered to get my camera out, they were done jumping. I could only convince Hailey to go off one more time!

Danner, Ava, and Bryan riding through the tube! (Ava doesn't look too happy, but usually this is a huge success!)

Riding through the tube is a huge process! We first block off the front of the tube with boards, so that when we remove the boards, there is a lot of pressure built, and the person going through the tube goes much faster with the pressure.