Summer Recap {a long post}

I like to get the kids an end of school year gift... this year I decided on this huge inflatable ball from Costco.... just wanted them to have something to play outside.  It was fun for awhile (until it split at the seam and couldn't be repaired)

The boys also got new battery operated squirt guns.

The first weekend of summer, we went hiking on the Dixie hill.  I had accidentally left my phone at home, so I have no pictures to share... while we were gone hiking, my van window was broken and my purse was stolen.  Not a very good start to our summer.

 Brenner joined the summer swim team.  He had practice 4 days a week for an hour and attended 2 swim meets.

We tried to have weekly outings with our friends.  This is the first one... to Ivins reservoir. (We only ended up going there twice)

 

Another outing was the skim park.  The boys have a good time there.

We went camping at Tropic reservoir with Lucas and his family, Grandpa and Grandma Blake and Craig Degen's family.

 We bought passes to 7 peaks, so we headed up north.  We went to a park in Daybreak.  We also went to a BBQ and saw lots of friends from our Oquirrh Park neighborhood.

 The boys had a blast at Lowes with their cousins.

Another friend outing to Veyo Pool.  We spent as much time swimming as we possibly could this summer.  We also went swimming a lot at a lady's house in Ivins.  She would let us use her pool every Wednesday afternoon.

 For the 4th of July, we went to Kanarraville.  Our theme for the parade was "America is Sweet"

 For the evening, we headed back to Ivins and set off fireworks at Grandma and Grandpa Blake's house.

 On July 9th, my sweet mom passed away.  She had been battling cancer for 5 years.  Her body just couldn't fight it any more.  Even with Chemo, the cancer was growing rapidly and had spread into her brain as well.  I think this is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  I miss her so much every day.

 Since we had family in town for the funeral, we had a Sunday BBQ up in pine valley and grandpa took us fishing.

 Another outing with friends... bowling!

 We headed back up north to spend another weekend with cousins.  We went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum.

 We also went to 7 peaks again.  I don't have any pictures because I didn't want to carry my phone around with me.

We have always loved the day of 47 parade float preview.  We were able to go to the preview before we headed home.

I was in charge of our ward's primary float for the 24th (that's the reason our 4th and 24th floats were relatively the same). 

 We had our annual Scholes family reunion in the city of Tropic, UT.  We mostly got rained on all weekend.... but when it stopped raining, we were able to get a couple of hikes in near Bryce Canyon.

 Rain=muddy 4-wheeler ride.

 The day we headed home, there wasn't much rain.  We were able to stop at Red Canyon and go on another hike.

 We got home from the reunion and had a day to pack for our surprise trip to Disneyland!  We hadn't been to Disneyland since before our kids were born, so it was about time we go:)  We spend 3 days in Disneyland and had a blast!

 We were able to hit the beach on the day we headed home... wish we could have stayed at the beach longer.... the kids had so much fun there.

 Now, school has started again... I'm grateful to be back to routines....

Spring Break 2013

If you ask my kids, we had the worst spring break... we didn't go anywhere fun!  Well, we can't afford to go to California for every holiday, so we have to find some closer, less expensive fun!

First up was Valley of Fire State Park.  We planned this trip with some friends and neighbors.  It started out as a camping trip, but it rained on our plans.  We decided to make it a day trip... and even though we drove through snow to get there, we still went.  It ended up being the perfect weather.

The kids loved all of the rocks to climb on an explore around...

 We had to climb up all of these stairs, but at the top were some awesome petroglyphs.

 elephant rock.

 There were a lot of crevices in the rocks that the kids liked to explore.  (good thing it was too early in the year for creepy crawlies).

This "cave" had a built in slide inside.

 (or a "birthing" canal... as the men called it).  Really, who's the bigger kid?

During the middle of the week we did a lot of park days...

... and night games...

 At the end of the week, we decided to head to Moab.  It was still a little chilly there, but we still had a great time!

 On the way there, we stopped for a potty break.  The kids had a blast playing in what little snow there was... my kids are way deprived.

We love the Moab skate park.  The kids always find fun things to do.  They took their scooters, and roller blades, but they always find other ways to keep themselves entertained.

The kids' favorite thing to do to sled down the sand hill.   Brenner would trudge all the way up the hill. Super, messy fun.

We went on a few fun little hikes.   I don't remember what this one was called.

 We went on a little dinosaur bones hike.  There was also an old mine there.

 Sunday morning before we headed out, we hiked up to faux falls.  It was really pretty.  We also did a bit of geocaching on this trip.

Good times with good family.  We need to get back up there right after school gets out!

President's Weekend Fun

It's hard to want to go anywhere for President's Day Weekend when it's so nice here at home.  We had family in town and our kids love playing with their cousins. So, on Saturday, we took off to Snow Canyon to play in the sand dunes.  We had a picnic at the parking lot, then the kids went and played while we chatted and soaked in the sun.

I just love this picture of Terek!  It was so funny to see him come up over the hill all decked out in his light sabers.

The kids love digging holes (we only let them dig little holes because someone in Rose's ward died at the sand dunes a few months ago getting buried in the sand)

After the sand dunes, we went to Sand Hollow swimming pool.  We figured we'd rather have the sand in their pool, than our house:)

Brenner and Joren had a blast jumping off the diving board.

On Monday we went out to Gunlock to the Camel back (or toilet bowl) hike.  I went hiking with Brenner and Chad and Melissa and their kids, while Ryan stayed at the parking area with everyone else to eat and ride 4-wheelers.

Here's Brenner down in the toilet bowl.

We got a little sunburned, but it was sooo nice to be outside!

Hiking the cinder cone

It has been such nice weather lately... So today I was thinking I needed to get the kids outside and enjoy the weather... We have been wanting to hike the cinder cone by diamond valley.... I did not realize it was windy until we were driving out of the garage.  We hiked it any way.  The trail is a bit slippery, but fairly easy and fun. We almost got blown off the top! We will have to go back when it's not windy.

On the 24th day of Christmas...

We went hiking at Zion National Park. I think we need to make it a tradition to go hiking on Christmas Eve as long as we live in St. George. The weather is always nice and it's fun to get outside. We went with Ryan's parents, his brother Dane and his wife Sara, and his brother Shane and his girl friend Denise. It was good fun!!!
My mom made the boys jammies again this year. I appliqued the cute frogs on their shirts.
And the big news is that we bought my mom a kitty for Christmas. We gave it to her early because the animal shelter would be closed. Joren loves the kitty and wants to spend any waking (or sleeping) hour with her. Her name is Myah and she's about 3 months old.