Hike

Monday we went for a hike at the end of the lake, the view was beautiful, and I made it up the hill without having a heart attack. I had a great time talking to Katie on the way down. Ryan had the baby on his back the whole time and I am not sure he even broke a sweat he usually rides his bike up the hill so having an extra 25lbs was no problem.

I need to work on the selfie smile!

 

 That night we had a picnic at Lake Padden, then the kids were off the next morning headed back home. It was a short visit but I am so glad they came. While I was home in Utah my sister and I were talking about our mom and how she would do picnic's up in  the canyon and call it our camping trip, we never actually camped when I was growing up. But my mom would get KFC and bring her black and white table cloth and we would have our "camping" experience so I couldn't resist I pulled out the same table cloth and we went "camping."  I have turned into my mother!

Katie, Jeremy and Jayden

Katie, Jeremy and Jayden came up for the weekend, it was a long drive and they were only here for 3 days but it was a fun 3 days. On Friday night we had a BBQ after their long drive. On Saturday we went to the lake and watched Avrie play in the water and dig in the sand. We visited with some friends that showed up then it was time for lunch in Fairhaven, and window shopping.

On Sunday we all went, except Ryan and Jayden, to Friday Harbor and whale watching for the day. When the trip started out they did not have any reports of whales and we thought it was going to be a dud for whale watching. But the captain of the boat headed north and we got really lucky we ran into several pods of whales and had one of the best shows of the summer. Watching the whales never gets old.

 Once in Friday Harbor we hit our favorite shops and had ice cream and sat at the park, Kelsie convinced Avrie to give her a foot massage since she was actually working all day on the boat.  It was fun having all of my girls together, just hanging out in beautiful Friday Harbor.

Where did August go?

After coming home from out trip the rest of the month just disappeared. Destina stayed in Utah with her cousins who spoiled her and the vacation continued for her. Poor Avrie was stuck at home with just me most days. Luckily she is really good at entertaining herself, we went to the park a couple of times and she seemed to talk me into a DQ blizzard once or twice. She did lots of math, singing and art projects.  Ryan came home and wasted no time getting hurt again, we were beginning to wonder if he was jinxed he has been hurt more this summer of riding than the last 3 or 4 summers combined. Scott and Ryan made a late night trip to the emergency room for stitches, how his bike seat ended up hitting him in the lip and splitting it wide open is still a mystery to me. The next couple rides Ryan would come home and announce he was injury free, hope that trend continues. He has also been working odd jobs since his job at Kona finished up, he has been helping to paint a house for the last 2 weeks and helping Scott. As soon as the stitches come out it will be time to go look for another job. Ryan is doing running start his senior year so he will have plenty of extra time on his hands. 

Jayden has spent the whole summer in Utah and has had a great time. He will be coming home just in time to go back to school. Katie and Jeremy are coming for a quick visit this weekend I am excited since Katie was sick most of the week I was there. They are also bringing home Destina, I will have all my kids home at the same time, that doesn’t happen very often, hoping for a new family picture, we’ll see how that goes.

50 miler

The week before our trip Ryan went on a 50 mile hike with the scouts. He was really excited and he had a blast, he was ready to go back and do it again. He was the oldest youth on the hike and the leaders gave him a lot of responsibility. At the end of the week the leader sent Scott a really nice text message about how great Ryan was and how helpful. This kinda thing is right up his alley, I am so glad he was able to go.

 This was Ryan's camp the last night! I don't have very many pictures of Ryan since he was taking all the pictures but I think this is him jumping into the lake!

Road Trip

We packed up the car and headed to Utah. Our first stop was Katie and Jeremy’s house. We had an uneventful drive everyone was really good in the car including the baby which took a lot of entertaining and snacks but she was so good. Ryan was happy to be able to drive most of the way. We arrived at Katie’s house about 9:30 at night and talked for a little bit then went to bed. Our plans for the next day were foiled because of the rain so we did a little shopping and then watched a movie at her house and made dinner. 

The next morning we headed out early for Lagoon. It has been a couple of years since we have been there and they had a few new rides that we were all excited about riding. We waited in line for about an hour for the newest ride first thing. The kids went and rode a few other rides while we waited. Avrie was really excited and put on a brave face but after the first scary drop she started bawling, I was three rows behind her and I could hear her and when the ride stopped the attendant asked her if she was ok. It took a few minutes for her to recover but the she was ready to ride the net scary rollercoaster and didn’t cry again. She even went back and rode the first one again. We had a good time, we had a big crowd and pretty much stuck together most of the day. The kids all got along for the most part and we left tired. 

The next day we went to the dam for paddle boarding, it was kind of a cloudy and gusts of wind would kick up but the kids all went out and played in the water. We had to drag Avrie out she loves being in the water and spent about an hour on the paddle board by herself. We spent an hour or so at my sister’s house then went to dinner at a friend’s house.

Katie started feeling sick and spent the next couple of days sleeping, I felt bad for her and sad that she was missing out on the fun things we were doing. 

On Thursday my nephew came home from serving a 2 year mission for our church, we all made posters and gathered at the airport with about 10 other groups of people waiting for their missionary to come home. It was fun to see the excitement of my sister and her family as they waited for him to get off the plane and that first hug. There were tears and laughter and excitement.  We went out to eat and heard all about the mission. Then went to Cherry Hill water park in the evening. The kids all had a cousin close to their age and they all got along great the whole week. 

On Friday we spent the day shopping in Salt Lake, but the first stop was the new library for a free lunch for the kids, they were not really impressed and had a second lunch with us.

 Saturday we went to the Farmer's market and then the rodeo later that night.

Sunday was church then lunch at my sister's house before we made the long drive home. It was a great trip, I love hanging out with my family and miss them already! This was part of our gang there are a few people missing.

 My niece and I dressed alike, I look like a giant standing next to her!

 My Aunt and Uncle, they do a good job of coming to our family events, she is the aunt most like my mom it is the closest thing to having my mom around for the day.