End of Summer/Bear Lake Overload

End of Summer/Bear Lake Overload

It's been the busiest month since the pandemic started. And I haven't blogged once, so here's a photo overload. :)
We invited Colton & Tamara to go to Bear Lake with us and had a great time playing with them.

We picnicked at several parks, ate donuts by the river, played in the river, played in the hose since it was so hot outside all day every day.

I took the kids and some friends to the lake the next week. So much fun. Rachel is the best and it was great for my kids to play with Alisha's kids for the first time. The got along pretty well.

The next week we just went to the lake by ourselves. Kids loved it but Sam did ask several times, "if we go home now, will I have time to play with friends when we get home?" Ha ha! He loves his friends. 

And jumping photos are always fun. Especially when you're trying to get 3 little kids to do it together.

Amelia was invited to Ivy's princess birthday tea party. Princess Anna made an appearance and she was so excited.

I had an extended family photo session in Idaho Falls so we all decided to go and spend the night in the hotel. It was pretty great, the boys loved swimming in the pool. We had it to ourselves cause you had to sign up for a 45 minute time slot. And our hotel was right on the river across from the temple. It was so gorgeous and a nice little getaway.

And of course we got ice cream, cause that's tradition on "vacation."

The next week we took Grandma & Grandpa Stradley to the lake and had a BLAST! 
Amelia loved Grandma especially, and finally warmed up to Grandpa.

Sam started first grade! He was so excited for school to start. He's had 2 days so far and enjoys is but has come home quite tired and a bit overwhelmed.

In other news, we attended Mandy's wedding, Matthew and Mary had a baby and the baby bird that was born in our drain pipe finally grew up enough to leave. (Thankfully, cause it's parents always swooped down to attack Stacey and it was getting annoying and now she's scared of birds.)

Amelia fell and smashed her head against the mudroom bench corner and a massive bumped appeared almost instantly. It was so sad. But she is so adorable and saying so many things in full sentences and it's the cutest.

Now Summer is coming to an end and we'll see how long kids are in school with their masks that hopefully help it stay open longer rather than shorter. And Stacey finally got to play handball after a 5 month hiatus, and apparently the soccer season is going to start, and she's coaching Sam's team and she was hired to be a substitute crossing guard which turned into every morning and one afternoon each week and she had 5 photo sessions in a week and a half after a long stretch of nothing. Needless to say, it was so strange going from a life of doing basically nothing, to being BUSY again.

Hot, Hot Summer

Hot, Hot Summer

Lots of outside friend time.

It's been so hot. We found a nice shady park next to a river with no swings so that's basically heaven since we don't have to be stuck swinging Amelia for hours. ;)

Spent some time with the Laceys playing in the water in their yard and eating popsicles. The kids always have a great time there.

Tyler has loved helping Amelia lately and it's pretty cute.

Spent another Sunday afternoon at Grandma Marble's and the boys swam for hours.

And here's a few videos

Mantua Reservoir

Travis & I were sick on Monday. Travis much worse than me. He was pretty much out of commission all day. Ended up getting him tested for Corona, so that meant we were stuck isolating ourselves from everyone until we found out the results. I was just counting on having it. But it came back negative on Wednesday!
We had been tentatively planning on going to Bear Lake with Andrew & Shiloh on Tuesday, but that obviously didn't happen. So I decided to take the kids to the Mantua reservoir on Friday & Travis joined us. The boys had a blast. Amelia didn't love it. It was nice to just be out of the house and in a new place playing in the water.

We also went to get Coldstone ice cream. Amelia enjoyed this the most. 

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful week. Grandma & Grandpa Stradley did end up coming up for dinner on Sunday and to give us our hats that we left down there last week. It was great to see them again. :)

4th of July

4th of July

We got to spend the weekend with my family and I couldn't have been happier about it. With life just being crazy and unknown lately, I was worried it might not happen getting a big group together. But it worked out and we had so much fun.
We kept all of our traditions--ice cream, pop-its and fireworks on the evening of the third. Breakfast, water fight & BBQ on the 4th. And of course some great Spike Ball with my brothers and dad. These are some of my favorite traditions and memories with my family--for as long as I can remember.

Since this year we just spent the entire time at my parent's house instead of going to and from different aunt and uncle's houses, my sisters-in-law decided to do a parade with the kids, and then the adults. The kids decorated signs and wagons and put on costumes, it was really fun.
 

Amelia was in the swing at least 50% of the time. The boys loved cousin time.

Of course the water fight was a blast.
We were all tired after the weekend and ready for some good sleep.
I love love love spending time with family. So happy we could do this this year.

Covid Week 17

Went on a spontaneous dinner picnic up Logan canyon at Spring Hollow Campground. The kids loved playing in the water. It was great to get out and do something as a family.

These boys don't love being serious for photos much anymore. :)

She is just so cute and snuggly.

The boys had a pool party with Jackson for his birthday. They loved every minute of playing in the pool with friends.
They've also enjoyed playing legos on the porch.

Travis put a TV in the office. Kids like watching shows on the guest bed. They're pretty spoiled.