Idaho Trip: Mesa Falls

After Harriman State Park, we headed over to Mesa Falls, which my kids absolutely loved: gorgeous scenery and...no bugs!!

The weather was perfect, the view amazing, and the kids loved all of it!

Idaho Trip: Harrimon State Park

Cheryl and Robert helped us plan some spots to visit while in Idaho and suggested we go to this beautiful park built by one of the railroad owners as a vacation spot long ago. It was gorgeous!! So green and peaceful. But also filled with bugs.

Our scenic hike around this little lake started out good, but then my kids started freaking out. We're just not used to a billion fireflies buzzing around since we've always lived in the barren dessert :)

We ended up trying to finish the hike as quickly as possible. Brendon carried Ty, Phil helped Jonathan, and I tried to help Suzanna. It wasn't the peaceful communing with nature that we were going for...but it will be a funny memory later on.

Maybe our kids need a little more exposure to the outdoors!!

Idaho Trip: Water Parks

I'm going to start off by saying how jealous I am of all the fun water parks Cheryl has minutes from her house. I don't have a single one in my whole stinkin town!!

Ok, rant over :)

The kids loved the free water park we took them to while Phil and Robert golfed.

It was a little cold for their Arizona skins, but still lots of fun.

And the carousel at the end was fun, but not so much for Tyler who was super worried about his loose tooth. He fell pretty hard at the water park and knocked a tooth loose, and was very upset about it all. I wasn't too worried since he's almost ready to start loosing them anyway, but after a few weeks it was all back to normal. Getting delicious snow cones on the way home helped cheer him up.

Then the next night we took the kids to another water park with a lazy river, huge slides and a fun kid area almost exactly like the free park. They were in complete heaven!! We stayed until dark and had a fabulous time together.

Idaho Trip: Fourth of July

We started the day with some shopping (yea!!) and Sonic (we had to reward the reluctant shoppers!).

Had a delicious bar-be-cue back at Cheryl & Robert's

And finished the day off with some fireworks, of course!

It was crazy to be cold waiting for the fireworks to begin! Don't think that's ever happened to us Arizona natives before :)

Idaho Trip: Idaho Falls

Our first tourist stop was the Idaho Falls. The falls are gorgeous, and so is the grassy path surrounding them. It was a beautiful cool evening, and we loved just being outside in the summertime!! I loved that you could see the beautiful temple in the distance!

Cousin Elizabeth loved the waterfalls :)

And my kids were fascinated with the ducks and water, too. Mostly wondering how the ducks don't go over the edge!!

Idaho Trip: Hannah's Blessing

For the Fourth of July weekend, we traveled to Idaho to visit Phil's sister Cheryl and her family, and to be there for her new baby Hannah's blessing.

All of the family (minus me, the photographer) in Cheryl & Robert's beautiful green backyard.

Phil & I, with Suzanna as our photographer

Cheryl & Hannah, looking beautiful!!

We're so glad we got to be there for this fun event and to meet Hannah, of course!!

Superhero Sisters

2011 Girls Camp

Camp Theme: Superhero Sisters

Pre-camp Task: Capes for each girl (didn't they turn out amazing?!? I'm pretty proud!!)

Camp Conditions: Rustic: tents, campfires, port-a-potties, cooking all our own food, and the most FREEZING water to take a shower in. I have never, EVER been so cold in my life. It was painful!!

Camp Experience: I had a fabulous time being there with the girls and other leaders, and thanks to an awesome camp director, things went so smoothly for the week. Our girls got along so well, and there was little to no drama going on. Amazing!!

Thank You's: First, to my superhero mom who drove all the way here to watch my wild kids for the week. Knowing she was there make it easy for me to enjoy the week without worrying. Second, to my husband and kids, not only for living with my craziness beforehand and without me for a week, but for moving houses in a hurry so that we could be done before I left for camp. That was a huge adventure in itself!! And to all the friends and ward members who made that move possible...we were so blessed!