4th of July Weekend Continued

Since Stephen has been working so many late hours over the past several weeks he finally got a break, so we took advantage of it and took the kids camping. Everything was reserved on the weekends, but there were a lot of walk-in campsites so we took our chances and drove out to Logan Canyon. We got stuck in traffic for a while because they closed the interstate because of a bad wreck which made the kids really irritable which made mom and dad irritable, but we got through it and we found a camping spot right off the bat that was really cool looking. The kids couldn't wait to get out and explore while I got lunch ready.

After lunch I tried to get Hannah to take a nap to no avail until I left her in the tent by herself for 5 minutes. Then I took the boys on a walk to keep exploring our new surroundings so dad could take a nap too. We ended up finding our way to the river where the boys spent the better end of an hour throwing rocks and sticks in the water. They were brave enough to get in the frigid water too, but on a hot day like it was I got in too and it felt so good.

This is what Hannah looked like for about 75 percent of our entire camping trip. I don't think she was feeling very well for some reason, but we all survived.

When we got back we played around playing shab and catch and the kids kept finding big sticks to put in their bases and run around with until dinner time. Stephen and the boys built a fire so we roasted wienies and marshmallows since that's what the kids were looking forward to the most. Stephen made an oreo smore while I made a lemon cookie smore. The boys just ate their marshmallows plain while Hannah chowed down on the oreos.

Our tent was literally set up right under a tree; it was the perfect, coolest place to sleep!

This was our view inside the tent. You can see a tree growing on top of the big bent tree.

The night wasn't too bad. Hannah woke up screaming twice, but I just held her and rocked her back and forth until she fell asleep again. When she woke up the first time everyone in the tent was awake right around 1:30 and I was impressed with how well the boys handled it. Dad and the boys sang songs to help Hannah go back to sleep then they settled back down and fell asleep again.

The next morning dad made sausage and pancakes then we went on a hike around the river. It was a beautiful hike, but Hannah made us carry her almost the entire time, so it made it difficult for me to walk uphill. After that we cleaned up camp then headed back to the river one last time by request to eat our lunch.

 Classic Hannah

 Stephen used his life straw to filter out the river water for our lunch. We made two of our dehydrated emergency meals. One was mac n cheese for the kids and Stephen and I had beef stroganoff.

What a fun trip! The kids will remember this one for a while; I think they all had a good time and it was just good and refreshing to get out in nature and spend some quality time together as a family.

4th of July Fun

This year we went to Loren's for dinner and fireworks on the 3rd since that's the day Bountiful does their show. Loren grilled up some steaks, salmon, hamburgers, and hot dogs for everyone so everyone got something that they liked. I took the salmon because I think Loren cooks the best salmon I've ever had and I'm not a fish person. This is also the first year we actually took the kids to watch the fireworks now that they're old enough to stay up that late. By the time we found a parking spot that was at least a two mile walk to the golf course it was almost time to start, and the kids couldn't walk anymore, so we found a spot on the church lawn and watched them from there. The kids loved it.

The next day we went to the Cherry Days festival in North Ogden. We watched a bird and reptile show for the first hour which the boys loved while Hannah and I played on the playground. They got to play in some of the bounce houses and we had a pizza picnic before going home.

That night we did our own fireworks which was so fun because our whole neighborhood was out there shooting off their own in the streets. There were fireworks all over; lots of noise, rain, wind, and shouting as we celebrated our great country. 

Bowling

We used our Christmas gift from mom and dad last weekend and took the kids bowling. This was Hannah's first time, and to say she liked it was an understatement! She screamed and squealed with delight every time she pushed her ball down the ramp. The kids dubbed this day "the best day ever" because we got to spend some much needed time with dad. They all had so much fun learning to throw the ball and seeing how heavy of a ball they could lift. We ate pizza for lunch as we finished bowling, and that was the end for Hannah; she was all over that pizza. I lost real bad...I actually tied with Hannah which is kinda sad, haha! After that we had a little money left over so we let the kids play a few arcade games. What a great time we had!