Summer Shenanigans Part 3

The rest of our trip was spent at grandma and grandpa's. Becky and I helped mom clean her house, and go shopping. The boys had boy's camp at the house this year; they camped in the pasture and had a day outing at the ice caves and Mammoth cave. Later they played in the water and had a devotional in the basement about their names. Grandma and Grandpa gave each of them a leather bracelet with their names on it and assigned each young boy a mentor with one of the older boys. Zander had a lot of fun especially with it being with the older boys--it made him feel big.  

 I love the way she sleeps with her little bum up in the air!

 I had to take the kids behind the water fall in Sentennial Park in the canyon. The  boys have never seen a water fall, so I had to one-up that and take them behind it. It was a fun, slippery adventure. Afterward, they said they had never seen a big water fall, so naturally I had to take them to Shoshone Falls the next day....and the toy store.

 Our last outing was with Alissa and her boys to the splash pad. 10 minutes before we were to leave Lucas got hit in the head by a sliding chair. He had a line going through it at least two inches across indicating that if he had gotten hit any harder it would've split his head open. I'm glad it wasn't any worse. Poor Lucas was bawling his eyes out, but not for long. He was a champ and pushed through it.

Summer Shenanigans Part 2

Alissa and her family came to stay with us again the night before the Pettingill Reunion which the boys loved. Those boys get along together really well. We headed to Elba without Stephen this time; he couldn't get away from work. I know the boys were disappointed, but they couldn't wait to see all their cousins again. I was really excited for this reunion with all that was planned. I needed to redeem myself from our camping trip to Land and the Yankee Fork since we didn't do a single thing. I felt like I missed out on a lot (which I did), so I planned on doing everything on the agenda including being the first to go on a four wheeling ride with Grandpa Kerry. A group of us followed him up to the Hidden Lakes trail head. It was a nice ride, but dirty! I had Halle on the back of me. Each four wheeler had two riders. I followed Alissa and Aunt Vernae and as they got to talking as they rode they slowed down, then sped up, so I got too close to them on a number of occasions resulting in a really dirty face! We passed a few trucks on the way back and I had every one of those passengers laughing at me as we passed by. I had everyone laughing when I got back to camp too, but it was worth it! I always love taking pictures up here because the background is just breathtaking. We even passed by a whole meadow of purple wildflowers.

The reunion was full of activities with the four wheelers, horses, train ride, paint balling, water balloon fights, volleyball, cupcake decorating, late night dance party, baseball, and delicious food.

The first thing I saw when I got up there was Tyson's beautiful red moth he found. Then he ended up finding and capturing a bat too. Becky and I ended up sharing an Air B&B with all six kids. It was better than sleeping in a tent, but everyone was so tired we still had cranky kids. Lucas even had a night terror which I had never heard him have before (or maybe I just noticed for the first time what it was that was happening?) Anyway, FUN reunion!!

 All 20 grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill 10 boys and 10 girls. We'll see who tips the scale next...

In The Heat of the Summer

We had a week and half break from reunion to reunion, so what did the kids want to do the whole time? Play in the sprinklers, of course. They like to run around and ride their bikes through the big sprinklers in the front yard. Hannah even enjoyed herself and practiced going up and down the steps. The boys also made snow in July. They really had a fun time with that, but boy was it messy!