Jul 18 2012

4th of July 2012

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Karin

We have a tradition of going to the parade every year. This year was no different. The kids love the parade. At one point in the parade a live band with drums and guitar went by and Levi just started rocking out. Corey started to record unfortunately he missed the best part but still got a little snippet for you to enjoy.

After the parade we played and ate lunch with some friends at Gem Lake. We did this last year and I think it should become another of our traditions. Later in the evening we like to watch the fireworks. We usually go to a place off Skyline near our house but one of our friends invited us over to see them in their backyard. This was really fun too. Corey and I forgot the camera so no pictures of the fireworks this year. I love that even though we are far away from family we still feel like we have family close. The friends we have made in this neighbourhood are great. What a great way to celebrate our country’s birthday. Hope you all had a great 4th too.

Waiting for the parade

Our big group trying to squish in the shade

Jul 16 2012

Mesa Falls

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Karin

Upper Mesa Falls

The last weekend in June or first weekend of July, however you want to look at it, we went camping up by Mesa Falls. The falls were a beautiful site. It was pretty crowded up there but well worth seeing. They have an old log inn there that they have turned into a visitor center/gift shop. I told Corey that someday I wouldn’t mind retiring in a log cabin like this. We went through the visitor center and a park ranger gave the boys a booklet to look through that had a comic in it. Afterward we walked the path that went by the waterfalls. While everyone is looking at the falls Levi would find a bench and sit to read his comic. He was so much more interested in what happened to smokey the bear than the beautiful scenery around him. We had a really nice weekend. We are so lucky to live near such beautiful areas.

Beautiful!

Levi and his comic

Really neat Inn

Can you see the Tetons in the back?

Love Sophia and Levi’s expressions here.

We spent a couple of nights in this area and the next day we ended up hiking by Warm Springs. They have an old fish hatchery that you can rent out and near there was a bunch of hiking trails. We decided to hike a couple of miles (all Sophia can handle). Have I mentioned how beautiful the area is? This was a great weekend. We had beautiful scenery accompanied by equally beautiful weather. I love going camping. It really helps me relax and get away from the world.

Hiking along Warm Springs

Taking a trail mix break

The grass is as high as Sophia

Family Photo at Lower Mesa Falls over look

Jun 12 2012

Camping

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Karin

Mike Harris Campground

Yay!! School is out. We have been out about a week but I’m slow at posting. On the day that school ended we celebrated by going out on our first family camp trip for the year. We packed up and went to Mike Harris Campground in the Grand Targhee National Forest. This is a place we have been before and like to go to for our first campouts of the season. Despite forecast for rain we decided to tough it out. The weather actually turned out perfect and it only rained for a couple of hours on Saturday. We got there pretty late on Friday and discovered that we forgot many things including bug spray. We didn’t want to be bug dinner so we had to go into to town and buy some. The other stuff we did without. That’s what the first campout is about right?! In the morning we warmed our breakfast up on the fire (breakfast burritos I learned from pintrest). The kids really liked it. They were easy too. It rained for about and hour and we just read and played games in the trailer. After the rain let up we went for a hike. There is a really neat trail near the entrance to the campground. It leads up to some peaks. We didn’t go that far. We only went as far as Sophia’s little legs could take her. It ended up being about 2 miles round trip. It was a beautiful hike. On the way back it started to rain again. By the time we got back to camp we were all pretty wet. It rained for about another hour. After that it was beautiful. There was one other family camping in the campground. We introduced ourselves. Their kids are the same age as ours and they hit it off really well. The kids went and played hide and seek. After talking with them a little we discovered that they live just on the other side of the airport from us (small world). We also found out that although they wear red and we wear blue we can still get along (those of you who are cougar and ute fans know how hard that is). We exchanged phone numbers and the kids have future plans to hang with them sometime. We packed up and left Sunday morning. On the way home we stopped one more time for a short hike. Not as great as the first one but still fun. This outing was a great start to our season. I love being out in the woods. It really helps me appreciate all that Heavenly father has created for us. I can’t wait to go again.

Cooking breakfast on the fire

Beautiful Hiking trail

Sophia and her hiking stick

All of us on the hike

The kids getting warm after the hike

Gorgeous sky as the sun was setting

Almost full moon

Our little home away from home

Jun 12 2012

The fourth grade program

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Karin

Every year the fourth grade does a program at the end of the year. This program was called “Go West”. They have done it the last few years and the kids love it. Since Preston was a 4th grader this year he got to participate. He played Robert Fulton. It was fun to watch the kids. They did a good job with all of their parts and the music was great. I’m also a parent so I might be a little biased.

Preston as Robert Fulton

Cute show

Jun 11 2012

Menan Butte

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Karin

Our family likes to go on a small hike to kick off the camping/hiking season. In May we decided to hike the North Menan Butte. It’s about a mile up the butte. Over all we hiked about 3 miles. Sophia made it to the top and then Corey had to pack her around the rest of the way. She did pretty well for her first hike on foot. I have to say it was a little challenging, although it doesn’t look it, most times it felt like we were hiking straight up. It was a beautiful day to hike and once we reached the top we loved the view. At the top there are many different rock formations that the kids (and Corey) loved to climb around in and on.

The boys starting out up the butte

A nice little critter we saw along the trail

taking a rest

Beautiful spring flowers

Taking another rest

One of the many caves up the butte

Cute little hiker with her cute little backpack

Lunch time

The view from the rim

Corey climbing around on the rock formations. "I'm king of the Mountain"

Hiking back out of the caldera and then on down the butte

May 11 2012

Yellowstone

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Karin

Well we finally did it. It only took us 8 years but we did it. We have lived here in Idaho Falls for 8 years and as most of you know it’s really close to Yellowstone. I’ve been there with my family a number of times but Corey had never been. We would always get this appalling look from people when we told them that Corey had never been. Our number one reason for not going was because of a certain little boy of ours who, you could say, is a runner. Levi is and has always been fearless. On the other hand I was full of fear. I was fearful that if we took him to Yellowstone he would take off and get lost. I was fearful that he would run off and jump into a hot pot or get eaten by a bear. We finally felt he was old enough not to run off and jump into the scalding water.

This particular week that we went was free national park week. So we didn’t even have to pay an entrance fee. We also heard that because it was spring we would probably get to see the bears out. We unfortunately didn’t see any bears but we did get to see plenty of buffalo and elk. We didn’t go to Lamar valley which is where the bears were being seen. Since this was Corey and the kid’s first time we ended up doing the hot pot loop. We saw Old Faithful and really cool mud pots and geysers. I love being in Nature and this was actually a nice and relaxing trip. It was a little chilly and it did snow on us some. Because it was chilly there really wasn’t a lot of people there. Now that we have gone I think there are more plans in the future for us to return. There is a lot to explore and we only touched the surface. I can’t wait to go again.

Buffalo

hot pot walk

hot pot

The family by Old Faithful

Old Faithful

kids participated in the wildlife Olympics and received a junior ranger badge

Sophia got too tired to walk. Poor Corey had to carry her everywhere.

Sophia and I having fun while it snows

May 10 2012

My oldest turned 10

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Karin

I can’t believe that my little Preston is now 10! His birthday was April 23rd. I’m just so slow on getting things posted. I have so many things I want to blog about but can’t seem to get them on here fast enough. This year he wanted to go bowling. The Saturday before his birthday we had a bowling party for him. This was one of the easiest parties I’ve done so far. He invited 5 friends and we had a blast. Preston wanted a Tardis birthday cake. You may ask “what is a Tardis?” If you’re a fan of Doctor Who you’ll know what we are referring to. Otherwise it’s a time travelling machine. So Corey made the cake. I was actually surprised how many kids that he invited knew what a Tardis was. Along with cake the kids loved bowling. To make it more interesting they had to draw out of a hat and do what the paper said. For example bowl blindfolded. bowl laying down, do a silly dance, or bowl backwards. For Preston’s actual birthday we opened presents from family. This was a really special birthday for Preston because his grandma Tiffany was able to be here for it. We don’t get to see grandma very often so he was so excited to have her join us. I love Preston he is such a sweet and silly boy. I was watching him walk away and go to class the other day and for a small moment I was able to picture him as that small 2 year old that was my little buddy. It’s tough for me to believe that he is growing. He is still my buddy just not little anymore. He is always there to try and cheer me up when I’m sad or help out when I need it. I think the Lord really knew exactly what I needed when he sent this blessing to me. I’m so grateful for him and I’m excited to see where the future takes him. Now, If only I had a Tardis.

Getting ready for cake

Blowing out candles

Tardis Cake

Preston Bowling

Opening presents at home

Apr 16 2012

Easter

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Karin

Family picture after church

Okay, I know Easter was over a week ago, but I’m finally getting caught up on blogging. Next week is Preston’s birthday and I have to get caught up before then, right?!

I’m always forgetting to snap pictures so I only have a few of Easter. On Saturday we colored eggs and had them for breakfast on Easter morning. We have early church (9:00am) so after breakfast it was straight to church. After church we took a little family photo of us all pretty. Then we did our traditional Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Corey always does such a good job of hiding all the eggs. The kids were still finding some the next day. In the picture with the three kids Levi doesn’t look very happy. That’s because he thought his brother was finding all the eggs and he wasn’t getting any. Next year I think we’ll have to make up some rules so the boys don’t fight over the eggs.

Sophia finding eggs

The kids with their baskets

Sophia being silly

I love this time of year. It’s a great time to reflect on the Savior’s love for us. He sacrificed so much for each one of us. I’m so grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I love the Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart. I know it was for us that he suffered. I know that he did suffer for us so that we may someday return to him and be like him. What a great blessing to have him in our lives today.

Apr 16 2012

Colorado Day 4

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Karin

Cool park we went to

Day 4 was technically the last day of our vacation. Day 5 was spent all day in the car on the way home and nothing exciting to write about. On this day we decided to take it easier than the others. We had a slow morning where the kids just played with old toys and us adults recouped from the previous day. After lunch we went to a park. You can see from the pictures that the play set was shaped as a barn. The kids liked that. We took some good pictures of the kids playing. We spent at least an hour there if not more.

This was Sophia's favorite. A rocking chicken.

All of the kids loved this. They called it the twirling toilet.

I think he is getting a little big for this

Corey even got in on the action

Corey and his cool ride

Kids just hanging on

After the park Corey’s parents took us to the local dairy for some ice cream. So good after a couple of hours in the sun. While at the dairy we got to go into a viewing room and see some cows get milked. We also got to see some little baby calfs on our way out. We went back to grandma and grandpa’s house where the kids colored with grandma. We had such a fun vacation. We wish our family lived closer so we could see them more often. All of the kids were crying as we were leaving for home. They really had a great time with nammi and nampa.

Mmmm... ice cream

Sophia enjoying her cone

Coloring with Nammi

Apr 11 2012

Colorado Day 3: Part 2

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Karin

Things have been really busy and I’ve gotten so behind on blogging. Well the second part of day three for our spring break in Colorado started with lunch. There is a park between the museum and the zoo. We had packed a lunch and decided to eat at the park. It’s still early in the season so there were no picnic benches. Preston wasn’t keen about sitting on the ground. He had determined that the ground was covered in goose poo. Luckily Nammi had brought a table cloth and had the kids sit on that. There was a sprinkler on next to us that sometimes seemed to creep up on us. We ended up moving a few feet so we wouldn’t end up with a shower. There were, however, some kids playing in the sprinkler. I was proud my kids resisted the urge to run through it.

After Lunch we walked over to the Denver Zoo. It’s a lot bigger then our own zoo here in Idaho Falls. There are so many pictures but I think I’ll have to cut it down to just a few to show you. We got there around 1:00 in the afternoon. Just in time for it to really heat up. I was really thankful I brought the kids some water. Corey carried Sophia just about the whole time. When there was a big crowd Levi had the best seat in the house on top of Nampa’s head. We spent about 5 1/2 hours at the zoo. By the end we were all tuckered out. We ended our day with a dinner out at some fancy Italian restaurant. Needless to say on our way home we had 3 sleeping kids.