It quickly turned into this...
I'm not exactly sure what goes on at the Father's and Son's...and I'm not exactly sure that I WANT to know, I do know that it includes lots of dirt, not much hand washing or teeth brushing, big fires, guns and 4-wheelers.
This year the Boy Scouts retired some of the worn flags that they use for their fundraiser. Troy said they put together a really neat program, I thought this was a pretty cool picture.
Later Saturday afternoon some of us girls met our boys up at camp for a little outdoor adventure of our own...the plan was to do a little camping, cook tinfoil dinners and go for a little ride.
Caleb and his best friend in the whole world.
Me and Ben
It all started out great! Then it started getting really cold and wet. As we headed back we decided to follow the GPS and take a road that looped back to the main road we came in on and would take us back to camp. When the road disappeared into a big open field I started to get a little nervous. We could see where the road SHOULD have been and could see a trail that LOOKED like it led up the mountain to the main road. We decided to keep going and picked up the double track trail...we forged a river and started up the mountain, next thing I know the double track turned into a single track and the slope started to get VERY steep!
This is where we decided to stop and formulate a new plan! One of the guys went ahead of us to check out the trail...he was gone for a long time...a very long time. It started getting late, then it started raining, then it started to down pour, then the lightening and thunder started and the dirt all around us started getting very wet and VERY slippery...all we could do was to wait and huddle under the pine trees to try to keep everybody dry and standing up straight!
Ben played his first year of "real" baseball. By "real" I mean, the kids pitch and catch, 3 strikes you're out and the score's kept so that at the end of the game there's a winning AND a losing team. Before this year baseball has been pretty boring for Ben. He likes something with a little more action...
He found his sweet spot right behind home plate. Being catcher has everything that Ben lives for...lots of action, lots of pressure, lots of dirt, lots of opportunities to take players down!
He loved chasing runners trying to steal home back to third base, he even tagged a few of them out! It was fun to watch him play so hard and come home sweaty and dirty and excited about the next game. Good job Ben! PLAY BALL!!
Cousin Jack is up to bat and Ben's on third.
We took our annual trip to St. George and Zion National Park the first part of June. Whenever we go to Zion's we always hike to Weeping Rock. We have so many pictures taken right here at this rock wall starting with the summer that Troy and I were engaged...the wall and the view behind it hasn't changed, but it's fun to see how WE have changed and our family has grown! This year we also hiked to all three Emerald Pools...I'm so proud of us! That hike to the upper pool is pretty intense and we all made it! Our kids are becoming pretty awesome hikers, we all really enjoy the places we can go and the things we can see now that the kids are growing up!
For all the hiking we did this is the only picture we took once we reached the upper pool. Just as we got there big, dark rain clouds rolled in and Troy was pretty anxious to get us all out of there. You'll just have to me believe me when I say it is BEAUTIFUL up there!
The middles pools were full of Tadpoles....millions of them! The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever! Kind of grossed me out!
Caleb's little legs needed a break on the way down...he ALMOST made it the whole way all on his own! Along this hike the kids counted 9 squirrels (not counting the dead one), 3 lizards, 1 million tadpoles and 1 too many snakes!
The St. George Temple is another place we always stop, I love the visitor center there. We were there at night this time and the grounds were peaceful and beautiful and the temple seemed to just glow.
Troy and Ben played a round of golf together. This is something that they are really starting to enjoy doing together. We have a deal with Ben that for every book he reads through the summer Troy will take him to play golf...we already owe him 3 rounds!
We spent the rest of our time in St. George swimming, playing and eating. The kids loved Pirate Island and In & Out Burger...I've never seen Caleb eat a Burger like he did there! And Sara and I went to Tuachan to see Annie. We had a great time together, it's so much fun having a little buddy who likes musicals as much as I do! She came home and loaded up her i-pod with all the Annie songs and has been singing them for weeks! We are already talking about next year's play, Disney's "Tarzan". So even though this summer has really just begun...here's to next year!
I don't think there is much that makes Troy more proud than to see his boys loving to play golf...except maybe seeing how much his daughter loves to play!!
May is always a busy month for us. Our calendar is full with school programs, piano recitals, field trips, Memorial Day and the beginning of fun summer activities!
Sara's 1st Grade program was all about different jobs that they could grow up to do. Those 1st graders are so dang cute! She was SO excited about it and I of course had to go to all 4 performances. Her class sang "I Want to be a Baker".
Caleb's Preschool had a Spring Sing and he was excited about his program, too! It's so fun to hear those little kids sing the songs they've been learning. Caleb's favorite song was "I'm bringing home my baby bumblebee". He cracks me up!!
I got to go with Sara on her field trip. We started at the Planetarium and watched Under The Sea in 3-D. It was AWESOME!! Then it was over the the Children's Museum. Her favorite part was the pretend store they have at the museum. She didn't want to do anything else!
Ben's class hiked to Timp Cave. I was really sad that I didn't get to go with him. Maybe next year!
I felt like Caleb was being left out of all the fun field trips...so we had our own field trip to the Zoo. We had so much fun together and saw lots of fun animals. He really couldn't have cared less though, all he wanted to see was the scorpion which was at the other end of the Zoo! They have so many fun new things there...an elephant show, a bird show, a carousal...he didn't want to see any of it...we had to find the scorpion first! We finally found it and he was more impressed the dead one that was in an insect exhibit than with the live one in the cage...oh, well! 
I am SO far behind and more than a little discouraged about how long it's going to take to catch back up!! Troy has been threatening to do another big update so I figured it was time to just buckle down and get it done! The last few months have been filled with lots of fun adventures for us and I don't want to forget any of our experiences together...I love looking back through my old posts and remembering what we spend our days doing! Here goes April...
Way more Easter Eggs than I know what to do with, but the kids love to color them....sure wish they would eat them!!
At our house the Easter Bunny always hides the kids baskets after he fills them. The kids love running through the house looking for their baskets and usually always start looking where they found it the year before. This year Ben had a hard time finding his. He searched everywhere his basket has ever been hidden...I'm not quite sure how he remembers all the different spots but he does! He finally found it and boy was he disappointed. An overly safety conscious Easter Bunny brought Ben a very badly needed new bike helmet...apparently this is NOT what Ben had envisioned for Easter morning! After a LOT of convincing he finally accepted that it wasn't that the Easter Bunny had it in for him this year but just that the Easter Bunny thought he maybe could use a cool new helmet like all his friends have and gave us this enthusiastic smile. 
We took a really short weekend trip to Moab with Mom & Dad and had so much fun! We spent Saturday in Arches and hiked to Delicate and Landscape Arches. Caleb hiked almost all of the way, he is such an awesome hiker…not one complaint out of him. The wind was really blowing that day and Caleb was really worried about losing his hat. He didn’t want to let go of it and having his hand on top of his head really slowed him down, so finally Troy told him “Just let go of your hat…it’ll be fine.” As soon as Caleb let go a big gust of wind came and off came his hat! Spinning across the slick rock! Caleb looked up at Troy and very sadly said “See Dad, I was right and you were wrong.” (I went running after it and caught it so he did get it back.)
Later that night the kids wanted to roast marshmallows but with all the wind we decided that we’d better try to set up the fire with the trailer blocking some of the wind. We had to move the rocks that made up the little fire pit, so put the kids to work bringing them to Troy. Pretty soon we hear Ben yelling “Scorpion! Scorpion!” (Here we are in the middle of the desert…at dusk…having our kids pick up rocks. Boy are we the parents of the year!) I’m really glad that Ben saw it first and knew not to touch it…Caleb would have picked it up and brought it to show us! In true Nanny and Poppy style, Dad went for the shovel and Mom went for her little bug holder. They put it in the container and it became our little desert pet for the next couple of days. Troy threatened a couple of times to pack up and head home…he was worried about that little critter ending up in his bed! Before we left Dad and Ben and Troy took it way out and let it go find a new rock to crawl under. It was definitely a camping first for us!
