The Wind Rivers

While we were in Utah, Del took Wally on his very first week long backpacking trip. They went with Del's brother, and brothers-in-law, and all their boys. There were cousins ranging from Dallin, who is just about to leave on a Mission to Bolivia, all the way down to eight year old Ian.

What a fine looking group of mountain men!

Will was so sad not to be able to go. But I think that nine is the right age. So we helped Will understand that one day, it will be his time! Just be patient.

I was nervous about this adventure. So many horror stories come out the moutons in the West about little boys scouts wandering away from their group.

But we worked with Wally for months leading up to the trip so that he would understand the importance of always being in Dad's line of sight. We also made sure he had plenty of chances to go on hikes with his pack, and new boots to make sure he was used to them.

Wally took this very seriously. He was ready. He even came home with the skin on his neck rubbed to a leathery toughness from his diligence in keeping his rescue whistle around his neck all week. He became very attached to it.

 The only person more excited than Wally, was Del.
And Del was probably more excited about this backpacking trip than our trip to Hawaii the week after! Ha!
The Wind Rivers are way up in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming.
The group hiked probably about sixteen miles in, about five miles around the different lakes and valleys every day, and then sixteen more miles out.

And Del said Wally held his hand the entire way. He has never done so much hand holding!
So cute!

One rule on a backpacking trip is that you must have a trusty hat. It can be as goofy as you desire, just so long as it is reliable. You can see from the pictures that these guys followed that rule closely!

No, that is not just a big heap of backpacking supplies, it is Wally's cousin Cameron wearing his pack! Ha!

Wally and his first fish of the trip! And that was all it took! He was hooked! Del said that Wally would set a goal of how many he wanted to catch, and then up it when he reached that number. When it looked like they were at a lake that was not going to bring in many fish, Wally told Del he would walk back another mile and a half to get to a lake that he could catch more fish in, just so he could reach his goal.

Wally caught 33 fish total. He is very proud of that number!

   

Resting up for another day.

Del and Wally did some night fishing so that Wally could reach his fish catching goal.

Wally and Dallin, and an incredible view!

Del and Wally and a few others jumped into a lake the day before they came home. Del said the water had a huge chunk of ice melting into it. He said it was the coldest water he has ever been in, and showed me a video of Wally jumping in.
The water shocked him nearly to death! But he got a move on and swam to the edge of the lake in a hurry!

When Wally got back to Grandmas house, he was so excited to tell anyone who would listen all about his adventures!

He gathered all the cousins on the front porch, and told all his tall tales. I thought it was so funny that they sat down for him and then actually listened!

When I told Wally to go get in the shower before dinner, he said,
"I'm not that dirty."
Ha! Believe me, after a week in the wilds, he was! Swim in the glacier water, or not!

I am glad they go to go on their trip. The confidence it gave Wally has been awesome!
So is the love he has for his Dad! I am so glad he has Del, and that they have their memories of the mountains!

Utah

We spent a couple of weeks in Utah this Summer surrounding our Hawaii trip.

Del and Wally took off for Wyoming for a week long backpacking trip.
So I hung out at around Salt Lake with the kids.
Here are some pictures of our stay!

Making dinner with Grandma.

On our way out to Utah, we happened to be passing through tiny town of Laramie, Wyoming, at the same time as some of our friends from Chicago! They were in Utah the two weeks before us, and were headed East on I80, while we headed West.
So we texted to find out where they were, and ended up chatting as we filed our gas tanks at the same service station.  Good times.

We pushed hard on first drive day so that we could stop a couple of hours down the road at the Little America outside of Green River, Wyoming. Del's best friend from childhood, Spencer and his family live out there, and Spencer was just made the General Manager of the whole place! Go you, Spencer!

We got Del and Wally all suited up to send them off to the mountains for a week. I was a nervous mama about Wally going off to be a mountain boy, but he and Del could not have been any more ready to go! Here they are trying on their packs.

I let the kids have a heyday with the food in Utah. Here we are at In-N-Out.

And here Emily and I are, loaded up with sno cones, about to take a drive home to the kiddos, with a melting, syrupy mess on our hands. Their was a lot of sipping the edges of cups going on. I  decided I can't eat those anymore. The syrup gives me a headache! Weird.

My mom is one amazing, patient grandma! Here are all the cousins in the backyard for water day at her house. They had a blast, and ate everything in sight.

Me and Sawyer. Lauren's baby. He is a chunk, and a cutie!

We took the kids to Gateway in Salt Lake to run through the giant splash pad.

Dance party in Grandma's basement. Even my sisters and I got in on this one. It is a good workout.

It was nice to be able to hang out with family. Both Del and I are blessed with very large, very supportive, and except for us, very local families! It is our kids dream come true when we visit! Never ending play!
I also got a chance to have lunch with one of my high school friends/collage roommates, who I have not seen in forever.

Thanks for having us, Mom and Dad! And thanks to all of our family for all of the help while Del and I were away. It was so nice of so many of you to take on our kids for a few days!
We love you!

School Days

This Summer flew by quicker than any other Summer on record up until now!

But, we were all ready to get back into our school routine. My kids love school!

We actually took these pictures on Meet the Teacher day. And thank goodness, because the first day of school ended up being a mess!

Wally is a brand new 4th grader!

Will the 2nd grader.

Oh, the painful 6:00 wake up call! Will has been adjusting! He is less of a morning person.

Georgia is now a Kindergartener! Aaaa! I just can't believe it. And all the sentimental emotions have been on the surface, but every time I am on the verge of actually mulling over this milestone moment in Georgia's life... something crazy happens! And it does a nice job of distracting me!

For instance. To get to the first day of school, Georgia had to get the dreaded school physical at the doctor's office. All was going well, until it was time for her shots.

Walker had to have a shot too, so we had him go first. He was of course sad, and felt betrayed by his mean mother for letting the nurse stick him in the leg. So he was crying and clingy.

I gently told Georgia she needed to climb up on the table, and she went bananas! She ran away from me in the tiny room, she grabbed onto Will, she threw herself on the floor, she moved the chairs in the exam room and hid behind them, scooting them around on the floor to block me. She screamed her high pitch, scary scream.

I tried being nice, and understanding, I tried coating to three, and finally, I resorted to dragging her up onto the table and holding her down! Panting, I look at the nurse expectantly! Let's do it!

Then the nurse looks up at me and asks, "Are you sure you want me to do it?"
Uhhh, YUP!! That was not all for nothing!

Anyway, it was over quickly after that, and I made sure Georgia got the promised treat after, in spite of the breakdown.
Georgia got a new back pack for her new school. The boys packs were still in excellent shape, so I couldn't justify it!

The first day of school, I was all prepared to feel so lost while I put the kids on the bus. I really knew I was going to miss having Georgia home with me.
But we walked up to the bus stop, and just as we got there, a big dark cloud rolled in. Then the lightening started.
One of my neighbors has a major fear of lightening apparently. I did not know this until he took off running for home to get his car. Then when he got back, he was yelling at his family to get in the car NOW!
I looked around hopelessly.
If I left to get the car, I would miss the bus, but then the lightening got pretty bad, and it started to rain.

So my neighbor put the boys in his car too, and Georgia, Walker and I took off running for home to get the car.
I told Georgia just to stay home, because Del was on a conference call in the office. I got back to the bus stop just as the bus pulled away with the boys.

Now the rain was steady, and the lightening was closer, and we turned around and headed back home.

And as I drove around the curve, there was Georgia, with her new backpack and lunchbox, walking back up to the bus stop through the lightening storm!
What!!?? I quickly stopped and put her in the car, just to turn around yet again fifteen minutes later to take her to the bus.

So, the moment that is supposed to be special and emotional and recorded by mothers around the world... putting the baby on the bus for the first time, was instead, a wet, rushed, frustrating moment in a rain storm!
Oh well, I did snap one picture of her under my umbrella. It looks like she is headed to school in the middle of the night. We may as well get used to it. Winter is on it's way!

Then the poor girl didn't get home for two whole hours after school let out, because her bus broke down on the way home, and they had to sit and wait for a new one! She was asleep when it pulled up
That was a long day!
I got a better picture of her the next day, but it is on my iPhone, and I am too lazy to upload it right now.

The day after all this excitement, my next door neighbor saw me out and told me that they enjoyed the show we put on the morning before. All the running in the rain, the back and forth. The stray children wandering up the street. He said they saw it all out the window. But he realized I had Georgia before they could get out there.
Oh great! I just had to laugh!

This week has been smoother, and they are all still willing to go! So I will count that as a blessing! Now I have to gear up, because Walker starts school in September for four hours a week! Where did all the babyhood I have been doing year in and year out for a decade go so quickly?
 Life is on a high speed track these days!

But it is good, and I am grateful. As I came home from an evening walk by myself tonight, and approached my house, all lit up with everyone reading in their beds, I had a minute of peace, and joy for all the blessings in my life. Even the crazy days! Those are what make it so much fun!

Hawaii- 2012

Del's ATP, Jerry and is wife took lots of pictures of our Hawaii trip, and they just sent me a disk. So most of these pictures are courtesy of them. I'll put an * next to the photos provided by Laura and Jerry.

Sorry for Aloha overload! Just this last Hawaii post, and then I will have it all documented! Then no more, I promise!

Del planned a couple of activities for our entire group to do together. One of them was a tube ride through a water canal. Sounded a little weird to me at first, but it actually ended up being so much fun!

We stopped at a look out point to see the top of the mountain in the middle of the island. We had our tour guides snap a picture of us.
P.S We don't know who the couple on the far right of this photo are. Ha! I guess they heard us say gather for a picture, and they just followed orders!
One of our tour guides. These guys were so funny! And they kept telling us how glad they were to have such an energetic group that day!

Getting ready to ride. These outfits were about the geekiest getups imaginable! Plus the gloves were stinky! It looks like we are going to be at least running the rapids, or maybe mining for coal, not taking ride on a canal. But rules are rules!*

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At least we all looked like weirdos together!*

This ride should be pretty mellow. But when you have a bunch of competitive guys with tubes and water involved, it turns into a race to see who can get to the end first. So we ended up being quit a bit rowdier than your average tubing group!*

It ended much to quickly and we all wished we could go down one more time!*

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The majority of the canal was actually dug out of mountains, hence the lights on our heads. *

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Noelle and I got stuck at the back for most of the trip. So we spent the whole time trying to push off of the walls and each other to catch up. Just as we started to make some progress, the ride was over!*

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After the tubing adventure, the guides took us to a pretty spot to eat lunch. The boy used the time to do some fancy flipping into the river.

Our guides played the ukulele, and sang for us.

We also went to a Luau as a group one night. It was at a different hotel, but we nearby enough that we decided to call this guy named Dougie, that drives a crazy looking bus that has open sides and a tiki roof around the Poipu area to get everyone there.

It was a windy ride that smelled like fuel. But it was nice not to have to call a million different cabs! Dougie is making money hand over fist, I tell ya!
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At the Luau. Which was (lamely) moved inside because it had been raining earlier in the day. *

Poor Josh! He was such a good sport when the determined girl came down and dragged him up on the stage. Even he REALLY didn't want to go!*

Us*

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All the employees on the trip signed this nifty surf board and presented it to Del as a thank you! So nice! Thank you!

Wow! What a trip! I am so grateful we were able to go. I am so grateful for good, hardworking, honest people! I am so glad that so many of them work for Del.
It was fun to be able to get away with Del. I love our time together! Especially because we were able to celebrate our twelve year anniversary! I love you Del! And thank you for a good time, to everyone who joined us!