Summer's last hurrah!

Well, in the interest of packing every last bit of fun possible into our Summer, the kids and I flew to Salt Lake the week before school started to visit my family. I really appreciate my family for making it such a party when we're there. We arrived Monday night, August the 9th and went straight from the airport to Café Rio for dinner, then to Temple Square. The kids were so excited to be together! I had the opportunity to meet my new nephew Luke for the first time, though he slept peacefully through the whole night in his stroller! I had to wait until the next day to get my cuddles with him...

The next morning we met at Thanksgiving Point for what happened to be Bargain Tuesday...and it was a Zoo! Nothing brings in hoards of people like a good time at a reduced price. We still managed to have fun, though it was more crowded than I've ever seen it. I was so impressed with my nephew Tyler for being Claire's buddy all day. We saw the animals, took a hayride and let the kids play until lunchtime. 

My niece Hailey kept sticking her hands near the animals mouths and got some big wet kisses in return!

When we'd had our fair share of animals and the crowd, we headed to lunch, then spent the afternoon swimming at Andrea & Paul's new home, which is absolutely incredible. The kids all jumped in their deep Japanese soaking tub after, which seems custom-made for a bunch of kids!

Wednesday, August 11th was Ashlyn's 10th birthday! We celebrated by spending the morning up at my Grandparents' Millcreek cabin. We hadn't been there for a few years, so it was nice to go back. We spent quite a lot of time there when I was a kid and I have so many fun memories of the cabin. My Mom got a cute cake for Ashlyn. I can't believe I have a 10 year old!!!

My sister Natalie had to work that morning, so Monica brought my niece Hailey. Hailey entertained us all during lunch with her hilarious giggling. I'm filming with my cellphone and I'm laughing so hard, at some point, the camera is moving up and down. Make sure you have your speakers on so you can hear her silly laugh. Monica's laughing so hard, she's crying! Hope it makes you giggle too...

After lunch and birthday cake, we walked down to the river and let the kids play in the water. It's so cold, I don't know how they could stand to stick their feet in, but Claire especially loved playing in the water.

That night we met at Fat Cats for Ashlyn's birthday dinner. We had pizza, then the whole family went bowling! My Mom beat us all (no surprise) and my 5 year old niece Kate surprised up all and came in second place!!! 

Jane slept over with Ashlyn at my parents' that night. These 2 have such different temperaments, but are such good friends. Thanks to my Mom for the cute matching jammies!

Thursday morning we met at the Hogle Zoo. They have a new baby elephant that is adorable! We got about half way through the Zoo and all the kids were hot, tired and hungry for lunch. 5 adults and 13 kids is a big group at the Zoo!

Riding the Zoo Carousel...

On Thursday night we headed up to my family's cabin in Wyoming...a.k.a. "The High Life." It had been a whole year since we'd been. I love this cabin because there's no phone, no TV and it's so beautiful and peaceful. It's amazing that we can all be up there at the same time... All 26 of us (Dan was the only one not there:-0)  

C.J., Brooke, Anna, Ellie, Corey & I took a nice 4 wheeler ride Friday morning before most of the family arrived. We stopped at the "fishing hole" and saw a few good-sized fish. C.J. thought it would be fun to give the fish an easy lunch, so he started catching grasshoppers, shaking them up, and throwing them down to the fish! We spent about an hour feeding the fish and if possible, C.J. became even cooler in the eyes of Anna, Ellie & Corey! Here's a video I took...

We have a Snowcat for getting up the big hill in the snow. Sadly, our family has never been up to the cabin in the Winter, but the kids all had fun playing in the Snowcat, which was in the garage...

Our favorite thing to do at the cabin is 4 Wheeling. I love it when Dan's there too and we can go do some more technical terrain, but we take it easy when we have kids with us. After our fish feeding, C.J., Brooke, Anna, Corey, Ellie & I took a nice long ride and saw some deer, a sandhill crane and some big hawks. 

The next day, my parents and I took some of the kids down the logging road and out to the Overlook, which is one of the most amazing views. Dave & Anna were racing us and it was hilarious to see shy little Anna get her competition on! 

In the afternoons, we like to walk down to the lakes. It's not a bad little hike and we often see animal tracks and catch frogs at the big lake. Brooke caught a tiny little frog with a strange hump on his back that the kids all thought was pretty cool! Claire got tired on the walk back and I decided it's a workout to carry her! 

Saturday afternoon, we walked down the back side of the property, which is one of my favorite areas because it still has so many trees. Unfortunately, pine beetles have destroyed many of the pine trees, but there are lots of aspen trees here. It's so green, shaded and quiet. Meg was being a ham and posed for Monica to take her picture in her pink cowboy hat. The Fredricks carved Luke's initial into their tree in the grove.

Claire was being grumpy again and I was really missing Dan after a long week of fun without him. On the walk back to the cabin, I was thinking about how much we miss by not living near my family. They tell me they don't get together as much unless we're here, but it makes me sad that we don't live close. I knew we'd return home to Colorado and immediately the kids would start school and we'd be crazy busy. Dan had a rough week at work and I felt bad that I wasn't home to support him.... I just had so many emotions running through me and walking through the forrest that night with Claire, the tears just started rolling down my face. 

This past year has been full of unexpected changes... A new state, 2 moves, 2 new schools and wards. I can usually handle all the changes, but being with my family this week has made me long for the familiarity of home and for their company. 

My parents, my kids and I were the last to leave on Saturday night. All 3 kids fell asleep on the drive home so my parents and I had a good chance to talk. 
P.S...A HUGE thanks to my sister Monica for sharing her pictures with me! She took lot of these:-)