Sun Valley

All of my family took a long weekend to spend together in Sun Valley, Idaho. The weather was absolutely gorgeous--mid 80's, no humidity. Sun Valley is a beautiful area and we appreciate more and more the grandeur of "real" mountains. In Virginina, they mistakenly call anything resembling a small hill a mountain! I loved spending time with my parents, sisters and their families. I was struck with the thought more than once that my sisters had both married very well. Andy and Adam are the perfect husbands for Steph and Heidi--they are patient spouses and attentive fathers. I'm glad they joined our fam!

Here are some of the highlights of our time in Sun Valley:

Heidi organized a "Minute-to-Win-It" game night. We laughed and laughed and found most of the challenges beyond our reach.

By far, the most entertaining game was one where you attach a banana to some yarn that then hangs in between your legs and attempt to "swing" the banana forward so that it hits an orange and rolls the orange across the finish line before your competitors. When Heidi told my mom the game was called "How's It Hangin'", she said, "Oh...my!" I thought we would never stop laughing!

Adam challenged the brothers-in-law, Dan and Andy, to a round of "How's It Hangin'". I'm not sure who came up victorious, but I know we have a lot of black-mail footage from it!

Do you recognize any of these imposters? The horse-back riding outfit in Galena came complete with cowboy boots, chaps and hats for all.

                                                    The Wagstaffs are lookin' good.

                                     The Kotter clan tries to leave their big-city life in the dust!

We took about an hour-long ride through a nice mountain trail. Serene. Peaceful. Back to nature.

                      Sydney was a natural for her first time on a horse! The horse's name was Happy.

                                               

We rode the gondola up Bald Mountain where we enjoyed an impressive view of the whole valley.

                                                  Yes. It was WINDY on top!

 Saturday morning Heidi, mom and I took the little kids to a sprinkler park while the adventurous folks went white water rafting.

                             Steph's crew: Drew (10), Tasha (13), Katya (16), Steph and Andy

                     Heidi's fam-dam:Heidi+ 1 on the way, Adam, Bronson (2), Campbell (4)

                         My bunch: Logan (10), Sydney (7), me, Dan, Ethan (4), Mikelle (13)

                                                Mom and Dad with all of their grandkids.

We had a family church service on Sunday morning with the permission of Bishop Wagstaff. I thought it was wonderful to share our faith and testimonies with each other. I hope my kids and their cousins can feel the strength that comes from a family unit, all striving together to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

                            On the way home, we drove through Twin Falls, ID and saw the temple.

We also stopped at Shoshone Falls. It was more impressive than I thought it would be. The vertical drop was reportedly higher than Niagara. Can that be true?

Summertime Fun in Utah (or U-talk according to E)

We spent the bulk of our summer in Utah this year. The kids and I were there for 4 weeks and Dan joined us for the last 2 weeks. The kids absolutely love spending time with all of their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. We are so grateful to our families who allow us to come and take up residence in their homes for so long. I know it's a huge change for both grandparents to go from peace and quiet to chaos and mayhem! Thank you, Mom and Dad and Mona and Gregg, for your hospitality!

4th of July BB-Q at Mom's House

These 3 amigos were inseparable! They played from sun-up until sun-down. Campbell had a brand new house, but didn't sleep there most nights because he wanted to keep having sleep-overs with his cousins.

                               Is this not the cutest photo ever? Ethan (4), Sydney (6), Campbell (4)   

                                                                  Bro-yo (2) chills out.

                                        Adam (we'll leave his age out of it) is the grill-master.

                                   Eating out on the patio and mom and dad's house-say cheese!

Sydney's 7th Birthday

                                     Sydney opened a few presents first thing in the morning!

We celebrated Syd's birthday by going to the Capitol Theatre to see "Madagascar 3." Then onto the local pizza parlor for a pizza party with Grandpa and Grandma T., Kirk, Heidi, Campbell and Bronson, plus her mom and siblings. We ended the day with cake and ice cream back at Grandma's house. Make a wish!



The Tree House Museum

The Tree House Museum is always one of our favorite stops. Here is Campbell in his cowboy get-up.

                                                            Logan: aka radio clown.

                                                     Having a pow-wow in the teepee.

                                                                The royal Syd and E.

                                                              Ethan- the astronaut.

Splash Pad in Clearfield

                                          The cousins cool off on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Riding 4-wheelers at Grandpa T.'s Farm

Thanksgiving Point and Rio Tinto Mine with the Wagstaffs
Mikelle and Tasha almost perished not being able to see each other until we'd already been in UT a week, but as soon as their cousins on the other side left town, we headed to Springville to see them.

                      The big and the little kids enjoyed the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

I have to admit, the former Bingham Copper Mine--now the Rio Tinto Copper Mine--was way cooler than I thought. Ethan loved watching the enormous dump trucks! The first photo shows just how big each wheel is.

Pioneer Day Float Exhibit at South Towne Expo Center

The week before the Days of '47 Pioneer Days Parade the floats are all on display at the South Towne Expo Center. We were amazed at the creativity and man hours that went into creating so many floats. Our favorite was an ice-cream sundae one where the stems on the cherries could wave back and forth. The "highlight" was waiting  in line for an hour for the little kids to get these balloon swords!

Mikelle's 13th Birthday

Mikelle and I had a mommy-daughter day: we shopped in Salt Lake at Fashion Place mall and got our hair cut at Chad's. Doesn't Mikelle look so grown up with the new 'do?

Mikelle waited until the next day to have her cake and ice cream with the Bairds, Wagstaffs, and Gr/Gr T. when we arrived in Sun Valley, ID. Happy 13th Mikelle!

Ethan's New Glasses

Do you love Ethan's new look? We just picked up his glasses today and love how handsome he looks. He unfortunately, has amblioplia, like Sydney and Dr. Kern felt he needed to start wearing glasses to strengthen the eye muscles. He'll wear them about 5 hours a day when preschool starts, but for now he'll wear them all day, so that he can get used to them. He's already cleaned them numerous times with the spray and cloth the eye doctor gave him and he is so excited that the case is blue--his favorite color!

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Yesterday we celebrated Dan's 39th birthday. After church, the kids churned out several HB signs to hang around the house. Dan's favorite one was made by Syd and hung on the front door: "Dad, You are Awesome! Dad- You are King!" We enjoyed a birthday dinner of Brown-sugar-BBQ chicken, red mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. I made his favorite (from scratch) German chocolate cake.

The big surprise of the day was when he opened his one lone present and found the all-new iPad. Sydney and Ethan commented on how disappointing it must be to just get ONE present. Dan told them if you were only going to get one present, then this is the present to get! The Frosts were very kind and gave him a red cover for the iPad. By bedtime he had all of his apps downloaded and was reading his scriptures from the iPad.

                                                                 Dan and the kids.

             Drum roll while he opens his gift......(Do you like the trick wrapping from the Polo Outlet?)

                                     Everyone wants to get their hands on daddy's new toy.

                                                                 Make a wish!