trip to Idaho Falls

 We made a trip to Idaho in the middle of July.  Devon went to a conference in Washington DC and my parents helped me not go crazy with 4 kids.  We went to Reed's Dairy for ice cream - a must during huckleberry season.

 We went to the zoo.  The Idaho Falls zoo is a perfect size.  There was a baby snow leopard, and we got to see the penguins be fed and pet goats, and the monkeys were very active and fun to watch.

 Near the zoo is a tiny amusement park that the kids love to visit each year.

 The boys even tried miniature golfing this year.

 We met a new family with kids our kids age, so we made new friends

 this is as close as we got to the tetons

 Mesa Falls

 we went to fun interactive art place when Devon came back

 Here are some pictures of Devon's trip, he finally made it to Arlington!

Camping at Nizhoni Campground

 We decided to finally go camping as a family this summer.  We have not ever been camping all together, and the last time the boys went camping was when Carrie was a baby.  We went to a campground just about 90 minutes from our house, closest place with trees.  We set up the tent and found Devon's flashlight that has been lost since that camping trip 3 years ago!  then we went wading in a very muddy reservoir, I guess you are supposed to be dirty when you are camping.

 Can you see the deer?  this campsite was so fun.  We were the only people there besides the managers.  The managers were very nice and let the kids help them feed the animals and gave us food so the wild turkeys would come to our camp in the morning (mixed blessing?)

 We gathered wood from everywhere and tons of pine cones since they had done a controlled burn in the campground they were everywhere.  They made beautiful flames!

 There were tons of hummingbirds

 That looks spooky but I'm pretty sure it is a deer.  The best part was the the Whitakers came up for a few hours.  The kids put on skits for us and we just enjoyed being with our great friends.  It seems whenever we get together the kids just pick up where they left off and are best friends.  Lewis and Devon seem to do the same.  We won't talk about the night- it was not the best part, but the rest was really fun.  Next time I'll just take the girls home to sleep.

4th of July

 We went to the Blanding 4th of July celebration.  Pictures out of order, but we went to the park for food and games after the parade

 We got awsome seats for the parade, right at the beginning, and no one was there!

 James got the Jackpot and caught these, much better than candy

 Devon got me wet- good thing it was hot

 Leah and "Aunt Tami" one of the only other adults Leah will let hold her.

 Fourth of July clothes, we didn't have to buy anything new this year.

 We came back for a bbq and fireworks.  Next time we won't watch from the church, not a great view but still fun.

James' Birthday

 James got to have a few birthday celebrations.  Devon had to be back to work on James' birthday, so we had a family celebration before Devon left us.  He got his favorite game, also a remote control car that we had to rig to work for a few hours and then send back.

 He got to have a party with all of the cousins.  He and Ally shared a birthday party with an animal theme, they both love animals, James' favorite animal is a monkey and Ally's is a cheetah.

 They made fruit pizza and animal masks

 Spencer drew a teddy bear hotel on his, I can never guess what this boy will come up with

 We went on an animal scavenger hunt in the back yard.

and played pin the trunk on the elephant.  All around a great party for our 7 year old.
James i a great boy.  He loves to play (or fight) with Carrie.  He is a great dancer and quite musically talented.  He has been so excited for singing and dancing to start again this year.  He likes playing with legos and cars when he is not playing princesses with Carrie.  He is getting to be a great reader.  WE love our James Gabriel Gosney Jim Rufus.

Trip for Ally's baptism

 Toward the end of June we took a trip "up North" for my niece Ally's baptism.  I spent the day with Melissa while Devon bought a car.  Little Indi is sooo cute, and Leah enjoyed having someone her size.

 James learned about making Lego "set-ups" from Huck.  Now he does this all the time.

 These are out of order, but we went swimming with cousins in Logan later in the week.

 Carrie started to get sick a few days into our trip, just a head ache and sore throat, but with all of the excitement and allergy testing to learn she is allergic to everything (milk, eggs, soy, weeds, trees, dogs, cats and peanuts) she just couldn't recover.  She slept almost all of the last day we were there, and that scared me, but then she didn't sleep at all on the drive home, so I guess she was just healing.

 Speaking of sleeping one morning I could not find James anywhere, finally I found him hidden by ruby's huge bear asleep, he must have gotten up but seeing it was early fell back asleep in a comfortable place!

 Back to Ally's baptism, we didn't take any pictures of the beautiful girl in her baptism dress, but it was really a wonderful baptism.  Ally is such a great addition to our family, always smiling!
all the dads and cousins played a bit of basketball after the lunch.

 We went to a Splash Park- it was hot

 And the nickelcade- summer bucket list check (next year I will remember to take a picture of our bucket list!)

June

 Leah is always willing to share her half eaten food

 our garden beginning to grow, we had a great crop of tomatoes, we literally gave away bowlfuls and had salsa a least once a week. 

 Leah learned to stand up in the middle of a room before she walked

 We sold our couch so we sat on camping chairs all summer until our new couch came

First Otter Pop, at first she thought it was too cold, but she learned to love them this summer!