Crazy Summer

I don't know if it is a good idea to try to fit everything into one post, but I think a quick summary of our summer is the best we are going to get at this point. We left around June 1st and traveled to a little town called Battle Mountain Nevada where Devon had applied for a job. We toured the town and interviewed. It was a nice little town, mostly mining and a few casinos- because we were in Nevada after all. I thought the drive out was amazing, I loved the salt flats and the Nevada hills. Then we came back and at some point we visited my grandma and went to this cool park.

I went to Idaho for 3 weeks while Devon worked on his last Administrative internship at West Jordan Elementary. 
While in Idaho Spencer conquered a great fear of climbing over this- it took a lot of tears and time, but he really wanted to and I was proud of him for sticking to it.

While I took care of 3 kids Devon dressed up like a Ram- j/k.  Devon had a great internship, met great people and of course worked very hard and totally wowed the staff because he is amazing like that.  He is wearing the mascot costume in this photo however.

One day the boys and I met up with a friend from Monument Valley who was moving to Texas, but was in Idaho for a few weeks.  We went to Applebee's kids night and they had some awesome face painters there.

I was a little afraid of James.

We made a birthday cake for James in Idaho, even though his birthday wasn't until after we got back home.

We took the kids to the zoo, I missed Devon and his photo taking skills in Idaho

Also in Idaho we had a Frozen party with pin the nose on the Olaf and a bubble machine and ice paintings.  We did swimming lessons and this year I did not hear James screaming from the pool everyday.  Spencer went to Science camp and converted his cousin Jase to the amazing experience- Kate, Olivia and Spencer attended for the second time this year.  We played a lot and Carrie never slept- but was cute enough in the day to make up for it.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for putting up with us for that long!
When we came back it was James birthday.  He wanted a remote control car.  Sadly the one he actually got for his birthday was defective, but he played with his other toys and got to stretch out his birthday until the new one came.  He played with it so much the first day the batteries ran out in one day- not just because it was cheap.

It is a sand and water vehicle- so it is pretty fun to play with.

James got a pretty awesome scratch on his head, Spencer said you could see his brain- which you couldn't but it was pretty gross.

Before James' birthday (somehow these picture are out of order) before we went home we stopped at Gabe and Anna's and went to a ropes course.  It was a lot of fun.  Spencer had never been rock climbing, but he was a natural. 

He climbed clear to the top on his first try- way to go Spencer!

Carrie walked around and worried about why people were up so high.

We also did a zipline, you can tell the boys are a little nervous because Spencer tongue is out and James looks scared, but they were brave and ended up loving it.

While on our trip Devon was offered and accepted the job in Battle Mountain.  We felt good about it, but nothing earth shattering.  Then a few days before we came back the district here called and asked Devon to interview for the Vice Principal position at the high school here that had just opened up.  He interviewed on the way home.  The next day he was offered the job.  We went to the temple and prayed about it, and we really felt good about both options, but Devon has finished his Masters and administration is a great opportunity and we like it here, so we took the job.  Thankfully the Vice Principal position didn't officially start until the end of July, so we had some time to relax a little and
find cool bugs

pan for gold in our own back yard ( and discover that our dirt is magnetic- who knew?)

enjoy the beautiful scenery

play in the water.

I don't know how we don't have a picture of Carrie in the pool- she insisted on playing in it about 3 times a day- everyday.

The 4th was a nice calm day for us, just with our little family.  We went to Blanding for the parade where Carrie begged everyone around us for food and got it because after all she is so cute.

Spencer got sprayed by the fire trucks and got very wet.

We did our own fireworks and then watched the fireworks at Gouldings.  It truly was a nice day.

July was nice to just spend with family and not have to stress too much.  We did have to pack some because we got to move to a bigger apartment in the beginning of August, but mostly it was a nice lazy summer.

Somehow I don't have pictures on the computer yet of our last summer adventure, so more to follow- hopefully soon!

Waterfall Hike

After school got out and before our too long vacation we went on an amazing hike here! It was so beautiful! It was amazing because it was so unexpected.

First we spotted a ruin.  This storage area was really cool because there is still a wooden cieling.  The wood was preserved because it was covered by rocks.

There were a lot of pottery shards.

Prickly pear blooms in so many colors, I didn't know that, but we saw 4 different colors on this hike.

We got a little lost and went down the wrong canyon at first, the boys were being unhappy, Devon had a stomach ache and we didn't bring lunch, but we decided to keep trying to find it- and it was definitely worth it.

On the hike you could look up and see this huge and amazing ruin up on the other side of the canyon.  I really want to hike there.  some of our friends did and they found tons of pottery, even unbroken handles. 

The hike ended at a waterfall from a natural spring.  There were lots of frogs, Spencer loved catching them.

The water just seeped out of the rock.  I have never seem moss in Monument Valley before.

Spencer really wanted to take a shower in the waterfall- bucket list check

This is the path to the waterfall.  There were so many trees and plants, you could even see the trail.  Carrie whimpered the whole time because she was afraid of getting hit by branches.  It was so weird that it was so green.

One thing we didn't take a picture of is the fields on the way.  There were summer camps there with make shift buildings and fields for planting corn and places for sheep, it seemed like a place from a different era.  what a beautiful world we live in!

Four Corners

We asked Spencer if there was anything else he wanted to see around here in case we end up moving this summer. He said he wanted to go to Four Corners. That is a pretty boring place, so we supplemented our trip by going to Hovenweep as well.

Hovenweep is a canyon of ruins.  They are not huge and haven't been restored, but I had low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised.  My favorite ruin is the how made out of the boulder in the middle of this picture.

James insisted that "Fluffy" needed to hike with us.

A prickly pear cactus in bloom.

This ruin was called the castle.

You can't keep a kids out of a puddle.

Carrie really did enjoy her ride, but she would rather be down exploring with the boys.

At four corners you pay 5 dollars a person to get in  and snap a picture, but I guess we fulfilled Spencer bucket list!

Flowers

 The wild flowers and plentiful and amazing this year.  I have never seen so many and so many colors and kinds.  We went on a drive to take pictures of them, and also got a picture of a snake.  Spencer was so astounded that we saw a snake, he kept repeating "I can't believe we actually saw a real snake" the whole way home.

 Here is a Yucca in bloom.

We tried to take a family picture with all the flowers.