Birthday Boy

Joe just turned 9 on August 4th, so on September 4th, we decided that because his birthday is always celebrated at the ranch without his friends around, this year we would have a party for him in Draper! We invited some of his friends from the neighborhood and school to come swimming with us and have a PARTY!!! It was a lot of fun for him.
This picture was taked to get most of the kids in the picture with the cake, but apparently something was going on between Luke and Joe at this moment, no, really, is was a fun party.

This is the Baby Joe Joe that I still picture in my mind. They grow too fast and I forget how little they used to be. We love you Joe- and here is to many more years to come:) xoxo

Back to school.....again

Don't we all love it when school starts again? I love this time of year. The kids are so excited to go, the smell of the classrooms, new clothes and the anticipation of what the new year will be like. This is usually true for me, but this year was a little different....
My 5 year old started kindergarten AND
my 3 year-old started pre-school! I was in a little bit of a shock when everyone was gone. Now, I know that it is only for a few hours for a couple days a week, but still it was really strange having everyone at school. I know it will be another change when they will all be in school all day, but for now I will take this little baby step before huge changes start to happen. Love my boys---

Post camp activities

Just before camp ended, Joe had a birthday, he is now a big 9 year old kid! For his birthday, he wanted to go for a horseback ride with his family. So, we rode up in the mountains to a lake and had lunch. It was a beautiful day and Joe had a huge smile on his face.
Josh doubled with Dan and Luke doubled with me. Josh was pretty much doing the splits the whole way, but he loved it too.
Another big event....my nephew (the boys cousin) Parker came home from his mission to Russia. It was so much fun to see him and my boys were so excited to have him come home. (isn't he handsome?)
After camp was over, we needed a break from our summer adventures. We went up to my brothers condo in Park City and enjoyed a much deserved weekend with our family. We went boating on Jordanelle...(just a hint, NEVER go to Jordanelle on a sunny Saturday, everyone else has the same idea). It was so dang crowded we could barely turn around, but the boys had a blast tubing.
At least it was a nice day. :) The Alpine Slide was one of the big hits of the weekend. We all had races, don't ask Dan and the 3 oldest boys who won:) We had such a great time hanging out, swimming and watching the olympics. Thanks family!

They're all mine

This was the week that we had to convince Josh that he was NOT going kayaking. He was ready to go and thought that he could make it for a week on the river in his own kayak. (Almost thought about sending him:))
This is an outfit that Luke wore for weeks. He compiled it all by himself. It is kindof creepy in this picture, but the sunglasses were added when they were giving them away at the hardware store- the gloves??? Don't quite know what to say about them, but I have to love him just the same.
Potty break in the mountains on one of our many trips up to the horse camp.
Again, these are my colorful boys that are really creative at camp. Starting to worry if camp is really good for them or not. They had so much fun with their stick horses. I think that I am raising a bunch of rednecks...........
The END!

Hiking

So after our convincing Josh that he was NOT going on the backpacking trip with the campers, or the kayaking, or the horse trip, we decided that we needed to take him on a hiking trip of our own. We walked through a river up a canyon in Capitol Reef and it was a lot of fun.
The boys could float in some parts and they actually found a waterslide that was fun until Ben got his bum stuck half way down:)
Josh was one happy camper!!!

Projects at the ranch

Ya, o.k., I know, we are the reigning beauties of the ranch. Anyway, my friend Christine came down with her family for the weekend and decided to help me with a few projects. ( I will have to take pictures of the whole finished project later). We painted the t.v. room a beautiful shade of yellow......
Christine was hard at work making me a mirror to hang in the t.v. room and....
my favorite project was painting the brick behind the wood-burning stove, although this wasn't the finished color, it made a HUGE difference in that room. Thanks Chris!!! It is always nice to have friends stop by. Anyone who wants to come down and do a project or two is welcome anytime:)

SUMMER

Summer is here. We have started the summer camp craze. The weather here is really nice.
The first week Ben went Mountain Biking and Joe went backpacking, so I had the first week with my two youngest. Josh really thought that he was going on the backpacking trip. He was devestated when he realized that he couldn't go. He wore that backpack around all day with a waterbottle inside of it. He was so sad. We will have to go on a hike later on.
We did get to go to the park in Capitol Reef. We saw a ton of deer and this tree is a favorite to climb on with its roots exposed. It's nice to have a little time with the two youngest.