the new additions...

These two are Coyote and ladybug our new hermit crabs that the kids bought at the craft show during the stampede. They are pretty much the lamest pets a person could own! The night we got them Coyote (Cael's blue one) climbed the cage and stayed in the same spot for days. Then he made his way back down to the bottom and I've not seen him move until today when he crawled into the water dish. I thought Oh that lazy crab is going to actual move. As the day went on I noticed that he started to come out of his shell. I thought he was taking a bath, but it turns out he was committing suicide and died in the water dish. I didn't want Cael to know since we've only had these creatures for 2 weeks so I had Casey throw the crab away and leave the shell. I'm sure he'll never notice since the dang things never moved anyway! Ladybug (Kensie red one) does not move at all, but is still alive. It's like having a rock garden. I shouldn't have mentioned garden because now I'm reminded of the meal I could have at the the Olive garden for what we paid for these stupid things! I knew I should have bought fish instead, at least they move!

Thousand Lakes Trip...

At the first of the summer we talked about going on a big family vacation, but after going over some different idea's we decided that the kids would have just as much fun going camping for a week. Casey said he could take off some extra day so that we could go longer than just a weekend. The original plan was to go to Beaver Mountain and leave on a Wednesday and come back Sunday or Monday. Beaver Mountain is my favorite place and I was looking forward to some cooler weather. The guys then decided it would be funner to go to Thousand lakes and take a ride over to the Henry's and look for deer. Now I was not happy about this one bit for many reasons. The first reason was I knew it would be hot. Thousand Lakes is right by Capital Reef (which is desert!) and they were wanting to go to the Henry's (also desert). Next reason was I wanted to camp not be driving all day in the heat to look for deer (it's not the deer hunt!). I used map quest and found out that The Henry's were 2.5 hours away from camp! I just pictured my kids in a truck for 5 hours in the heat. The last reason was that I feel like Thousand Lakes is the only place we go. A couple of years ago Casey had a deer tag down there and we literally went down every other weekend. Anyway, after some arguing and me threatening to not go I finally agreed to go on this trip and not complain if he would take me to Beaver over Labor Day. We had planned on leaving on Wednesday, but then noticed the truck had a bad tire and we had to wait until Thursday to actually leave town. Cael went down on Wednesday with Gary & Linda and we finally made it down there Thursday afternoon. Since we had to wait another day, we made the best of it and went and watch Eclipse. I loved it and I'm Team Jacob for sure!

Kensie with her babies

Even though I was not looking forward to the Henry's drive I kept my promise and didn't complain. We actually had a really good time and I'm glad we went. Most of the truck ride was through Capital Reef and it was a beautiful which made time go by quick.

I know....I know....she's the cutest little biker you've ever seen!

The road had been washed out so we drove the rest of the way on the bikes. This was Casey's favorite part of the whole weekend!

I took this of my Father-in-Law so I had proof a RZR had to pull his 4 wheeler out!

Lunch

excuse this photo of Kensie's baby.... I didn't notice until after.

Beautiful ....but extremely hot!!! I'm pretty sure Satan ran out in front of us at one point cause it was hotter than hell. It was also dusty and Kensie's white shirt was literally brown by the end of the day. We had decided to stop in Torrey and get dinner since we were so late getting back. Torrey is a tourist trap and the drive-in's were bombed. We all had mud and dirt all over us and I thought we would just blend in, but it turns out that people staying in trailer courts don't get as dirty as us. I wiped my kids faces off before we got out and did the best to try and make them look like they didn't just come out of a dust bowl. Kalee almost punched a girl who she said was "looking Kensie up and down with a disgusted look on her face!" This girl obviously has never had fun and got dirty. I'm glad I didn't see her or I might have had to say something especially since Kensie looked cuter dirty than her girl was cleaned up! Snob!

Grandpa Gary gave Cael a knife at the start of the weekend, so he spent a lot of time marking his territory. Right before we left he hurried and carved his name on one last tree. I asked him why he had to do that last one and he answered "i only had done 4 and I'm 5 so I did 5". It kept him entertained and he even carved a C for Casey and a T for me.

This was our Saturday ride and was a little steep and Rocky, but that's how we like um!

Whittling....

Kurt Memmott made the kids these guns.

Casey's fish that he caught within 10 minutes of being there.

Cael reeling his fish in, Kensie was screaming at this point.

Her face was clean before she had an itch.

Kensie & Grandma Linda

Smores...

Kurt & Casey

It turned out to be a great week and I'm glad we had the chance to get away for a few days.

Stampede Weekend....

Yee-haw for Stampede Weekend! We have been counting down the weeks until we could put the boots on and Rodeo. A couple of weeks ago the livestock started showing up at the fair grounds so we would make a trip down everyday to see the baby colts. Kensie was completely obsessed with the babies and threw a complete fit when I made her leave. Thursday Morning we got up early and headed down to watch them bring the horses down main street on their way to the fairgrounds. I've wanted to do this every year but I have always forgot about it. The kids enjoyed it and when they passed Kenise cried for "mo (more)" and pointed down the street.



I then worked for a while and then headed home to get ready for the horse parade.

My mom gave all the kids Stampede shirts to wear. The boys were really excited to be there....lol. They did cheer up when the parade started and there was candy to eat.

Thursday night was family night and we were excited to sit in our box again. I don't know if I could ever go back to regular seating.....I think I'm spoiled. This was also the night our ward was doing the concessions for the scouts. Since we paid so much money for the box we're kind of obligated to watch the rodeo every night. So we found other ways to help out. Casey went down on Tuesday night to help them set up, plus him and Chris volunteered most of their day Wednesday to help get the new cook shack working for Thursday. The stake presidency were very grateful they were willing to leave work and go down and help them out. When they got down there Pres. Sevy's hands were covered with cuts and he was glad to turn the job over to them. One high counsel member told Casey they had saved them from spending the night down there hanging lights and possibly not being able to use it. I'm so glad Casey is willing to use his talents to help others out especially the scouts. He spends a lot of time and money to help with the scouts and never complains. During their monthly camp outs, Casey always volunteers to cook and most of the time donates the food. Many of the leaders have told me how lucky I am to be married to such a good cook. He also went down Monday morning at 6:30 am to help clean up the trash at the fairgrounds.

Nikki, Wyatt, & Halle

Kensie lou

Hal & Debbie (i told them to act like they loved each other lol)

Grandpa & Nikki

Gavyn

The kids loved to slap hands with the people in the arena. During the grand entry Cael slapped hands with one of the Pretty Cowgirls and he started to blush and smile. I have a feeling he's going to be quite the ladies man.

Marissa & Cody

Favorite Ride

I had Casey's Aunt Tammy make these belts last year and the kids looked so cute wearing them. Wrangler butts drive me nuts!

They also got new boots (even though Cael's look beat...he is so hard on stuff) Cael chose Johnny Poppers and Kensie were black glitter.

This totally looks like something my Dad would make.

Go CVMC!!!!

Cael won Kensie this mouse at the dart/balloon game in the Carnival on Thursday night. He then joined us the next two nights to the Rodeo and by the end of the weekend his head was almost complete torn off.

Kensie didn't care for the rides and only went on the Carousel. I didn't get a picture of that one ride because I had ran home to get the tickets we had bought the night before. She was content to watch the other kids ride and give her mouse piggy back rides.

The kids favorite part!!

The Rodeo always seems to get better every night and by Saturday I was sad to see it come to an end, but we were all ready for some rest! We were all so exhausted and ornery by Sunday that we didn't go anywhere after church and just lounged all day!