Summer catch up-Edited.....

Time to catch up on the rest of the summer activities.

Farmington Festival Days parade with family & friends. I love that parade....but then again, I love any parade! We had a few extra friends with us that day, and it was great!!

Gatrell Family Campout

HERE IS MORE ABOUT IT:

I like camping at Pineview Reservoir! So I coordinated a family campout with my dad, 4 other uncles/aunts & me! I got the 6 campsites 6 months in advance-well worth the planning! We had 6 campsites on the inside of a loop, and the kids had SO much fun running to the different campsites to see different family. My kids had so much fun playing with their first & second cousins. Its just priceless! Jimmy couldn't be up there the whole time, but with all my wonderful family around, I survived a few days with me+the kids. We did go boating, but Aunt Tammy's boat broke.....dang. Oh well. It was such a good trip! The kids had so much fun in the sand! I love camping! We take a break from the stress of normal life & enjoy time together & some fresh air!

The last night, we had a campfire (at my campsite) & root beer floats. My grandpa wanted to sing campfire songs. MY GRANDPA! It was great-he was leading the songs. My generation didn't know the songs, but my mom & some of her siblings knew the songs and sang with grandpa. It was such an amazing moment. I have never known my grandpa to do that!

It was nice to have Jimmy up there!

Kangaroo Zoo

Anytime to get out of the house was needed-espically with a torn-up kitchen. I made my first trip to Kangaroo Zoo. Fun-Fun!

Visit to Temple Square

{Grandma & Grandpa's 65th Wedding Anniversary}

One of my cousins planned a family gathering for my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary. The day started with people going to the temple *since that is where it all began*!

I didn't do a temple session with everyone, but enjoyed the morning at Temple Square with the kids.

We walked around the Temple and got a few pictures of the kids. My kids are cute!!

My kids love cousin Kelby & Kelby likes them! Cool cousin Kelby! Thanks!

It all began with this.....

Okay-gross picture! We found a water leak in our kitchen. It had been leaking for a LLLLOOOONNNGGG time. We noticed the floor had buckled a little, and a smell of mildew when I randthe dishwasher-so after pulling out the dishwasher & some floor we discovered this:YUCK. So with the mold & not knowing the extent of the damage-we called our homeowners insurance. Insurance will pay to repair damage but not the part that caused the damage. So its been about a month now, the house is not back to normal, but things are coming together. More pix to come.

This is my excuse in life....NO KITCHEN!

(PS-I leave Friday for an anniversary trip back east with my man!)

Fish Lake: Camping

Camping at Fish Lake included:

Playing outside

Craft Time (during a storm that passed by)

Happy Birthday America!

A Walk to the Lodge for candy

Do you see we have coats on-Its July 3rd! Hello! 9000 ft elevation!

Bug hunt walk

Beautiful background!

Campfire & Great Memories

Any chance my kids get to spend with GREAT grandparents, Grandparents, and their SECOND cousins is amazing! I hope they remember these memories!

*Getting home wasn't as dramatic--Jim & Jimmy took Jim's trailer to Richfield (where Jimmy's cousin lives). Then they came back to begin the drive home. Sophie just rode with Jimmy & I. She got BORED with no one else riding with her! We left camp WAY TOO LATE. We pulled in at 9pm-exhausting!!

Fish Lake: The Drive

Ugg-The drama of the drive down.
Friday, July 2nd we begun our journey to Fish Lake National Forest. There were 5 kids and 5 adults going between Jimmy's parents & us. We divided up with 5 & 5 in each truck and we started heading south. We were ahead of Jimmy's folks about 30 minutes or so. We texted back & forth as we drove along. Jim (Jimmy's dad) started having truck problems. His truck overheated. (The diagnosis & all I am not sure of....sorry car folk.) Jim was off the side of the road with his truck & trailer at the Mona exit on I-15 with Ash, Sarah, cousin Ian, and Connie.

My poor girls-they got a little scared cause they really wanted to go camping, and they knew there was problems. We were ahead of them when we got the text that there were problems. So we continued to the Scipio exit. Jimmy dropped the trailer, turned on the generator and I was left to entertain Soph, Charlie & cousin Cooper for an unknown amount of time. The wind was blowing hard, the generator ran out of gas, and I realized I did not have my wallet. It was fun! But we stayed entertained until we knew the plan.
The Plan-

• Tow truck to take Jim & his truck to the Salt Lake Valley. Jim then gets a ride to Bountiful from Jody, then Jim brings a vehicle to Fish Lake.


• Jimmy drives to Mona to pick up Ashley, Sarah, Ian and Connie & Jims TRAILER.


• Jimmy takes A, S, I, C+trailer to Scipio.


• Jimmy picks up me, S, C, & C +Jim's trailer to Fish Lake


• Jimmy returns to Scipio to get A, S, I & C + our trailer.


• Jimmy drives A, S, I & C to Fish Lake


• Jim arrives at Fish Lake

Finally @ dark, everyone makes it to camp. We get trailers set up, and eventually get to bed! Whew!

While we were waiting for Jimmy to be a shuttle between Scipio & Fish Lake, we hung out with the other family already at camp and thank goodness they were there. We didn't bring jackets, so we could hang out in their trailer, they shared food, and kids got to play.

What a LONG day!

(the next day they moved trailers around-they weren't set up the best way after a long Friday)

Another Fun Weekend

Another fun week/weekend has passed......and I am now behind 3 weeks. Lots has happened in those 3 weeks-so here is a list of whats to come (plus its a reminder to me the things I need to blog about).

Fish Lake

Truck troubles

Farmington Festival Days

Leak in the kitchen

Pineview

July 24th

Oh I bet you can't wait......Lots of cute pix to come & good times! Good memories are being made this summer!

Other Summer Fun

Ice Skating Lessons (my 3 kids at the same place @ the same time-PERFECT)

Sophie & I just hang out together & watch the kids. Its cute!

Hot weather means pool & slip-n-slide.
Summer Literacy @ the Park. Story, craft, treat and a free book! Perfect!

I love summer. I do like the hot weather! I love flip-flops, the kids playing in sprinklers and getting dirty! I would take this HOT weather over the cold, dark, life-less winter months!

Road Trip to Idaho

As a child, Jimmy had traveled up to Salmon, Idaho many times to see the Hobbs family. He would make the trips with his parents, or Grandma & Aunt Mary. We decided to make a road trip out of the youngest of 8 children was going on a mission. All the older siblings were going to be at the mission farewell, so Jimmy wanted to go see his cousins.

We decided to make it a road trip! With our family of 6, we decided to take the truck & trailer (that way we had our own place to sleep and our own space). We parked in front of Aunt Jean & Uncle Clint's house. We had power & water hook-ups, so it was great. Aunt Jean & Uncle Clint were great hosts too.

We began our trek Saturday morning. We made it to Idaho Falls for gas & lunch, then continued on to Salmon.

PIPE CLEANERS are the greatest invention. Those keep my kids occupied for hours! Their imaginations make the most interesting things.

Our long 6 hour truck ride was filled with food, music, naps, a book on CD, coloring, beads, and many other activities to keep those kids happy. We were happy arrive in Salmon, Idaho in the afternoon.364 miles later. We made pretty good time, but got horrible gas mileage. We got our trailer set up, then let the kids play with their second cousins & had some dinner. It was nice to meet cousins, a few of them even came up and introduced themselves to me. Everyone was great! The kids played SO hard! Water-balloons were launched & we tried to catch them in towels! That was funny! A & S went to ride horses at one of the Jimmy's cousins' house. They had fun-thanks to cousin Carla. After baths/showers in the trailer for the kids, it was bed time. The kids have NEVER slept that well in LONG time-traveling and playing in the sun, they were exhausted!

We made it to 9am church the next day, and enjoyed Mark's talk. Food followed at Aunt Jean's house. We cleaned up & hit the road at 4 or 5 pm. We drove the 3 hours to Idaho Falls, and spent the night in front of Phil & Cassie's house. Jimmy was going to see Phil at work tomorrow-so that made our whole weekend a "work" trip. P&C have kids, so my kids LOVED playing with their toys, and just hanging out. We lit sparklers Sunday night, but I only got this one picture. Cassie got a few more.

Monday after lunch, we packed up and headed home.

Summary-6 hours in truck with all of our kids is our LIMIT (as of now). Whew! By the end of the trip, I think we were all sick of being SO close to each other for so long. (I was sick of being on the sun side of the truck)

The trailer is a great place for emergency potty breaks after you've passed the exit or rest area.

I love my camping trailer.

Busy Weekend

Sometimes we have a busy weekend, and I think "Boy, could it get any busier that this". Well, the next weekend I do it-The next weekend is busier than ever!

One Saturday, we had a family Pinewood Derby and three birthday parties for our kids to attend. Our family put together one car to race, a Team Burns racing truck. We didn't have it heavy enough, and the wheels could have been assembled better. We ended up 'even-steven', meaning we won & lost the same number of time. My family did a good job putting it all together and it was fun.

Off to the birthday parties----> Jimmy & Ashley went to one, while I took the rest of the kids+friend Charlotte to a party for my neice, then off to a party for a neighbor friend.

{{Slacker}}

I debated what to call myself......so I decided on a slacker. Why?

Months ago, I bragged about registering for a bike ride/race. I was excited at the thought of doing it cause one of my friends has does it & talked a lot about it. Its a women's only ride-how fun does that sound. But as time got closer, I was not ready for it and I did not make time to train for it. Race day came & passed. I did not ride in the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. I felt like a slacker. I really wanted to do it, but excuse after excuse (none really good) just made me feel like I couldn't get away to do this race. So, this is my confession. whew.....a slacker. Sure. But maybe it just wasn't the right time & season for it (as that's a saying a believe-there is a time and place for things/stuff).

I didn't want to be out the money, so I was able to sell my registration, but one year..........I hope to be there.

I did use the failure to drive some motivation back into me. I have been working at getting back into exercising. How long can I use my baby Sophie as an excuse. (Ah, I felt I was in GREAT shape when I got pregnant with Sophie. Well, this almost-30-year-old body didn't just shrink down to my pre-pregnancy size) Well, weeks later, I am not sure if there has been much weight loss, but I have done some exercising and feel a little better about myself, but its not easy. Hopefully soon I will brag about my first post-kid 5K.