Swimming

It's so hot here the only thing we can do when we're home is swim!
Even if the pool is small!

When we're in Vegas we usually stop and swim at Dee Dee's.

The younger kids took swimming lessons. Daisy and Walt are officially swimming without floaties!

I guess the plus about very HOT weather is swimming all summer long, which=swimmers!

I thought they looked so cute in these life jackets.

Clark didn't like floating on his back!

Daisy swimming!

Daisy jumping from the lifeguard station.

Walt swimming!

Walt loved jumping off the lifeguard station.

Clark was my first child who didn't just love the water. If it was cold he'd rather stay out. 

Swimming lessons helped him like the water, which was want I was wanting.

"Mommy and Me" swimming lessons.

Sharing the toys or should I say "hoarding" the toys.

We even got to go to Wet'N'Wild with our friends the Severt's one day. 

Hanna got to go with them a second time and had a blast of course!

Granite Creek Dude Ranch

After leaving Ely, NV we headed to Idaho to visit Grandma Susan! 

First we stopped in Twin Falls to say hi to Grandpa Darrell. 

The kids had fun playing on his beautiful green lawn!

We stopped in Burley at Aunt Lola's house, (Great Grandma Mike's cousin).

Then we headed to the beautiful Granite Creek Dude Ranch near Swan Valley in Eastern, ID.

My mom was working there as a cook this summer and we got to visit her and stay at the ranch, ride horses, fish, paddle boat, canoe and enjoy the beautiful ranch for free! (Besides the gas and food). 

It was a spear of the moment opportunity we couldn't pass up.

Paddle boating and canoeing was a hit!

Kittens, swings, archery and beautiful weather.

Feeding the calves.

Horse back riding.

Danny, Max and Hanna went on a long trail ride with Laurie, who was in charge of the horses. 

Hanna's dream is to live on a farm when she grows up, she was in heaven!

The kids held garter snakes, even Daisy!

We wear about 40 mins. from Rexburg so we went and visited Brittany and Brannon and 

their cute little boys and drove around BYU Idaho.

It was a long drive home, but the kids did awesome! Clark has been our best baby traveler!

Northern Nevada Trip

We choose to go the long way to Idaho so we could have a few days in Northern Nevada. Danny had always wanted to see the stars at Great Basin National Park so we camped there the first night.

The next day we took a tour of the Lehman Caves, which were so neat to see and then

 we headed to Ely and stopped at the Beehive Ovens.

We stayed in Ely for the 4th of July and enjoyed the town parade and firework show.

We had a great time swimming at the Mcgill Swimming Hole!

Day Camp

I was a Cub Scout Den Walker this year at Day Camp and even got to participate on the fun!

 The water was super cold, but boys swam anyway!

 Rock wall was tough, but a great since of accomplishment!

 Max had to try a couple times, but he didn't give up!

He got to the top and buzzed away!

I am so afraid of heights, I wasn't sure I could do this. 

I tried not to look down.

I made it! It was pretty challenging. 

I was so shaky afterwards.

 The boys accomplished a lot and had a great time!

Disneyland 2013

This was the first time taking all the kids to Disneyland (the last time we went Van was 4 moths old). We went for 3 days and had an amazing time! Since there were so many great pics. and I didn't want to leave any out, I thought picture collages would be the best way to upload them all.

Enjoy!

First stop was Autopia, loved this ride when I was a kid. Hanna was so nervous to "drive".

Then to Captain EO and Star Wars the show. Daisy was picked to be in the Jedi Training (Van didn't think this was very fair especially since Daisy didn't know how to open the light saber).

Loved Splash Mt.! Monday Night my mom was able to watch the little kids in the hotel and we got to go have some fun  with Max and Hanna. The first time we road on it, I was in the front and got soaked and it was cold! We went on Splash Mt. the most out of all the rides. On Wed. morning there was no line and the kids were having a blast! All 5 big kids were tall enough to ride it.

Loved the Rapids as well. We got to ride it twice in a row because of the switch pass.

We finally got to ride on the Matterhorn! This was Max's request since day one. The first time we tried to ride it we were at the line nearest to the front and the ride broke down. So we tried again the next night and as soon as we sat in the "bobsled" the ride broke down again! I finally kind of begged for a return pass and got one. On our last day there we got right on with the return pass and enjoyed our ride. Daisy loves Roller-Coasters! She laughed and screamed the entire ride (Walt stayed off this one)!

So fun that almost all the Gravell's were able to join us for one of the days we were there!

Here we are on Dumbo and It's a Small World. (Notice the bottom right hand pic., that is Max and Baxter making sure no one knows that they rode on Dumbo).

Everyone had to try to pull the sword out of the stone of course!

Right before we were going to get on Space Mt. Max started backing out. We were able to change his mind and he now says that it was his favorite ride. As you can see he was holding on tight!
Hanna is my biggest dare devil when it comes to riding the roller coasters! She even went on Tour of Terror and Kurt, Skye and Hanna made me go with them! I am so afraid of heights, I kept my eyes closed pretty much the whole ride.

I took Max, Hanna and Van out every night to ride the roller coasters and they were excellent! 

I was exhausted, but so worth the bonding time I had with them!

Cars Ride. Danny went early to get us our Fast Passes for this ride (we had heard it was a must ride). When we got up to the front of the line, the ride broke down (just our luck). We waited an hour and a half for the ride, but it was worth it! Super fun!

Daisy was so excited to meet some Princesses (Cinderella, Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty).

I took Max, Hanna and Van out every night to ride the roller coasters and they did excellent! 

I was exhausted, but it was so worth the bonding time I had with them!

 I was impressed with how well all the kids did, they were awesome!

Grandpa's House

After our 3 days at Disneyland, we stopped by for a visit with Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Debi for the day. It was a great ending to our wonderful vacation!

Grandpa Ernie and Clark

Cute Ella

Enjoying the warmer water.

Skye, dad, Clark, Heather and Kurt (in the back ground).

Clark wasn't so sure of getting this wet.

The family (everyone but Michael).

Love this action shot!