Getting up at 3 am to get ready to leave turned out easier than I thought it would. We were pulling out of my cousin’s driveway by 4 am. We had a long day ahead of us but I was confident that it would be fun. We did have a good time and we made good time! My original plan was to go straight to Mandi’s house. But I was SO TIRED that I knew if I went there I’d never sleep because I’d want to talk. So, knowing that Cathy was at work and talking would not be a temptation, I called her and asked her if I could come to her house till after Mandi got home from school (about 9pm).
I walked into Cathy’s house, helped the kids put on a movie and just crashed. I slept for 3 hours! It was crazy. But I felt so much better! After a yummy dinner of sloppy joes and some goofing off we loaded up and headed to Mandi’s.
We were going camping with Mandi and her family the next day and so Mandi and I went on a late night shopping trip to get all the food and other essentials we might need. It was easy for me because I was all packed up but Mandi had lots to do. I was so glad I got my nap in. It ended up being a VERY late night!
Wednesday June 22 was an early morning for me, as usual. I had this goal of having my kids do math and piano everyday. Even though we were on vacation I figured there be enough downtime for them to do those two things. I should stop sometimes!! After a couple of hours of trying to get the kids to do math and piano I gave up in frustration. Mandi must think I’m a slave driver!! No one did another lick of work the whole time we were on the trip. It was vacation after all!
[My kids’ favorite part about Utah, everyone has trampolines!]
[Keri LOVED the fish tank. It was pretty cool to watch!]
[Just in case we need this picture someday…..]
[Thanks Mandi!! We had so much fun!!]
Camping was AMAZING!! I love Mandi’s family. I’ve always thought of them as my own. Her brothers made me feel right at home. I was the butt of their jokes and teasing and it made me feel loved. Thanks guys!! My kids got along with all the cousins as if they had all been friends for years. My kids even have a couple of pen pals now. The weather was nice, the scenery beautiful and everything just perfect. It was a great way to spend the first 4 days of vacation.
[Alix is getting so grown up!]
[One day all the kids played in the mud for about 3 hours. They had so much fun until they had to clean up in the cold river water….]
Milo would play fetch with this dog for hours! He even devised a system where he attached a bone to a long leash and would throw the bone and then pull it back with the leash. The dog just LOVED Milo!
[Jaime is such a good big sister!]
[Alix enjoyed the little dogs more. She’s a snuggler!]
[The first day at camp, Jaime lost her tennis shoe in the river. We looked for hours but never found it. She was VERY careful with her flip flops after that!]
[Alix’s new friend and pen pal Kara]
[Afton’s buddies]
[If we wanted water, someone had to use this! It was difficult, but felt good knowing you were gaining some muscle!!]
[Two peas in a pod! Niah’s new friend Niki]
These two girls kept going “hiking”. It was super cute and we were glad they got along so well. But it did get unnerving at times!
[I just love these guys!! Thanks Mandi for sharing your kind, considerate, respectful brothers with me…. :o)]
[This girl rocks!! Love you Man!]
[These kids all had so much fun together! There were 16 kids and hardly a fight.]
[Those two are never innocent!!]
Comments are closed.
