Riley Creek Camping

Our first camping trip of the summer, and what a fun trip it was. Ginger and me and all the kids headed up on Thursday afternoon to reserve a spot for the weekend. After a little nail biting, we ended up with a great spot. Ginger and me set up our 10 man tents without any help from husbands! I was pretty impressed with our tent assembly skills. I told Kevin we did it and I even got a nod of approval. We then headed home to pack up all the rest of the gear so we could return the following day. Crazy how much "junk" you need to take camping. We had a wonderful trip! The Wilson's brought their boat and the camp ground had a boat bay where you could keep your boat overnight with out pulling it off the water, which was awesome. Camping and boating...what a great combo trip.  We really didn't want to go home.  Here are some of my favorite pictures. 

-Our campsite

-Kellogg and Wilson kids eating breakfast

-The fire....Conor and Zack were never far from this location. 

-Lincoln and his truck-  The kids spent hours riding their scooters and taking Brody for walks around the campground loop. 

-Sydney, Lyndsey, Zack, Conor and Josie on this awesome tube.  I really think that Conor and Josie rode this tube for about 5 hours. 

-Ahh...I love this picture

-The gang taking a dip

-Sunset ride on the tube...I think I kicked them off soon after this so I could ski. 

-Lincoln and Dave throwing sticks in the fire

-Josie and Brodie-Josie loves this dog.  Good thing she can go get her dog fix at the Wilson's house

Some summer activities

We have been enjoying summer the best we can! This includes, camps, lots of water, and lots of friend time.  Conor went to Camp Stix again this year and had such a great time.  He didn't want to come home, and when I asked him if he missed me, he wanted to say no, but then hesitated because he didn't want to hurt my feelings.  We have been to Loon Lake, Lake Coeur d'Alene, Pond O'Rielle River and then some, we have been to the pool, the movies, and to Green Bluff to pick yummy fruit.  I signed Conor up for tennis camp, and when we went to drop him off,  found out that the numbers were really low, so we decided to let Josie try her hand at the fun as well.  They both enjoyed it a lot. 


-Conor in front of his cabin.  He adored his counselors this year and overall had a much better experience.  What a blessing it is to have him be able to participate in this camp. 

-Conor on his top bunk

-Jagger and Lincoln at the beach-I think they are having a snack break here

-Taj and Josie-these two hardly got out of the water ever

-Me and Lincoln, not sure what the sad face is for. 

-I love this picture...So worn out from a day of fun in the sun

Yummy fruit, fruit and more fruit. 

-Out playing in the pool in the backyard. 

-Josie at swimming lessons-she took lessons from Cody Wright this year she is very happy in the water. 

-Check out her diving skills!  She just needed to watch Conor do it one time and it clicked for her.

-Conor and Josie at the Whitworth Tennis camp

-This is what Lincoln does while we wait for the other kids during their lessons and fun

-Hopefully this is a future tennis star in the making

Josie turns 6!

Josie is officially 6! I actually got my act together this year and planned a birthday party for her. I made and mailed invitations early, and planned it all out. This is a big deal for me. I think it turned out great and the smiles on the kids faces makes me think it was a hit.  Happy Birthday Josie!

-Here is the invitation I made-I love how it turned out.

-We had pizza and presents from the family on her actual birthday, so here she is opening family gifts.

-Here is her loot from Grandma's and us.  All she really wanted was bubble bath, but she was really happy with the karaoke machine. 

-The friend party!  They are suppose to be playing catch with water balloons -6 year old's aren't the greatest at catching we discovered.  Oh well....it was a water party so they were suppose to get wet!

-The Limbo under the hose

-The girls

-Cute Josie Birthday girl-she helped me make these cute wormie cupcakes every step of the way

-The entire birthday group!  We had Cate, Chloe, Kelly, Lyndsey, Bree, Katelyn, Isaac, Calvin, Taj, Ryan, Katie and Ryker.  I am so glad Josie has all these cute friends that wanted to come celebrate her birth.

Snowbird and Great Grandma Nielsen

The Illinois and Indiana cousins all went home and we had an extra day to go see Grandma Opal and spend a few hours at Snowbird with Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen. Here are the kids with my Grandma Nielsen. My kids call her Grandma Opal, she is my Grandma on my Dad's side and she is 96 years old and sharp as a tack. She hurt her hand a few weeks before this picture was taken and it has set her back a bit, but hopefully not for long. It was really fun to visit with her and my Aunt Rita. After visiting with Grandma Opal we went up to Snowbird to ride the alpine slide and zip line. I think the canyon is just absolutely breath taking.  As a special treat for Josie and Conor, Grandpa treated us to dinner at Chuck A Rama.  

-Josie, Grandma Opal, Conor and Lincoln

-A 4 generation photo

-Conor and Josie on the lift up to the slide

-Conor and me on the slide

-Kevin and Josie on the zip line

-Josie and Lincoln

-Kevin and Lincoln

-Kevin, Conor and Grandpa eating at Chuck-A-Rama

And that's a wrap! Time to get back in the car and drive back to Spokane. We have diabetes camp, swimming lessons, tennis and lazy summer days to look forward to at home. Thanks for the fun Utah.

The 4th of July

Another early morning.  We got up at the crack of dawn today to go and see the Freedom Festival Balloon launch. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and the launch was cancelled. It ended up working out in our favor though because we headed straight to the parade route and found an amazing spot. We happened to arrive minutes after the road was closed so we were able to squeeze into a front row driveway spot. We put up our shade and blankets and Janet and I walked to the grocery store to get some donuts and breakfast food. We settled into watch the freedom runners, the pre parade and the parade. We were happy to sit there for a few hours. After the parade we went to to movie Ephraim's Rescue, then we gathered back at C & C's  for a BBQ and Happy Birthday Galen party. The party was brief, as we all had to head out to go see the Stadium of Fire.  Kelly Clarkson, and Carly Ray Jeppson performed and we got to see the largest firework show in the nation. It was a really great production. So So much fun.

-Conor got to kick the soccer ball around with a BYU soccer player during the pre parade, he also captured a shirt they were tossing out and a funky water bottle and chalk and candy.  Skor for Conor.

-The tank was a highlight for Conor

-My cuties and me, watching the floats and bands and cars and missionaries and the list goes on...go by, notice that I am sitting up front with the kids.  I love parades, I have to refrain from elbowing out the little kids. 

-Grandma and Grandpa and Lincoln enjoying the front row seats at the parade-They have lived in Provo for over 35 years and have never had such good seats at the parade. 

-The group encouraging handouts during the pre-parade

-What this day is all about!

-I think we can see almost everyone in this picture-except photographer Janet

Eating our King Kong Ice cream cones at Macy's.  This was just before Kevin and Conor purchased 80 dollars worth of fireworks for 1/2 the price.  While the rest of us went to the stadium of fire, Conor and Kevin got their pyro on.  No picture of course

-Grandpa making his famous Root beer.  I was so excited that he made this for us.  Conor thought the dry ice was a nice perk.

The Stadium of Fire! 

-Janet and Me waiting for the show to start

-My gal Kelly performing-she put on a great show

-Just one of the thousands of fireworks we saw