August 2014

 Summer has been great. We have had lots of adventures but we are so excited to go back to school now. Chloe took swimming lessons. She did great. She even dared jump off the diving board.

 We have had lots of swimming adventures too. We have gone to Rexburg splash park, Ribgy lake, Gem lake, ammon pool, and Rexburg Rapids.

 We went to Boise for a week with Dad's meetings. We had fun going to the zoo, swimming in the pool, visiting Nick's family, going to a splash park, going to dave and buster's, and school shopping. We were sad that Hayden couldn't come because of football but he had fun staying with his grandparents.

e Other fun activities were going to Yellowstone for a day. We had a great time seeing the geysers and spotting animals, even a bear. Once Kinley started puking though, it was time to go home. We made a quick trip to Utah. We went to Cherry Hill, took Granny Great out to dinner and went to the Ogden temple open house. It was so great to go inside a temple. Other fun activities is fires in the backyard with friends, night games, science experiments, shaving cream fights, water parties, movies at the paramount, scout day trips, activity days, playing with friends, and of course our daily 10.

 Hayden started football. He spent most of July getting ready for it by running in the mornings with his mom and friends. He also went to conditioning camp and padded camp. He was excited to start real practices. He loves playing defense and tackling the other team. He loves it when he sacks the quarterback. He will be excited to play in his first game on Tuesday.

We were happy that our dad started feeling better with his knees and was able to do a little bit with us before he went back to work. My mom also started a job with the district with the online school. That has made the end of this month a little crazy. We are all excited to start school again and the routine that will bring. 

Chloe turns 4!

 Birthdays are always so exciting, especially when you are turning four! Chloe had two wishes for her birthday to get Frozen things and to go to Rexburg rapids. She was able to get both wishes. She felt like it took forever for it to get here, but it finally came. She started the day with her room decorated with streamers and balloons. Her dad made her an omelet for breakfast. then she opened her gifts. She loved her Elsa dolls, Elsa costume, workbook, clothes and elsa wig. She had lots of time playing with them. She wanted edamame for lunch and then we headed up to Rexburg rapids.

 The Beck's, the Sargent's and Tylee and Rylin came with us. It was kind of a cold day but we had a lot of fun. We all love that park. It really was a great day.

July 2014

 July has been full of fun! We seem to have some adventure to go on everyday. This is the girls picking up Hannah from art camp. She had a great time but I didn't get a picture of her . . . oops.

 One night we had a crazy rainstorm that put down a lot of water. The kids had so much fun playing in it.

 We took a day trip to Yellowstone. We saw the bubbling pots, old faithful and drove to Mammoth for ice cream.

 We even saw a bear! It was a great day until Kinley puked all over. We decided that was a good time to head home.

 We got together with Jill and Tonya's family and Jill's parents house. My kids love going there. They surf on the canal, ride tubes, paint rocks and have a great time. It was so great to catch up with Jill and Tonya. Great friendships last.

Other than that we have had swimming lessons for Chloe, trips to Rigby lake, rafting, more trips to Gem lake, park days, friend days, and night games. We love summer!

Trek, Spartan and summer fun!

 Went to the zoo for the first time this summer! Kinley loves animals so it was super fun for her.

 Chloe play Tball with the Princess Ladybugs team. She loved it and her coach Trent.

 Kinley loves her green smoothies in the mornings.

Hayden finished out his season with Orioles. He loved playing baseball and learned a lot this summer.

 We were able to go as a family on the ward trek up by camp Cumorah. We had a really good experience and were so glad to be able to do this as a ward. We had great food, a hoedown, spiritual experiences and hard work.

 The kids had a great time playing with everyone in the camp. Besides losing Chloe one time on the mountain they did great.

 We pulled the handcart for four miles up hills, over streams and back down again. Kinley loved riding in her carseat. Most memorable was the women's pull where the men were taken away and we were left to make it up the hardest part of the hill. They also had us stop a lot and we listened to vignette's about pioneers. It ended with talks and a testimony meeting.

 Heath replaced his second knee so we spent time in the hospital with him, brought him home and settled and then we were off to Utah for my Spartan race. I had a great time. It was as hard as I thought it would be - maybe a lot more mountains than I imagined - but I did it! I even made my goal with 23 minutes to spare. I couldn't walk for a week after but it was worth it. I am glad I had the experience.

 The kids were glad to end the day at the lake after spending the day at the Huls house.

Granite Thornton Family Reunion 2014

 We always have a great time at Granite. We love it up there. The only down parts this year was that Heath was unable to come because of his knee and we missed all of the 4th of July festivities. We loved going to the waterfall, hikes, night games with cousins, swimming in the pool, glow stick fun, and trying to get on CJ's favorite cousin list.

 On the way home on Saturday, we went floating on the river. This was Hannah's first time to make it all the way down.