Party time for Danny

Being a July birthday - and especially since it is back-to-back with a state-wide holiday, Danny often has his birthday while we are vacationing.  It's just the fact of life - but this lucky guy gets to have several birthday celebrations because of it!  First - we did his friend b-day party before we left on vacation - we took him and a few of his friends to Classic Fun Center and they played and played, and played.  They did the water-slides, jungle gym, bouncy toys, and blast-zone (soft foam balls).  The only problem was that we had to leave eventually!   

This boy LOVES stuffed animals - and this is a new favorite one (thanks to Michael)

Now here are some pics from his actual birthday day.  Actually - now that I think about it - we had to celebrate the night before because his dad had to go home to work for the week and we were staying and playing with Grandparents and Aunt Chanin!  I made a cake, we had the gifts with us, and he also did his annual push-up challenge.  He made us poor!!  I can't remember how many he did - but I think it was around 35 push-ups.  That kid is amazing.

And here are a few pix of what Danny bought with birthday money: 

All about Danny:

Loves stuffed animals

He REALLY loves his stuffed animal collection

Loves being strong and enjoys doing push-ups and pull-ups

Loves playing basketball - his fav games are Around the World and PIG

He is the pickiest kid in the house about how his clothes, socks, and shoes fit - he knows how he likes them

He loves TV - but not video games

He has read every kid book in our house at least once (and there are a lot of them!)- but still not venturing into those chapter books yet

He needs to be fed regularly to avoid being HANGRY

When he grows up he thinks about being a cop - but he's worried he'll have to fill out thousands of pages of paperwork (ha ha)

Favorite food is a bean and cheese burrito

His best friends are Ben, Jace, Sophie, and Alyssa

He's very proud of his middle name (and Cole is jealous)

He's strong and strong-willed and we love him soooooo much!  I can't believe he's already 8 - I think that time speeds up at 8 and I'm not ready for him to grow up yet!

Few highlights from July while we were home...

Cole attended the Clear Creek Camp - which is done by our school district for kids during the summer before 6th grade only.  I had to be online and registering him within minutes when they opened up registration - it was completely filled up within 2 hours!  It was a week long camp and Cole was SOOOO excited.  Plus he went with his best friend, Connor.

He had to bring a can for a trap - he decorated it with a Simpson's doughnut  - real sprinkles apparently did not increase his odds at catching anything though.

Cole's group (luckily the head teacher sent out pics to the families!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Hunter finished up his tennis season.  He loved playing rec tennis this summer.  He says he's not very good but just loves it. It was a frustrating final tournament (lack of communication and disorganized) but the rest of the season was great fun for him.

And Danny made a new friend at the tennis tournament.

ewwwwww.

And our yard had customized decor done...  ;-)

4th of July and a little more...

We got home from our Cali trip on July 3rd.  And we already had big plans with Brian and Devri to celebrate the holiday with family and doing something new - we rented jet skis (2 of them) and were set to spend the day on Utah Lake.  Which I have NEVER done.  And I've lived here a long time!  We set up at the Lindon Marina and the big boys brought the Jet Skis over from the Provo marina.  The hitch just wasn't looking good and it was safer this way - and it was a decent looking beach for the all-day family affair.  We made shade for Gabe.  And for us.  And we had oodles of food and started playing in the water, I mean mud.  We discovered quickly this was NOT going to be the ideal lake setting.  But we still had fun!

Late afternoon - a microburst hit our beach.  It was crazy!  It was sunny and suddenly, an intense wind storm flew in and wreck havoc.  Brian and Devri were out on the lake on the jet skis (with the majority of the kids).  I saw our shade canopy fly away and it was within INCHES of hitting a beautiful, BIG truck - we stopped it barely in time and quickly disassembled it so it wouldn't fly away again.  Well, actually it fell apart as we tried to disassemble it - it went to the trash can after the wind settled.  Then I held down Gabe's tent.  The wind was so intense, it ripped a hole in the back of that tent.  I'm just glad we didn't get blown over.  Gabe slept through it!

I brought Devri's favorite - Cherry Pie - to celebrate her birthday.  I know she loves pie and it was soooo yummy!  It was a perfect dessert/b-day cake for a Fourth of July day!  (and it says 31 on her cake, not 3)

The REAL FUN started at the end of the day.  The boys (Brian & Cole, Shayne & Hunter) took the jet skis back to the Provo Marina.  But things got complicated when Shayne accidentally got BEACHED, due to the LOW levels of the lake.  He was a good mile from the beach - but it was that low.  Brian didn't notice that Shayne was stuck and it took a while for him to get his phone working to try to figure out why Shayne hadn't come to the marina.  This can be a long story - so I'll just say people tried to come help Shayne with a boat and rope - but no one could get close enough to help.  They were on a HUGE sand bar and it came down to good ol' push and shove.  It took Shayne, Brian and Hunter working together to budge that machine another 100 yards to get off the sand bar.  (Cole kept the other jet ski from getting beached).  They had to find the marina in the dark - but Hunter did mention it was very cool to be out on the lake with fireworks going off everywhere around them.  I was just glad that they didn't get stranded and everyone came home before midnight.  Note to self - Utah Lake is SUPER lame.  I mean LOW.  (and lame)

It was great fun to spend time with Devri and Brian and their family - we live so close to each other that we honestly take each other for granted.  We don't spend enough time together and I'm glad they asked us to do this!  Although - I think we'll find a new lake for the next time... Utah Lake was closed (CLOSED) only a couple weeks later due to Algae Bloom.  YUCK!  It was still a great day and ended with a great story!  We're lucky to have these guys close to us and our kids are growing up together as best friends.  These are the days that memories are made of and we'll always cherish.

to Mammoth Lakes we go...

Laura and I decided a family trip was needed together - and we wanted to go somewhere new for both families.  Well, she and Maynrad had been to Mammoth Lakes but before kids were in the picture.  So - it was a new adventure for our families.  And surprisingly about the same distance for both of us!  We packed up our bikes, and set off to discover a new part of Cali.  We rented a Condo together - and we all fit!  It was a blast having this time with Laura and Mayn - it seems like a dream that went too fast!  Here are a few (ha!) of my favorite pix from our adventure.

All the bikes on the balcony

Pajama time! (and stuffed friends too) 

Going to the top of Mammoth Mtn - there were people still going up there with skis!  This is the way to climb a mountain - by tram

It was windy up there! 

Biking to town for dinner! 

Big day in Yosemite - it was a LOT of driving - but awesome to see some highlights of Yosemite National Park

Back at Mammoth Lakes - we decided to go Mtn Biking - Laura, Hunter and I.  It was a hard climb but a fun trail back down!!

And totally worth the trip to the local bakery - oh my yum.

Back at the condo - we did see a lot of this...

Visiting the fault line 

Adventures with biking - Shayne and Maynrad were biking the big mountain, Laura had to go home to play a big gig, and I played with the kids at the lakes about the town.  We found a little trail and training wheels (Carlo) did not work so well.  I tried to pile in the 3 kids - also did not work very well.  

Here are some pix of the big boys biking:

There was plenty of eating at home and in town...

I was determined to bike - but not on Mammoth Mtn (too expensive and intimidating)  I found a local trail and it was AWESOME!  Shayne and I went first - then went back to get Hunter and Maynrad and I got to go again!

Playing at the lakes

A little pit stop - we'll get them tomorrow

This pic doesn't do justice to the big finale of our trip - every night we thought our condo STUNK.  We had complained to the owner and he had someone put bleach in the drains and hoped that would take care of it.  Well, on our second to last night there, we came home to this...  the condo beneath ours was filled, FILLED with sewage.  (Yup, prob ours too)  It was a foot deep of sewage and after a bunch of plumbers, and people in space looking suits, and lots of phone calls we were permitted to finish our stay there without incident and WITH water.  It was a good time to leave though...

Final adventure - just our family - at the Devil's Post Pile.  These stones were naturally formed and really cool to see up close.  The whole area was gorgeous.

We had a FABULOUS time in Mammoth Lakes.  We loved having time with Laura and Maynrad's family and just playing together in nature's playground!