Be prepared for picture overload!!! Our summer started out with a little bit of eclipse watching! Thanks to my awesome MIL who was a science teacher for many many years, we were all taken care of for this epic event! Not only did we get to watch everything happen being reflected on the white board, we also had some awesome welding shields that we could look directly at the sun with and see first hand the eclipse! It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast!
Don't you love my mask? I kept thinking Randy and his brother looked like Freddy Crougar with the mask on!
This was about as complete as we got to see it from our location. Apparently we weren't in the prime spot to see the eclipse straight on but it was pretty cool anyway.
The next journey on our summer agenda was Little Red! I rode with my mom and sis in Logan for about 65 miles!!! It was craziness, especially since the longest I had ever been before was about 30 miles and it was 2 months ago. Yeah, I didn't do so great on the training when it came to this ride but oh well. Maybe next year I'll get my act in gear! So the first 50 miles were great! I felt awesome and we only had to do a few little hills. We were quick at each rest stop and we were popping peanut butter topped oreos and red vines in our mouths like crazy!! My only regret is that I didn't grab a few extra gu's at the first rest stop because by the time we got to the other rest stops, all the gu's were gone. I really could've used a gu after lunch. So we stopped for lunch at about 50 miles and we didn't eat too much for fear of getting sick. I was feeling great so we hopped on our bikes and were going to try for 30 more miles. As soon as I started pedaling, I kid you not, I was so exhausted! My legs did not want to push another inch, let alone 30 miles!!!! Mom decided to stay behind at the lunch stop and wait for Randy and Hanna to come pick her up in the van. Sarah and I went on ahead. Well, it wasn't long before I realized I should've just quit at lunch. I was lagging behind so bad and it was still 7 miles to the next rest stop. Then, the horror of it all, I realized that the 7 miles until the next stop was nothing but climbing hills!!! And, the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds, and the wind decided to stop. It was sheer TORTURE!!! But, I'll have you know, I did not stop once on those 7 miles of dread. I thought about it with every single push of the pedal but I just knew if I stopped I was not going to start again. The only thing that helped me keep going was knowing that at the top of the hill I would get to go down the other side. That was pure freedom!!! Riding so fast down that hill, knowing at the bottom I could finally rest!
So, I get to the bottom and I'm totally wanting to kill my sis for not warning me about the hills after lunch (after all, she rode the ride last year). I got to the bottom and I had to wait forever for my sis because she stopped along the way and was waiting for me because she thought I was behind her. We finally reunited and I was totally planning on stopping and having Randy drive me back close to the finish line. Then they said it was only 9 miles to the finish line so I thought, what the heck, I've come this far I can 9 more. WRONG!!!!!! As soon as I started riding again I knew I was done for. Those last 9 miles might have been worse than the 7 miles of uphill!!! But, I did it!!!! I went a little slow, but I did it!!! Thanks sis for pushing me along!!! It was great!!!
And at the end, my amazing hubby and kids were cheering me on! Oh, and try not to get too grossed out with my bulging gut!!!! I had guzzled so much water that day that I felt like I was going to explode!!! I promise, it really isn't that nasty!
Our next adventure was on to the cabin at Bear Lake!!! Let's just say the weather was soooo much nicer this trip than it was a month ago!!! The water at the pool was so great!! For the first time ever, the water was the perfect temperature!!!
This little girl and I stayed behind one day and she was loving the ticorice (ryker's word for licorice)!
On the afternoon that called for cooler weather, we headed out to the Minnetonka cave! I haven't been there in years! I have to say, it wasn't quite as cool as I remembered it being when I was a little girl. After going to the Shenandoah cave back east a few years ago, these formations weren't near as cool. It was a whole lot of climbing stairs and not very many formations. But, the boys loved it! Braylee, not so much. She cried the whole time. She had just woken up from her nap and was famished. Next time I will fee her first!
Crazy faces in the car. We spent a lot of time in the car!!!! After Bear Lake we headed to Seven Peaks for a day. Then, we headed back to Richfield to sleep for a night and unpack the car, just to repack the car to leave the next morning!
Our last stop on our marathon vacation was Las Vegas!!! Randy took the kids to go see the new dam at Lake Mead. I chose to stay at the Condo because I was so tired from being in the car all day.
This was the amazing pool at the condo!! It was so much fun!! We just spent all day hanging by the pool, or should I say pools. There was one main pool, two big baby pools, a large hot tub and another smaller hot tub. They had some really fun cabanas all around the pool and a couple covered areas with couches and tables. The best part was, we were practically the only people there all day!
There were little fountains that shot out the side and Braylee kept trying to drink from them! There were these perfect little shallow outlets around the pool that made it so nice for Braylee to just play in. I couldn't ask for a better pool. It was even one of those cool salt water pools. We LOVED it!!! After swimming all day, we headed to Randy's cousins wedding. It was such a beautiful reception! Lots of great food, family, and even dancing! We were lucky enough to find a babysitter within a mile of the reception to watch the kids. A girl who went to school with Randy and his brother lived there and had a 12 yr. old daughter who was kind enough to take our circus for a few hours! It was a great vacation but I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to being back home and sleeping in my own room!
Back in Richfield, we celebrated Ryker's 4th birthday!!! I just can't believe this little fireball of energy is 4 already!
Here's a random picture of Braylee. She is into climbing on everything!
Back to the birthday boy, he really wanted garbage truck pancakes for his birthday. So I did my best to create it and make his wish come true!
He was one happy boy with his garbage truck pancake, with chocolate chips no doubt!
Then, we come to his cake. This boy just LOVES anything construction! This cake (compliments of pinterest) was the easiest cake I've done so far and it turned out just great! Perfect for my little construction man!
He didn't look very happy, but let me tell you, he really was! He just gets really shy, especially when I have the camera in his face and everyone is staring at him singing. He is the craziest kid I know and so wild all the time. However, anytime we try to get him to go on a ride at the carnival, or ride a bike, or sit with kids at story time, or go to primary, the kid is sooooo scared and shy.
The best part of the cake was the inside! It turned out even better than I hoped! And it tasted delicious too! A little too good, I couldn't stop eating it!!!
So that has been our summer so far. We had all our fun at the beginning and now we are moving on to the boring part of summer. The endless days of fighting children and ornery momma. Ryker is such a little fireball. He just teases Rayden all day long and runs around crazy all day long! Braylee is into everything and has developed a little attitude. She has discovered how to open cupboards and the E.T. cabinet. She likes to push on and off the Xbox all day long. I found a way to childproof the cabinet and she gets sooooo frustrated when she can't open it! It's quite comical to watch. She is also starting to stand on her own and maybe even will be walking in a few weeks. I'm a little sad about that. She has pretty much figured out how to go down stairs, but I'm still a little nervous to just leave the gate off. She is just growing up way too fast. Rayden is just a little know it all and growing up so fast too. I can't believe he is getting baptized in a month and a half! CRAZY! Anyway, this is our crazy life for now. Our garden has been struggling a little bit but so far we've gotten some peas, lettuce and broccoli. Oh, and our garlic we planted last fall is almost ready. Randy picked some the other day just to see how it was going and they looked good! I'm glad my hubby is a gardener because I love to eat the stuff, but I'm horrible at knowing how or what to plant! Maybe one day I'll be an expert gardener, ha ha!
