Summer Fun!!! (really long post)

So, we have been very very very busy this summer. I just feel like I have been going non-stop for the last few months. It felt good to actually sit down for a few hours today and relax and catch up on some blogs. Then I realized how long it has been since I blogged and thought I better get to it! Here is what we have been up to:

We started out the summer with a trip to Zion's! I don't remember ever going to Zion's before so this was really fun for me! We headed down with a bunch of my family and took a nice easy trail for the kids. It was pretty hot, we had to stop quite often to count kids and take water breaks, but we all made it safe and sound! Well, except for a bloody toe at the very end for someone not wearing shoes, but other than that it was great!

The kids loved the little pool of water at the end of the hike! It was nice to cool off!

Here's our cute little family! Don't look too long however, we're a little sweaty and gross!

And of course, all the kids!!! Well, most of them anyway!! What were we thinking taking all those kids hiking????
My two little one's are just so cute!!!

We also went and did a little rock climbing!!! That was even hotter than hiking because we waited a little too late in the day. The itty bitty ones had a hard time with the heat and headed out yearly but the older boys had a blast. They climbed up those rocks so fast and were so brave to go all the way to the top!!! I think we'll have some great climbers in this family!

All my boys have summer birthday's, so we have had a lot of birthday celebrations lately. Ryker's birthday came first. He LOVES trucks!!!! So you can see why his birthday cake just had to be a truck! He turned two this year and he is all over that terrible two business!!! It's lucky he's so cute or else I don't know what I would do. His cake was a little sloppy because I had to make it in a hurry but he loved it! We had a good time celebrating with family!!!

Randy celebrated his birthday second but I forgot the camera. We were actually in Lake Powell on his birthday and didn't do much to celebrate except for ride the wave runners!!!!

This was our first trip to Lake Powell this year. We went with the Riddle family to Antelope point marina and took a houseboat up Navajo canyon. It was beautiful weather, except one day, and we had a blast! The houseboat was really nice and we had a fun slide on the back. We also had some friends next door on a houseboat with a slide that was even higher! It was great!

Ryker is seriously contemplating whether or not to get into the water or finish his gogurt!

We made a waterslide down the hill into the lake. The kids loved it! I tried it once and wasn't a huge fan. It hurt!

I love how you can see Rayden's arrow in this picture! We like to experiment on his hair in the summer and he wanted an arrow like on the last airbender! He felt pretty special to have different hair and all the cousins loved it!!!

Randy liked the water slide....ouch!!!!


Ryker loved the boat. Except he always fell asleep. I could never figure out why kids always fall asleep on the boat. It seems so uncomfortable!!!


Randy was a pro at knee boarding. He had a rough time getting up everything else but he dominated on the knee board!!! Go Babe!!!!

This was the whole crew!!! It was so much fun, thanks mom and dad Riddle!!!!!

This is what the cousins do when they get together. The girls like to dress up the boys. Can you believe Rayden is the one in the hat. He can play a pretty good girl!!! I'm going to have to use this picture as blackmail when the boys grow up!!!

Fourth of July was pretty crazy this year! It was hotter than ever and crazy too! We had fun going to the parade, having a bar-b-que with friends and then watching the fireworks! I love the fireworks!!


This is our second trip to Lake Powell!! We camped at Lone Rock with my family and had a blast! Ryker was totally in his element! Food and treat galore, sun, water, sand!!!! What more could a kid want? We were fortunate enough not to have a fire incident this year with Ryker. Although, cousin Zack wasn't as fortunate, sorry bud :(

The kids loved playing in the island. It was so nice to have, thanks Sarah!!!!!
The boys love to sit on the wave runners and pretend like they are going on an awesome ride! This is actually as fast (or should I say slow) as some of them like to go! Ha Ha! Actually most of the boys love going for rides! Well, at least my boys do!

How many kids do you think it will hold???

I guess I was the only one paying attention in this picture. We had a lot of fun at Lake Powell with my family. Minus the sand in everything it was a pretty fun and relaxing trip! It was hotter than Hades but the water was warm and the skiing was great!!!

Rayden turned six years old today!!! We celebrated by having Sponge Bob birthday party last weekend with some friends and family. He loved his cupcake cake!!! I almost backed out of making it at the last minute because of my medical situation but he was almost in tears because he really wanted his cupcake cake. I thought that sitting down and frosting a cake wasn't too stressful so I decided to go ahead and do it. It turned out really cute and it made him feel pretty special. If it weren't for my amazing sisters who pulled together and helped me with the birthday party it would have been a huge disaster. Thanks girls!!!!
Anyway, Rayden is six now and I just can't believe it! He is getting so big! He has already lost two teeth and just informed me that he has a molar coming in in the back of his mouth! He loves loves loves playing Legos with his friends and he recently has fallen in love with star wars! He is such a big helper and loves having his own room!

This is my little Ryker......he may be little but he has a big personality!!! He's a wild one!!! He really keeps me on my toes. I have to constantly watch him or he gets into everything!!!!

A couple things I have left out that has made our summer even crazier is we finally moved into a new house!!!!!! It was kind of last minute but I am so grateful that we were able to find a fairly new house that was in our price range and that would fit our family. There weren't a whole lot of options available in our small town and I've been watching the market in our area over the past few years. When I first saw this house, Rand and I wanted it so bad but it was a little out of our price range so we kind of just forgot about it. Then, our Realtor found out that the seller's were willing to drop their price! We were so excited and knew we had to jump on it! So far it has been a dream come true having my own house again! But, it has also been a lot of work! Having everything in storage for two years was a nightmare!!! I couldn't remember what boxes everything was packed in. Anyway, we are slowly getting settled. It has been hard since we have been so busy but little by little it is falling into place.

Also, just a week after moving into our home we found out we were pregnant with our third. I was a little shocked (well actually a lot shocked) but excited at the same time! Everything seemed to be going well, no sickness and feeling great, except for being really tired and really hungry all the time. I was even able to keep running and run the fourth of July 5k run. I felt great! Well, last week I started having complications. After having an ultrasound and seeing the babies heartbeat I felt a little better but I still felt like things were not going to end well. A few days later I had a miscarriage. It was difficult to go through but I was very blessed to be able to have my family around to help me get through it all. In a way, I was really grateful that I was only 7 weeks along because it was a lot less complicated then if I had been further. It was also a really good learning experience for Rayden. He has learned so much about prayer and Heavenly Father's plan for our family. In a way, I never really felt like it was time for this little spirit to come to our home. I am so grateful that I have learned early on that life isn't always about what I want, but what Heavenly Father wants for me. So, anyway, our little family is doing great and we are really loving the summer and all of the fun activities we have enjoyed! We have been surrounded with family and friends and we are loving life!!!

Hopefully soon I will post pictures of the new house!!!!!