First things First

A nice cold bottle of juice on an Air Conditioned floor, what could be better than that in a Houston summer.

Back in Texas

You know your home when the Bulls horns are wider than Dad is tall. So good to be back....
and so good to not be in the car. We had a wonderful trip, so many amazing adventures and memories and we're glad to be home.

Seesaw Rest Stop

Every kid loves a Seesaw.

And ever little girl HATES to get off her first seesaw ride.

Searching for Dandelions

Dandelions this big are hard to come by, and even harder to blow. I had to help Aspen to get her wish. I think London was wishing we'd find a place to get rid of his blue lipstick (blue push pop actually). :)

Buffalo

Random fake buffalo on the hill. We didn't make it through Yellowstone to see the buffalo in the wild but we did see quite a few buffalo farms, not to mention the random elk farms we also saw. I wonder if tame buffalo and elk taste any different than wild ones. Anyone know?

Rain, Rain go Away

Traveling on Sundays always brings adventure. Every rest stop we stopped at it was either sprinkling or pouring. And it was not warm Houston rain either, it was cold, cold, cold. And when you're not sure where all the coats are, the littlest ones are the only ones who get to be warm.
But with cold wet rain there is sometimes beauty. You can't see it all here but this is actually a triple rainbow. And since we missed church this Sunday we had a wonderful lesson on Noah's Ark and learned about the importance of rainbows. And Yes, Dad, I also taught them the scientific reason of why we can see rainbows, but only because my too smart kids asked.

Lincoln Highway

We started our trip with a Huge statue of Sam Houston and ended our trip with a Huge head of Abraham Lincoln. No idea which state we were in at this point, but it was a cool statue all the same.

Heading Home

Once you get South of Utah and Colorado everything is pretty flat. Therefore you get a lot of wind, and then you find a TON of wind farms. The kids tried and tried to count how many windmill were on each farm, they'd all come up with a different # every time.

4th of July

This home is actually in my parents neighborhood. They're always decorated so cute for every holiday. I just love the red, white and blue flowers, so good for the 4th.
2 Aspens in 1 house at the same party. This is Ryan's Wife's niece, not sure how else to word that.

Very eventful day the 4th is. 1st Colt's baby blessing, then fireworks and top the day off with FINALLY LOSING THAT 2ND FRONT TOOTH!!! Yeah for Aspen. She was getting a drink of water and the cup knocked her tooth out. "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth."

Gotta have those Sparklers. We had some good ones and some bad ones. These were the bad ones. So we used our true Pyro techniques and just burned them in bunches and tried not to burn ourselves in the process.

They never had these kind of "Flowers" when I was a kid.

These fireworks are called snakes. We had about 100. So we put them together in groups of 20 or so and burnt them as a pack. They start out the size of a vitamin C pill then turn into this. I'd really like to meet the guy who invented these, they've always been a favorite of mine.

Blessing Little Colt

This cute little bugger is currently the youngest member of the Walker Family. He's such a cutie, and such a little sweetheart. Colt was lucky enough to be blessed on the 4th of July! So happy for him and for his family, and so happy we could be there for it.

Grandpas and Adopted Grandpas that were invited to stand in the circle.

West Bountiful Park

My Dad helped design this park. My family helped plant that big ol' tree. This park has so many memories for me, from playing baseball when I was 10 to late night dates in High School. So fun to add more memories to this park.

My Aspen the dare devil. I think she was trying to go over the top.
Last but not least, the West Bountiful Park Hill. This Hill is famous! It's been here for over 30 years! That's an awfully long time. Things to do on this hill: Roll down (of course), snow sled, snowboard, ski, ice blocking, Easter egg races (which usually end in seagulls having a feast), and more and more. This is the best part of the park. Forget the swings and slides, it's all about the hill.

Water Wheels

Back to Aunt Amy's house. She took us down the road to see the Water Wheels. When she explained them I thought they'd be kind of cheesy. But these things are set along the creak every 50 ft or so, they're an irrigation system. They require no power and helps the farmers to irrigate their land. Pretty inventive if you ask me.

On the Road Again

While the older kids watched DVD's and played video games, Sicily munched her way through those Goldfish. She never ate meals, due to the fact that the only way we could keep her happy was to give her snacks.

And if you've ever been in a gas station bathroom you'll know they're none too clean. So, Sicily typically got her bum changed in the car. She is definitely the most flexible kid I know.

Time for a Picnic

After riding the Ferry back from Jetty Island, where we played on the beach, we had a lovely picnic by the Marina. No playground equipment meant Dad had to get inventive. We also fed a few seagull (15 or so at one point), and just enjoyed the weather.
Coolest boat on the water today. I wonder if I'd get sick on a sail boat, they seem to just glide through the water.

Beach Time

Just a regular day at the beach, though Washington beaches are a bit colder than most. I've said it before, kids just don't feel temperature. London like usual, looking for animals and enjoying a swim. Aspen, also like usual, dove straight in before the rest of us had our sandals off.

Sicily was none too happy with that cold water. Jared tried and tried to help her get her feet wet. It's amazing how babies can just turn into tiny little balls when they want too.

Also, as usual, Phoenix. Zoom in on that face. He was NOT happy about all that slimy seaweed. The tide was VERY low today.
But Sarah sure enjoyed it. The girls all made a mountain of seaweed then Sarah decided to wear it all in to show Mom. Apparently it's as warm as a coat, or so she said. Yuck!

Day at the Dock

We've lived close to and visited many beaches and marinas but that Mountainous background is just astoundingly beautiful. So lucky to have family that lives in such gorgeous places.
While on the dock we watched fisherman and Lobster fishers. There was this cute little leopard seal watching the fisherman too. I didn't see them catch much, but I'm guessing that little seal did.

As many as I could catch in one frame. Too many to count. :)

Benefits of a Forest

Guys landlord built the coolest tree house. So big in fact, they set up a tent for the kids to sleep in last night. Phoenix was completely put out because I wouldn't let him sleep out there. Mostly because he gets up every night to use the bathroom and I had NO desire to climb 12 ft in the air in my PJ's to get him down. But the older ones had fun. All except Sarah that is, she's the oldest (12) and got stuck "babysitting" all the boys. :)
I always enjoy walking to the park to play. But the walk to Guy's park is actually a 1/4 mile hike through the most beautiful, sweet smelling forest. Then there's the park itself, excellent. I even tried out this swing, super fun!

More and More Cousins

I'm not sure my kids could keep them all straight. This is my brother Guys family. He lives in Washington just North of Seattle. It was such a short visit with him but so much fun.

Aspen and Hannah, we LOVE having cousins close to our same age.

Grandma James & Aunt Sherri

I had the pleasure of meeting Jared's Mom's Mom in Washington this vacation. She's a wonderful lady. And after 10 years of marriage, it's about time I got to meet her.

We also got to spend the night at Uncle Dan and Aunt Sherrie's home (she's Jared's Mom's sister). They have a beautiful view from their front porch of both Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. Cute little carved black bears all over their house and excellent Burgers made by Uncle Dan (he's a chief). All in all another wonderful visit with family.

Mt. St. Helens

So sad we didn't make it all the way to the peak. The kids had fun at the Visitor Center watching the video of it blowing up. People actually had over a months warning that it was going to happen, I'd always been under the impression that it just exploded. Dumb idiots they still had to rescue, you'd think they'd have realized they were on a VOLCANO, I mean, come on!

When I was a kid we went to visit my Uncle Cordell. On their mantle they had a vase marked, "Aunt Helen." I said, "I never knew we had an Aunt Helen." They proceeded to make me feel all guilty that I didn't know my ancestors. Long story short, it was actually ashes from Mt. St. Helen. Dang them! I super wanted some ashes though so I could pull the same joke, but alas, kids have little legs and the hike would have been just a bit too much. There's still plenty up there though apparently, so I'll get some next time.

They say volcanic ash makes things really grow. Check out those clover. We really searched for a 4 leaf, that BIG would've been EXTRA lucky!