Utah trip

We had the opportunity to head down to Salt Lake to take the kids to lagoon and to do a little school shopping. We had a great time together as a family, with very little fighting! I wonder why the kids are always so good on trips! It was nice to get away from the daily grind! Baylie on the carousel, it was her favorite place to be!

Tidal wave, I sat opposite the girls to try and get this picture but with the hands up, you can't see them very well! Fun ride

Lindsay, me, and Kenna waiting in line for the spider!

Jace and Baylie riding in the "blue" boat. Emily following in the orange! Emily isn't a huge "rider" so it was nice to have her around to help the little kids on their rides!

Me and the girls hitting the shops at the Park City outlets! Chris was around to pay : ) Thanks Chris!

Waiting in line for the tidal wave. We finally talked Emily into going on one of the "big" rides with us and, she ended up loving it but we couldn't talk her into the big roller coasters!

Jace absolutely loved lagoon and especially driving these cars and the bumper cars! He didn't have very much patience for waiting "his turn" to get on the rides! He would get off and head right back on! He keeps saying he want to go back to "the goon!"

Chris and I found some shade to sit in while the little kids were on a ride! Such a cute couple!

Lindsay, Ali and Kenna in the spinning car on the carousel! They had it going pretty dang fast!

Kenna sporting some sunglasses that she thought she had to have. Better luck next time! At least we took a picture of you in them : )

Sitting on the deck of the pool at the hotel. Lindsay decided not to get in with everyone else.

Chris with the kids, playing in the pool.

Kenna, Emily, Jace, Baylie and Ali getting into the pool.

Worth the wait

Our patio is finally usable! I know you've all been wondering how it has progressed : ) There are a few things that need to still be cemented but it is fully functional at this point. My dear husband spent all day last Saturday laying the pavers, cutting the pavers and fitting them into place. He worked that morning, came home and worked on my patio until 10 pm. He did a fantastic job! This is a close up of the pattern he used for the top, he picked out these stones all on his own. In my mind, I thought we were going with the traditional "pavers." I am loving what he chose and how it turned out.

Here is it in full view. We have decided to add railing all the way around so that will take a little more time, but at least we can use it. The kids think it's great, they have moved the trampoline right next to and can just walk right on and off. Thank you Chris! We love it

(Maybe my next project, for him, will be to brick the rest of the house!)

New Arrival

Besides Lindsay's adventure camp, we had another fun thing in our family. My brother, David and his wife, Anjela had their third son. We are always excited when another cousin enters the family. Dexen Wellington Root arrived Saturday morning at 6:30 am, after only 2 1/2 hours of labor! Lucky Anjela! All is well with mom and baby and we can't wait to head over to Caldwell to see him in person. Thanks Carli (Anjela's sis) for these pictures. Dexen Wellington Root -sounds sophisticated doesn't it?

Here are my 3 sweet nephews! Kyton, holding new baby Dexen and Gavin. I know how much trouble one boy gets into, I can't imagine three! Congratulations and good luck!

Adventure camp

Lindsay had the opportunity to go to "adventure camp." This is for all the young women in the stake who are/were 4th year campers. This year they went to a cabin near Stanley, Idaho for a few days of adventure! The saw 3 different lakes, either by hiking or biking. They saw sawtooth lake, red fish lake, and Alpine lake. They also had some great speakers in the evening and got to take part in devotionals that were given by each other. Each girl was given a topic to speak a few minutes on. Lindsay's was dating. This is a view of Alpine lake.

These are some goofy girls hanging out around the campfire. Lindsay with Makayle Weldert and Emily Reece. I asked her what was up with the hoods and she said they were doing everything they could to keep the mosquitos off them.

Here are all the girls either getting ready to start the bike trek or right after. Lindsay is the 4th girl from the left, front row, in an olive shirt.

This is during the hike up to sawtooth lake. Camille Baker, Kaylee Foster, and Lindsay.

They made it to sawtooth lake! She had a great time on this trip but came home very tired! What a great opportunity this was for her to explore the great Idaho outdoors. We are definitely lucky that we have great stake leaders that plan these not only fun, but spiritually uplifting adventures for these great young ladies!

Jace and "his" toys

Trying to keep this little boy in the house is a huge effort on every ones part! Short of locking the doors (which I have done), it's almost impossible to keep him in. He is so full of life and keeps us running! To say he loves being outside is an understatement! He will go from ride to ride with whomever will take him on one. When he asks to "gopher ride" he asks to go on "his" moped!
Gotta love this face! Eating fruit snacks and/or Popsicles is a huge favorite of his. He has been known to get up in the morning and ask for a Popsicle.

Here he is riding his own trike. Not necessarily his favorite, he would rather ride on Baylie's bike.

With Makenna on the four wheeler. He loves to be on the move! I don't have any pictures of him on the moped, which I can't believe, but that is his favorite thing to ride, especially with his dad.

I think we got this barbie jeep when Lindsay was about 5, so like 10 years ago. It still runs great and Jace is more than happy to drive around the yard in it when he can't coerce any of his sisters to "gopher ride." It's hilarious to watch how well he (at 2) drives this! He can shift the gear and knows which one is which! It must be a boy thing! He doesn't even mind that most of the "toys" are pink : )

Girls Camp!

Ready or not, the girls of the Ammon Foothills Stake (50 something from our ward) headed to West Piney for a week of fun and adventure! Lindsay and Makenna always look forward to girls camp and this year was no exception. This is Makenna getting her "most bubbly attitude in camp" award. She was awarded with a three pack of bubbles! Each year the Jr. leaders make up silly awards and each girl is awarded something. Lindsay received a bottle of lotion for the "smoothest legs in camp!" I'm not sure if that one real or not, and I wasn't going to feel her legs to find out.

Hike day is always an adventure and this year, most of the girls went on the upper palisades hike. It was 16 miles round trip. This is picture taken with Lindsay's phone (why would she take her cell phone camping, I have no idea) of her hiking group. She is on the left with the white shirt and blue backpack. This hike completely wore her out for the rest of the week! She is still exhausted!

Makenna chillin' at the stream with her peeps!

Emily (Reese), Lindsay and Kourtni! Girls just wanna have fun!

Chris was even able to take in some of the action as he volunteered to be priesthood on Thursday and then help bring them home Friday. I don't know how much help he was if he was playing on the slide the whole time :D

It was a good week for the girls, memories they will enjoy for years to come! This was Chris's second year going up to help, so he must enjoy it too!

Our new pets.... sort of

About 2 weeks ago, I wandered over to our camper down elm tree to see why it wasn't really flourishing like it should be (It had frozen right after it started to bloom, hopefully it will come back strong next year). I noticed a birds nest, it was empty at the time. I told the kids about it and Makenna became the "watcher of the nest." After about 2-3 days, she checked it and this is what she found. Four robins eggs. I love the color! She kept watching these eggs to see when they would hatch. When it came time for her to leave for grandma's week, they still hadn't hatched, so Jace and I became the "watcher." All during that week, Jace and I would wander over to see and nothing! We picked the girls up on Saturday evening, and earlier in the day, nothing! After church on Sunday she was excited to go see the eggs and was surprised to find this;

Brand new baby birds! No, they aren't the cutest things in the world. They could only be a few hours old at this point. She and Jace came running in the house to announce their arrivals. There were 4 eggs but there are only 3 birds. Not sure what happened to the fourth. We have to be really careful to make sure the mom isn't in the nest before we get too close.

This is what the birds do whenever we go to the tree and shake it. They will pop up thinking it's their mom coming to feed them. They have their little beaks wide open! They are starting to get feathers and have now opened their eyes. They are starting to look cute. This is the best part of our new pets, they will one day fly away! We have just been able to enjoy them for a few weeks, without having all the work that goes along with having pets.