We started out our vacation with swimming lessons the first two weeks of summer. I was so glad that they were held indoors as the early June weather felt more like late winter-early spring.
Some of my kids were more excited than others to go to swim lesson, and questioned... why do we have to go? Tanner doesn't have to go. I calmly explained that I wanted them to be able to at least save their own lives someday, so when they could jump off the high dive and swim to both sides of the pool with out stopping, then they could be done with swim lesson, like Tanner.
Next came Tucker's birthday! It was a big one as he turned 8 plus shared the day with Jeff & all Dads, as his birthday landed on Father's Day. We usually have a little family activity to celebrate the big day, but had to postpone it due to scheduling conflicts.
In our church children are not baptized as infants, they wait until they are at an age of accountability. Eight years old is the age where children are given the opportunity to get baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
It was a special day for Tucker with so many family and friends. A bonus was that it was also Jeff's birthday and the anniversary day I was confirmed a member of the church many moons ago. So there was a lot of history to remember Tucker's special day.
Next up was a camping family reunion with Jeff's Barton side of the family. Can you believe that this was the only picture that got taken of the trip? (Thanks Tate for taking it. Tate won a camera at another family reunion, so he has been a budding photographer) It was a fun memory making trip to reconnect with family, but babies and camping don't always mix. I ended up going home early as Tracen was not a happy camper, especially during the night!
We then came home and repacked for our Gus family reunion at Bear Lake. It started off up at the caves. However 5 min into the cave, Tracen decided this was a little scary and wanted out. So I sent the rest of the family on and went back to feed all the chipmunks with Tracen
The first night included a talent night where we lip sync the YMCA song from the Village People as our contribution. Hey, it was the best we could do! I thought it would be perfect with all of our boys!
A big shout out and thank you to my sister Jen for planning the whole thing. Everyone had a great time and want to return soon. Tommy even said... Why can't we live up at Bear Lake?
We spent a lot of time at the lake where there was a sand castle building contest and we just enjoyed the weather.
I love this picture of Jeff and Tracen. I think it is just precious. All Tracen wanted to do is be independent and go exploring plus try and eat sand.
This is one of the views from the cabin that we stayed in. It was beautiful to look down upon the marina with the gorgeous water. Just gorgeous girls, gorgeous.
The kids had a lot of time to reconnect with cousins and had a great time. Tanner is the oldest cousin on the Gus side and so he always has an entourage of little cousins following him around or wanting his help. Some even wanted to give him a little make over with nail polish included.
Finally home for a week, we were able to go and continue to celebrate Tucker's birthday. He wanted to try out a fun center in Logan, that we had heard about. So we gathered the troops and went for their $2.00 Tuesday, where each activity is only $2.00. That sure helps when you have all the kids that want to try each activity that is offered. Here are a few fun shots from our day.
Thanks Grandma Gus for coming along for the ride! After all the fun we headed to Golden Corral for dinner where every one could find something that they liked for dinner. It is always amazing to me that they can only eat one plate of dinner, but three plates of desserts!
Our next adventure took us up for our traditional trip to Preston, ID. It is a family tradition to go there every year for the parade and rodeo.
A big thanks to the Dopp family for letting us camp up on their lot! They kinda of
ad-"dopped" us for those few days and make us feel like family. It is such a fun place where the kids can let their hair down and just relax in the outdoors.
The weather this year during the festivities was a bit more wild where we had some pretty big storms.
Tanner and Tucker were at the very top of the Ferris wheel, when giant thunder and lightning came over head. Security quickly shut the ride down and the boys were a bit sad as they had waited for ever to get on the ride only to be taken right off with out going around a full rotation. Oh well better to be safe.
Here are a few more looks at the rest of our time.
So that is the last 8 weeks in a nut shell. Now that we are home from our summer adventures we are tackling a different beast. Football.....it takes over your life from now until the end of October or longer if you make the play offs!
