Labor Day Camping Trip

Our kids LOVE to camp. We decided to squeeze in a last camping trip when we found out Brian had the Saturday before Labor Day weekend off from his rotation. We found a great spot up American Fork Canyon, and saw lots of wildlife right from our campsite: about 15 wild turkeys, 3 deer, 2 moose, and some bold little mice who wanted our food. The wind blew pretty hard at night.  In fact, I woke up several times with the tent in my face because the wind blew our tent flat, but it would pop up again after the big gusts. Before we went to bed it blew so hard that Melissa and Steve's tent blew away.  We had to catch it and anchor it down a bit more. 

Whenever the kids hear we are going camping, they pack in advance.  They had stuffed animals, a tea set, and a dozen story books ready to go five days before we actually went camping.  

Bracken found a Swiss army knife from our 72 Hour kit, and it keeps mysteriously finding it's way into his pocket, his backpack or on his key ring.  Brian let him bring it camping and they had some knife safety lessons.  Bracken whittled his own marshmallow roasting stick and thought it was the best ever. 

Bracken wanted to build a shelter more than anything else on this campout.  Brian helped him make this lean-to and Bracken was so happy with how it turned out.  

Their shelter protected them from a little bit of rain. :)

 Kinsey Kay

 While working to build his lean-to, Bracken found a dull, rusty old hatchet that had been left a long time ago.  He was so excited and wanted to chop at every dead tree. 

Kinsey and I spent most of the morning following Chandra around and pretending to be animals finding food to eat.  We made all sorts of sandwiches, salads, and desserts out of leaves, grass, and flowers.  After an hour and a half I was ready to head back to camp, but Chandra would have played that game all day. 

 Being silly while exploring. Bracken, Kira and Kinsey

 Melissa, Steve, and Zedek came camping with us.  They brought their hammock and had a relaxing morning while we built shelters and went exploring. It was fun to have them along!

Bracken's camp tools.  "His" pocket knife, the hatchet he found and his binoculars/compass/mirror tool that he saved $10 to buy from the dinosaur museum. 

Cowboy

Bracken found a hawk feather earlier this summer while we were camping and was so excited to put it in his cowboy hat.  Breonna told him in passing one day while she was visiting that she could probably make him a hat band to hold the feather in place. He was so excited and even wrote a note to remind her to make his hat band.  A couple of months later she surprised us with a visit and a hat band for Bracken.  He was so happy!  Breonna was the favorite aunt that night for sure. :)  Now he wears his cowboy boots and hat almost every time we leave the house. We love having you come over Bree!

Happy 1st Birthday Kinsey!

Kinsey had a fun first birthday, filled with her favorite foods and activities.  Green spinach eggs and grapes for breakfast, then Bracken made her a hugely comfy baby bed with every pillow and blanket he could find. Chandra built a "doggy house fort" for them to play in.  We played in the water outside, where she spend most of the time picking and eating grapes off our vines.  Then she got a bath.  (Holy cow, she LOVES baths!! She gets so happy every time she realizes she get's to go upstairs to Melissa's house to take a bath. It's adorable!)

I made Greek yogurt cheesecake cupcakes and topped them with berries.  Kinsey loves berries.  Like mega-loves them. That's all she ate for dinner.  When she saw we had strawberries she went beserk she was so excited and I couldn't give them to her fast enough.  We bought strawberries and blueberries even though they weren't on sale, and that was her birthday present along with a toothbrush.  She brushed her teeth for a long time, so happy to be big like her brother and sister.   Mostly she just enjoyed being the center of attention.  She's a cutey! We love you so much Kinsey! 

 The kids stuffed Kinsey's balloons inside their clothes and pretended to be Baymax from the movie Big Hero 6.

Super comfy baby bed...and Kinsey's happy to have her binky even though it's not nap time. 

Love that face! The grapes were the perfect height for her to help herself. 

 Watering the grapes, a.k.a. making mud to play in.

 Mmmm...she ate every bit of the fruit and most of her cheesecake.

Daddy and Kinsey

Their own Fireplace

Our dear friends the Eggertsen's from Cedar City came to visit us.  While we were playing in the backyard, Jairus and Bracken kept asking if they could build a fire.  I told them no because we didn't have a safe place to build one.  They went to the back corner of our yard and worked for a long time. Then they ran to me, so excited because they had built a fireplace.  They'd moved some extra bricks and cinder blocks to build this awesome little structure, and even found an old kettle in our neighbors yard to mix concoctions in.  We still didn't light a fire, but they were so proud of their creation that they didn't mind too much. 

Bracken, Zedek and Chandra.  They played with the fireplace for another week or so, adding all sorts of delectable (?!) things to the pot.  They called it boudalin, and they'd sprinkle it on each other as a magic potion.  After a week, it smelled so bad no one would go near it, so we threw it out and put the bricks back in the kids "laboratory" so they'll be ready when the next creative building bug hits them. 

Chandra stirring "boudalin." (I have no idea where they came up with that name.) 

 He was telling me all about how he'd built the fireplace and was so happy and proud, it was fun to watch him.

Summer Swimming Lessons

 Bracken and Chandra (middle, top) went to swim lessons for two weeks this summer, 4 days each week.  Bracken loved his lessons and caught on so quickly that they bumped him up a level half-way through (he was so proud of that!) He loved the diving board and as soon as it was free swim time he would jump off of it over and over, trying new tricks each time.
 Chandra was a little more timid to start out with, but she went from not wanting to put her face in the water at the beginning of lessons, to trying to touch the bottom of the pool when she jumped in, and floating and swimming a little by herself.  I am so proud of both of them for working hard and learning so much!

Big Brother

Kinsey is so lucky to have a brother and sister who love and play with her so much.  She loves when they push her in this little wagon.