June 2020

 June 1, 2020

The first Monday of each month we invite Ammon's parents and sister's family over. Sometimes we have a planned activity, and sometimes we just let the kids play and the adults chat. This month we planned a marshmallow fight!

All the kids and adults had a marshmallow gun and a bag of ammo. Emma was our clean up crew and loved every minute of it! She thought this was the best activity we have ever done!

June 3, 2020

For a long time, Caleb pretended to be a dog. Ever since loving on Sadie's kitty a few weeks ago, he pretends to be a kitty. Tonight, he started something new - angry kitty! I didn't know that he knew angry cats hissed! lol!

June 6, 2020

Tonight we decided to go fishing at Fischer Park. Caleb lost interest super fast, but Conner and Isaac both caught a fish!

 

June 7, 2020

Ammon had to work today (Sunday) and since we can't go to church (Covid), we decided to go on a nature walk today. We walked a short distance on a walking path that goes by a park. We only walked to the park and then I let the kids play.

June 9, 2020

We love to play with water in the back yard!

June 10, 2020

Conner turned 6 today! He wanted French Toast for his birthday dinner! This year was a family party. He wanted a Star Wars themed cake...so we did Star Wars sugar cookies on top of cup cakes. Somehow, we didn't end up with any pictures; but we have this video!

June 12, 2020

I keep finding the back of the recliner reclined back without anybody in it. Today I figured out why!

June 13, 2020

Ammon planned a super fun family activity! He made a treasure map and told the kids one of his friends at work gave it to him. We drove to San Marcos where there are some kid hiking trails (aka walking paths) and "followed" the map to the treasure!

 

Checking out the map before hitting the trail.

We stop for a snack (you can't have a hike without a snack!) while Daddy went ahead to check out the trail (aka hide the treasure).

Daddy showing us where we are going next - we are going through Bigfoot's area, so we have to be very quite so we don't wake Bigfoot up!

Caleb brought his teddy with him on the treasure hunt and I thought it was cute how he gave him a piggy back ride! The candy necklace was in the hidden treasure!

Worn out from the treasure hunt!

June 18, 2020

Our first summer in this house (summer of 2015) our AC went out. The AC repair man said that our AC wouldn't make it through the summer. 5 years later and our AC finally broke for good. So this week we are living at Grandpa and Grandma Dietz' house while we are waiting for the new one. Here is some of the fun we've had!

 

Grandpa and Grandma gave Conner and Isaac workbooks. Every time they complete 10 pages, they get a prize from their treasure chest! The boys love it!

 

We checked in at our house today. The boys were all in their matching clothes (that's Isaac's favorite way to dress these days!), so I snapped a quick picture!

June 20, 2020

We got our new AC installed today! When we came home, Daddy had built the kids something awesome!

June 21, 2020

Happy Father's Day, Ammon! The kids all picked out a specialty cheese to make a cheese basket, and Conner wanted to byuy Daddy a plant. He and I had been talking about getting a Sago Palm, so I guided Conner towards those. The two of them planted it together!

 

Caleb went into the backyard to avoid nap time, but I guess it didn't work! LOL

June 22, 2020

I looked over and saw Emma sitting on Isaac's lap while watching TV. I thought it was so sweet. He didn't mind at all that she crawled up and sat on his lap. What a sweet brother!

June 23, 2020

We have started doing kid interviews once a year. We try to do it May/June-ish. Our original idea was to do each kid at their birthday, but let's be real. To try to remember to do it at 4 different times during the year-we can already predict that we would miss a bunch. So, instead, we just decided we would do all the kids at once. 

We like doing it because it's fun to see the kids interests at different ages and because we want to remember their kid voice and kid words!

 

Conner - you can tell he is getting older. He doesn't say as many of the silly/funny things that he used to.

 Isaac - My favorite parts are when he says "ask me..." and then he has to think about the answer. I don't know why but it cracks me up. I guess I figure if he wants me to ask that question, he must already know the answer! Also, the beginning of the video: He told me I needed to say action - then he just started talking on his own. None of it was prompted!

Oh Caleb! He is 3. And man, he is a cute 3 year old! Despite a few bad habits (screams when he feels like he's picked on), he is cuddly, says cute and funny things, and keeps me laughing! Because of his short attention span, we did two videos.

Here's #1 - Oh, and if you haven't already read about our treasure hunt a couple of weeks ago, read that before watching the video!

 

And #2

July 28, 2020

Ammon and I have found one of our favorite vacation spots. Colorado Springs. It is actually a place we wouldn't mind living (no plans to move). We started our drive to Utah (to see my family). Day one we drove to Colorado Springs. Day 2 (today) we spent the day having fun in Colorado Springs!

When we travel, we have a "basket" that attaches to the tow hitch on the back of our van. We have bins that fit perfectly in the basket. We have 6 bins, but haven't used that many as of yet...this means when we stop at a hotel, we have to move all the bins either into the van or into our hotel room. We try to have 1 bin designated just for the hotel, so that we only HAVE to take one bin in. Anyways, here's what it looks like when we head into the hotel:

But that was last night. Today we went on one of my favorite hikes. It's called the...uh oh...for being my favorite hike, you'd think I'd remember the name...it is either Six Bridges or Seven Bridges. We've never made it to all the bridges, so that must be why I can't remember how many there are 😂 Anyways, the hike is BEAUTIFUL! You follow the creek/river all the way up. It's green, and wooded, and actually has a little altitude climb to it (we are used to flat kid "hikes"). It's just beautiful! And we love it!

 

 

We ate a picnic lunch and then headed to mini golf! We only have one very lame mini golf place near our house, so this was something new for the kids!

After mini golf, we loaded in the van and drove a few more hours. We stayed in a dumpy little town that we vowed never to stay in again. Lol.

June 29, 2020

We drove a few hours to Moab and took the kids hiking at Arches National Park. We've been there with the kids a few times and always have a great time!

 

One of our favorite hikes (most would call them nature walks) at Arches is to Sand Dune Arch. This time we were wise enough to bring sand toys so we could play in the sand. It is the softest sand we have ever played in! The kids make sand angels in it because it is so soft!

 

Emma tries so hard to keep up with her brothers!

 

Emma was so proud of herself for climbing this rock; because her brothers were all climbing rocks! She got more daring and climbed much bigger ones too!

 

Trying to get between two rocks and she high-centered! LOL!

When the kids are all tired and worn out, we finish the last few hours of driving to get to my parent's house. The kids typically fall asleep in the car for this part! LOL.

Tonight as I was giving the kids hugs and kisses before going to sleep in our hotel, I told Isaac "You are my favorite 4 year old ever!" He replied, "Thanks. You're my favorite Momma in the whole hotel."

June 30, 2020

We always have so much fun at Grandpa and Grandma's house! They have bikes to fit all the kids and toys that we haven't played with in a long time!