a little cook out

Monday night for FHE, we went up to Willow Flat to have a little cook out. After we ate a delicious tin foil dinner, we went Hiking up to the spring.

***After about 2 minutes into the hike, we had a hard time keeping Trevor from stopping every few steps to find a good skipping rock (thanks Brandon). We had Trevor ride on Garricks shoulders for the remainder of the hike
*** Kaitlyn and Hannah thought the hike was way too far for her legs. I gave Hannah a piggy back ride for a good part of the way. Courtney kept pushing Kaitlyn, even though she didn't like his gentle motivation. The most frightening part for everyone was crossing the oh-so-scary bridge. Kaitlyn had to close her eyes to get accross and Hannah tried not to look down at the raging water.

When we arrived back to the campsite, Grandma Hall and Grandma Richards told stories of our ancestors.
A cook out wouldn't be complete without Smores! Mom even made apple cobbler, but the kids sure loved roasting the marshmellos.

(notice Mom's perfect marshmellos. She always makes really good ones)

Lewiston 4th of July Parade

The day after we got home from Sun Valley, we celebrated the 4th of July in Lewiston. I ran the 5k in the morning with some of the family. After which, I ran over to the firemen's breakfast (that's something that cannot be missed) and then over to the parade. I haven't been able to sit and enjoy the parade with my family, but this year I was able to watch with them. We yell and clap for every float for candy. However, there was some mixed emotions when the Utah Democrat float came by. They handed out "I'm a Democratic fan" signs, of which Courtney is displaying in this photo. He sure makes a good lookin democrat.

The girls sure enjoyed the parade, particularly running around in the road. What fun! Elizabeth tried to run away a few times down the road and Brandon would run to get her.

The red, white, and blue party and Jan's was amazing like always. I did not start the water fight but somehow I was the only one who ended up getting dunked in the pool. I don't know how I feel about that. Watch out for next year, Roy! It was quite the 4th of July.

Beautiful Sun Valley

This year on our trip to Sun Valley I was quite the slacker when it came to taking pictures. I really didn't take very many. These are a few of the highlights of our trip that I caught.

1. The grounds were so beautiful. We even had family pictures taken with all of the pretty scenary. These are just my amateur photos of family members.

2. I'm not sure if this is a highlight. Nonetheless, Jenn and I had the pleasure of enjoying terrible Migraines. I am now a fan of Excedrin. It really does work miracles.3. We took a ride on one of the lifts to the top of the mountains. The picture below is at the bottom of the lift. Kaitlyn and Rachel and I sat together on the way up. They were a bit nervous, but we made it just fine. It was gorgeous up top. We didn't stay too long, just enough to take some pictures. Hannah and Kyle and I sat together on the way down and played a little American History trivia to take up some of the time.