Our Second Summer Trip to Idaho

This is the summer of going to Idaho! Did you know it was such a cool place? Well, it is. We headed north again on July 18, and came home just in time to celebrate Pioneer Day (aka Utah's birthday of sorts) on July 24, but more on that later.

On the 18th, we pulled into my parents' drive and found my mom out mowing the lawn. She didn't have time to finish since we had plans for that  night. After a little freshening up for both my mom and I, we went to my friend Halli's baby shower. I hadn't seen her in years, and it was so nice to be at her parents' home again. I also got to see a few old friends from high school.

The next day, I finished mowing my mom's lawn while she went to work. I also ran all the hoses back on the lawn so it could be watered. And I thought, "Oh this is why it is okay that we have such a small lawn. It is much easier to take care of, and I'm not much of a landscape gal." My parents' yard is SO big!

After getting the water on, I enjoyed a rest in the cooler house. Not too long after, Michael came into the house looking like this:

 I made him strip on the porch so he didn't track water through the house and then change into a swimming suit. After that, whenever he wanted to run through the sprinklers, he would strip on the porch before heading in to find his swimming suit, even when he was still dry! Funny kid. (And for the record, I didn't pick out his outfit. I'm trying to teach him that stripes and plaids DON'T go together.)

My parents run shuttles for a few anglers during the summer. We live really close to the South Fork of the Snake River, and apparently it is really awesome fly fishing. So, while we were there, we helped my parents run a few shuttles. I was happy because I love this river, and I love going up the canyon. It is as much home to me as my parents' backyard. So, I had to take a picture of my boys in front of my river, at the boat dock named after one of my ancestors:

Rachel and my dad got to be pretty good buds. My dad loves feeding babies. I was grateful that he would take her at dinner and feed her--usually whatever was softest on his plate. But, we added some applesauce too. She couldn't get enough! I'm always amazed at how good he is at keeping her face clean. I need to take notes next time I watch him!

 On Saturday, we went to the Ranch--Mountain River Ranch, that is--for our annual visit. Taryn and Aaron got to join us this year.

 Waiting for the shoot-out to start

 The wagon ride to the theater. Michael looks so grown up in this picture!

 And we shamelessly used Rachel to win over the judge for the singing contest. Yup, thanks to those cheeks, our group ate first. You're welcome, you random strangers at our table. I thought she was going to start crying with all those eyes on her, but she didn't make a peep. She just looked out over at everyone. I guess she really is my daughter!

This is Lauren. I met her when she was seven. I used to tuck her in at nights while her parents ran these dinner shows. And here she is, holding my baby. It's crazy!

 After the show, my mom and Michael danced while waiting for the wagons to come back. 

 More Grandpa love

 While we were there, Rachel had her first half-birthday. Can you believe that she is six months old? I sure can't! Here she is on her great-grandpa's lap  (Monday, July 22). 

 And on her great-grandma's lap with her cousin Aaron. 

 By the time we had a chance to get her ready for bed that night, she was done. She fell asleep while I was nursing her, which hasn't happened in MONTHS (not counting the middle of the night feedings). It's exhausting turning six months old!

On Tuesday, the long awaited day--and the real reason for this trip--arrived: BYU-Idaho Commencement and Convocation. My mom has been dragging around a lap-top with her at every family gathering and every work trip for the past two and a half years to earn her Bachelor's degree. (She graduated with her Associates from Ricks College back in the day, but then married a Navy man, had six kids and...) Now, she's all done!

Here are our 2013 family college grads!

 Taryn wore a stole of gratitude at her commencement exercises back in May. Right before heading to graduation festivities on July 23, Taryn gave Mom her stole. 

 After a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse, we headed to Rexburg for Mom's convocation.

 We got there super early since we weren't sure about how parking would be. Parking wasn't a problem at all, so we had lots of time to kill.

 Convocation began--and it was pretty good. Mom's convocation boasted a seventy and the president of the University. Not too shabby.

 My mom said that she felt sill walking with all these "Young kids". I told her that she needed to do it so that it felt like she really did graduate. I think she did it to have an excuse to get together with some of her kids. But, at the end of this day, she said she was glad that she did it, and she was surprised to get a little emotional as she walked across the stage. I got a  little choked up myself as I was heading back to my seat after taking pictures.

This is from her Rick's College graduation. 

 I'm so proud of her! Congratulations, Mom!

Ouchie!

On July 14, as we were getting ready for church and the drive to Roy for Aaron's blessing, I heard Michael ask Brian, "Where's Mommy?" And then come charging down the hall to find me. As he rounded the corner to come into our room, I heard/ saw out of the corner of my eye a crash. I found Michael on the floor screaming in agony. Somehow, he managed to hit his head on the linen closet door. I quickly checked him for a bloody nose, and then held him for a few minutes. When  he calmed down enough for me to check the damage, I found this HUGE goose egg on his head. Seriously, how do these things get so big so quickly?

 So, after a few kisses, some laughs, and a Cars bandaid, Michael was good to go. Here he is on our way back from Roy.

When we got home, our ward was having a "Walk-about", so all our neighbors were out walking and talking to each other. We joined them, with Michael riding his trike like a speed demon down the hills. Everyone kept asking, as he tore past them at dangerous speeds for a three-year-old if he had hurt his head in a crash. Nope, he rarely crashes on his bike--he just crashes hard when he's running in the carpeted area of the house :)

Aaron's Blessing

On July 14, we headed to Roy to be there for Taryn's baby's blessing. We were excited that we got to sleep in since Taryn and David had church at 1 p.m. and we have church at 8:30 a.m. However, we were a little bummed when our ward was coming home as we were leaving, and we still had to go to church. I guess 8:30 church has its advantages. The blessing was great, of course. Baby Aaron was blessed by his dad, David. I don't know how to explain it, but there's something pretty neat about witnessing someone young and inexperienced in the priesthood using it for such a special occasion as this was. I was proud of him. 

After sacrament meeting, we went to a nearby park for lunch and some visiting. And, of course, pictures. 

 I love watching Dad with his grandkids. It's a side of him I didn't see too much growing up. He adores all of them so obviously much. 

 Our crew, sans the brothers, Jessica, and a few of the kids that we didn't feel like coercing from the playground for a picture. 

 Taryn asked me to take pictures for her. As I was processing all of them, I have to say that I wish that the lighting had been better or that our shade options were better. I didn't love having a pavilion in the background of all the pictures, but since the subject matter is more important than aesthetics, we opted for the pictures in front of the pavilion to make it easier on those getting pictures taken. I cringe at seeing picnic tables and trash cans in the backs of these! 

 Here's the final chapter in the age order series, at least where it involves the mommies. 

I imagine we'll have lots more similar to this one. My grandma just loves having all these babies right now! It was too bad she couldn't make it to this blessing.   

Since Taryn, David, and Aaron are a little more portable, we were able to find a decent background for a family picture. This is my favorite one. 

I can hardly believe that my little sister is a little mommy now, but it suites her well. She is a great mom--none of us are surprised about this--and I'm so proud of her. Congrats again, Shortstop!

Happy Birthday to Me

On July 4, I woke up super tired, and Brian was going to let me sleep, but I was just too excited. I guess I'm still a kid a heart. After feeding Rachel, Brian and Michael brought in my presents. Brian surprised me with tickets to Stadium of Fire. He played it down so well too!

Since we had planned to go on a date to see a movie, we just decided to take the whole family to see a movie. We went to see Monsters University. It was fun, no where near as good as the original, but still fun. It was also Rachel's first movie, and she did great. The only problem we had was that her happy noises were too loud. Thankfully, she didn't cry at all.

 After the movie, we did a little shopping at Target, which made me happy. Then, we went out for frozen yogurt. Then, we dropped the kiddos off at Lea's and headed to Orem for dinner at Outback. Amazing! Then, we made our way to Provo for Stadium of Fire.

 Our seats were clear up in the nosebleeds--one row from the top--but they were awesome, especially for the fireworks.

Here's our view. We got to see three skydivers enter the stadium, participate with the dancers by waving a bandana, sing along with Carly Rae Jepson, stand in awe of Cirque de Soleil, be impressed by Kelly Clarkson, and then grin uncontrollably through the fireworks--which we had the best seat in the house for. It was an amazing way to celebrate our Independence Day. It took us forever to get out of the parking lot and we got to bed around two, but it was SO worth it. Best. Birthday. Ever! It definitely made up for last year, which I spent enjoying 1st trimester nausea. Thanks Brian for such an awesome day!

More fun with Ben and Jenny in Town

On Saturday, June 29, everyone came over to our house for grilling. We had fabulous steaks cooked by Ben and Brian, veggies, watermelon, fruit, salad, and potatoes. It was yummy! And, we had a July birthday party. Julie bought a yummy chocolate cake, and we put 5 sparklers in it to celebrate our July birthdays, Ethan, Me, Kirt, Danny, and Jenny. And then we pretended to blow them out. 

 We have the earliest church time on Sunday, so while we were waiting to go down to Mapleton, we passed the time reading and working on some Family History. I walked into the living room to see this:

 I love watching them read together side-by-side like this.

We headed to Mapleton for an informal dinner, and then we all went to Provo to watch Kirt conduct the Utah Premier Brass in their Concert in the Park.

 It's tradition at these Concerts in the Park for the conductor to lead a children's march around the park and have a guest conductor lead the band. The guest conductors for this concert's Children's march were the conductor's grand-kids. Here's Maiya's turn:

Michael sort of chickened out on his turn:

Baby Tucker even took a turn:

 Here's Kirt leading the march:

 And the Saville grandkids joined in at the end. 

 Tucker and Rachel played together on a blanket for the final numbers. 

On Monday, Ben and Jenny came over to our house for games and relaxing. It was fun having them, but it was a short visit. We figured we'd take what we could get. We had dinner at Cafe Rio with all the Savillians in the state.

The next day, we got a call from Ben saying that they might come and stay the night with us since Jenny's mom's house wasn't quite ready for guests. Long story short, they came! We also had Skyler with us that night, so we had quite the crew. Michael and Tyler had a sleep over in Michael's room, and he was just loving having Tyler all to himself. Skyler slept in the laundry room, and Rachel slept in our closet. Tucker slept in Rachel's bed and Ben and Jenny took the guest bed in Rachel's room. Brian and I stayed up too late playing Dominion with Ben, but it was totally worth it. And Tucker slept through the night--the first time their entire trip! I guess our house is the lucky house :). That or cribs are better than pack-n-plays.

We met up with Kirt, Julie, and Lea for lunch at Olive Garden, and then we bid farewell to Ben, Jenny, Tyler, and Tucker. We were so glad that they came for a visit. We wish that they lived closer---or that someone would actually invent tele-transportation. Thanks for coming to see us!

Fishing

On June 28, we went fishing! Papa wanted to take his grandkids fishing, so we caravanned down past Fairview and up a canyon to a little pond area. Within two minutes of the first cast, the first fish was caught. It was awesome! Everyone caught several fish. We ended up coming home with 34, and that's not counting all the little ones we threw back!

Rachel and Nana were probably the only ones who didn't catch a fish. 

  Here's Michael's first fish--ever!

 When we weren't fishing, we had plenty of snacks!

 My first fish in about 17 years! (I stopped fishing when they made me start paying to fish. I don't like how fish tastes, so it seemed pointless to buy a license--until now). There was still some worm left on my hook after we got this one, so I cast it back in the water. Not even a minute later, I caught another fish. It was a lucky worm--or a really good fishing spot. One of the two. 

 Yeah Brian!! 

So, funny story. Michael and Brian were fishing, and the hooked a fish. When they were reeling it in, it looked like the fish had strange, bulging belly. About the time we got the fish to shore, we realized that there was something else caught on the line. It turned out to be another fish! So, with one hook, one line, and one worm, they somehow caught two fish. Someone else lost his line and bobber, which then hooked a fish, and somehow, Michael & Brian's line hooked the stray line. Both fish were alive and well when they came out of the water. In fact, the fish on Michael's line died first. I've never heard of such a thing happening before! 

Papa loves to fish. He had to bait all the grandkids' poles and get them set, and he let me borrow his pole. Finally, when the kids got bored, he got to have his fishing time. Thanks for being patient with all of us!

 We forgot warm clothes for Rachel, so Tucker was kind enough to share his. Don't let the blue fool you, that's Rachel under that cow hat!

 Sometimes, Nature calls. 

 My beautiful, cute pregnant Sister-in-law, Alisa. 

 Only a few of us were brave enough to take the fish off the line, kill it, and put it with the rest. I was not one of the brave ones, but Ben was. 

 And there was plenty of space to play tag. 

 Tucker wanted to eat the fish. Yum!

 Ben, Tucker, Jenny, and Tyler

 Ella and Alisa

 34 fish!

 Papa and Ben gutted and cleaned all the fish in the stream in front of a live audience. 

We all had lots of fun fishing. We'll have to do it again soon. Thanks so much, Papa and Ben, for making it happen!