slack much?

oh my goodness. 

there is some serious slacking going on in the blog department around these parts.

i'm sorry mom.

we've been busy living and enjoying our summer which really isn't a good excuse considering how important it is to me to document our life happenings and adventures.

now i have some catching up to do which will make for a long post and an abundance of photographs.

shall we?

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the kids started school the end of july.  they're already off track which they're happy about (too soon for me).  cayden is in the third grade.  he says his teacher is "mean" but, i think he's full of it.  i think she's stern and she has rules.  i like her already.  

brooklyn started first grade and splits her day between two teachers.  the first half is with her english teacher and the second half is with her chinese teacher.  her english teacher focuses on reading, writing, phonics and comprehension.  in her chinese class she's learning the language, social studies and math (in mandarin).  she's already learned to count to twenty and write out number 1-10 among other things.  it's very impressive and i'm extremely excited for her because she's enjoying the experience so much already.

it's weird having brooklyn gone all day but, she was ready and i know it is just one of many moments in her life that i'll have to let go of her just a little bit more.  there's that fine line between wanting the kids to thrive independently while also wanting them to stay small and dependent on me.  gosh, i'm so needy.  sniffle.

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some weekends ago we went up to the hendry cabin with jake's family and spent the day shooting jake's old bb-gun, hiking some, eating and sitting by the camp fire.

craig and linda had taken the kids up the night before for a sleep over and they hiked around all morning with the kids.  they said gavin was the only one who didn't complain.  when he woke up from his nap, his little legs were sore and tired so it slowed him down for the first half of our hike together but he got over it real quick.  my little trooper. 

baby nephew with uncle jake.

my two handsome boys.

gavin tries to help gage take off his shoes.

s'mores!

jon and gage.

cayd thought he was pretty funny shoving marshmallow's in his eye sockets.

at least gage was amused.  teasin' it was actually really funny.

i took this photo on the way up the canyon.  i think it's pretty.

and then there was a decorated tree along the trail when we were hiking.  how fun!

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cayd started fall ball last week.  he's eight so naturally, we put him on the 7-8 year old team.  jake text me during their first practice "i feel like we're cheating."  apparently, cayden is taller than his teammates which is not a surprise.  he's taller than his classmates but i bust up laughing when i saw for myself at the first practice i took him to.  we should probably start carrying his birth certificate around or maybe play him up an age group next year. 

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last weekend we camped with my mom up at east canyon.  

she took the kids on friday night while i went to bunko and then jake and i came up early on saturday with molly in tow.  molly loves to camp. 

i took this photo with my phone(!) at the top of the canyon on the way up.  i hope that i never take for granted the beauty that surrounds us.

husband and i slept through a rainstorm in the tent.  it was romantical. new word. no?

on sunday morning my hunky husband humored me by going for a little jog.  we ran four miles along the dirt road to kimball junction.  it was beautiful and he is always good company.  plus, he ran with his shirt off.  clearing. throat. now.

we played mini-golf with kids and we tried to play tennis.  there was swimming too and lots of good food.  a relaxing weekend that we were over due for.  thanks mom! (in case you're wondering, my dad was on a week long ride with his harley friends).

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then there was this past friday, a family day at lagoon compliments of my in-laws (thanks craig and linda!).  the kids were beyond excited all week.  husband took a day off of work which is a rare occurrence.  we got there early and stayed until almost 11:30.  

gavin wanted to go through the haunted house badly while the big kids went on the "jet star" with their dad and grandma.  he was brave going in but only lasted about 30 seconds before he ended up like this at my feet ..

poor kid was terrified.  probably best that he stick to the safe stuff that puts a smile on his face.

last year at lagoon i ended up really sick after the last few rides so i was not too anxious for a repeat of that night and opted out of the majority of the gnarly stuff.  unfortunately, i forgot about my recent back injury and still went on quite a few rowdy rides.  when i woke up yesterday morning, i could barely walk. again.  i'm really sad about this.  just so you know.

anyway, summer has been kind to us. we're playing hard and trying to live it up before the weather changes (which is going to happen sooner than i'd like).

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who knew that sidewalk chalk mixed with water could be so much fun?

happy summer friends!