First campout alone with the kiddos...

Our tent!

Mikaela and Baby! Mistake taking a white dog camping?

Possibly...but it's not my dog or my mistake so...

and we made it out alive! Unfortunately, it rained some Friday and then dumped on us Saturday morning. So all we basically did was drive a while, pitch a tent, eat some yummy dutch oven dinner, roast s'mores, stay up really late, worry about the bears, sleep in a tent, eat breakfast in the cold rain by a campfire and pile everything in the car all wet and muddy and race home! Nick was so sweet because when he woke up to rain on Saturday back in town, he knew we had to be getting pounded on while up the canyon. He told Suzanne to try and find us so he could help me load everything up. I didn't have service up there so I didn't find all this out until I was almost home. But, it was still so sweet that he worried about us. So, I got a text from him that said he wanted to help me break down camp and then one that told me Patrick Swayze died. That guy is all kinds of helpful.

I joined a single moms group on facebook and met some new friends through that group. This was an annual camping trip that they planned and it was so great. They usually do a lot of fun things like ATV's, dirt bikes, air-soft guns, hiking, fishing, etc. We didn't get the chance to do any of that, but it was still fun. It was fun to be alone but, not completely. To do something you didn't think you would or could do. It was something I needed to do. It was a step I needed to take. I'm happy I can now cross that off my bucket list.

We'll try for a better trip next year.

One without rain, mud and bears...please

Happy Birthday Dalton!

It was Dalton's 7th birthday during our family reunion. He had been literally counting down the days for the last month. Every day without fail, he knew how many more days till his birthday. He also knew one of the presents he was getting. Suzanne took him shopping and let him pick out his own gift. It was a power miners lego set and it was a huge one! He was like a kid on Christmas day...except he was a kid on his birthday, which is pretty much the same thing. Anyhoo, I finally let him open some presents on Sunday because that was the day that everyone is usually there. Plus, the kid couldn't wait any longer and he was bugging A LOT.

Instead of a party Dalton just wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes with his friend Clint. Totally works for me. He's a pretty easy kid. Love that boy. So, Dalton, Hudson, Clint, Clint's mom Diane and myself headed to Sweet Tomatoes to celebrate Dalton's birthday. There's only one tiny little problem with this.....ready for it? It's a good one...yep... Mother of the Year award here! We did the lunch when the boys were off-track in.....OCTOBER! Yep, three whole months AFTER his big day. Poor kid with the summertime birthday. No real celebration at school, no going down to the Principal's office for a special pencil, always having a birthday over our family reunion, then having the day get lost amongst the 24th of July and vacations, and on and on and on. Ya...I totally blew it. But, he didn't mind so much. Like I said, he's an easy going kid. Gotta love him!

Here's a picture of the boys at the belated birthday lunch:

So, Happy Birthday to my baby...sniff, sniff.

Here's last year's post and pictures.

Family Reunion

Our annual family reunion was held July 18-21. We camped around grandma Rose's house, had a potluck dinner at the bowery, went swimming in Malad, ladies night out, and boating at Deep Creek. We also celebrated Dalton's 7th birthday there. He was so anxious to open his presents, that I let him open them on Sunday and we had a cake for him at the potluck dinner since that is when most people are at the reunion. It was a cute little sponge bob cake that he picked out. Here are some photos of the reunion:

Mikaela and Ben

Froggy

Mom and gram going for a ride!

Me

Summer

D-rock

Britt and Bree

Dalton sat here on the dock for 45 minutes waiting for another boat ride!

That is one patient kid.

Grandma throwing gang signs!

Dalton waiting for a boat ride...

Mikaela and me about to go tubing

Cody and Mikaela

The lane where Grandma and Grandpa met!

Fourth of July!!!

The 4th of July was spent running the family fun run again.  Mikaela just came along and took photos for us.  I encouraged Paige to run the 10k and she encouraged Marcus to also run it.  Paige had been training for Ragnar but Marcus hadn't run in like a month.  But, they both did awesome! I ran the fun run with Dalton and Hudson raced the fun run to win.  He ended up getting 7th place overall and 1st place for his age group! Yay Hudson! He was pretty excited. After the race, we went to the chuckwagon breakfast.  Last year dad and Derrek joined us and I was hoping they would join us again but, I found out after we headed home, that dad, Derrek, Summer, Spew and Laura all met up to eat chuckwagon breakfast and we just missed em! Dang!

The day ended at Sugarhouse park for fireworks with the group.  We had Nick and Suzanne, Spew and Laura, Summer and Jake, Derrek and Melissa, Mabel, Rex and Bella, and Alicia.  It was a lot of fun and a great show.  We thought it would be fun to head up there in case it was actually their last year doing fireworks (cuz that was the rumor). Here are some photos from the day:

Hudson finishing the race!

Dalton at the finish!

Me and my baby!

Me, Marcus and Paige

Summer and Jake

Spew and Laura

Laura and Me

The group

Hudson, Red-neck Nick, Mikaela

Bella, Suzanne, and Dalton

Mikaela's cake - so cute!

Rex, Bella, Mabel and Nick

Mikaela's cool hair

Happy 4th of July!!!