Hanging with the cousins...

The kids posing nicely for us on the rocks at Thanksgiving Pointe. 

 There was lots to do in Utah.  We took the kids to museums, Thanksgiving Pointe, a magic show, a swimming pool or two, BYU, outlet stores, the movies, and family dinners.  They also just played at the park once in a while.  

Being goofy!

Veteran's Memorial Pool - This was one of the pools we went to.  It was great.  There was this little wading pool/spray park area and then there was a big pool and waterslides for adults and older kids.  Best part was the $1 admission!  The boys had a great time here.  We sprayed them down with sunscreen every hour as well so it was nice that no one burned (except Clarke, who doesn't believe in sunscreen!)  This particular day was also Sienna's 9th birthday.  After swimming we went and ran some errands and then went back to their house for burgers and Birthday Cake.

Jay

Nathan

Cool man, Carson!

From Montana to Utah

So we left Montana and drove all the way through Idaho, stopping only for gas.  Our first stop in Utah was in Tremonton, at McDonald's.  Not our favorite restaurant by far but we thought the boys would do well with some exercise at the Playplace.  We stopped at this McDonald's on our last trip through Utah.  Carson got stuck at the top and Clarke had to climb up and get him.  I was worried that they would both get stuck on the way down!  There were no mishaps on this stop, thankfully.
     We then hopped back in the truck and drove through to American Fork where 'Uncle Smokey,'  Clarke's brother was working.  We met up with him there and chatted for a few minutes before heading on to Provo and the KOA, our
home for the next 5 nights.  Other than being a little close to the I-15, it was a cute little campground.  We didn't spend much time here, mostly just sleeping and breakfast but the boys loved it.  They especially loved feeding the ducks each morning.  We gave them Rice Krispies.

Some of the numerous fowl at the park. 

Sleeping hard!

Jay ended up right against the mesh and was attacked by sandflies.  He almost looked like he had chicken pox with all the bites that he had, poor guy!

Carson crashed hard as well.

You can see how scrambled they were on the bed.  They were all in a different spot each and every morning.

Utah and back - summer 2011

The kids don't get to see their cousins very often so this year we decided to go visit.  Originally we planned on going north to Spirit River but about 45 minutes from home the rain started and it was to rain the whole time we were to be gone.  We turned around, drove home, grabbed our passports and went to Utah instead.  We were late starting with our detour to Brooks first but we pushed through with the boys watching lots of movies.  We drove to Camp Fortunate, MT (near Dillon) at Clark Canyon Reservoir.  Camp Fortunate dates back to Lewis & Clark days.

 These are quotes I found about the camp:   

August 17, 1805

"I had not proceeded on one mile before I saw at a distance Several Indians on horseback Comeing towards me.  The Intertrepeter & Squar who were before me at Some distance danced for the joyful sight, and She made signs to me that they were her nation, as I aproached nearer them descovered one of Capt Lewis party; the met me with great signs of joy... those Indians sung all the way to their Camp... Three Chiefs with Capt. Lewis met me with great cordialliaty embraced and took a Seat on a white robe, the Main Chief imedeately tied to my hair Six Small pieces of Shells resembling perl which is highly Valued by those people"
Captain Clark

" Shortly after Capt. Clark arrived with the Interpreter Charbono, and the Indian woman, who proved to be sister of the Chif Cameahwait.  the meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah cah - gar-we-ah and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her, and who had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares and rejoined her nation ...  we now formed our camp"  (Camp Fortunate)
Captain Lewis

The 'Boys' in a dugout canoe at the campground.

This is a campground on the other side of the reservoir.  Can you tell the water is a little high this year?

 The boys went for a walk with me to the flag while Clarke was hooking up the trailer.  They love throwing things in the water!

This is the view looking across the reservoir to out campground.

Mowing the Lawn...

So, normally I am the one mowing the lawn as Clarke doesn't seem to notice when it looks like a jungle around our house.  It helps that way back when I worked for a landscape company so most of the time I don't mind doing it.  Nathan likes to help mow.  This is the first time that Clarke mowed all year and my first time to catch Nathan 'helping'.  He pushes and goes right along with you the whole time you are mowing.  It's really kind of cute.

A sunday afternoon bike ride

Don't help Nathan with his helmet!

The 3 Amigos ride again!

He is such a big man!

Lake Helena and the road trip home.

There was a great swimming area at the campground.

The boys all love the water so this was a great spot to camp and stay over night.

Here are the boys at the beach.  Jaci's family is in the first campsite so it was a perfect location.  Her kids played with the boys and kept them entertained while we got to talk and reminisce about 'the old days'.

 Milk River isn't very exciting but it was a good break from all the driving we had been doing!

I found out at the last minute that a girlfriend from my mission days was going to be in Helena so we decided to take a quick trip to Montana!  We drove down after work on Wednesday night and got to the campground at White Sandy just after midnight.  We got the last campsite!  Clarke drove down with us to set up the trailer and then he left Thursday as he had to be to work at 3pm.  I stayed down with the boys for 2 nights.  Jaci had family commitments that we didn't want to interrupt so we didn't overstay our welcome.  Jaci's father-in-law helped me double check that everything was packed up correctly for the drive home.  We stopped in Great Falls at the Wal-Mart and did some shopping and stopped at our favorite restaurant for lunch then headed back across the border.  We stopped in Milk River for a little break at the Visitor's center (which was closed!).  The boys wanted to see the dinosaur though and play on the rocks.  We made it home safely and it was so much fun to meet Jaci's family.

The 3 Amigos...

We couldn't go to the Calgary Stampede this year but that doesn't mean we couldn't get dressed like the cowboys!

Weeding and Harvesting in the garden

Carson ready to pull out our first radish!

The vegetables of our labor!

The boys were playing in the sprinkler and I went out to check on the garden and pull some weeds.  Things look good.  We pulled out 2 radishes.  The boys don't like them but Clarke and I do!

Sadly the deer attacked the beans and this is what we have left, half of a double row of beans.  They just stepped on the beets and left the onions alone.  Stupid deer!