Its all the "Rage!"

Took the kiddies to Raging Waters to hang with Net and Joe and their girls. We have been doing hikes a lot lately and ES asked if we could PLEASE go swimming one time instead. In the 12 years that I have been a mom, I have never taken my kids there. Its too pricey for us. Wonderful Nettie told me that on Mondays its a car load of 8 for only $50 and hot dogs and drinks are a buck. That works for me!! So had 2 extra spaces in our van and for only 50 bucks, E and AT invited some friends and we loaded up and went. Got hungry for dinner about 6 and went to get some dogs, and they were closed! What the!? Umm...stay open as long as there are people there duh!! Kids were starved(me too), so nice wonderful Joe went and got us all something to eat. Thanks Uncle Joe!!! Kids had a great time! It was just de Janeiro and I til the Watts got there. She couldnt wait for Mads to get there!

Nets camera can go under water(need to get me one of those). Fun! Too cute pic!
This is called the snake. The kids loved it. Said it reminded them of being on the show Wipeout. We love that show in our house. Hilarious.


Whoa...whoa....
ES was the only that made it over to the other end the first time without falling!

Gotta cheat a little bit right?
Love being with Lynette. Always have SMF(so much fun)!! So glad we are hangin every week!!!

Its what fun IS....

LAGOON! Had our Stake Lagoon day. Its about the only time we go every year because it is so dang expensive. So the kids really look forward to it and get so excited! I get excited too, to walk around all day while the sun sucks all my energy and I am dying of thirst. Okay...a little drama there, but it is always so hot! Still fun though! The Lab actually takes the day off and we all go with most of Kirks siblings and some friends from our ward. We split the kids up between the adults in age groups and trade off every now and then. 12 and older are allowed to go off on their own, ONLY if with a group. Always meet up for dinner, then off again til closing time. Good times!!!

Bek and my kiddies.Got to hang with de Janeiro for a bit at first. It was fun! She wanted to ride some rides while we were looking for her little buddies to hang with. On the Jumping Dragon.
ES and her cousin/best buddy, all soaked after the Rattlesnake Rapids. I was soaked too. Thats why I never where a white shirt to Lagoon...haha! Felt good though. Kept you cooled off for a while. I went around pretty much for the rest of the day and night with these 2. They we SMF(so much fun). They were actually big enough and brave enough this year to go on all the big rides. Yay! We had a blast!

On the Tidal Wave.
Went on the Colossus before this ride and told them I would have to sit this one out. My head and tummy were not feeling too good after the Colossus. No worries...I kept it in...Ha!
Most everyone at dinner.
Met up with AT and his buddies for a bit. They loved the Jet Star.
Skye Ride. So right when I turned around to take this pic, I saw my boy totally SPIT! What the!? GROSS!!! I yelled at him and gave him the "I dont think so" signal. Yah we had a talk on the other end about that. He wont be doing that again. Gav is in the back ground.
Let them go on the Spider by themselves. They thought that was cool!
Closing time. Got all my kids back and we are going home!
What my kids look like after and full day and night at Lagoon....trashed! ES actually looks pretty scary.

What I look like after a full day and night at Lagoon with my kids by myself....
NOT! This is what I looked like and wanted to do. Me soooo tired! Totally worth it for sure!!

Eclispe(3rd times a charm??)

Went to see Eclipse with the the original Twilight gang....the die hards! I had to redeem myself because I went with a different group to the last one...I am redeemed! Phew! Always good times with these guys. Already set for the next one in Nov. Cant wait. Despite the total cheesiness and horrible acting and corniness and the fact that we had to make fun and comment under our breath and laugh at parts were it wasnt funny through the whole movie(Im sure everyone around us hated us) we loved the movie! Go team Jacob!

Everyone. Nice pose Stef! Haha! Now we know where de Janeiro gets it from, and no thats not Nat next to Stef...its me. Just look like her in this pic... Good times!!!
Thanks for the pic Nettie!

Happy trails...

Met up with Lynette and her girls last week for a hike up to Ensign peak. Lynette hadnt been for a while, so it was nice. The kids did great! It was a perfect day too, not too hot. Too cute! Mads requested this pic, and had to approve of it after. Haha! I do the same thing.
Love, love, love Lynette! She is so fun! Love when we get to hang out!
Always windy at the top.
Everyone. AT cant be too close to all the girls. Poor guy is always girl trapped.
Taking a break on the way down.
Had to pose. Lil Brazil said her pose was called the Ponder...er. What 5 year old says the word ponder??

Karate(pronounced Ka-raw-tay)Kid!

Fear does not exist in this dojo does it!? No Sensai! Haha! So AT goes to Karate twice a week. Been doing it for about 9 months and he loves it. He is so serious about it too. His Sensai's are so impressed with him. Say he has amazing skill, is quick and a fast learner. They show him the moves(called Katas(sp?)) once and he gets it. Even the difficult ones. Say he must have a photographic memory. Hes moving up fast getting his belts too. Just got his green. Thats pretty high on the belt scale! He will come home and show us the things he learned on us. I love it! He really is good!!


Belt ceremony. Thats Kirk oldest brother Thadd on the far right, then his second son, then his third son, then AT, then Beks third, and last is Thadds youngest and only girl. Too cute!Love this pic. AT and his 2 best buddies in the whole world! We call them the 3 Amigos. So want them to dress up as them one of these Halloweens. Im sure they wont go for that though... See how serious he is...still got the proper stance.
Bow to your Sensai... I said bow to your Sensai! AT getting his green belt. He was so excited!!
Doing the switch...
Making it official with the certificate!

Land of the free, Home of the brave!!

I always put our flag up the 1st of July and keep it up all month. Im a military girl at heart still, and I love our flag and like to show my patriotism for my country! Even with a ding dong running our country, I am proud to be an American!!!Our 4th of July started out with neither Kirk or I having to work...Yay! We just hung with the kids. Kirk went on a bike ride. I went for a run. Watched some World Cup, then that evening we went to a RSL game. Always good times. Was a great game too! After, they had fireworks and this is were we ran into my sis Lynette and her fam! I love running into them! They are so great/fun and we love them sooo much! Thanks for the pic Nettie!! Yes, we are decked out in our RSL appearal...nerd alert!! Gotta show our support!

A hiking we will go...(this post is longer than the hike. Ha!)

Kirk wants to take our kids hiking more, so on Saturday(the day Utah celebrated the 4th) we got up early and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton to hike to Mary Lake. We had a great time. Our kids are good little hikers!

At the trail head.Awww...:)
If you notice in every pic, AT is doing something different with his hands. He thought that was pretty cool.
Got a shot of everyone climbing a cool rock.
Tah dah!!! King of the rock!
There were still patches of snow on the trail and of course the kids have to play in it. ES feel and got dirty. We were trying to tell her it was tough...she didnt like that so much...
By a cool waterfall. Love waterfalls and the sound of the water.
Beautiful view. I was staying away for the edge. They freak me out and make me dizzy. If I want to see over, I have to crawl. Ha!
Mary Lake. So pretty and peaceful!
Coolin off..
Kirk is so in his element in the out doors.
Kirk bought me these "five finger" toe shoes. They are pretty funky, but I love them. They were great for hiking in. Still need to try out running in them.
Close up...
AT found this perfect little spot.
All I have to say is...YIKES! We are in trouble with this one...
The Boys..
The girls, minus one...
She loves being with her dad.
Gotta love having a sister!

My turn in the spot.
Saw some ducks enjoying the lake too.
Not sure how she torn her pants, but she did. Wouldnt let E take the pic til I said bend over and show her your bum. Of course!
Stuck between a rock and a hard place...
Lil Brazil was collecting and giving me flowers along the way to put in my hair. So cute! Right after this pic, the kids were running down the hill behind me and poor little R fell pretty hard and got the wind knocked out of her and a few scraps. :(
After hiking, we came home and hung out til going over to Murray park with a bunch of Kirks siblings and kids and watched fireworks. This is the only pic we got of the fireworks...