A lovely summer day.

As most people are aware I am not particularly fond of summer but today was a wonderful summer day. While we were in Idaho my sister and her husband gave us their old backpacking carrier so we decided to put it to use today. Mark made us yummy smoothies from fresh peaches and strawberries and we took off.  We headed over to Helen Hunt Falls an easy hike we did with Jared when he was about 2. He loved hiking up and did a great job.  Lydia was perfectly content in the carrier.  The hike is a 1/3 of a mile long and perfect for little kids.  Jared loved playing near the water and even smiled happily for pictures. I hope we can find some other fun, kid friendly hikes to go on.  Hiking is one of the things people rave about concerning Colorado Springs so I hope we can tap into it.

After our hike we stopped by a local farmers market and enjoyed yummy samples and found some local honey. I have such terrible allergies in the summer and have heard from several sources that local honey helps them so I am going to be putting honey in or on everything.  We also got some Peachcots which as you can guess are a blend of peaches and apricots. I love farmers markets, they are so summer-ish to me.
Once we got home we cleaned up our flower baskets and played with our sidewalk chalk. Jared "pushed" his bike around because why would he ride it? Then our kids ate lunch and took amazing naps. Hiking and lots of sunshine will do that to you. Mark went to play Frisbee Golf which he loves and I enjoyed some quiet time.
After dinner today we had FHE and while Mark gave Lydia her bath Jared and I walked to the mailbox to drop off some letters. On the way back we noticed the sprinklers were on and I asked Jared if he wanted to run through them which of course he did and he loved it. 

I think this may have been the first time he has run through the sprinklers. Having a communal green area makes it a little bit harder to do.  Running through the sprinklers and  homemade slip n slides were almost a daily event for me and my siblings growing up in the summer. I am glad he could enjoy it tonight. Then we ended the day with ice cream in the bath, for Jared at least.

It was such a lovely day.  I am so grateful for this special time in our life.  When things are so simple. There are plenty of not so lovely summer days but I know I have got a good thing going here and am happy.

UTAH

We were so happy we could go to Utah and Jared could see so many of his cousins/Aunts and Uncles. He is getting old enough that he remembers people and enjoys playing with them. All of Mark's sister's came out with their families so there were a lot of people to visit with. It was really nice to see how kind the older cousins were to Jared and  Lydia and how they tried to include them and teach them things. There is only one other cousin between Jared and Lydia. She is almost 2. All the others are 6 and older so it just makes me happy that they are so sweet with our 2 little kids. It's also really fun to see the other adults interact with Jared and Lydia. I of course think they are adorable and amazing but its fun to see other people love them too. We stayed in Saratoga Springs at his Mom's house and had fun swimming and playing.

 

Jared and Lydia loved playing Grandma Sue's piano

 

 Jared out front with Felicity, there isn't much of a slope here but they made it fun

Mark was a bit of a rock star with all his extended family while we were there.  One for his delicious homemade "cold stone concoctions" and two for having the best apps. He introduced all the older nieces and nephews to "GeoGuesser" a game our friend Kim introduced us to. He also has Ticket to Ride on his ipad which is a well loved game in the Spencer family.

While we were there our family drove up to Salt Lake to tour the Sweets Candy Factory.  They take you on a free 40 minute tour.  I love places like this. We had lots of fun samples which Jared loved and enjoyed seeing how the candies were made.  Too bad we left all our candy we bought at Sue's house!  It was really hard for Lydia to keep her hairnet on the whole time but we made it. I would totally go again when our kids are older.

We also met up with our good friend Joni from BYU Idaho.  She has 2 kids the same ages as Jared and Lydia.  We went to a splash park and had fun catching up. It really was a nice trip. I am so happy that Jared and Lydia got to see so many of their family members on my side and Mark's.

 

SWEET KIDS.

Provo Utah!

We spent a week in Utah after our time in Idaho. We spent last 4th of July in Utah as well but Lydia was so little I don't feel like we did very much. This year we were able to go and do more things which was nice. We spent a morning in Provo walking around the Provo Temple and checking out BYU.

As we walked around and saw all the people walking to the temple I thought about how wonderful it would be to live somewhere where you could walk to the temple. I hope we live near enough to a temple one day that we can take our kids over there for a Sunday afternoon or FHE so we can all just enjoy the spirit there.
It was fun to walk around BYU.  I never attended BYU and Mark just did for one summer term but it is just a fun place to walk around. As we walked around we explained to Jared what BYU was and why people were there.  After we talked about BYU we asked him if thought he would ever like to go there and he said "No, I am not really interested." I just want him to go to college, it doesn't really matter if it is BYU.  He tells us all the time he wants to be a construction worker and I always say "that sounds good you can go to school and study construction management." We will see.  But just in case he does want to go to BYU here are some pictures of his first time there.

 

The rest of the time we were in Utah he always asked where the Y on the mountain was and was excited to see it. He does love the BYU hat and football we got him.

 

We went down to Provo another day and spent some time at the new Provo Rec Center. It is amazing and such a deal! It only costs 4 dollars to go in.  They have indoor and outdoor water features, slides, a lazy river, a rock climbing wall where you fall into the water, a waterfall to jump off,  big slides and a zero entry pool.  They also have lap pools and pools to just swim in.  Check it out if you are in Provo.

 

 

 

 

We also spent one afternoon floating down the Provo River. 

 

Kierstin, Hannah, Mikaela, Aprillee

(Mark's sister Susan's fun girls)

 

Mark went last year with some family members but Lydia was so little I stayed home with her and Jared. So it was my turn to go this year. I looked forward to it all year! I was so excited when we got there and then I found out that I am really bad at steering inter tubes.  In my defense it mostly had to do with the distance between the inter tube, the River and my arms.  I crashed into so many trees!  It took me forever and a day to make it to the halfway point. I felt bad for all the other family members waiting for rme.  I just could not reach the water.  My arms were so chaffed they were bleeding.  It is so painful! Then Kierstin Mark's niece told me if I leaned back farther in the tube instead of sitting in it so low I could reach the water easier.  GENIUS!  Where was she the first 2 minutes I was in the river? Oh right way ahead with the other people who knew how to steer. As you can see in the picture above I am quite a bit shorter then these fun girls and they could reach the water a lot easier then me. So I enjoyed the second half of the float a lot more.  I was by far the most improved "floater" and didn't crash once the second half.  I am toatlly going to do it again to show that inter tube who is in charge!

So Provo is a really fun place to visit!

Happy Independence day!

We had a fun 4th of July in Utah. Before we left Idaho we had a cute little Independence Day photo shoot with Lisa, Lyra, Jared and Lydia. My Mom and sister Katie came up with this idea and got the kids matching outfits. They were ADORABLE!. Jared did not particularly like taking the pictures and Lydia just wanted to wander around, but we managed to get a few good ones with the promise of a donut at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

On the actual 4th of July Mark went swimming with our kids and their cousins down at the Hot Springs. Lydia absolutely loves being in the pool and the Hot Springs are nice and warm for little kids.  After swimming we went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and Grandma Sue took us on a tour in a golf cart which Jared loved.  The gardens are so beautiful.  There is a fun little pond to feed these humongous fish and lots of "themed" gardens. If you are in the area I totally recommend checking them out. They are also building a new kids zone and there is a children's garden that I am sure is great. We just went to the general one and it was great.

 

 COUSINS!

Anya, Ian, Mikaekla, Jared

 

This was one of the highlights on our trip to Utah. He loved driving/riding in the golf cart.

 

I didn't really even bother to make my kids look at me for pictures. They were so happy to run around.

Both kids loved feeding these fish.  You drop in these little pellets and there are so many fish that they flap all over each other and come out of the water to get the food.

 

 Italian Garden

 

Secret Garden

There was this fun little tunnel of branches we walked through till we found the secret door. It was so pretty and the fountain was a hit of course.

 

 

That evening we played outside and Jared and I enjoyed our traditional Root Beer Floats.  Mark graciously let us eat the last of the ice cream and did not get a float this year. Jared had a fun 4th of July bath with red, white, and blue glow sticks and after he was all ready for bed we went out on the deck and watched the illegal fireworks the neighbors were setting off. They were just as good as a show you would go to without the crowds. Jared had never seen fireworks outside of a story or movie and he loved them.  We had a nice quiet 4th. It will be fun when our kids are older and we can do a few more things but we have plenty of time for that and I think our 4th was just right for them.

 

Idaho!

As part of our summer vacation this year we headed up to Twin Falls, Idaho. Susanna and Ryan had just bought a house and we hadn't seen them in so long.  Lisa was also preforming as Marta in the Sound of Music and my Mom and sister Katie were coming out so we had a girls reunion.  It was really nice to see them all. Lisa did a really nice job in her performance and Jared had so much fun with Lisa and Lyra. They had really not spent much time together and he loved playing with them. We went to parks, went swimming, visited the museum at the local college and swam a lot.

SISTERS!

I guess we look alike, a little.

Susanna and I are only 14 months apart and I love talking with her. To do it in person for a change was so nice. We also went running together one morning which I really enjoyed.

Shoshone Falls

 

Their new house is right by the Twin Falls Temple so we had a nice time walking around it. Every time we drove by it Jared would say "Bye Bye Temple, see you later."

 

 "Camp Fun" Lisa (7) had Camp Fun each time we came over, or maybe it was Fun Camp?  Jared and Lyra did pretty well following "directions" from their camp director Lisa.  Mark jumped in on this game, where they were hiding the ball. He hid it in his shirt and it took the kids forever to find it. 3 year old's are pretty fun to play with.

 

Aunt Katie Loves...

Marmee Loves...

 

Lydia is 17 months so it does take her awhile to warm up to people.  Everyone was so happy to see her and watch her run around.

 

"Sound of Music"

Mom, April, Lisa, Katie, Susanna.