Happy Birthday to U, Ryan

Ryan has been asking for a U of U bedroom for a long time, so for his birthday he finally got U of U bedding. As you can see, he LOVES it! I think he also loves the U magnet board I made for him. He rounded out his birthday with all things Utah with a trip to the Red Zone Utah store for a t-shirt and another Utah poster. Unfortunately his birthday falls during intensive football practice so he'll be having his "late night" with friends in a couple of weeks. We did go out to dinner at 5 Guys, as requested by Ryan, after football practice though. Happy 10th birthday, Ryan. We LOVE U!

First Day of SCHOOL 2010

School actually started for Ryan and Zach on July 26th. Our 3 week summer went by extremely fast with a baseball tournament occupying the first week. But with year round school that's what you get. Ryan is in 5th grade this year and Zach in 6th; his last year in Elementary! School for Owen started a week later and he could not wait to go to Kindergarten.

Owen found his friend Gavin that lives down the street. They were excited to be in the same class, but maybe a little shy on the first day.

Christmas Meadows 2011

We were able to go on our annual camping trip this year, but only for one night. We tried to fill those 2 days with as many adventures as possible. The river was extremely high this year and very cold because of the large amount of snowfall over the winter and spring. Jason decided he would take the boys (1 at a time) down to the river to fish. As Jason and Zach were crossing the river to find a good fishing spot, Zach lost a sandal. In his attempt to retrieve the sandal he got swept down and under the river. Thankfully he hit a sand bar and was able to regain his footing. In Jason's attempt to help Zach he also lost his sandals. So we ended up with no fish and no sandals. After Zach's "near death experience" we decided it would be best not take the kids across the river to fish. Jason did take them fishing, but they weren't able to catch anything.

Owen spent a large amount of time swinging and playing in the hammocks.

The BB gun was a huge crowd pleaser for the boys. For some reason the person in charge of the gun range ended up being Ryan! Maybe because he's such a responsible mature 9 year old.:)

Carving is always a fun camping activity. Luckily no one had to get stitches this year.

A new activity this year was "See who can last at least 1 minute without moving while people tickle your nose and ears with grass, weeds, sticks etc." Not everyone participated in this activity.

As usual, we had a great time camping in the beautiful Utah mountains and listening to Jason's scary ghost stories about Jedediah around the campfire. The boys talked about him for days and days after we were home.

Braddah Hike

Jason had his 20 year High School Reunion this year! Many of his friends (braddahs) that live out of state were able to come to Utah for the big event. Those of us that could tried to spend more time with each other and took our families on a hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon just off the Guardsman's Pass dirt road. Because of time limitations we didn't get to venture as far as we would of liked, but we had a great time enjoying each other and the beautiful Utah mountains.

It was a steep scramble and everyone did just fine until we got to the... SNOW!
Our group at the top

Jason and his hiking buddy, Ellie. She loved him and whenever she couldn't find him she would ask everyone where her hiking buddy was. Then when she would see him she would walk up and grab his hand. It was so cute. The daughter he never had :)
Ryan made it down the fastest!