A Hiking We Will Go

Bright and Early at 6:30 we headed out to make it to the trail by 7. We were so surprised that there were already tons of cars up the canyon.

It was a tough hike. A steep 3.4 miles up. Luke carried Milo on his back the entire way. Trent helped me after 1.5 miles and the rest of the kids did awesome!  

 The hike up was so worth it. This was the view of the lake at the top. I could have stayed there all day. I think we will have to make a special camping trip here.

 Our group! Just missing our Amy.

Can you spot five kids below?

 I really hope that our kids love the outdoors now and when they get older. There is nothing like living in Utah with that backdrop as your playgroup.

 We stayed up there for a little while, ate lunch and let the kids enjoy the place.

 The hike back down was brutal on the feet and quads. Oliver was complaining that his feet hurt the moment we started going down so I was worried that it would be a very long hike back. Fortunately, with Luke right behind him, he toughed it out and made it just fine. Trent was so kind to take Briony all the way back for me. Its probably a good thing. I would have probably fallen on my face.

The site of this bridge was a beautiful sight. It meant that we were so close to the finish.

All the way back to the cars, the kids took turns seeing what it was like to carry these babies. 30+ pounds is a lot of weight when you only weigh 20-30 pounds more.

 After the hike, we treated the kids to some Slurpee's, went home and took the longest nap ever. Oliver and I were sore for the next couple of days. Going down stairs was a bit tricky.

I was so impressed with these kids for toughing it out. I really didn't think we would make it to the top, but when you have a great support group like we did, there should have been no question that we couldn't do it.

Hand Foot Mouth

Sweet Bee started to get a rash the other day in her diaper area. I thought that it was just your regular old diaper rash and that it would go away in a couple of days after using some Destin cream. Luke mentioned that it could be hand foot mouth disease and that I should take her in to get checked out (Luke is such a good dad that way and his worrying sometimes is very helpful). I took her to the doctor the next day to get looked at. That morning I noticed that she was starting to get little sores around the heels of her feet, mouth and couple spots on her hands and a few other random places on her body like her arms and the backs of her thighs. When the doctor walked in she said that the sports on her arms wasn't what she was expecting-She was actually looking at her eczema and hadn't seen the actual rash yet. When she did, however, she confirmed what we thought-Hand foot Mouth.

I was so surprised that there was no treatment for it. I thought at the very least that they would prescribe some cream to put on her, but there was nothing. They told me to give her ibuprofen to help with the pain, Benadryl to help with the itching and to help her sleep at night and most importantly, to make sure they she is drinking and eating (I guess this is one of the biggest issues they have with children that get Hand Foot Mouth).

 We watched Bee carefully throughout the next few days and even though we were expecting it to get worse, it never did. We never had to give her any pain medicine or really treat her any different. She was her normal self with a little rash and we were so thankful for that. We were also thankful that no one else got it especially because we were with the Jensen kids all week.

Even though I wasn't to happy to pay a $30.00 co-pay to have to doctor tell me what we already suspected and then have no treatment for it, I am thankful for modern day medicine and those that study and work hard to help us when we are sick.

In the end, I am thankful that this passed quickly and that it wasn't bad at all (I have heard some horror stories) and that Briony and Milo and Oliver don't have any serious health issues that cant be treated with a little medicine and some good rest.

My Jensens and Me

While Amy is away fulfilling her church callings, I get to be with the Hoard while she is away and Trent is at work. Oliver is in heaven this week, the babies are indifferent and I enjoy hanging out with these guys.

First things first. I am not going to let the change go by of sitting out on their deck in the mornings with a bowl of Fruit Loops and a good book. If I lived here, I would start every morning just like this....and maybe end every night. 

Nap time was probably one of my favorite times with the girls. The babies would go down for a nap, the boys would be inside playing some video game and us girls would go out side and sunbathe (the girls wore sunscreen of course...im not that bad of an aunt).

The set up that these girls had was perfect. It was their own little cabana right in the middle of Bountiful

Oakley came up with the idea to play "servant". She was great to bring us drinks and crackers and I made sure to tip her every time.

Later in the week when the boys saw how much fun we were having being outdoors in the middle of summer, they joined us. We ended up playing truth or dare which turned out to be so dang funny. They said that I was in charge of asking the truth or dare questions. A few dares that they did (and didn't do) were:

Eat popcorn with an ant on it.

Eat a strawberry stem

Lick the bottom of a flip flop

Eat bark

Eat grass

lick the grill

Lick a rock

Eat popcorn (that was a tough one for Aiden-as you can see)

I realize that the only dares that I could come up with were to eat or lick something. I'm not very creative at coming up with dares, but the kids really enjoyed it. Oakley and Aiden were the winners.

Oakley and I spent a lot of time together (The girls had a soccer tournament and were gone a lot) so Oaks and I hung out. She came up with the idea to have melted Hershey bars and strawberries and it was divine!

The whole week we were trying to get Aiden to cut his hair and finally on one of the ladt nights that I was with them, he agreed.

We had a little fun as we buzzed away.

But in the end, This haircut was what he wanted (Ronaldo from Basil). I can't believe Trent let me cut it like this. Aiden loved it and I think it suits his crazy little personality.

Some people may find it hard to believe that I love spending time with these kids. I've done it since they were babies and since my babies were babies so we just all work well together. I call them my kids because they pretty much are and they call me aunt mom because that's pretty much what I am to them. We have similar parenting styles as Trent and Amy which works wonderfully. Our kids know what to expect and we all are under the same understanding. I really do love these kids like my own.  

7-11 Day!

For the past few years now, we have made it a tradition to go to the free Slurpee day at 7-11. A couple of years ago we decided to not only go to 7-11's free Slurpee day, but to also go get our Slurpee's from the 7-11 that I grew up next to and get Nachos (which are the best) and head up to the capital-my old stomping grounds to hang out and have a junk food kid of picnic dinner.

After we finished out "dinner" We walked around. Last year we didn't check to see if the building was open to the public, but this year we checked, and it was open!

 We practically had the whole place to ourselves! It was so much fun!

 WE went down to the basement and looked at all the displays that make Utah unique.

 And of course we walked around the outside.

Love the boys!

And this may just be my favorite picture with my kids!

Love these little summer traditions and how they come to be.

Cul De Sac of FIRE

It has finally arrived! I peak of summer. The Holiday that we all look forward to to celebrate our beautiful country, those that have founded it and those that have fought for it. It's all a beautiful thing, really, to celebrate our freedoms and remember that those freedoms came from many acts of sacrifice.

One of our favorite ways to celebrate is by throwing a party, of course. We have one of the greatest neighborhoods around. Part of our neighborhood has a cul-de-sac and so the cul-de-sac of Fire was born.

Everyone chips in for fireworks, brings delicious desserts to share, kids run around with glow sticks, and the men put on a killer show.

 I always bring mini doughnuts. This year I made Firework donuts and the traditional red, white and blue.

 This is the only time we get to be together during the night since Luke is helping with the show.

 The fire starters

 It's another tradition to take a photo in front of the Maudsley's gigantic flag at the end of the night.

The women.

The men.

 Jumping for joy with my favorite American.

Muddy

For the longest time, we have talked about running in a race with some of our best friends, Ryan and Karina. This past weekend, we finally did it.

We started our meal prep by eating at The Cheesecake Factory followed by Leather bees.

For those of you that don't know, Luke is the ice cream king. He can (and sometimes does) east ice cream every single night and he never gets sick of it. Me, I occasionally will want some ice cream, but it's not my favorite dessert. Anyway, when he saw the huge banana split on the menu, he had to have it. I helped with maybe half a ball of ice cream but he put the rest of it away on his own.

Next time, I think I'll just eat a bowl of that caramel sauce. Holy smokes that stuff is Amazing!

Luke and I had never done a mud run before so we were excited about this run.

The before pic

Love Karina. We have been through some great times together.

This race was more challenging than I thought it would be. We climbed over walls, through tunnels, ran up and down hills, rope climbed, monkey barred (?), and laughed our way through it. It was so much fun and I can't wait to do another one with these guys!

I couldn't believe how muddy we were. It was in and on everything!

Jackson Hole, WY

Farewell Jackson. One of these days we will have to go back up and visit with you a little longer.