A visit to Washington-Warning!! Warning!! Extremely long post!!!
When I heard David was going to St. George to help his parents move and then to 3 days of scout camp, I decided to drive to Washington to have a little vacation with the kids. Unfortunately our vacation was more relaxing than David's. We are looking forward to a real vacation together as a family in August for a family reunion. It's been a year since we have vacationed together and so that will be nice!
My sister-in-law, Becca rode up on the trip with us. It was nice to have some one to talk to. 11 hours in the car with kids can make one loony! And as always the "are we there yet?" questions get pretty old when they start only an hour out of town and are asked every 20 minutes. I look forward to when my kids can understand long amounts of time more and landmarks like Boise! That will be a while yet.
We went up a day early to visit my other sister-in-law, Melissa, in Connell. My parents did the Washington loop on their bikes for a week and weren't in town when we arrived. So going to see Melissa was perfect. I love to go to Melissa's because there are toys and fun for everyone! I think that is what I love the most about all of our siblings. We all started our families early and so there are plenty of cousins to play with. So much fun for the kids! We enjoyed the pool at Melissa's and also the Connell city pool. I am glad that Jason is more cautious in the pool than Alyssa. She has no fear whatsoever and LOVES it! Jason on the other hand is gripping onto the side of the pool, barely off the steps with his feet touching and so excited saying "look mom, I'm swimming!" He cracks me up!! I even got a quick lesson on machine quilting while there. I am going to have to get lots of practice in before I attempt to sew on my quilt for the girls that is ready. Hand quilting- no problem, machine quilting is a whole new way of sewing for me!!
Can't you tell Jason loved it?! 
Alex, Clayton and Cameron. Cameron went on thezip line once and absolutely loved it. But by the time he got to the top ready to go down again he waited a little to long and freaked himself out of it. I think that's why he has a scowl! At least he did it once.
Also while we were there went up to the neighbors and picked apricots. The kids and I picked a LOT of apricots. Then we went to grandma's house (Perky's grandma as Melanie says it to distinguish the grandma McGary's) and washed, pitted and dried them. The really ripe ones we made leather and jam. Yummy!! I didn't get any pictures of that!
Monday afternoon my dad treated us all to the Ice Age -Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie in Pasco. Jason is obsessed with those movies and he will watch them over and over again at my parents house. We do try to squeeze in a different movie every now and then to mix it up a little, but he will always come back to it. So of course Ice Age 3 was a big hit with him!
Melanie and Jason lovin' the cats! Melanie was always outside, even early in the morning with her pjs on!
While at Melissa's she had cute letters she cut out by herself and that gave me the idea to cut out my girls' names for their wall while at my parents since they have more tools than us. I bought wood and then picked out a font on the computer, enlarged it to a gigantic size (600) and then printed, cut and traced them on the wood. Dad brought down my grandpa's scroll saw and so I did that for an afternoon. I have decided that I REALLY like to cut wood. I think that will be on my Christmas wish list. Oh the things I could make! I am still in the process of sanding and painting those letters. I love them though and can't wait to get them up.
We left Wednesday morning to go to Rexburg for Colby's graduation from BYU-I. That drive was a lot more fun because I was able to take a break from driving and car hopping with my parents. The kids didn't complain as much either since grandpa and grandma were in sight the whole time. Funny thing from Melanie- The day before we left Melanie was asking my mom why people smoked. My mom said that they just probably didn't know that it was wrong. Melanie told my mom that we should tell them that Heavenly Father doesn't want them to smoke. My mom agreed. Well, we brought back with us from Rexburg my cousin's daughter, McKenzie (I think she is 14) who was visiting her grandparents, Jim and Sheryl in WA. After our lunch break in Ontario, McKenzie hopped in our van. Right away the first thing Melanie asked her when she got in was "do you smoke?" McKenzie started laughing and said no. Melanie very seriously said "oh." I think she was pretty bummed that she couldn't tell her what she knew! My mom was in the car with me and we got a good laugh at that. That girl has guts!!
We spent the afternoon there with Alise and her boys and then walked across the lawn to a truck that was handing out Free lunches to all of the kids. They do it everyday in the summer. It's a lot like school lunches. I think I would go there every day if I lived there! Then we went back to swim for a bit more. Loved that park!
Colby's graduation was fun. It was very relaxing also. I stayed at my Aunt and uncle's house (Steve & Debbie's) while there and just before I left while getting ready, Debbie offered to watch all 4 of my kids. It was wonderful! It only lasted an hour, but with kids in a place like that can be torture! And they had a ball while I was gone!
I came home Friday with a cooler full of freezer jam my mom had made for us. LOVE homemade strawberry jam! She has a huge garden and is always going the extra mile and makes and cans things we want and need. She is always serving!!
It was such a great trip. I'm glad we went. David was ready for us to be home. The fridge was empty, and I had taken our cable box back to comcast before I left and so he was with out t.v and had to do his own laundry!! Poor guy! We took a family trip up to Park City for 2 days. It was fun to be with just our family. We swam, went school shopping at the outlet mall, watched the ducks out on our back porch in the pond trying to eat the skittles and starbursts the kids were throwing to them (ha!ha!) and just relaxed and tried to regroup for the start of school Monday.
My sister-in-law, Becca rode up on the trip with us. It was nice to have some one to talk to. 11 hours in the car with kids can make one loony! And as always the "are we there yet?" questions get pretty old when they start only an hour out of town and are asked every 20 minutes. I look forward to when my kids can understand long amounts of time more and landmarks like Boise! That will be a while yet.
We went up a day early to visit my other sister-in-law, Melissa, in Connell. My parents did the Washington loop on their bikes for a week and weren't in town when we arrived. So going to see Melissa was perfect. I love to go to Melissa's because there are toys and fun for everyone! I think that is what I love the most about all of our siblings. We all started our families early and so there are plenty of cousins to play with. So much fun for the kids! We enjoyed the pool at Melissa's and also the Connell city pool. I am glad that Jason is more cautious in the pool than Alyssa. She has no fear whatsoever and LOVES it! Jason on the other hand is gripping onto the side of the pool, barely off the steps with his feet touching and so excited saying "look mom, I'm swimming!" He cracks me up!! I even got a quick lesson on machine quilting while there. I am going to have to get lots of practice in before I attempt to sew on my quilt for the girls that is ready. Hand quilting- no problem, machine quilting is a whole new way of sewing for me!!
Friday afternoon we headed to my parents house. There was a big surprise there waiting for the kids. My dad and brother, Seth worked hard on this. Drawing up the plans and then building it. What a fun Grandpa!! The kids never got bored once there and since there wasn't a lot of urgent things to get done, I was pushing a lot on these swings for the week.
Putting on the finishing touches, the paint!
On Saturday we went out to Scootney to go boating. Bailey and Alex came along also (Seth's kids). Cameron was the only one on the tube wanting to go faster and fall off. He loves that thing. I don't know what it is with him. Falling off in a huge lake that you don't know what is swimming under your feet doesn't phase him a bit, but riding a bike on solid ground freaks him out! Silly kid!
Grandpa took the kids to Lynn Eppich's house to ride the horses after boating. They loved that!
Funny side note about Cameron while there- my parents still have the old version game boys. Great shape, still work and the boys love them! Saturday night Cameron was playing it and my dad said "Cameron, tomorrow I am putting away the game boys. All you do is play on those game boys." Cameron disagrees and says "and eat! I play game boys AND eat!" There is no question why we don't have video games in our house. We would have at least 1 kid playing all day if I didn't stop it!
Grandpa took the kids to Lynn Eppich's house to ride the horses after boating. They loved that!
Funny side note about Cameron while there- my parents still have the old version game boys. Great shape, still work and the boys love them! Saturday night Cameron was playing it and my dad said "Cameron, tomorrow I am putting away the game boys. All you do is play on those game boys." Cameron disagrees and says "and eat! I play game boys AND eat!" There is no question why we don't have video games in our house. We would have at least 1 kid playing all day if I didn't stop it!Sunday afternoon Tyson and Seth's family came out for lunch and played. The kids played outside the whole time. It was fun. Heather is due the day before me so it was fun to talk about babies, ultra sounds and stuff. This picture reminds of a playground advertising to sale. Everyone on a different part of it!
The guys got the ingenious idea to take the kids swing and hook it on to the zip line. Alyssa just LOVED that! We just pulled from the rope and took them up some and let it go back down!
The guys got the ingenious idea to take the kids swing and hook it on to the zip line. Alyssa just LOVED that! We just pulled from the rope and took them up some and let it go back down! 
Can't you tell Jason loved it?! 
Alex, Clayton and Cameron. Cameron went on thezip line once and absolutely loved it. But by the time he got to the top ready to go down again he waited a little to long and freaked himself out of it. I think that's why he has a scowl! At least he did it once.Monday afternoon my dad treated us all to the Ice Age -Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie in Pasco. Jason is obsessed with those movies and he will watch them over and over again at my parents house. We do try to squeeze in a different movie every now and then to mix it up a little, but he will always come back to it. So of course Ice Age 3 was a big hit with him!
Melanie and Jason lovin' the cats! Melanie was always outside, even early in the morning with her pjs on!We left Wednesday morning to go to Rexburg for Colby's graduation from BYU-I. That drive was a lot more fun because I was able to take a break from driving and car hopping with my parents. The kids didn't complain as much either since grandpa and grandma were in sight the whole time. Funny thing from Melanie- The day before we left Melanie was asking my mom why people smoked. My mom said that they just probably didn't know that it was wrong. Melanie told my mom that we should tell them that Heavenly Father doesn't want them to smoke. My mom agreed. Well, we brought back with us from Rexburg my cousin's daughter, McKenzie (I think she is 14) who was visiting her grandparents, Jim and Sheryl in WA. After our lunch break in Ontario, McKenzie hopped in our van. Right away the first thing Melanie asked her when she got in was "do you smoke?" McKenzie started laughing and said no. Melanie very seriously said "oh." I think she was pretty bummed that she couldn't tell her what she knew! My mom was in the car with me and we got a good laugh at that. That girl has guts!!
We had a fun time in Rexburg. We went to the Porter Park water park. What a hit. I couldn't believe it. The amount of slides perfect for my kids and it was all free! Why can't more cities do that kind of park?!
Cameron at the bottom and Jason at the top.
Cameron at the bottom and Jason at the top. We spent the afternoon there with Alise and her boys and then walked across the lawn to a truck that was handing out Free lunches to all of the kids. They do it everyday in the summer. It's a lot like school lunches. I think I would go there every day if I lived there! Then we went back to swim for a bit more. Loved that park!
Colby's graduation was fun. It was very relaxing also. I stayed at my Aunt and uncle's house (Steve & Debbie's) while there and just before I left while getting ready, Debbie offered to watch all 4 of my kids. It was wonderful! It only lasted an hour, but with kids in a place like that can be torture! And they had a ball while I was gone!
I came home Friday with a cooler full of freezer jam my mom had made for us. LOVE homemade strawberry jam! She has a huge garden and is always going the extra mile and makes and cans things we want and need. She is always serving!!
It was such a great trip. I'm glad we went. David was ready for us to be home. The fridge was empty, and I had taken our cable box back to comcast before I left and so he was with out t.v and had to do his own laundry!! Poor guy! We took a family trip up to Park City for 2 days. It was fun to be with just our family. We swam, went school shopping at the outlet mall, watched the ducks out on our back porch in the pond trying to eat the skittles and starbursts the kids were throwing to them (ha!ha!) and just relaxed and tried to regroup for the start of school Monday.
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