June miscellaneous

Crazy Bradley came out of my bedroom hopping in one of Byron's shoes.  Pretty crazy boy!

I finally finished my year and a half project with these blankets.  My goal was to get them done for Carter & Parker's birthday and I think I finished them a couple of days later.  They were so much work, but fun and exciting to be able to make something like this.  DeeDee Evans was so amazing to help me through every step.  She is such a talented women and was so nice to help me through the whole process.  I absolutely love them and it puts a smile on my face to see them on their beds.

Tanner & Cooper went fishing one afternoon and ended up catching a couple of small fish.  They threw them back, though.  How fun for these two to do something together that they both love.

We went to the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove for a picnic and outing with the kids.  Cooper was with us also.  The kids had a great time on all of the fun equipment.  We ended up seeing the Morgan's from our ward and the kids had fun playing kickball with them.

Parker (blue), Carter (forest green)

Byron was gone on a trip over Father's Day.  It was so sad to not have him around to celebrate.  Carter, Parker & Bradley filled out some questionnaires in Primary about Byron.  It was fun to read some of their responses.  This is from Bradley- "My daddy's name is Byron.  He is 19 years old, 13 tall and weighs 13 pounds.  His favorite food is Ramen Noodles.  My daddy is really good at kick ball.  He loves to play sports.  My favorite thing to do with my dad is play games.  I'm just like my dad because I tease people.  What I love most about my daddy is he always lets me play with friends.  It makes Dad happy when I play with him."  So sweet and funny how he sees Byron from a 5 year olds world.  This is from Parker - "My daddy's name is Byron.  He is 39 years old, 5.5 tall and weighs ? pounds.  His favorite food is ?  My daddy is really good at being a dad.  He loves to camp.  My favorite thing to do with my dad is to go camping.  I'm just like my dad because I go camping.  What I love most about my daddy is that he has a job.  It makes Dad happy when I be good.  I love you.  You are one of a kind.  I like when you come home with a smile on your face."  Carter said - "My daddy's name is Byron.  He is 39 years old, 5.5 tall and weighs ? pounds.  His favorite food is what ever his wife makes.  My daddy is really good at making breakfast.  He loves to watch the O' Reilly Factor.  My favorite thing to do with my dad is to go on hikes on trips or do something fun with him.  I'm just like my dad because I tease.  What I love most about my daddy is he encourages me to go to church by being an example.  It makes Dad happy when I do the right thing."

We went up to Byron's parents house after church for dinner and some play time with cousins and family.  The kids had fun playing 4-square with everybody. 

Cadan & Bradley eating in the play set.  The beautiful sunset that Camille took a picture of.

We had fun going to eat at Chili's with Emily and all of her kids one evening while Byron was gone.  It was fun going together.  Luckily we had a very nice waiter who was patient with dealing with 11 children. 

 We enjoyed going to the new park out in Saratoga Springs that had some really fun playground equipment.  The kids all enjoyed climbing to the top of this cool structure many times.  They even had a lot of races to see who could get to the top first.  Carter in red and Parker in blue.

 

June 14 - fishing and family party

The kids were anxious to go fishing, so we headed out to the park behind Lone Peak High School.  I sat under my shaded umbrella relaxing while the kids all enjoyed fishing.  It was a very relaxing afternoon.

That evening was Carter & Parker's family party.  We met at Sego Lily and had fun playing a game of kickball.  Half way through the game, Jeremy got hurt as he went for the ball- he dislocated his shoulder.  Poor guy looked like he was in so much pain.  He ended up having surgery on his shoulder to fix the problem.  After eating cake and pie, the sprinklers on the field turned on right where we were at.  Luckily we were able to run for safety without ruining to many things.  The cake and pie were soaked so thank goodness we had already had our fill.  It was an fun and eventful evening:).   We moved to the parking lot to open presents.  I don't think they will forget this fun birthday any time soon:).

 Camille

 Carter

 Bradley

 Tanner

Carter wanted a soccer cake and Parker wanted a pumpkin pie.  I had fun with the cake - it was fun to decorate.  The pie was my kind of cake - easy and simple.

 

 Cute Baby Bryant being held by Melissa with Parker.

Tanner, Ashlyn, Eric, Bradley, Cadan & Myles minutes before the sprinklers turned on right below them.

The kids having fun in the back of the truck while the presents were being opened.

 They got some really cool gifts.

Carter & Parker's 10th birthday

How lucky Byron & I are to raise such sweet boys!  Byron & I took them out to Winger's on the 12th since Pack Meeting was the following night.  They were so excited to eat the wings and for the humongous dessert they had after.  We had so much fun being with just them.  Then the next morning they got a donut while we sang "Happy Birthday" to them.  Parker has been wanting new soccer cleats and was so excited to get them.  Carter was in need of a new bike and was excited to get that also.

On their birthday, for scouts they had the Bike Rodeo.  Carter & Parker wouldn't miss it.  They loved going and being able to ride the fun obstacle courses with their bikes.  Bradley also had a blast.

Carter & Parker

Carter - yellow, Parker - blue

 Carter

Parker

Moab & Goblin Valley - June 7-9, 2012

Byron left for Japan on June 2 and came back around 3 p.m. on June 7th.  I had packed up the van and were ready to head out for a family vacation as soon as Byron arrived.  He had some flight issues and arrived later than we had planned.  As soon as he got home, we jumped into the van and left for Green River.  We had wanted to go camping as a family, but decided to stay in a hotel instead.  Green River is about 1 hour away from Moab and 1 hour away from Goblin Valley (so a perfect spot to sleep). 

Friday morning we headed out to Moab.  It is such a fun place to go with children where they can explore, walk and just enjoy being outside.  The weather was perfect.  We first headed to Corona Arch to hike.  Byron was excited to try out his new backpacking equipment.  He carried about a 30 lb. pack full of snacks and water for us all.  We had done this hike about 2 years ago and loved it so much that we had to go again.  It is a beautiful hike that isn't too hard for small children.  Once we arrived at the arch, it was fun to relax for a bit before heading back. 

We went into Moab for some lunch at Subway then enjoyed going to Arches for that afternoon.  We went on a couple of different hikes through out the park.  It was so beautiful and enjoyable.  We didn't have any complaints from anybody.  How lucky we are to live close to such beautiful areas. 

We headed back to Green River that evening.  Then back out to Goblin Valley the next morning.  I had never been there before but had heard from Tanner & Byron how cool it is.  It was truly an amazing place.  We had a lot of fun playing capture the flag around all these cool statures or rock formations.  I am glad we don't have too young of children as I was nervous to loose them with the older kids that I have.  We played for about 1 hour and had an absolutely great time.  Then we played sardines which is where one person hides and all try to find them.  As soon as somebody finds that person they hide with them also until everybody is hiding in that spot.  It was fun except for Johnathan was very hard to find at first so we almost gave up. 

We wanted to go on a fun hike called the narrows near Goblin Valley, but didn't have enough time since it was about a 2 mile hike and not enough water for the 8 of us.  We will have to go back another time since I have heard this is truly an amazing hike. 

We had such a fun time together and especially love going on vacations with just our family.  It is such a fun bonding time and we definitely need as many of them as we can get lately.

Bradley, Johnathan & Tanner getting ready for bed.

Bradley & Tanner having fun on our way down.

Corona Arch hike.

Tricia, Bradley, Byron, Parker, Tanner, Camille, Carter & Johnathan at Corona Arch.

Another fun arch at Arches.

Silly Bradley & Tanner

This hike was after the sun started going down and was so nice to walk with cooler temperatures.

This was part of the rock wall on our hike - I loved how it looked just like a face.

Goblin Valley - Tricia, Byron, Camille, Carter, Johnathan, Bradley, Tanner & Parker

Carter & Parker counting while we were playing Capture the Flag.