July 4th - 10th

After the reunion was over we decided to beat the heat and take our little family up to the Wildcat Canyon trail.  It was really fun.  The kids did great.  It was a lot longer than we thought, but they all made it. 

  Rylea was a true trailblazer just like her brothers for the first half of the hike, on the way back we ended up carrying her most of the way and she fell asleep about half a mile to the end.

 Tragon was a trooper and was so sweet with Rylea, they did most of the first half of the hike together, holding hands every so often.  He was always so good to watch out for her and help her up if she fell.

 Damon was able to hike the whole way, I only carried his pack for a little while.  We were all getting a little tired and cranky towards the end, but Damon was able to pull out some happiness and optimism for the last little bit of the hike, I was very proud of him.

  Jaron only got a piggyback ride for a short time, but I did end up clipping his little camelbak to mine so he wasn't hauling his pack the last half.

 Logan made it the whole way, although there were some boring moments for him, he told us later that he likes to explore and go off the path, and doesn't like just going for a walk.  It really was longer than we thought and hot, but there was a lot of shade on the hike.  I'm sure we will go back again.  I was proud of all my kids and it made me want to go hiking with them more.

 We took pictures of some of the flowers along the way.

 We made it to the end and had a beautiful view.

 On the way back we decided to stop at the Fort Zion...we always say we want to stop there, but never do, so this day we did.  It took a really long time for the pizza, but the saving grace was the old time player piano.  Rylea loved dancing to the music.  Now I'm glad we can say we've done it.

 I captured some sweet father-daughter moments.  Steve was painting Brittyn's toes.

 Morgan was playing connect four with Rylea.

 We did some more games on Monday.

 We had three rotations.  The marshmallow launchers.

 The giant bubble wands.

 And water gun relays.  I'm sure there are more pictures that other people took, I just need to track them down.  :)

 Then of course there was the huge water fight.  I stayed in and made lunch during that one.  :)

 I was happy to see all the guys go out and get soaked.  It was really fun and the kids loved it!

 Rylea has been my big helper.  She's already learning the art of laundry.  It does take a little longer, but hey, it keeps her occupied for quite some time when she changes the load.  :)

 

 More pictures from our hike...they are a little out of order, but I decided I'll just wait to fix it until I'm putting them together in our book.

 Fort Zion again.

And I painted Rylea's toes for the first time.  she thought that was pretty fun.  It's kind of fun to do some girly things with her.  I sure love my family.  It's been a very exhausting week with the reunion and everything else, but it sure has been fun.  We are looking forward to next time...so until then...