Our fun river trip!

We had this trip to Swan Valley planned for months, and were getting SO excited for it, and it almost didn't happen. 4 days before we were set to leave was when Lars re-tore his achilles tendon.

Our original plan was to camp two nights, and float the South Fork of the Snake river and fish during the days. Well obviously camping was out of the question, but we decided that it would be okay to still go, but rather than camp we would stay somewhere and still float the river and fish on Saturday. We had Aunt Kelli come and watch the boys and we went with our good friends Nate and Brianne, and actually it turned out to be such a fun weekend...we stayed at the best little Bed & Breakfast and had a great time hanging out, playing cards...

 ...laughing and just really enjoying our last few days before Lars' second surgery.

We went up Friday afternoon and checked in, stayed the night, then got up and had an awesome breakfast, then put the boat in and floated down and fished all day Saturday.

It was so fun and relaxing and such a beautiful day and we all caught some fish.

We pulled over and had our lunch we packed and stopped and got out and fished a few other times. We got off the river that night and went to dinner at the same place we'd gone the first night...this place called the SaddleSore Saloon... 

Here was where we stayed...

This was just one little cabin on The Hansen Guest Ranch.

We loved everything about it and will definitely go back. After staying Saturday night, we got up and had another amazing breakfast, then packed up our stuff and headed out.

It was such a fun weekend without kids and so nice to know that they were being well taken care of and having so much fun without us! Thanks again Aunt Kelli :)

The big 35!

Wow...it's weird to even type that. 35. Really? Can't believe it. Don't feel like it. But I guess it's true.

 I am 35!

I had a fun birthday...I woke up to a cute little voice outside my bedroom door saying "Your lunch is almost ready Mommy!" Then breakfast delivered to me in bed with these cute cards the boys had gone and picked out for me...

 ...and this paper with hearts glued to it that Gunnar told Lars he wanted to make for me. On his own. Love him :)



Here I am in all of my 35 year old no make up glory...yikes.

Then Lars had to go to work all day so we just hung out at home. Gunnar took a good nap while Ashton played at a friend's house, so that was a gift in itself! Then Lars surprised me and had my Mom and sister come down for dinner...we went to Olive Garden, then he had a bunch of friends and neighbors come over to have cake and ice cream after we got home.

He is always good to plan something fun to celebrate my birthday...thanks for a fun day hun :)

Camping!

Well at least we got one camping trip in this summer before Lars' re-injury. And it was so much fun! We LOVE camping!

This year we went to a place close to where we went last year over by Bear Lake...on the Idaho side, actually in Paris, Idaho. It was at the Paris Springs campground.

After getting there and setting up in our assigned spot (which happened to be a spot with very little shade, and was right next to the trail up to the springs), we decided to move all of our stuff to a different spot about 15 feet away, that had a lot more shade and didn't have people walking by every half an hour.

Before we moved, we did the very short hike up to the springs...it was really pretty.

Anyway, our new spot turned out to be a great camp spot and after we settled in, we cooked our first ever tinfoil dinners. They turned out really good actually and Ashton and Gunnar thought it was a pretty cool way to cook our food.

Then of course we had to do our S'mores, and they were having so much fun roasting their marshmallows. Well mostly catching them on fire, then laughing and laughing.

I love these boys!

Then it was the best time of the day...bed time!

 After way too much goofing off in the tent, they both FINALLY fell asleep and slept really good all night. This year we got them their own mummy sleeping bags and I swear they didn't move or make a peep all night long.

And it didn't get very cold so I actually slept pretty good too. Poor Lars never sleeps good camping :(

Anyway our second day up there we got up and hung out around camp for a bit, then drove down the road a little ways and fished this little creek for an hour or so. Lars caught a couple of fish, so we kept them so that he could show the boys how to clean them, then cook them.

 It was Ashton's first time doing it (Lars let him cut the second one open.)

 This is what he thought about the whole process at first....hahaha!

But then when he got his turn, he thought it was pretty fun. I love this picture of them with the fish all ready to cook...

So we cooked them, then Lars took one bite, spit it out and that was the end of our fish. He said it tasted like ash from the fire.

Oh well...it was more for the experience of it!

Later that day, we drove up to these ice caves a little further up the road.

 They were pretty cool actually.

 I was the only one that set foot in them, because Lars didn't dare with his leg and it was too scary to try to take the boys in, but maybe some day we'll go back.

Then we went back to camp and hung out and roasted hotdogs, then marshmallows again, then got ready for bed again.

The boys were FILTHY!

 So we took them over and washed them off good, then finally got them in jammies and to sleep again. Another good night of sleep.

Unfortunately right when we got up, I had a text saying that my Mom had been taken to the emergency room the night before and had broken her collar bone and had to get staples in her head where she'd cut it open. I had no idea what happened till my step-dad texted me that she'd had an accident with one of her horses while she was being pulled in her little cart by it.

So we packed up and were going to head up there to see her, but decided it would be better to wait and go later in the week when she had her surgery.

So we just headed home. It was such a fun trip!

Bear Lake trips...

So far this summer, the boys and I have spent two days at Bear Lake. The first time we went, we met my Mom and Kelli over there at Cafe Sabor to celebrate my Mom's birthday a few days early, then we went and hung out on the North Beach for the rest of the afternoon.

It was such a fun day. The boys love it over there and really will just play for hours in the sand and water.

We built this little sand castle, then put our "King and Queen" turtles in it :)

That day we stayed till about 6:00, then I finally decided it was time to pack up and head out. It had been a perfect beautiful day all day. We got all of our stuff packed into the car and I got the boys in and was just buckling Gunnar in when out of nowhere this HUGE wind blew in, blowing sand EVERYWHERE! I was so glad we had packed up when we did, but I felt bad for all the people still out there racing to get packed up and to their cars. Then it POURED the entire way home that night.

Then next time we went with Aurora and her kids for Dante's birthday on July 27th. We went back to about the same spot and had another fun day.

I love these pictures....the kids had all just gone and sat on their towels like that. I thought it was so cute!

After they had played and played, they started to get a little bored...so I did a scavenger hunt for them and they thought it was so fun! Then we took a few more pictures and headed home

We love Bear Lake! We get to go this weekend again with the boys and stay 2 nights. We actually were going to cancel because of Lars' injury, but decided that he can sit around over there just as easily as he can here, and it's been scheduled for months and is the last weekend before school starts back up, so we are GOING! And so excited :)

4th of July weekend...

Okay so maybe if I try to do one post a day I can finish all of my July posts that I am behind on...it's worth a try!

The 4th of July seems like so long ago now...I guess when I last left off, we had gone to Price to pick up the boys after they'd stayed almost a week there while  Ashton did his soccer camp and we came home and got projects done. If you remember Gunnar was sick most of the time they were there, Ashton was just one day...anyway he seemed okay when we got there that Thursday, but then started acting sick again Friday morning when it was time for us to head back home. It was not a fun ride home...we had to keep stopping because he thought he was going to throw up. Finally we emptied out our little cooler and he threw up in there. Poor guy. Anyway that night was the Logan Fireworks up at the stadium and this year we actually got tickets to go inside because Diamond Rio was performing...so we debated on what to do with Gunnar being so sick. Then Aunt Kelli offered to stay home with him and Lars and I just took Ashton. We sold our extra tickets to someone standing in line. I think we got up there about 6:30 and they didn't shoot off the first firework till close to 10:00. Poor Ashton...thinking we were just headed up there to see the fireworks, then he had to sit there for hours through all of the rest of the stuff (which by the way was pretty boring until Diamond Rio finally came out about 8:30!) They were awesome as always...but Ashton didn't really think so. All he kept saying was "Oh man! Not one more song...when are they ever going to quit singing, so we can see the fireworks!" I think our days of going in the stadium for the fireworks are over again for a few years! Here he is putting some money in the fireman's bucket :)

I love this picture of him with his hand on his heart getting ready for the National Anthem :)

And here he is when that first firework finally hit the sky...I love the look on his face!

The next day we drove up to Evanston to spend the rest of the weekend with my family...which would have been fun, but Sunday I got that nasty stomach flu and was sick in bed all day while Lars took the boys to my family barbecue and got a bunch of good fireworks and let them off. Here's another favorite picture of mine :)

Here was the finale that night...one of the only ones I came out of the house to see...

Then it was back home on Monday...and of course more fireworks that night. Besides the sickness (Lars kind of got it that day...oh and Kelli got it while we were gone) it was a fun weekend. One of the highlights of the year for Ashton and Gunnar :)

Dancing to the beat of the Roman candles going off...