A quick trip

Bump's parents decided that they needed to get away for a bit and since Bump is home searching for a job they asked us if we wanted to come along. We told them that we would love to, but needed to be back for church on Sunday. So, we headed up north and stayed a few nights in Idaho Falls.

The hotel we stayed at had a pool and the kids were in heaven! On Friday we headed up to Yellowstone Park for the day. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Just to show you how spoiled our kids are living out in a rural area and going camping as a family, when we got to the park they all looked around and said, "this is it?" They weren't too excited about seeing trees, beautiful rivers or even the bison around the park (we have some bison that live just down the road from us) especially since we had just gone camping to a beautiful place a few weeks ago. We told them about geysers and hot pots, etc. and hoped that they could get excited about the thermal activity in the park.

It worked a bit and they really liked to see the hot water and steam coming out of the ground, but they got tired quick and just wanted to head back to swim in the swimming pool at the hotel. We were trying to keep them excited about the park and everything in it when Ron realized that he was about out of insulin and needed to get back to the hotel where he had more. We ended up spending just the right amount of time at Yellowstone that day with the ages of our kids and our grandparents. :) It was beautiful!

I forgot my camera every time we went swimming, so I only got pictures from the day at Yellowstone. I've decided that I am really not much of a photographer and where some people take way too many pictures, I never take enough! :)

The next day we went to the mall in Idaho Falls and then headed back home. We didn't make it Jackson Hole (Bump probably would have started crying if we did go there, so maybe it was a good thing we didn't make it). We had a really great time just driving and seeing the beautiful sites in Idaho and Wyoming. I forgot how much I love Idaho and could totally live up there again! It might have been a quick trip, but it was just what we needed to get our minds off of the stresses in our life right now. :)

Camping at Currant Creek

This past weekend we got to go on our first REAL camping trip of the season. I say "real" because we went just over night the weekend before somewhere else and weren't really prepared and it was such a terrible night and horrible experience and terrible fishing, etc. So, I just don't count it at all.

We left on Thursday night and headed up to Currant Creek Reservoir where we were finally able to try out Bump's new drift boat! Yeah! The kids couldn't wait! We got to camp, set up the tent and then immediately headed out on the water for the kids. That first evening the wind picked up and made it a bit difficult for the kids to fish, but they loved the experience in the boat.

Here is Gabby and Quincy with their sun hats on enjoying the ride.

Bump happily back on the oars.

The family on the boat's maiden voyage - at least for us as the owners.

When we got back to camp the McMillans had arrived and were all set up with their tent trailer. CJ and Jen have been friends of ours for years. Bump and CJ grew up together and are practically brothers and I've known Jen since high school. It's fun after such a long friendship to have our kids get along so well. Here's our babies posing for a picture.
I was terrible about remembering my camera and totally didn't take any pictures on Friday. We spent most of the day fishing and everyone caught plenty of fish and I have absolutely no proof! Bump had another friend, Jay, come up with his 2 teenage boys, for the day fishing and they were in heaven staying out catching their limit to take home to their mom.

The next day we had a few sunburns - actually just me. I totally covered the kids with sunblock and made sure they wore hats, etc. but didn't do the same for myself and I am still regretting it today! The tops of my feet and my neck got it the worst. Luckily I was wearing a hat and long sleeves or it would have been a lot worse!

We decided the we had fished so much on Friday that on Saturday we would go on a hike to mix things up. At the campground they have a 1 mile trail loop that is just perfect for all of our kids. Here is Gabby and her best buddy Sierra with the other kids behind up the trail. These two were inseparable and had a great time together the entire time.
Sadly, this is the only picture that I have of Jen from the entire trip! Isn't that the way it goes with the moms? About a quarter of the way up Jen had 2 kids that desperately needed to use the bathroom and had to turn around, so she wasn't in any of the cool photos that follow.

And - ta da! This is the only picture of me from the entire trip. Lucky for you all I was behind the camera and so you don't have to look at how gross I look when we camp! :) I took my ugly fishing hat off for the picture, but can't you just see the ouchy red neck from the day before? Bump made sure that everyone had hats and sunglasses for this trip. His biggest fear is for someone to get a hook in the eye and makes the kids wear glasses when they fish. This was at the top of the trail overlooking the valley below the reservoir. It is still early in the season and a lot of the Aspen are still bare, but it was very lovely.

Here are the McMillan troops that made it to the top. CJ with his oldest girls.

Dad and Quincy

Gabby, my little poser!

Corb, the stud!

Here's everyone from the top overlook: Left to right: Savannah, Bump and Corb, Quincy, Jessica, CJ, Sierra and Gabby

After the hike we came back to camp and chilled for awhile before heading back to the reservoir to fish some more. I remembered my camera this time. I just love this picture of Corb holding the trout like a gun. Notice he's eying down the "barrel"?

Here's Gabby's fish. Quincy could care less about bringing in a fish, but was happy to pose with Gabby's fish.
Corb loved this little bay and surprised me with his improvements in casting. His favorite thing to do though was wade around the edge of the water in this area and we had to keep taking leeches off his feet. Eewwww! He would not stay on the shore or keep his shoes on. :)
Bump and CJ were both great with the kids and helped them catch and release some really nice fish. This was the last fish of the trip and Bump let Sierra land it on his fly rod.
That evening we loaded everyone up in CJ and Jen's SUV and headed out for a drive to see some wildlife. There are usually several moose in the area and we were hoping to catch a glimpse of one. We saw plenty of scruffy looking deer who hadn't shed their winter coats yet , but that was about it. Still we had a lot of fun. Here's all the kiddos. :)
The trip was just about perfect! The fishing was great, the camp was comfortable with flushing toilets (a definite plus!!!) The weather was magnificent and I actually slept pretty good. We didn't even make a dent in all of the food that we brought between the two families. We could have lived up there for a few weeks and not even worried about food! But the best part was being there with amazing friends and seeing our kids have a blast enjoying the beautiful outdoors!

Quincy is 4

So, I spaced the fact that I hadn't put anything on the blog about Quincy's birthday. I am terrible about taking pictures and was proud of myself for at least getting this shot before the candles were blown out. The only thing that makes me feel better about not taking tons of birthday pictures is that I don't think I have even one birthday picture of myself when I was little, so at least she has something right?

The good and bad thing about Quincy's birthday is that it falls right at the same time as Memorial Day. The good thing is that the family is usually getting together for a BBQ anyway, so it makes is easy to celebrate her birthday with everyone. And she gets to share is with her cousin, Conner, whose birthday is 2 days earlier. The bad thing is how hard it will be to have friend parties when she gets older. Oh well, for now it's great! She got a few barbies, dress up stuff and make up. She was in heaven!

After having a nice BBQ with everyone we headed over to Tooele to visit and decorate graves. Both of Bump's parents are from Tooele County and their parents and some grand parents are buried in the Tooele Cemetery. We thought it would be a cold and rainy day, but the sun came out for us and we had a nice walk through the cemetery.

I should have zoomed in a bit for this picture, but that's ok. From left to right: Bump, Jeremy, Gloria (Gus), Ron and Darin. We were only missing Ty who was having a party of his own in Ohio - right Ty? They are standing in front of Ron's parents grave.

First Grade Circus

The first grade program in Grantsville is a very big deal. Each year they put on the First Grade Circus and all the boys dress like clowns and the girls dress like tight rope walkers/ballerinas. The do some songs all together and then break into smaller acts. I have heard about the First Grade Circus but this was our fist time seeing it. I must say that it is darling and I am so glad that Gabby got to be in it. There is some question about whether this was the last one or not with the new elementary school being finished this summer. Now both schools will be K-6 so all of the first graders will not be at the same school. We'll see...

Anyway, we were lucky enough to have gotten seats right where Gabby was performing! It was a great surprise and made it nice for taking a few pictures and videos. She is in the black and green outfit. I didn't get any pictures of her hula dance because I took a video of the whole thing, but she did a great job and had a lot of fun!