Merkley Campout (Picture Overload)

Aunt Taci and Aunt Erin, along with Alesa, Van, and bun-in-the-oven baby boy Wheeler, came to Utah for a visit in the middle of July. Aunt Taci insisted we all go camping. So camping we went! Here are some pics from our time there :)

July 4th Lapoint Parade

This year we decided to stay local and watch the Lapoint July 4th parade. It was really fun to see our little town hold quite a big parade. I won't show all the pictures I took but I want to point out the picture of Jace holding an orange sucker. This is a special sucker because he got it for answering a question at the parade. The announcer asked "Who wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner?" Jace was telling me he learned about Francis Scott Key in pre-school the day before, so we ran across the road to tell the announcer. I wanted Jace to see the rewards for learning are used everywhere. The best part was that the announcer let him be the one to say the answer in the microphone. It was a proud mommy moment. Jace is so ready for school!

Mud

This was the first time I actually made mud for my boys to play in. Isaac and Jace LOVED it! Kayson wasn't too keen on the idea. Maybe next year :)

Cave Exploring

Our friends Brad, Bonny, and their 2 kids Sophie and Jake, went camping the week before the 4th of July and invited us up for dinner one night. We went up Dry Fork Canyon to their camping spot and then they took us to the Dry Fork cave! Talk about slightly being claustrophobic! But I put on a strong face and tried to show them how interesting the cave was. It was quite the experience. It was wet, but seeing the different rock formations in the cave was mind blowing. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was fun to be there and see things that go on under the earth. There was so much dust! We had dust in our ears, noses, and mouth! If you decide to do cave exploring, take a mask. Lol!

Kayson got so dirty up there! It looked like he used the dirt as face paint. Gotta love my dirty boys ;)

Unplugged Post #2

Homemade ice cream was the next item we completed on our Unplugged list. This was the first time I ever actually helped make homemade ice cream! It was by far the most tasty adventure!

It's amazing to me how many opportunities come your way when you are looking for them. One item on the list was to plant a tree. I thought it wouldn't be one that we could cross off (I don't really know why I thought that) but Grandpa Merkley opened that door for us. He had some cherry trees that weren't producing, so he and Grandma M decided it was time to take them out and plant something else. It was a lot of work to dig and remove the cherry trees (and I joked that we actually got to act like George Washington!) but it was so much fun to help plant the new ones. The boys are constantly checking on them and making sure they have enough water during these hot summer days. Thanks Grandpa M for letting us be your helpers!

The last activity I'll write about today is: making a sweet treat! The boys were all over this one. Lol! I chose to have them make a classic Rice Krispie treat. It's super easy and for their first solo in cooking I figured it would also be pretty fool-proof. I was right. They had so much fun and I wasn't a wreck trying to make sure it would come out right.

I am so thankful to the people behind this "Dinosaurland Unplugged" list. It has strengthened our family, and more important to me are the memories it has given us as well!