I've lost my mind!

School starts tomorrow and the kids needed to get a couple supplies so we all went in to town. During our summer vacation, Isaac was talking about getting his bird when he got back and I said that I would rather have a dog than a bird. Hannah took that as we can get a dog. I told them that it would have to be something everyone agreed on and circumstances would have to be right. As soon as I said that, Hannah started researching dogs for adoption in our area. I still thought we were never getting a dog. Hannah talked me into going to the Atlanta Humane Society to just "look" at the cats and dogs. There was a dog she saw online that she wanted to visit. The first dog all the kids saw and wanted to get into a room was a little beagle named Hope. The worker said she had been adopted three weeks ago by an elderly couple trying to replace their dog of 14 years who had passed away and they had brought her back three days ago. They said she was too hard for the wife to take on walks becaus she was strong on the leash. The wife was 77. They also said she just had too much energy. Knowing their last dog was 14 years old, I could see this four-year-old beagle probably seemed like a puppy. She was the sweetest thing and let everyone pet her. She didn't bite, lick, jump or bark. Hannah fell in love instantly.

We had her put back and asked for the dog Hannah had seen online, Beamer. Two seconds of having him in the room and we knew he was not for us. He came in jumping and licking. He was very friendly and wanted to play. It was a little much for me and the kids. We looked around at all the rest of the dogs and cats and then the kids wanted to see Hope again. The worker showed us how well behaved she was as she sat for treats. I told the kids they all three had to agree. Hannah was a definite yes, Isaac was an ok and Nathan didn't really want to commit and said sure. Still, we were not getting a dog! The worker then told us that for "back to school", all the dogs were free that day. They were also giving away food and a leash and 40% off a crate. Crap! Somehow I found myself signing paperwork to bring her home. Justin was still out of town so I sent him a picture. Not sure who was more shocked, me or him. Hannah asked about changing her name. We are not sure where she was before the elderly couple and if they gave her the name or if it was her name before that. Wish I knew her story. Anyway, Hannah decided that we should keep the name Hope since she was really hoping we would get a dog that day. I think I might be going through a midlife crisis and worrying that Nathan is turning 18 in a month and all three kids might be gone from our house in four years...that must be it. It is either that or I am just too weak from being beaten down all the years by the kids wanting a pet. Whatever the case, we now have a dog.

Floid

Isaac is loving Floid. He is teaching him (Don't know if it is a boy or a girl. Apparently it is expensive to find out so pet stores don't. You have to pay and send away for that information if you want it. Interesting) to step up onto his finger. Floid is very quiet which is kind of odd becaus everything says they are suppose to be noisy birds. He loves to nestle against Isaac's neck. I can't say that I am happy to have a bird in my house but Isaac is taking very good care of him.

Laurel Breakfast and End-of-summer combined activity

Our Laurel class had four girls graduate from high school and four girls move up from MaiMaids this summer. Sad to see our graduates go but excited to see what they do. We decided to meet for breakfast to celebrate the new girls coming in. So glad so many girls could come! We barely fit into the booths at Waffle House. Happy to have Izzy, Lauren, Josie and Hannah in class again.

That evening we had a combined activity with the Canton Ward youth. It was at one of their leader's house. They had a huge slip n slide that was crazy. They put some mulch down under the end of it to help stop the kids at the bottom of the hill but it ended up scraping the kids up! I couldn't believe anyone went down the thing more than once. Some went down for an hour. Nathan and Roman decided they really didn't care to do it and had fun laughing at everyone else crashing but Hannah and Isaac and their friends had fun....painful fun.

 All the inflated rafts popped after about a half hour.

 The kids poured dish soap at the top to make it more slippery. My job was to stand at the bottom and tell kids to get out of the way of the next group and fix the tarp when it got bunched up.

 I had to post this picture because it just cracks me up. Ammon, Rylan and Daniel (Nathan's friends). Ammon's face says it all...sheer terror. Ha! Rylan looked like he had been in a fight after with scrapes all over this stomach and back. They went down it so many times.

 The property was so beautiful and it was a gorgeous night.

KSU orientation

Today was Nathan's Kennesaw State orientation. They asked one parent to accompany the student. They gave us all some information and then took the kids on a tour and talked to the parents a little more. Nathan was suppose to get his student ID card as well but he forgot to bring his driver's license for proof of his ID. We had a nice talk about how he is now a grown up and needs to carry his license with him in his wallet wherever he goes, even if he is not driving. We picked up Kate and her mom and took them with us. Still can't believe these two kids will be attending college in a month but very excited for them. They were able to get two classes together along with another girl (Haley) from church.

Meet Floid (Floyd)

Today was Hannah's real birthday and she wanted to take her gift card and money from her grandparents to the mall to get some new pants and makeup with her friend Lauren. Isaac has been saving his money all summer from mowing lawns and house/cat sitting for the Potters and wanted to buy a bird. He has been wanting a cockatail and since he had saved up over $300 for it, I decided to give in. Justin was gone so I didn't have him to help me say no. We took Hannah and Lauren to the mall and dropped them off, went and had lunch at Freddy's (we have been craving their french fries) and then headed to the pet store for the bird. They only had one to choose from and Isaac thought he was perfect. He bought the bird, cage, toys and food. He decided to name it Floid (pronounced Floyd - he didn't know how to spell it). So cute. After the pet store we went back to the mall and picked up the girls who had a successful shopping trip and headed home. I cannot believe there is a bird in my house. He will live in Isaac's room and he will take care of everything. I think Justin is in shock that we actually came home with it!

Autumn Dustin invited Hannah and Lauren to go to Avalon (stores and movie theater) to hang out and possibly go to a movie that night. They ended up taking a lot of pictures and having a lot of laughs and deciding not to spend money on a moview. She had a great night. I think Hannah had a great birthday.

Hannah turns 16!

Since Justin has to go out of town on Hannah's birthday, we celebrated a day early on the 23rd. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the airport last night and picked up things for dinner and she picked out a carrot cake for her birthday cake. We've never had that on a birthday before. It was good. Justin and I had found a really cute dress at a little boutique shop in Utah that was similar to one she had shown me online and also got her a gift card to Sephora for makeup. She had wanted a certain kind of water bottle and we saw one at the gift shop in Glacier so we snuck it in our luggage and Isaac gave that to her. She also got a new phone case from Nathan. Sure love this beautiful girl of mine. I can't believe she is 16. I'm pretty sure we all know who she wants her first date to be....more on that to come.

Family reunion/summer vacation

Justin and I decided we would let Nathan choose where he wanted to go on a vacation this summer as it may be his last summer home...yikes!! I'm still crossing my fingers he is home for our family reunion next year but Justin is hoping he is alread gone on his mission. I'm ok with him leaving right after. We gave him lots of ideas but wanted him to choose on his own. Sometimes it felt like pulling teeth and I thought he would never pick. He ended up chosing Glacier National Park. He was there when he was six or so but didn't remember and knows that Justin and I always talk about how beautiful it is. It ended up working perfectly to go to the Parker family reunion in Rexburg, Idaho and then drive to Montana. The family reunion was great! We were only missing Ella, Aubrey and Allen, Cortney and baby Henry. I was so sad to not be able to meet Henry! Crazy to think he will be a toddler or older before I see him. We got to Salt Lake about 11 pm on Wednesday night and stayed at a hotel in Layton. Thursday morning we got up and drove to Rexburg where Dalana and her family now live. Their new house was a perfect place to get together! They had plenty of space for everyone. Thursday we visited with everyone as they started trickling in and went to Costa Vida for dinner.

Friday we loaded up lunch and drove a couple hours to Grand Tetons National Park. I had not been there before. It was beautiful! We had a great day driving through the park. We had lunch at Jenny Lake and then stopped for dinner at a pizza place in Jackson Hole on our way back.

It was fun to have the returned missionaries back. I loved that all the oldest cousins made it to the reunion.

George is just too cute.

Isaac is getting too tall to have stand in front. 

I love this picture. I can only imaging how happy it makes George and RaNae to have everyone together.

Gary brought his girlfriend Rachel. She was very nice.

 These two will be gone on missions next year. Ian is going to Hong Kong, China! He leaves for the MTC in just a couple months.

 

 Saturday we had a big breakfast of George's egg gravy and biscuits. Yum! Then, we went to see the Saint Anthony sand dunes which were in the movie Napoleon Dynomite. The sand was HOT. We didn't stay too long. We needed to get there a couple hours earlier to have been able to really let the kids play.

I wish I had gotten this picture a little closer. It is Nathan, Cooper and Ian. Cooper leaves in October for a mission in Mexico City, Mexico.

 I told the kids to spread out for a picture. They started huddling together and I told them I didn't want a family picture. Parker told them to think album cover and this is what I got. I love it.

After the sand dunes, Seth wanted everyone to try his favorite italian ice/custard place called Karie Anne's. It is a trailer set up in a parking lot with tables and sun shades. It tasted good after being in the hot sun.

We went back to Dalana's house and had sandwhiches for lunch and then spent the afternoon hanging out talking, playing ping pong, younger kids playing in the sprinklers and shaving cream and playing baseball at a park just down the road. Adam brought five gloves and bats and balls so everyone who wanted to got to play.

It actaully felt really good in the shade. It was so hot on the field.

There were some pretty serious ping pong matches going on over the weekend between the older boys. The girls finally got a few minutes.

Shaving cream Twister

We had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and then Grandma had requested a "talent show." Unfortunately, I couldn't get any of my kids to do anything. Hannah did play the piano for RaNae earlier in the day when there wasn't a crowd. Nathan and Isaac both didn't have their instruments. John played the piano, Gary's girls all sang, Sydney played the ukelele while Ian and Bronwyn sang,  Seth showed some things he had made at school and Cole showed how he can do crazy things with his thumbs and belly. So cute. The best was George asked Ian to sing Edelweiss (he had played Captain Von Trap in a school play) and Ian said he would if George told the story Biff the Purple Bear. Ian has a great baritone voice and I always love hearing George tell stories. It was fun to see how many of the grandkids knew it too. Everyone sang several songs that Justin and his siblings grew up singing. The evening was my favoriate part of the reunion.

After, Adam and Mark took two car loads of kids to see Spiderman at the drive in theater while the rest of us sat and visited. I took a picture of the basement as I was getting beds laid out for the night. It was fun to have the floor covered with kids. There are four bedrooms down there as well, one in each corner of the room. Justin and I were in one, Sara and Adam were in one, Gary and Rachel were in one and Cooper and a friend were in his room. Camille stayed on an air mattress in the food storage room. Kelly decided to stay in a hotel and George and RaNae were upstairs as well as Mark and Dalana.

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast. I made sack lunches for our family and some of the people got ready for church. It was a great reunion and hard to say goodbye. We headed out for Whitefish, Montana. It was about a six-hour drive and we stopped at a rest area for lunch along the way. It tasted so much better than fast food!

We got to the hotel and then drove to downtown Whitefish which is a cute little town. We ate at Mackenzie River Pizza which was really good and then went by Whitfish Lake as the sun was setting. This is where we played for a day 12 years ago at the Parker reunion.

 The boys were impressed with the cars in the hotel parking lot. I believe Ferrari and Lamborghini.

I spent the next couple hours doing laundry at the hotel. It was nice that they had two washers and two dryers. 

 Monday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and then each took a to-go breakfast bag to have for lunch. We went into Glacier and spent the whole day there. So breathtaking! Gary and  Camille had told us some of their favorite things to do and it was very helpful. I also met a lady in the laundry room the night before who told us about a boat ride to a hike that Gary had told us about so we planned on doing that. We started off with a hike. We were trying to find a place Camille had told us about and happened upon a beautiful hike. It is crazy how pretty and clear the water is. Clean run-off from the snow and glaciers and such a pretty turquoise color from the glaciers.

The morning started off a little chilly in the 50s but it warmed up quick and was about 80 by the afternoon.

After our hike we continued on the park drive stopping along the way to take in the scenery.

 We were wanting to take a hike into hidden lake but the visitor center parking lot was completely full. Justin and the kids went in to get a stamp for Justin and I circled the lot but couldn't get a parking spot. It is a popular stop as the visitor center is cool and there are gardens out back and several trail heads. It is the last popular tourist stop and kind of turn around for a lot of people. We continued on toward St. Mary's lake where we were going to have lunch and take the boat ride.

I can always count on a good picture with this group. Nice.

 I could not get over how clear the water is. It is just amazing. Definitely not like the Georgia lakes. They have two boats that go out for the tours. The boats have only ever been in this lake. Since it is a national park, they do not want boats bringing in foreign bacteria or other things into the lake. It was awesome being the only one out on the lake. The shuttle to the trailhead was pretty and relaxing. I could have easily fallen asleep.

 There were two water falls to hike into to. The guided tour was going to St. Mary's Falls which I think was 2 to 2.5 miles and then Baring falls was just a quick walk from where the boats dock. We decided to go on the guided tour and then hurry and catch the other falls before the time we had to be back at the boat. It was interesting to have the ranger tell us about the park as we walked. So beautiful. It was awesome being right on the edge several hundred feet up from the turquoise water. So many pretty wild flowers along the way too. St. Mary's Falls was sure worth the hot hike!! Wow. Wish the picture could show how bright the water really is.

This is about 350 fee above the water.

 

Isaac and Nathan hiked too fast so no pictures of them.

We got back to the boat dock with five minutes to spare to run and see the Baring Falls. Much less spectacular.

 We got back to our car about 5:30 and finished driving the rest of the way through the park and exited to eat dinner. We found a little outdoor mexican restaurant. We should have found something else. The staff was fighting, and the food took forever. It was definitely not the best food we had on the trip either. I later found this picture on my phone of me that somehow one of the kids took while we waited for our food without me noticing.

Such a fun day. We were all exhausted. Our drive back through the park back to the hotel went a lot quicker with only a few stops, one for this guy in the road, one at Hidden Lakes Visitor Center for Isaac to get a picture and one at Dairy Queen outside of the park.

Tuesday morning we went back into the park and started our day with the Trail of the Cedars to Avalanche Lake hike. We had done the one-mile Trail of the Cedars loop way back at the Parker reunion and Gary told us we needed to add on the hike to Avalanche Lake. That trailhead is almost exactly in the middle of the one-mile loop making the whole thing about 6 miles. The first couple miles of the trail were gorgeous.

 The cedars were huge.

'

The water came down through kind of a slot canyon. The water was so powerful and kind of churning.

Avalanche Lake.

Camille had told us that the perfect spot for renting kayaks was at Lake McDonald. She said there was a cute little cafe to eat there as well that had good huckleberry milk shakes. We went to the lodge at Lake McDonald but they only had two kayaks that were already rented out and the restaurant looked more like a cafeteria-style food. We were pretty sure that was not what she was talking about. A worker told us there were more kayaks to rent at Apgar Village which was at the very start of the park almost outside of it. Sure enough, that was it. It was a perfect spot! We ate at Eddy's cafe which was yummy food, tourist prices for sure! The lake was beautiful and not crowded at all. At first, Hannah and I were the only ones who wanted to kayak so we just got two. The boys ended up taking a turn as well and Justin really enjoyed laying in the shade. It ended up being one of our favorite things we did. Very relaxing. There was also a gift shop and ice cream shop attached to Eddy's so we got some souveniers which were much better priced than the park gift shops and some ice cream on our way back to the car.

Hannah trying to maneuver the two-man kayak by herself

 Hannah and Isaac

 Isaac wanted me to take a picture of him underneith the water to show how clear the water was. So pretty. The water was so COLD! The guy who rented the kayaks said it was about 57 degrees. It was a quick swim.

We were all exhausted so we headed back to the hotel for the night. Well, we made a stop at the game store for the boys to explore their Magic Card section first and then headed back. Justin bought some cards so they went down to the hotel lobby and played while I headed back to the laundry room to do one more load of laundry to last us the rest of the trip and Hannah watched TV in the hotel room. We had originally planned to stay in the area one more day but gave Nathan the option of staying or heading back a day early and driving through Yellowstone National Park. He chose Yellowstone. Luckily we found a hotel with a room that was not too expensive right outside of West Yellowstone.

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then checked out and drove the six or so hours to the new hotel. It was nothing fancy but had a great view. It was about 10 miles from town so it was the only thing around besides a little restaurant/bar across the street and some rental condos. We got there just in time to head over to eat dinner before a bus full of Chinese tourists unloaded at the hotel and needed dinner too. We really enjoyed our evening. The hotel had shelves with games and puzzles you could borrow. The temperature was perfect so we played Taboo and Battleship out on the deck before it got dark. Hannah and I tried doing a puzzle but it was a tricky one and we were too tired to finish it. Justin was watching Independence Day Resurgence so I finished that with him and we all went to bed.

 Our room was right above the little boy coming out of his room on the first floor.

 Thursday morning we wanted to be to Yellowstone early to help avoid traffic so we hurried and ate the hotel breakfast and headed out. Nathan really wanted to look at the paint pots and watch Old Faithful go off and that was it. We got to Old Faithful just as it was starting to sprinkle. It looked like it was going to dump rain so we went into the visitor center to get a good seat at the front of the building by big windows. Rain started but held off so Nathan and Isaac went back out. Justin, Hannah and I stayed inside. We got back to our car just in time for it to really start coming down. We continued our drive through the park stopping at the falls and kept ahead of the rain for most of the times we wanted to get out. We did get stuck in traffic when a Buffalo was in the road. It was pretty funny. It looked like it was leading a parade.

 

Originally, we needed to be back to Idaho Falls Thursday night because my friend Val was getting sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple Friday morning. We had planned to meet my parents who would drive up to see us for dinner that night and breakfast Friday. The sealing was postposed but we still really wanted to see my parents and were so happy they could make it work. Olivia and Hannah had made plans to get together for the night as well and we wanted to make sure they got that time together. We met my parents and Olivia at a restaurant in Idaho Falls called Big Bear Diner. It was so good to see them and sit and talk.

We talked through dinner and then went outside on some benches in the shade and talked some more. Hannah and Olivia left after dinner. Hannah was staying at her house for the night. So crazy to have Olivia old enough to pick her up and drive them around.

 My parents were staying with friends who lived in a town nearby. We took a tiny detour on the way to the hotel for the boys to check out another Magic store and ended up driving right by Frank and Shell's old house. I couldn't believe I remembered right where it was! As soon as I saw the playground for the school, I knew we were at their street. So many trips to their house as a kid. Our hotel was in a brand new part of town right off the river. The area was really nice.

Friday morning we met my parents and Hannah and Olivia at Smitty's Pancake House for breakfast. Then, it was time to say goodbye. So thankful for good friends and wonderful parents!

 The Idaho Falls Temple had just been rededicated. I wanted to go by and see it and show the kids where both sets of their grandparents had been married. Such a beautiful temple.

The drive back to Layton, Utah seemed short. Justin and I told the kids we were having a date night. We checked into the hotel, ordered the kids pizza and then went out to dinner at a chinese buffet. Hannah's birthday was Sunday so we went to the Layton mall to get her some presents. We got back to the hotel with plenty of time for Justin and Nathan to play cards.

We flew out of Salt Lake Saturday morning. Justin and I were upgraded to first class on the second leg of our flight. It was my first time in first class....kind of like another date!

We loved the time not only with our extended family but with our little family as well. The kids are growing so fast. I am starting to panic a little thinking this may be the last family vacation before Nathan's mission and the kids start leaving us. So thankful for the time and means that we had to do this. Special memories for sure.