Ipson Reunion 2013

 We went to the Ipson Reunion, which is Kevin's mom side, up Beaver Mountain. The group was smaller this year but we still had a fun time. I only got pictures of hiking to the ice caves.

Farm Bureau Mid Year Conference

 We enjoyed a night stay in a hotel while we attended the Farm Bureau Mid-Year Conference. The kids loved the pool and I had to take pictures of their splashing. We lost the goggles but a nice lady found them and returned them to our room.

 The kids enjoyed the huge bale roll that was for the "Olympics" which Kevin participated in. That roll was HUGE!

Kevin participated in three out of four events: the bale roll (which they won), horse shoes (which he did with his brother Travis with toilet seats) and roping the steer head. The one he didn't participate in was the small bale toss. It was very entertaining to watch the men from different counties compete against each other doing some very silly things!

4th of July 3013

 To start the week right we had to have our girly toes painted. Samantha really wanted to have pedicures so we used her little kit and we three girls have really cute toes now!

 Samantha was in the parade for the 4th. We put her and KayDee in a summer dance class focusing on tumbling and technique. Sam's age group practiced a flag routine to perform for the parade. Her friend Nikayla was in it too!
Right before the parade Samantha doused her shoes with water by walking through a river. She changed her socks and we tied her shoes to the car so they could dry a little on the way.
She claims her feet were just fine but her mom was still unhappy.
The girls did a great job with their routine and I think they enjoyed doing it too.

 KayDee and Derrick enjoyed picking up candy from the parade. Kevin's parents came to support the kids. Travis and Bree with their girls, and our friends the Judd's sat by us at the parade too.

 After the parade we went to the town program. The kids were asked to sing the song "God Gave Me Dear America" during the program and also memorized parts of the Gettysburg address. They did so great and we really enjoyed the program.

 We were able to slip in some camping over the holiday. We would go up when Kevin was off of work and then come back in the morning for him to work. We did this for a couple nights. We joined our friends, the Kleins. They showed us how to river fish and the kids LOVED it! They all caught at least one fish. Kevin even caught a fish.

Here are the kids enjoying the end of the week. They were eating ice cream and swinging on the porch swing we bought with Great Aunts Mary and Viola inheritance.

New Play Set

 Kevin was going to build us a really great play set, but with his time crunched on the farm it just wasn't going to happen soon. After much convincing, I was able to plead the cause of the kids needing something sooner than he could arrange for and that his time could be spent doing the other things he didn't have time for. :) He agreed!

 We found a used one on ksl and were able to drive up to take it apart and then set it up soon after in our yard. The kids were so excited and begged to sleep in it. We couldn't say no, so they grabbed their pillows and sleeping bags and were immediately ready for bed. The dogs were great security too!

Kevin put the swings up soon after and it has been a great source of fun since!

Nephew Visit

 We were able to have 3 of my nephews stay with us because their parents and sister went to Hawaii for just over 2 weeks. The boys helped on the farm by moving sprinklers and doing chores where ever they may need to be done. Fortunately for them, six kids makes light work so a lot of the time was spent as they chose, playing video games. Ryan got to do more things since he was older. Not sure if he loved it but he was a good sport. He learned to drive a stick and hauled manure and also learned to change filters on the equipment with Kevin.

 The kids played with the puppies!

 They tried some fun meals like cheese fondu!

 Here is the evidence of video gaming.

 Making cookies! Fun story: I left Ryan, Sam and Samantha (aka the twins or thing 1 and thing 2) with the assignment to make cookies while we were at the Cub Scout day camp. Thing 1 thought it would be great to add chocolate chips to no-bake cookies. Not to mention they misread the recipe and added 1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder instead of 1 1/2 Tb. That made for some very DARK cookies. Then it was successfully burned, so it looked like tar with bits of white oats. Tasted horrible. I had them make it again so they could feel success, plus we wanted cookies still!

 Here is Thing 1 lifting a foam weight. You can tell it was pretty heavy. ;)


We went swimming at the aquatics center and rode horses another day.
They enjoyed the mini motorcycle the most and the 4 wheeler when it worked. We were so glad to have the chance to get to know them better and spend time with them. We miss them and hope they are having fun unpacking from their move!