Happy Birthday, Harry!

A tradition that the kids won't let us give up is having a birthday party for Harry Potter.  We keep it low-key, but they still love it.
This year, we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the backyard while eating golden snitch cake balls.

 It was a fun night and we all enjoyed ourselves.
It has prompted us to start reading the Harry Potter series again.  Every morning when the kids are done with their jobs, I read aloud to them while they play with Legos in the family room.  They love it; Enoch especially - his two favorite things: reading and Legos.

Scattered Thoughts

1.  Outdoor Movie Night
We finally used our new projector to watch the Lego Movie in the backyard.  Despite the late start time (9:15pm), we had a great time and the kids loved it!

2.  I'm always messy.
Of course, he started throwing sand right after I put the sunscreen on - super sticky.  This was his second bath before 10 am today.  No wondering this kids is breaking out in eczema during the summer (too much pool time and too many baths).

3.  NOVA.
The boys watching NOVA on a Sunday afternoon.  It's a favorite around here.

Kate's First Talk

Kate gave her first talk in Primary today.  She did such a great job!  She read it all my herself and talked loud enough for the kids to hear (she did have a microphone, but talking loud is still difficult for her).  We are so proud of her!

Kate's talk:
A story I like in the Book of Mormon is when Nephi gets the Brass Plates.  He works very hard to get the plates and Heavenly Father helps him.
I know that I can do hard things too.  I can learn new skills in my gymnastics class, I can clean my room when it is really messy, I can do my best in school and I can be nice to my brothers.
I know that when I have to do something hard, I can pray to Heavenly Father and He will help me.

Xactware at Sundance

Xactware sure does know how to throw a good party.
Our family had so much fun at the summer party this year.  We drove the short distance from Cascade Springs to Sundance.  The kids immediately saw the bouncy houses and climbing wall set up outside the parking lot and they were off.  We bounced, climbed, rode and held on.

After we had a blast with the 'toys', we rode the shuttle down to the main party.  We checked in, got our wristbands and were off for more fun (I guess?!).
We rode the chair lift next.  Fun?  For most of us.  I really thought I'd be over my fear of heights by now, but if it hasn't happened yet, I'm not sure it's going to in this lifetime.  I white-knuckled it up all the way up and down.  Greg and the kids did enjoy it.

We got off at the top and looked around for a bit.  So beautiful!  The kids had fun running and exploring and I wasn't in any hurry to get back on the chair lift.

After, thankfully, getting off the chair lift, we headed to our assigned tent for dinner.  Everything was so yummy and the kids ate great.  We were all pretty wiped out at that point, so we decided to skip the play and head home. 
It was such a great day.
Thanks, Xactware!

Fowler Family Reunion and Cascade Springs

This Saturday was full of fun.
We started at the Fowler Family Reunion at the cabin.  We had a great time visiting with family and being outside at the cabin.  The kids were excited to go on a train ride and Grandpa was excited to take them...

...and then the train wreck happened.
Somehow the hitch came loose and all the cars came crashing down on each other while going down a hill.  Everyone was a bit shaken up, but none of the kids were seriously injured.  Sadly, Grandma was hurt and she took a trip to the hospital.  X-rays showed she has two broken ribs.  Ouch!
We finished the day without Grandma and Grandpa.  We had lunch, visited some more and cleaned up.  Not the reunion we wanted with Grandma getting hurt, but still fun to see everyone.
We had some time to fill, so we drove further up the canyon and went to Cascade Springs.  The kids had a great time!  They kept getting down on their tummys to feel how cold the water was (it was such a hot day!).  Enoch was trying to figure out the springs and Guard kept running off, but it was still fun.  (Gavin went home after the reunion, so no more pictures of him today.)

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Jordan Family Reunion

Getting together with family is always fun.  This year, the Jordan family reunion was extra fun because we had a few new members.  Two of my cousins got married this year.  When we have a new family member, we pelt them with marshmallows.  And then it just becomes a free-for-all and everyone walks away with sticky marshmallows covering them.
I know, crazy, but we all love it.

And cleaning sticky marshmallows out of the grass is a blast.  Not!  But it is worth it!

Jewel Cave & Home!

We ended our super fun vacation with a tour of Jewel Cave.  Again, we went early and I got tickets while everyone else ate breakfast in the motor home in the parking lot (which was under construction and very hard to park a motor home in!).    While waiting for our tour, we finished our last Junior Ranger patch (that makes six for Enoch and five for Kate - they're awesome!).
We opted on a very simple tour of this cave since the kids were basically done at the point.  And because nobody wanted to squeeze through the cramps spaces that we would have to to go on the other tours (that is what the concrete block is for - only Greg tried.).

We had some fun outside and the kids loved walking through the woods.

Like I said, the tour was very short, one room.   But, the kids hardly made it through that one room.  It was a bit of a relief to be done with our vacation.

After the cave, we started home.  We drove all day.  It was a long day.  We stayed overnight at the Wal-Mart in Rock Springs after pulling in very late.  The next morning, we were woken up by a street sweeper that was doing figure eights around all the RVs in the parking lot.  I think they wanted everyone up and out of their parking lot!
We pulled in home about 10:30am.  It was such an amazing vacation - one of our best!  We had so much fun and were so happy to be with each other.  It was fantastic!

Wind Cave & Mammoth Dig

Our first stop this morning was Wind Cave National Park.  We send Grandma and Grandpa over early to get the first come-first serve tickets and I'm relieved we did.  They went fast!

While we were waiting for our tour to start, we looked around the Visitor Center, earned Junior Ranger patches and learned about the formations inside Wind Cave.  It was all very interesting, but the kids were excited to get underground.
Our tour guide was great.  He explained everything very well and, more importantly, answered Enoch's many questions.  Enoch was fascinated with the small wind tunnel coming out from the cave.

Inside the cave was amazing!  It was a lot of wet stairs, but we did okay going down (we got to ride an elevator back up!  So nice!).  Enoch could hardly contain his excitement and it was contagious to everyone on the tour.  Our tour guide kept telling him he was asking good questions.  Don't encourage him!
Wind Cave was beautiful and very expansive.  We completely enjoyed our time there.

After a quick lunch, we arrived at the Mammoth Hot Springs Dig site.  We weren't too sure what to expect from this place, but we weren't disappointed!
We started by touring the site, it is amazing.  While developing the area, they came across a mass burial of mammoths and other ancient beasts.  It is truly amazing to see all the bones in one small area.  I'm not sure how they tell what belongs to what, but somehow they have sorted it all out.  They are still digging.

As interesting at that was, the best part was still to come.  Way back in the spring, I booked a spot for Enoch and Kate to participate in their own dig.  We started out by learning basic archeology skills.

And then the fun... digging!  The kids adored this.  They dug and dug and finally they both reached bones.  They completely loved this activity.

Enoch and Kate both said this was one of the favorite things they did.
After the dig, we said good-bye to Grandma, Grandpa and Gavin.  They were heading home a day ahead of us to attend Ethan's wedding and Gavin was helping with a mock emergency drill at BYU with Matt.  It was hard to have them leave, but they made it home safely.
We headed back to our campground and spent some time just enjoying the outdoors while roasting our hot dogs.  It was a great place to stay!