Snow Basin

One of our favorite places to go in the summer is Snow Basin. It only takes like 25 minutes to get there from our house so it's a quick, easy, beautiful getaway. Trav is up there almost weekly to mountain bike. But first...the kids took this picture so I had to share.

 

Okay, now that the important stuff is taken care of...here's what we did at Snow Basin. First we had a picnic dinner which I didn't take a picture of. But as we were eating a dog ran up to us and stole Kate's sandwich right out from under her and ate it. So that was an exciting start to the evening. Luckily we had enough snacks she didn't starve.

 Then we attempted to get some cute pictures.

 Then Trav, Josh and Rach went on a little practice ride on their bikes.

 While they were riding, I took Kate and Will to the cute little playground they have there. William always sticks his tongue out like this.....I think it's cute (especially because Trav does it all the time too when he's concentrating)

 

We pulled out some snacks. "Hey, look like you're having fun, you're eating Oreos!"

 That's better.

 Okay, a little too much fun now.....

 When Rach and Josh got back they kept having to do a train down the tunnel because that's William's favorite!

 We pried them away from the playground and took a picture with the moose.

 Then it was time for Frisbee golf!

 I kinda wish this picture wasn't blurry because I think it's really cute. She has such a funny look on her face but I love it!

 Handsome X 2

 Eventually Trav had to start playing like this.....

 And the entire time we were playing Kate had the binoculars. She was spotting everything. We even saw a few deer. For some reason when I look at this picture I want to say "Number 5 is alive!"

 What a fun, beautiful evening!

Late Night Birthday Party

This year Rachel opted to have a late night birthday party. It was a hit! It really was so much fun for a 10 year old.

 First of all, Brad came to the party like a half an hour early which was totally fine. They had fun and got started on their decorating their treat bags early.

 Pretty soon more started showing up.....

 Then we had a french toast bar for dinner. Yummy!

 There were a few kids that didn't like orange julius! I didn't think that was possible!

 Then it was time to open presents. We did things a little backwards because we needed it dark outside, and when you're birthday is June 21st....the longest day of the year....we needed all the help we could get.

 After presents we headed outside and the kids played tag and ghost in the graveyard while Trav and I got everything set up.

 Here's the snack bar....

 But before they attacked the snacks I needed a group shot.

 Look how cute they are!

 They insisted they have a pyramid.

 Okay, now you can fill up your snack bags.....

 We even had glowsticks. I like Maddie's look....

Once everyone had their boxes full to their hearts desire and their spots ready and warm....we were ready for the movie. We did have to start it when it was still light outside because I didn't want them going home too late!

 Trav even pulled the tiki torches out to give it a cool effect (and less mosquitoes) when it got darker. It did eventually get dark and was much easier to see the movie, but the kids were too busy playing and jumping on the tramp there wasn't too much movie watching going on anyway. We watched Maleficent and had everyone home by 10:15.

Afterward Rach said it was "the best birthday party ever!" It really was.