Summer Fun

We have been making the most of the time that is left of summer.  A few weekends ago we went to Utah to the Bodily Family Reunion, which sadly I was terrible about taking pictures of.  It was the girls first time at Lagoon and they had so much fun.  They were excited that Grandma Kate came to hang out with us too. 
Last weekend we headed up to Jackson and Teton National Park for some family time.  We went to String Lake which is a place that Nathan spent a lot of time at as a kid.  It is great because it is only waste deep on an adult and has a great sand bar for the kids to run around on that is only ankle deep.  We paddled out on a raft to the sand bar and just let the kids play.  The surroundings are amazing.  The water is so clear and not too cold and just behind you are the Teton Mountains which are so breathtaking.

 

 

After a long afternoon of playing in the sun, we went back to our room in Jackson and let the kids swim at the hotel pool.  We stayed at the Lodge at Jackson Hole which they have recently renovated and the rooms were SO NICE.  Easily one of the nicest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in.  I think we were all exhausted because we all slept really well, which was great because in a hotel with kids, you never really know how it is going to go!  After breakfast, we drove downtown to check out the shops in Jackson.

 

The girls were so excited when they saw this horse drawn carriage and wanted to go for a ride.  It was short, but the girls thought it was awesome.

 

 

 

Sun Valley

 

Nathan has been wanting to get together with his cousin Doug and his cute family. They live in Boise, so we decided to meet in the middle and that ended up being near Sun Valley. Keith and Cherie came too as well as Keith's brother Warren and his wife Marion and some of their other grandchildren. We stayed at a cute little place called the Smiley Creek Lodge. They had lodge rooms, cabins, and Teepees to sleep in and a fire pit where we cooked dutch oven and had smores. It was like camping without really camping which was great. The lodge had a restaurant in it that served up some of the hugest pancakes I have ever seen and made a pretty mean eggs benedict. Yum! We drove over to the Galena lodge and the kids got to go horseback riding.

 

They had a tent filled with gear the kids could get dressed up in to really give them the cowgirl/boy experience. Alex and Izzie were so excited to wear cowboy boots. They both looked pretty cute in their florescent orange chaps too.

Even Sienna got to get in on the cowgirl action.  That is one pink cowgirl!

 

Alex had a perma-grin the entire time she went on the horse ride.  She is a natural.

 

 

By the end of the ride she was doing it all by herself.

  Izzie doesn't look so excited in these pictures, but she was just as enthusiastic about going as Alex was. She was just a little bit more nervous once she got on the horse. It would be intimidating for a little kid to get on an animal that big. I was so proud of both of them.

 

Sienna even went for a little ride with one of the cowboys. It was so quick that I didn't have the chance to get a picture. The rest of the time she was content to just sit and eat her sucker.

 

Later in the day we drove up to Red Fish Lake where the girls played in the sand and waded out into the water.

 

Sienna loves the beach and doesn't mind getting sand EVERYWHERE!  Look at that face, doesn't she look so happy?

 

What a beautiful area, and the Sawtooth mountains are amazing. It was so fun to explore new places we had never been and spend time with our family.

Alex's first lost tooth

 

Alex was so thrilled that her tooth finally came out.  When she realized it was loose she started dancing around the house like a maniac!  You would have thought she won the lottery or something. The tooth fairy did bring her four shiny quarters and was nice enough to not take her tooth since Nathan was out of town and she wanted to show it to him.

 

I was really hoping it would be ready to come out when Nathan was home because teeth really freak me out. I did NOT want to be the one to pull it... But, it was barely hanging there so I thought I better. Isn't that funny that with all the gross things I see in surgery that a loose tooth makes me shutter?? Too weird.