Pool party

Best way to beat the Nevada heat... Pool party with friends!

So much fun to be back with friends! 

Home with Daddy

Boys sure are happy to be home with their daddy. 

And it makes my heart so happy. 

Randy's gym

We spent Saturday afternoon at Randy's gym in pocatello. It was a blast bouncing around and jumping in the foam pit. I was impressed by Taydens fearlessness as he jumped off the 12 foot ledge multiple times and did flip after flip on the tramps. It was a great time! 

My mom even got in on the fun! Doesn't get better. 

Uncle Justin

You have to understand, my brother is probably one of the greatest people ever. Growing up, he was my protector. Always made sure I had my jacket or was buckled up. In sixth grade we decided to switch rooms. I moved downstairs and he moved upstairs. Every night for the next few months I slept in his room with him. He gave up his bed willingly and slept on the floor, night after night. He was a junior in high school and could have been that jerk of a brother, but he was always ultra cool and the best big brother. He showed me what it meant to be a husband and father. I love my brother. And people are just drawn to him. So it's not surprising that my kids are too. He played with Beckett and Cache for a good hour this morning. Tayden is equally enamored by justin, but he was playing with coda while I was taking pictures, so he didn't get in on the fun. 

Justin Sean and Beckett Sean. See, loved him so much I named Beckett after him. 

They are all blurry because they were playing and moving. Never a dull moment with uncle justin.

We love uncle justin. So glad we get to spend a few days with him. 

S'more Idaho

We enjoyed our Idaho s'mores with grandpa Mennear tonight.

Really, really enjoyed them. 

Week in Idaho

We've been in Idaho for a week since Scott left haven't done a ton, but have been crazy busy at the same time. Funny how that works. My grandma and sister were here until Tuesday, so we spend some time hanging out with them before they headed back. We went to Inkom and hung out with Scott's family Wednesday, played all day Thursday in Blackfoot with my cousins, and I spent Friday weeding my parents backyard. We're looking forward to some play dates with friends, more family time and hopefully a little down time before we head back in a week and a half....give or take. 

This is the only picture I took while we were in Blackfoot. My wonderful cousin, Kelsey, giving me a shellac manicure in the backyard while the kids played. Few things about my day in Blackfoot. 1. My cousins are amazing. Truly some of the best moms, women and friends. All 3 sisters live within 20 minutes of each other and have regular play dates with their 9 kids. They are like a village raising these children. They work so well together and have such a neat dynamic. I have never seen more loving and patient mothers in all my life. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by these beautiful girls. 2. My kids love the country. I don't think they've ever seen so much grass to run and play on outside of a park. Between the full size tramp, the swimming pool set up, the swing set, the barn, the bunnies and their cousins--My boys were in heaven. We literally spent all day playing. It was great, but heartbreaking at the same time. It's hard to see the sheer joy on their faces and know it's something you can't offer at home. I'd love more than anything to move to a place where my kids can run free and wild. I love Las Vegas, but I love space too. 

Tayden has a minor major obsession with big dogs. This is my parents neighbors dog, Boone, and I found about 9000 pictures of him on my phone. 

Muddy monsters. I weeded they played. Win for everyone. 

The spent this morning setting up army guys in the rice desert with jenga block forts. Good boys having too much fun. 

This trip is going too fast and I still feel like I have things to do and people to see. I'm grateful we have this opportunity to come to Idaho every summer and spend a couple of weeks in the fresh air, doing fun things and rubbing shoulders with people we love. 

Five days of FUN

After being stuck in traffic for an hour and half in 115* weather, we finally made it to Utah. And let me tell you, we started off our vacation right. Scott had five days with us before he flew back to Vegas and we packed every day with lots of fun. 

Day 1: One of the best parts about this Idaho trip is our Texas cousins were here!! Tayden and Beckett have been waiting for weeks to see Coda and Gracie. So the fact that we had four continuous days with them was just about too much excitement for them to even handle. On the first day of fun we took the kids to nickel cade for an arcade adventure. The kids had a blast and enjoyed all the games. We walked away with over 2800 tickets, thanks to multiple jackpots, and lots of prizes. 

After the arcade Scott took the two older boys to Idaho for an early morning fishing trip the next day. They had such a great time together. It was a wonderful father son bonding experience and even though it was probably the hardest on me it, I'm glad they did it. 

Day 2:The fishing trip was a definite highlight for the kids. They love going on Grandpa Packards boat and have been talking about it for days. Tayden caught a gigantic rainbow trout and Beckett was equally happy with his catch. 

Day 3: Fourth of July!!! Per our tradition, we went to the inkom parade and BBQ at scotts grandparents, or grandma and grandpa great, as the boys call them. And as usual, the kids had a blast. In fact we had so much fun, we didn't take many pictures. We just enjoyed ourselves. But we got an awesome family shot. That evening we went to my parents for a small firework show and making balloon animals. Spending the fourth with family is my favorite. 

Cache has started taking pictures with my phone. This photo is courtesy of him. (Not sure why my iPad started typing in red underline.... Sorry. It's too late to try and fix it.)

Day 4: Mennear/Merrill BBQ. My mom borrowed a blow up water slide from a friend and the kids had an absolute ball. We enjoyed talking to family we haven't seen for some time and eating good food. It was wonderful. 

Day 5: Sunday. We relaxed. Mostly. We got up and went to church with Scott's parents and then hung out at their house for the afternoon. We then headed to our nieces 2 year old birthday party and enjoyed more family time. I came home dropped the kids off and took Scott to the airport. 

The kids and I will be here for about 3 more weeks and are looking forward to a nice long vacation full of more fun and family.