Whitaker Family Reunion

I really did marry into a fabulous family. Anytime spent with the Whitaker clan is a fun time. The Whitaker Family Reunion was great this year. We had about 50 people....we're getting pretty huge! Almost everyone made it this year although we did miss Grandma and Grandpa We were thinking about them the whole time. Grandma is dealing with some health issues right now and we are all hoping and praying for the best.

We went camping up Alpine Canyon over by Mt. Timpanogos. Lee put in so much time and effort getting everything ready for everyone. The food was fantastic and the company was just as wonderful! The kids had so much fun playing with cousins. We went hiking, kayaking, fishing, and just enjoyed spending time together. It was pretty chilly considering it IS August so a lot time was spent keeping warm around the fire! The last night we were there we played a game where you have to spell a word with your hips. Each person is a letter and you have to guess what the word is. It was pretty funny! Here are some of the guys busting a move:

and Aunt Suzan had some pretty killer hip moves as well:

Skip and Logan found this little bird on their way to the reunion. It was the cutest little chick....Kelsey named him Winston. Sadly, Winston died soon after this picture was taken...poor little guy.
After 3 days of fun, we headed home. A couple of little boys I know were pretty exhausted:

We're looking forward to the next reunion in a couple of years!

Back to back to back trips!

We've been gone 10 days yet it feels like its been a whole month! We have been busy busy cramming in the last of our summer fun since Dallin starts 1st grade this week. Boo Hoo...but that's another story which is sure to continue later this week.

We started off by heading over to Rexburg to see Nate's sister Kelsey and her hubby Logan. Uncle Logan took us over to his job site and let the boys drive REAL tractors. Parker's dreams have literally come true! They moved huge rocks and piles of dirt and even busted up some concrete.

Even the biggest Starnes boy was in on the tractor action! After playing in the dirt with the "big boy toys" I mean....tractors....we played with some adorable little farm kittens. SOOOO cute! (Even though I am SOOOO allergic!)

Later that evening we headed over to Idaho Falls to cheer Nate on in the Allan Butler Twilight Criterium.

Nate had an absolutely AWESOME race! He ended up with a very close 2nd place finish! We were all screaming and cheering like a bunch of nuts! I'm not gonna lie....I'm pretty proud of that man of mine. It is incredible how far he has come over the last year and a half.

After that, Nate headed back home and so the boys and I met up with Grandma EE and we cruised on over to Yellowstone for a couple of days. Yellowstone really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We did lots of walking and the kids were troopers about it. We saw buffalo, lots of elk, deer, squirrels and a yellow bellied pot gut. They boys loved filling out their ranger packets and recording the animals that we saw.

Our favorite parts were the geysers, (Old Faithful of course) the paint pots, and the waterfalls. The boys weren't too fond of the sulphur smells though!

Yellowstone is one of EE's most favorite places in the world. I know it was HER dad's (my Great Grandpa Carlson's) favorite place to go and so I was glad that she could share her memories and stories of Yellowstone with my kids. We had some stressful moments which is bound to happen with 3 boys in tow but overall it was a fun trip and I am glad that we made the time to go.

After Yellowstone it was time to head to Utah for the Whitaker Family Reunion.......that post to come later..............

BOYS CLUB!

I feel like a slacker in the "play date" world this summer. They boys have been asking for months if they can have this friend or that friend come over.

I decided to nip it all in the bud by hosting a "BOYS CLUB" party at the house. What do you do at a boys club party you might ask yourself? EVERYTHING BOY!

Here's what we did:

Built stuff with sticks and glue:

We made gack/slime/flubber. Whatever that sticky concoction is called:
Took shirts off and flexed after we playing with fingerpaint:

Went CRAZY playing with shaving cream:

Played some water balloon games:

Which of course was followed immediately by an out of control water balloon fight.



Then we enjoyed some dirt and worms for a snack:

Then it was time to send all of those energetic and NOISY little boys HOME!!!

I realize that I must technically be a little insane thinking I could handle 10 boys by myself. Luckily my siblings came over to help with crowd control! It was such a blast...I think I had just as much fun as the boys did!

This boys club meeting is adjourned!

We love RS!!

Roaring Springs is our favorite summer "stay"cation destination! Thanks Jas for coming along to help out with the boys. Even though we decided not to get passes this year we have gone a few times. We probably won't go again this summer so I just wanted to post a few pictures!

Run into the ground.....

My sis took this picture of Parker from our last boating excursion and I decided it needed to go on the blog. He is SOUND asleep and stayed that way for a good long while! He is definately all STARNES...those boys can fall asleep anywhere at anytime. All of this summer sun can really wear a guy out!

My afternoon project

We bought some barstools for a screaming deal 2 years ago when we moved into our house. They were on clearance at Target for about $18.00 each. I didn't LOVE them, but they would work just fine for 2 little boys who were excited to eat up at the island in the kitchen.

I thought that the microfiber seats would hold up alright...or at least I hoped they would.

2 years later......it doesn't matter how hard I scrub, the food, marker, glitter glue, grape juice, and pen stains will NOT come out. It disgusts me every day.

My mother in law suggested I recover them. Today I finally did it. I took the old microfiber off and gagged when I saw how nasty it was underneath. 3 boys really did a number on those babies. I found a cute print and put some heavy duty PLASTIC over the top of them. I staple gunned until I got a couple of blisters on my hand and VOILA......here they are:

I LOVE them now!! I keep thinking about all the TIME I am going to save cleaning up after meals!! Good idea LeeLee....I should have listened to you earlier!

Twilight Criterium

Summer is here in full swing. We are trying to enjoy it and not complain too much about how HOT it has been!! Friday we went to Settler's Park with a bunch of friends. It's a really fun park with a bunch of water features. We haven't been over there since we first moved back to Boise. I wish it was a little closer to our house but it is well worth the 20 minute drive. The kids loved it!Saturday night was the big Boise Twilight Criterium race downtown. The temperature on the asphalt was a sweltering 116. Nate was SO excited to participate this year. He did such a great job throughout the race but unfortunately took a fall with 4 laps to go. He is fine but very disappointed to say the least. O well....it was a blast cheering him on. We are very proud of him. Jared (his friend and fellow riding buddy) took first place! We had lots of friends and family come and cheer all of our guys on! We were all screaming our heads off! The boys favorite part was playing in the water fountain over at the Boise Center on the Grove...heck, it was so hot, I was even running through the fountain!

Our Silver City Adventure

Grandma EE (my Grandma) is so much fun. I am so lucky to have her in my life. She is always ready for an adventure at the drop of a hat. Last year while reading through a Family Fun magazine, I came across a little day trip idea. It was all about this little old ghost town called Silver City, Idaho. I called EE and told her all about it because I knew that this was something that she would love to see.

We took off this morning about 9am. We packed water and a few snacks and with our MapQuest map in hand we were ready to go we hit the road. The first 50 miles of the drive were no big deal then we hit the windy dirt road. It was the LONGEST 15 miles of our lives. We were driving on a one lane road up a scary ledge and we had yet to see one other vehicle ANYWHERE. After driving by the sign that said, "Warning, you are accountable for all fees associated with search and rescue beyond this point" I decided to check and see if we at least had cell service. :) Luckily we were good.

About halfway up the mountain we ran into quite a site. A SWARM of Mormon Crickets. That little bug that climbed into Nate's ear the other day was NOTHING compared to these gigantic monsters. The boys were LOVING it. They were laughing and screaming that this was the BEST day of their lives. The crickets were literally 4 inches long. We just plowed right through them with the car...crunching right along. (chill up the spine)

Two hours later we finally arrived in the city. Unfortunately the little hotel that we were planning on having lunch in was closed. Silver City IS a ghost town but there are a couple of little shops that are opened in the summer...but only on the weekends. So we just poked around and looked at some of the old buildings. There was a really cool old church, school house, general store and other little homes that have been around since the 1800s. We threw rocks in the stream and ate our snacks before we left to head back home.

We stopped in Kuna at the BEST little Mexican restaurant on the way home. Immediately after lunch we stopped at the car wash to get all of the bug guts off! It was disgusting.
What a fun day!

It's time to get up!

Alarm blaring, crying, puking, kids fighting, these are just a few of the ways I have been awakened from a good nights rest.
Yesterday though....we had a couple drastically different wake up calls.
First off at about 5am Dallin comes running in our room with blood all over his face. Poor kid looked like he had been shot. After cleaning off his whole face it was determined that he just had a pretty bad bloody nose. He has never had one before and was therefore freaking out about it. We had blood all over our bathroom floor. It looked like a crime scene. After calming him down and stopping the bleeding we all went back to sleep.
One hour later Nate jumps out of bed screaming and hitting his ear with his hand. He was yelling, "There is a BUG in my ear! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" I couldn't stop laughing. I really was concerned about him but honestly.....the way he was dancing around shaking his head, I couldn't help myself. I thought maybe he had been having some sort of crazy dream or something. He said he could feel it crawling around and buzzing it's wings deep down his ear canal. I get the heeby jeebies just thinking about it again! He started spraying water in his ear and I ran to get the bulb syringe. A couple of good sucks later we got the teeny little beetle out.
This isn't a great picture, but that is the bug on the ledge. SICK!


After that, we were up for the day.