most years we try and get up to sun valley as a family on chris' side. his parents have a condo up there so it makes a great get-away destination!
we got up to hailey, idaho at around 1 a.m. on friday the 4th and crawled into bed in the hotel room that we shared with nickie, nickie and their kids.
we woke up early on the 4th to get breakfast and get ready for family pictures! *(separate post!)*
the rest of the afternoon was fair game to do whatever you wanted. chris and i went flea market shopping for a bit with our kids and got a couple trinkets (a hand-crocheted dark pink doiley for olivia's room, $3) and some freebie knitted finger puppets. there were several other things we would have loved to buy, but not this year. other ideas were logged away in my brain for future projects.
on the way back to grammie and grandpa's we saw a beautiful rose bush along someone's front yard fence and took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of the kids.
then back to the pool for some relaxation, cooling down and fun. the weather was beautiful all weekend, hot but with a nice idaho breeze.
uncle spencer swam in the pool for hours with brady and lexi after the rest of us were pooped out and headed back over to the flea markets for more browsing.
Brielle tried the water out for a bit but the chlorine was a little strong for her eyes. she happily sat and watched and played with aunties and uncles instead-
Evy got all snuggled up in towels when she was done for the day-
and chris got silly with the towels!
chloe loved dancing through the splash pad-
ah- so nice to kick back and relax!
in the evening we had a BBQ of hamburgers and brats (how many men does it take to run a grill?!)
and then headed over to our usual spot to set up for the fireworks and kept the kids entertained with some homemade muddy buddies, coloring books, glow sticks and glow swords. they ran around and had a blast. the fireworks show seemed shorter than usual, but it's always fun to watch fireworks as a family.
i realize that since i'm usually the photographer i don't get very many pictures of me with my family- need to work on that!
grammie and grandpa took the kids back with them that night so the adults got to sleep in a little the next morning (about 8 a.m.) got breakfast and ready to head to beautiful red fish lake!
one of our very favorite spots in idaho! sparkling, cold, crisp water, snow-capped mountain views and hot, soft sand! we would love to camp up there someday (when i get that camper!...)
it's always fun to float around, if you're not ready to take the plunge into the frigid water!
and wait until you are brave enough to bear it!
i think everyone got in this year!
and renting a paddle boat, kayak or canoe is also a must-do! sometime in the future Chris and I would love to get kayaks too!
Chris, Zach, Chloe, Evy (can barely see her) and Grammie
the kids play in the sand for hours on end
and at the waters' edge catching minnows and finding treasures-
brady was digging in the sand and found this cool plastic shark! it makes a great diving pool toy!
(i think he looks just like chris here in the picture when chris was his age!)
and grandpas' sit in the shade holding babies-
that's a wrap at red fish folks until next year!
when we got back to the condo we congregated at the pool with some pizza and then the adults all went at watched a movie at the clubhouse theater while grammie and grandpa took all of the kiddos back to the condo for the night.
sunday morning we all got up and got ready for church and attended sacrament, which was a wonderful testimony service. then we had lunch back at the pool, played games while the kids swam and had a restful afternoon.
playing spoons!
we tried to do a tie dye project with the kids, which kind of failed. we needed to do a lot more of the spray colors and then squish them in really good. i'm going to re-attempt these with my kids. so no finished project or proudly wearing them right now!
grammie and grandpa did a fun treasure hunt for the kiddos that ended in them finding their own special treasures which included bubbles, little personal fans, a box of animal crackers and other small trinkets.
we had delicious shish-kabob dinner with dad's famous dutch oven potatoes for dinner, followed by a huge birthday party to celebrate all of the june and july birthdays in the family!!!
chloe- july 10 (age 5), chelsae- july 7 (21), olivia- july 21 (age 6),
dad- july 26 (59), chris- july 21 (35) and tim- june 29 (31)
we celebrated evy's too since hers was at the beginning of june (age 2)
another night of fun and everyone tired out!
chloe and olivia modeling their new elsa dresses (from the movie "Frozen")! that grammie and grandpa gave them for their birthdays
monday morning we woke up and went fishing (not as early as we should have- it was HOT!)
zach and evy used their little nets to catch "fish"-
chris teaching zach to fish-
grammie caught the most fish (and displaying the wild flowers olivia picked her)-
after having some lunch at home the kids decorated their own special plates to keep at sun valley while the adults packed up-
the time had come to say good-bye! these cousins have become pretty good friends!
we headed home to utah and nick and nickie made their way to their new home in north dakota!
"HaPpY TrAiLs!!!"
