August 2019

In August, we just kept on "summering". I had all of the boys take swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer. Turns out that my stubborn 4 year old would have nothing to do with a stranger telling him what to do. I even got into the pool with him, but he would absolutely not participate. No way was he going to put his face under the water just because somebody told him to. Well, but the end of the summer, he was swimming from one end to the other without plugging his nose. (Granted the pool was under 2 feet deep).

We had another "Get Out Pass" day. Thomas was a great climber, until it got too high for him.

Ezra has really warmed up to bounce houses.

And all of the boys know how bowling works. Most of the time, we can just go and enjoy, win lose, or draw.

Summer just isn't summer without a Poll Family trip to Bear Lake. This year, my mom asked one of her lifelong friends Scott Priest if we could use their beach house. Well, it was a BEACH HOUSE to say the least. They just finished a week before we arrived and everything was new, and nice.

Cousin time and Grandma's stories are the best!

Lincoln gave himself a mud bath.

Beach day is always MY favorite part of the trip!

There were plenty of kayaks and canoes, for everyone! There was also a giant lawn, pickle ball court/basketball court, and of course, games until all hours of the night. One of my favorite vacations of the year!

Now that Thomas is proficient on his bike, this is one of my favorite views. We went on plenty of adventures through sugarhouse like this.

Three months later and I don't even remember the occasion for this. But the picture was too good to pass up!

We took a Saturday and went to Cowabunga Bay with our Get Out Pass. It was a fun day, but the water was cold and the wind didn't help. But we still stayed until the park closed at 5:30. Oliver loved the water slides, the other kids liked the lazy river.

Another adventure up Milcreek Canyon

We had a small FHE lesson with our good friend Sister Day. She has been joining our Family Home Evenings for almost a year now. The kids love having her around.

Where's Waldo? I asked my niece Madi to take our family pics again before she left on her mission. The kids where quite the posers...I still need to get those prints made. Here's some shots from my phone.

Another Wednesday Service day. We decided to help Aunt Katie who had a gazillion things going on this summer. We took the dog Scout for a walk. It was a blazing hot day, and a really strong dog. But the kids were good sports about the activity.

And our last planned family camping trip was to the Uinta's. We camped at Smith and Morehouse. But first spent the day in the high Uinta's at our annual Wall Lake hike. It was a cool day, but it didn't stop Ezra from jumping into the water.

I love hiking with my boys!

We also made our traditional stop at Provo Falls, and once again, Ezra couldn't contain himself.

These three were brave enough to cross over by the waterfall with me. Brrrr.

We spent the next day at Smith and Morehouse. The boys fished and I tried to float on our new raft...It was too windy and too hard. Hindsight, not a great purchase.

Once again, Ezra loved the waters edge. getting his feet wet and throwing rocks, literally for hours.

Let's face it, we all like to throw rocks into a lake!

After we came home, we cleaned up and went to Chuck-a-rama. This is a new Graham favorite. Ezra loves it too!

 

And just like that. It's back to school time. A small confession. I didn't remember 1st day of school pictures. So this is the 2nd day of school. These boys were anxious to get to school on their own after only one day!

So while the big kids wen to school, we went to the Aviary with Thomas's joy school/play group friends. I love this little group!

We saw an awesome bird show!

This kid, is so big! Just a park day in his big kid clothes.

I've been able to talk Thomas into riding in the bike trailer a couple of times so I can get an intense bike workout in. Climbing the new Parley's trail with these two in toe makes for a raised heart rate. There's a park at the top, so I can catch my breath and the boys can play.

We had our last waffle Wednesday to celebrate back to school. It was waffles after school. Not a great turnout, but we had waffles, fun and saw these 2 giant birds of prey soaring overhead.

We spent a day with my niece Molly. She had an extra week before school started for her and her mom had a wedding to plan and a daughter to send on a mission. So Molly joined us for a day up Milcreek Canyon among other things.

My niece Brynley got married at the end of August. This is the only picture I captured of the event. And let me assure you, it was an event! We spent one evening making the center pieces for the tables. These are Brynley's two grandma's working together.

And because our Milcreek Canyon pass was running out of time, we went up yet again and played in the water. These two better become good little friends this year. Because it's just the three of us now that school is back in session.

After school time is awesome when there is time to play!

Madi's farewell was the day after Brynley's wedding. My boys watched the older boys play corn hole for hours. They finally got a turn to play when everyone walked away.

We fit in another trip to Jordanelle. This time I was sure to put a hat on this kid.

The kid who never naps and never runs out of energy, the dam did him in.

I found a way to go on a very spontaneous trip to Angel's Landing with these two. At Madi's farewell, I was asking her what was left to do before she left on Wednesday. She said she got everything done she wanted to over the summer...except hike Angel's Landing. She assured me she just had to finish packing and she was ready to go. So I talked her into a quick trip down South. We talked her mom Katie into joining us and it worked almost perfectly. We left Monday night around 9 pm. Got to my aunt Doris' by 1, woke up at 5 and we were on the trail by 7:30. We beat the crowds to the top, ate our snacks, made it to the shuttle, then the car and headed home. We wanted to be home by 3 to meet our school kids, but made it by 3:30.

It was a perfect day for a hike!

We squeezed in one last camping trip with Amy and her kids. We went up to the Uintas again, and spent the Saturday at Mirror Lake. Our kids get along so well, once they remember who each other are.

Amy brought the water toys and Ezra was once again thrilled to be in the water all day!

It was a beautiful weekend! I feel so lucky to live so close to such beauty and have four boys to enjoy it with me!