Day Four of Gammi Camp

Our final day of Camp was spent finishing our scrap books.  The kids spent a lot of time and energy finishing them off and they turned out super cute.  After everyone was packed and ready to head home, we made a pit stop at the movie theater.  We saw Planes 2.  

Thanks Gammi for making our summer so much fun!

Day Three of Gammi Camp - Pinecrest

We started Day three of Camp with golf lessons again.  The kids were all happy to go back to the driving range!

After golf, we packed food for the day and headed up to Pinecrest.  It's about an hour and a half drive from Angels Camp and it's right by Dodge Ridge ski resort.  It's a camp ground with lots to do. We got some inflatable rafts and a paddle board and a had a great time!

I must say, rowing rafts can be a little tricky.......I kept rowing too hard on one side and then I would over correct.  I finally got the hang of it though!

 The paddle board on the other hand, was headed in the right direction from the get-go.  It was a lot of fun! The kids sat for a lot of the ride but wanted to try standing up.  They did great! The older kids paddled themselves around.

 Pinecrest is beautiful.  I loved it!

After our day out, no one was in the mood to cook. We stopped by Taco Bell on the way home to feed little bellies.

We finished our night off with a dance party.  I even got the strobe light on my phone going and we turned down the lights.  It was a party fo shore! 

Day Two of Gammi Camp (Natural Bridges)

Day two of camp started out with golf lessons for all the kids.  We asked one of the Young Women up there who golfs if she would give them mini lessons.  The kids loved it!  After that, it was time for our hike to the Natural Bridges.  The hike is about .7 miles each way which was perfect for little legs.  Once there, you can walk into a cave of water and even float out to the center where people could swim. 

The kids LOVED it!  I was unprepared in my regular clothes and no life jackets for the kids.  But one woman was nice enough to let us borrow her rafts.

Gammi took the kids into the deep dark cave where they really wanted to stay and swim forever but instead had to come back out.

There was quite a few people when we were there.  Which was sort of weird since it was a Thursday afternoon....

The older girls convinced me to take them around to the other side where you could also see into the cave (it's not really a cave, more of a natural bridge. Hence the name.)  So this is on the other side where we bravely scaled down a super steep cliff edge with hardly any footholds.  Shayli was on my back.  T'was very dangerous.

 Here is a look up the same steep cliff. Don't worry. We made it unharmed.  Although I was questioning the wisdom of climbing up it.

And Shayli was so pooped out from her hiking that she got a free ride back.  Well, half way.  She got her second wind and finished the hike on her own.

The kids were troopers and there wasn't any complaining about being tired.

When we got home we headed back to the pool with our packed dinner. We finished the day with a swim and then bedtime!

Day One of Gammi Camp

We decided to have a Gammi Camp this year for the kids.  We've done it before but it's been a few years. But I must say, the camps were nothing like this one! 

We started camp on a Wednesday afternoon by heading to Kangazoom.  The kids love kangazoom.  It's a giant bounce house.

When it was time to go, we grabbed snacks from Gammi and headed up to Angels Camp (about an hour and a half).

When we got there, it was golf cart rides and swimming!

We knew we were going to be making scrap books as a craft, so we took lots of pictures so there would be plenty to choose from!

The girls all decided a "mermaid" picture was a must.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to capture the perfect head toss for each of them......

After swimming it was time to set up camp.  The kids wanted to sleep in real tents in the backyard but we decided this would be a good compromise.  The porch camp out.

 All snug as a bug.....

I'd like to say that they all stayed in their beds and went to sleep........but they didn't.  There was lots of bedtime singing and water breaks.  And complaints about weird noises. And then most of them ended up on the floor of Gammi's bedroom.  *Sigh*

Happy 3rd Birthday Shayli!

Shayli is three! And she couldn't be more thrilled!  She shares a birthday with her uncle Brendan so we decided to do a joint birthday party.  And when you have a summer birthday, you have to have a summer party......which means more swimming and BBQ-ing!

We took over Jenni's house (again) while her and Doug were on their Alaskan cruise (jealous!).  We had a great time swimming and eating.  In fact, it seems most fun comes when eating.....or is that just me??

Shayli got some new goggles for her birthday.  She loves them. As well as her new water bottle. These three year olds are certainly easy to please.  It's the older ones who get a little more particular!

At three Shayli is our little sweet heart.  She loves her siblings and is happy to be the youngest one that gets doted on.  She loves to twirl hair.  Especially her mommy's.  Every night  before she goes to bed I lay by her and she tugs out my hair tie and commences to twirl and stroke my hair.  (And I have a confession.....I actually love it too.)  She tries her hardest to keep up with Kyson and does a pretty good job of it.  She is also a sugar fiend and I'm usually telling her she cannot have a cookie for breakfast on a regular basis.  She has the sweetest little voice and has a way of working her way into everyone's heart! (Maybe I'm biased.  But it's my blog so I get to be)  Happy birthday Shayli!

Tahoe Retreat

There are sometimes perks that come along with Ryan's job.  For instance, the time we got an all expense paid trip to Lake Tahoe for the weekend........  ;)  I know. I'm jealous of myself.

We went up Friday afternoon and got there just in time to freshen up and head out to an expensive restaurant with the rest of the group.  (I'm having a brain freeze or I would tell you the name of the restaurant.)  All I know is I had food for three hours straight people.  Three hours straight.  Appetizers galore, salad, entree, and dessert.  Have you ever had grilled watermelon?  Well you should try it.

After that it was almost midnight so it was back to the hotel to sleep off the food.  We got up the next morning and decided to go for a hike.  It was beautiful as expected.  At noon, we headed back to the hotel because Ryan was going golfing on the super nice and super expensive course that is up there.  I, on the other hand, had the the afternoon to myself.  So I read my book and walked around all the little shops. And I found myself some super cute sunglasses.  Which I didn't buy because apparently sunglasses don't fall under "all inclusive."

After Ryan got back from golfing, it was back to another awesome restaurant that overlooked the lake.  It was beautiful and delicious and fun to watch the big boats on the lake.  We had a great weekend!  Thanks Aunt Liz for watching the kids!

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the 4th of July by waking up early and enjoying a pancake breakfast with our Ward.

After that, we hit the pool for a barbeque at Jenni's house.  It was super hot so we were super happy to cool off! We ended the night with our own display of fireworks.  I was ready for bed after all the excitement.

 The next day we headed up to Avery which is in our old neck of the woods.  Just a bit farther up into the mountains.  We had another pool party and barbeque with friends from our old ward.  We are always happy to have an excuse to get together and see everyone!  The kids kept busy riding the Caboda, jumping on the tramp, having a lip sync, swimming and playing in the tree house.  Overall, it was a great weekend with great company! Happy 4th of July!