Bryce Canyon and Cousin Time

Sean and Heidi are in Utah right now and my boys have had so much fun playing with their cousins.  We've been able to spend a lot of time with them over the past week.  We went to the Hill Airforce Museum and Maddox one day then went and saw Michael's new baby.  

We went to Hatch with my parents, Sean, and Shelley.  We went down a few hours earlier than everyone else and week took Amy with us.  My boys had so much fun with her.  We stopped at the Scipio petting zoo on our way down and the kids loved it.  They didn't want to leave.  The loved the bunnies the most.  

When we got to Bryce Canyon we ate lunch then went and did a hike near Tropic called the Mossy Cave.  The cave itself wasn't that impressive but there was a waterfall on the hike that was really cool.  The kids loved playing in the river.  It as really hot and Jackson was kind of grumpy but Amy, Link, and Bubba didn't want to leave.  

After Mossy cave we went to Bryce Canyon.  We walked around the overlook for a while until Sean and Heidi got there then we hiked the Navajo loop.  Parts of the trail were closed so we just did a little of it.  The kids actually did really well.  Hiking back up the canyon was kind of steep but the kids did so awesome.  Harrison and Ethan hiked almost the entire way up themselves.  

After our hike we went to Hatch and met up with my family.  That night was really rough I only got 2 hours sleep between kids waking up and the fact that it was so cold.  The kids woke up early because it was just freezing.  The kids were kind of grumpy the whole day and I was really grumpy because I was so tired.  It was my birthday and I feel super old.  We went and rode side by sides on a guided tour.  It was really fun.  

That night we went to red canyon with my mom, Shelley, and Sean's family.  I actually liked Red Canyon better than Bryce Canyon it was great for little kids and really pretty.  We hiked around near the visitors center and even saw Smokey the Bear.  Harrison was obsessed with Smokey.  Bubba and Ethan were so cute hiking together.  They kept saying "We have to wait for our people."  They were so cute they're the cutest little friends.  Harrison kept telling me that Ethan is his best friend and that he loves to play with Ethan.   

On our way back to Hatch we drove up to Losee Canyon we found a really fun trail called the Arches Trail.  It was a beautiful trail and probably my favorite hike we did on the whole hike.  The boys had so much fun.  Jackson was really good and just loved hiking which is rare but when it happens he's a lot of fun to hike with.  

After our fun little hike we went to the balloon fest in Panguich.  It was honestly  not that exciting.  Jackson did get to light the fire on a balloon basket.  After the balloon festival we drove home and luckily the boys slept most of the way home.  It was a really fun trip and the boys had so much fun with their cousins.  

June Update

Jackson

We just celebrated Jackson's 8th birthday!  I can't believe he's so big!  It's seriously so crazy to me.  He's getting baptized on Saturday.  He's been doing really well lately.  He really likes to read if I let him he'd stay up all night reading with a flashlight.  His favorite books are captain Underpants and Dogman.  He loves video games and Pokemon.  He loves to swing and jump out of the swing.  He loves swimming.  He is starting to swim really well.  He can go off the diving board and swim all the way to the edge.

For Jackson's birthday we just had a small party with a few of his neighborhood friends.  We just barbecued hot dogs and the kids played in the backyard.  We bought a couch and we had a bunch of giant boxes from it and the kids just played in the boxes and made little forts with them. 

Jackson has been really sweet with Bubba lately.  They've started playing a lot more and Jackson gives him piggyback rides a lot. 

Lincoln

Link has been really struggling lately.  He's been having a really hard time with summer.  He's just not getting any sleep and he's so grumpy.  He's been so mean lately.  When he gets mad he just hits people or slaps them really hard right across the face.  He's been so mean to Jackson and Bubba lately.  It's been a rough summer so far.  I'm kind of excited for school to start.  Link just does a lot better with a routine and he just doesn't do well without sleep at all.
Link just finished TBall.  He really liked it and he was a really good player.  He is so fast that he was usually the first one to the ball.  He had  a couple of friends on his team so he really liked it.   

Bubba

Bubba is getting so big.  He is so funny!  He's really started to love playing with friends.  He really likes his cousins his age and he loves his neighborhood friend that is his age.  He's also been really struggling without getting enough sleep.  Summer has just been so hard to get the kids in bed and Jackson just doesn't need as much sleep as the other two its tough to get them to sleep and let Jacks stay up later.  Bubba loves cars right now.  His favorite toys are little mini toy cars that come with little tracks you can build.  Bubba thinks he's so big.  He follows the neighborhood kids around and just thinks that he's 10 years old.

Bubba refuses to potty train.  I've tried a few times and he just won't do it.  He hides and has absolutely no desire to potty train.  It's kind of rough I'm getting kind of sick of dealing with diapers.  

Poor baby face planted in the driveway. And in this pic he had the stomach flu really really bad and threw up like every 20 minutes all night long.

Jackson's BDay party

box fort at Jackson's BDay party