Jordanelle Reservoir

A couple Saturdays ago, we went to Jordanelle, east of us by a half-hour or so.


I was amazed at how busy it was. There are lake people out there with all the toys who just jump in and boat and paddle and swim, and it looks like they do it all the time! And meanwhile I'm like the elephant on Tarzan: "Is this water sanitary? It looks questionable to me!"

The boys dug a swimming hole.

 

And Millie sat in it.

 

 We had a couple minutes with this big floatie, until the family came and dragged it away.

Causey Reservoir

At the end of July, JB and his brother Jeff took their boys on an adventure to Causey Reservoir. It's north of us an hour or so.

They did paddle boarding and kayaking and cliff jumping.

Boys need to get dirty and play outside. And I am kind of a nervous wreck in the outdoors (I just cover too many stories of tragedies and forget how rare they are). So I am glad for JB.

Still handsy

So this is still a thing.

Her last feeding was the day before she turned 2 years old. I was determined not to nurse a 2 year old. But, I think she would pick it right back up if I offered.

Here's a glimpse of  what happened during our photo shoot in the mountains.

Once we get through the busiest time of our summer coming up, I can post more of those family pictures! We have Pioneer Trek, Island Park/Yellowstone, and back to school all looming large in front of us.

Maxwell is THIRTEEN!

We have a teenager!

I was induced the day after my birthday because they feared Max would be over 9 pounds. He was born at 1 in the morning the next day, weighed 8'4, and he hasn't stopped growing since.

He is getting so tall.

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We had three birthday cakes in about a week, but no one complained.

 

New socks.

New bike!

He left Monday morning for Scout camp and won't be back until Saturday, and we miss him so. Andrew and James keep asking where he is. He is kind, talented, funny, and fun to talk to. He worries about his siblings and babysits his siblings, mows three lawns and grows faster at the Rubik's Cube (Speedcube) every day. He is learning new household talents (hint: I got him to start doing some of his laundry some of the time), and is going to be in SBO in 8th grade in just a few weeks!

My birthday

Right after Pioneer Day is my birthday, so it feels like two days of celebrating.


JB made the best cake (I think he used more butter than I do and I am fine with that and I am copying that). And these cute children and JB made me feel special all day. I got new shoes and a necklace and Max bought me a new SpeedCube with his own money.

I had to work on my birthday (next year I am asking it off) but we went to Lagoon and then Incredibles 2 on Pioneer Day, because I had that day off work.

While JB was on The Roller Coaster with these boys (his hat flew off and Max snatched it out of the air), I was on the much smaller Puff roller coaster with the other kids.

Millie hated it.

Happy to see her dad. And chicken tenders.

We met cousins there. Andrew and Aaron were walking together and Andrew told him, "We are not going on the little kid rides, we are going on big rides, we are mans."

 

 

 

Millie is TWO

Spunky, sassy, screamy, and sweet Millie is now two.

She didn't want me to pick her up for the traditional kiss the cheeks picture, she only wanted to stay by her cake.

LOVED being sang to

LOVED the cake - "Pink, pink!" (She loves the book Pinkalicious)

And her brothers loved taking over her new princess castle.

 We call her dolly, tootie, girlie and chickee. She is getting quite stubborn about her clothes and shoes and likes to change them. She goes to sleep so much better than in the past, hallelujah. She repeats anything we say. Any word. The boys laugh at her pronunciation. They are enthralled with her.

It's fun to look back at the others at this age. Max was 2 1/2 when I started the blog, but here are posts about Ben's 2nd birthday, Andrew's 2nd birthday, and James's 2nd birthday.

July 5 and 6

On July 5th we celebrated Nona's birthday with a large gathering at her house -- Papa's sister Harriett had her whole family in town, so second cousins all met again (or for the first time) and had a blast together.


A huge slip and slide was the best part of the evening.

On Friday July 6, we took family pictures up near Alta Ski Resort among all the wildflowers. They turned out so great! Will share those soon :)


That was during the evening, then we hurried back down the canyon to change and go over to see the last of the Bees game and watch some fireworks that we missed on July Fourth (they canceled the big show that we used to be able to see from our street).