We were so excited to have Tyler (a.k.a. "Taco" since that's what AA called him from the beginning of his time here) fly out and stay with us for two weeks this summer! We packed a lot in while he was here!
Our good friends were so kind to offer to take us out on the water. Everyone had a blast...even Anna and Audrey loved tubing! Sadie and Nate tried wakeboarding for the first time and LOVED it! Ash pulled a muscle on one of the wild tubing rides so she wasn't ready to try the wakeboard. Next time! It was a beautiful day on the water.
Dave and I took Tyler and Sadie to the Denver temple early, early one Saturday morning! It was a special date and they were all smiles in this picture because they knew we were heading to donuts.
It makes us smile to watch Anna and Audrey use the little table Dave made for Ashlyn's first birthday. They love to draw and it's looking like they both might be lefties (Audrey is for sure a lefty).
Audrey and Anna LOVED Taco and he loved them right back. After Tyler went home, they went around the house for a few days calling out "Taaaaaco" while looking for him.
We took Taco with us to visit Blanche, our 95 year old friend.
We decided to be a little crazy and take the kids camping (the crazy part was taking 2 toddlers camping). One of my worries before we adopted was that we wouldn't be able to do "older kid" activities if we were tied down with a baby (make that two!). I was determined to not let that get in the way of enjoying things with our older kids. It wasn't the most relaxing camping trip but everyone had a good time. No doubt the highlight was the game Ash and Sadie taught us from girls' camp. I don't even know what it was called but we were all laughing so hard.
Everyone spent a lot of time by the river. We were lucky to have perfect weather.
Nate got a really cool glow stick/flashlight from a friend for his birthday. One night Nate tossed it in the air (quite high) and it got stuck in the tree. This picture doesn't do justice to the height. My goodness. I felt so bad for Nate that he wouldn't get his glow stick. It was stuck for sure. Then Dave said "I'll go get it." Just getting on the tree was a challenge. It was sure entertaining to watch. Dave got high enough but the stick was too far out on the branch. So we threw him a roasting stick and Dave was able to grab the glow stick with that. He was the hero of the night, for sure!
Tyler really wanted to shoot a snake while here. Dave took him on many hunts to find a snake and they kept coming home empty handed! Well, I guess that's a good sign that they aren't wanting to be near our house! Tyler's two weeks were up and we were getting ready to drive to Utah to pass him off to his family. Dave had a morning church meeting. He was still hoping so badly to find a snake for Tyler, so he threw his snake catcher in the truck just in case. Sure enough, on his way home, he found a rattler about 1.5 miles out on the dirt road. He called me telling me to hurry and get Tyler outside and ready! I couldn't believe the sight of Dave driving up with a snake catcher with a MAD rattler in it! It was exciting to say the least! And Tyler got his rattle souvenier.
While in Utah, we had the wonderful chance to meet up with dear friends! Shauna, Lisa and I were all born within a week of each other (same year) and we've all been good friends since we were 5. It's been too long since we've all gotten together. We also got to see another good friend, Kristin, but sadly we never got a picture with her!
Audrey and Anna
The kids made a cool rope swing while we were camping. Everyone loved using it!
There was one relaxing part of the camping trip! Dave took the older kids on a hike up a steep mountain right by us. Anna and Audrey were napping in the tent. I sat with my feet up on a camping chair and read until I dozed off. It was soooooo relaxing...and then they woke up!
