Stewart Falls

We took our kids on a hike to Stewart Falls on July 24th.

It was beautiful and not too hot.

Austin tripped over a branch along the trail.

He gives us a little scare whenever he gets hurt.

He seems to hold his breath for a long time,

and appears to almost pass out or have a mini seizure.

He did this on the hike.

But he always comes back in a few minutes.

He can answer questions about who he is and such.

I'm not sure if this is something to worry about or not.

Um . . . Abby is almost as tall as me.

She has surpassed my shoe size by quite a bit as well.

4th of July

We stuck around a little longer in Wyoming so we could be there for the 4th of July festivities.

They have a great parade that is only about an hour long and they throw out candy . . . we can only go to parades that throw out candy!

For the evening, we went up to the top of a hill that overlooks the city, had dinner with the ward the Ben's parents belong to, and watched the fireworks from there. The weather was so nice and we all had such a good time!

Wyoming Rodeo

A couple days before the 4th of July, we went to the Cody Stampede Rodeo.

Abby was here too . . . but off playing with cousins during the picture time :(

Austin stayed with Nana at her house along with some of his little cousins that were too little to enjoy sitting at a rodeo for hours :)

I still can't get over how young some of those girls look doing the barrel racing . . . I would be so scared to go on a horse that fast . . . but I guess if you grow up riding them it isn't a big deal.

Family Reunion in Wyoming

Ben's mom turned 60 last month. So the whole family headed out to Wyoming for a party!

Ben has 10 brothers and sisters . . . and 7 of them and their families were there!

Such a fun time.

Abby Turns 11

Abby turned 11 last month.

She had been planning her party for months!

She did a good job too. It turned out so fun!

She wanted an "evening party".

So we had it in the evening. We served hamburger and hotdogs, had a huge slip n slide going on, along with a sprinkler under the trampoline.

Then we came inside and watch 16 Wishes (I usually don't like Disney Channel movies very much . . . but this one I totally recommend watching!).

Later we had chocolate cake with strawberries and peppermint ice cream. You actually can't buy peppermint ice cream right now . . . at least not anywhere I could find.

So Abby and I just made our own.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Shadow Mountain

Abby was able to go to Shawdow Mountain this year.

It is a two night/3 day camp for fifth graders.

Here is a picture with her and her pack.

I guess she was a little embarrassed about having such a big pack . . . and wanted to take a suitcase? Camping?

At the Hospital Again

It seems like we have had a lot of medical needs this last seven months.

Yesterday . . . we were able to keep that thought up!

I took the kids to Seven Peaks yesterday.

Abby and Halle are old enough and tall enough to go down many of the slides themselves.

So when we go . . . I let them go do the slides they want to and then Gwen and Austin stay with me.

After being there for about an hour and a half, I am notified that Abby and Halle were hurt in one of the slides and that Abby was being looked at by the EMT.

Halle was shaken up and said her head hurt, but she could walk and talk.

When I got to the First Aid station, Abby was laying on a stretcher with a neck brace.

Apparently she had blacked out for a minute after falling off the tube in the slide, hit her head and shoulder pretty good.

They recommended taking her by ambulance to the hospital.

I asked her if she wanted me to just take her, but she didn't think she could even sit up. And I guess where they weren't if her neck and head were injured, it was probably a good idea to not make her move anyway.

She rode away in an ambulance.

I packed up the other kids, called Ben, and met them at the hospital.

Luckily, she checked out okay. No broken bones and neck damage.

She said it will be awhile before she will get back on that slide.

I'm glad she is okay.

While I was at Seven Peaks, I was actually thinking to myself how much easier it has gotten to take them there . . . now that no one is a baby and the two older girls can do some things on their own.

So much for that!