SuN VAllEy (out and about)

It was fun to be out enjoying nature with the family (especially since Tyler has started back at the hospital again). Sun Valley is a beautiful place to spend a weekend (but WAY too expensive to spend much more!).

Sun Valley/Ketchum were fun little towns to walk around and in and out of the unique shops. The kids especially loved the caramel apple shop and the art gallery that had a GIANT wooden chair as well as a few wooden flamingos and other animals out front. ( I don't know if you can tell, but Coleson's face is CoVereD in caramel, and he's holding the stick :))

It's a little hard to see because of the lighting and the need to quickly take a picture before I could really check to make sure my camera was on the right setting, but Coleson gets complete JOY out of feeding other people, especially Addellyn. He seems too little to be feeding himself a sandwhich, let alone his sister...and then he giggles with glee when she actually takes a bite.

Grandpa and Dad thought they could trick him by putting his little feet in the freezing water, but instead, he loved it and the girls promptly took their shoes off to join in the fun (until at the end, they were all completely SoAked!)

VaCAtiON to SuNVaLLEy (around the house)

We decided last minute (as soon as Tyler knew he had a few days off) to meet Tyler's parents in Sun Valley for a much needed vacation. We had a wonderful time at the annual craft and art fair, the free symphony concerts, shopping around town, and just hanging out in our nice condo!
We watched a lot of Olympics there in the condo... Coleson especially loved to cheer America on! :)

Makinzie gave an excellent family home evening lesson on being grateful, and she was very happy (and grateful) to have evryone's un-divided attention!

The kids loved swimming the best. We went out to the pool every day that we were at the condo. The pool was just outside our front window and Addellyn begged to go swimming every time she looked out the window, no matter the time of day (or how cold it was).

We could also see the ski slopes from our front window, as well as while we were swimming. The mountains were green and beautiful. It was so fun to be up in the mountains again.

Summer fun with friends!

There are all kinds of fun activites to be a part of at the parks around town. We went to a free outside family movie night, there was a giant blow up screen as well as a ton of people. The idea was intoxicating for the girls, but the excitement wore off and we were a little too far away to hear the movie, so Addellyn ended up being wild and we had to leave after only about 45 minutes :). (Makinzie was watching intently and I had to promise we would rent the movie another time.) They still had fun eating snacks and playing with Ben and Cate.

The days have been hot, but there is plenty of free water around here! It's wonderful!

We left a lot of good friends behind this summer, but during July we were able to spend some time with our good friends from NC: Kaye, Ben, Cate, and Oliver. We are so glad they are around. Hopefully we can play more as soon as summer travel wraps up...we have missed them this last month.

Ready to go and lookin' good!

Getting ready for church is quite the event around here. However, this is one time that we were all ready soon enough that I could snap a few pictures before we headed out the door...it is a lot easier when church is only two blocks away rather than 15 miles...


Coleson's favorite riding toy and a great place to keep him still and away from the stairs while the rest of us try to get ready to go (one of these days he is going to flip his whole body over the top of it...he's quite the dare devil...or maybe he's just a boy!)

Makinzie and Addellyn love going to church...Makinzie really loves to learn and SiNG. Addellyn loves to "play with friends." They sure are adorable!