One Last Week

We are officially back in school.  Summer is no more.  But we sure crammed a lot into our last week.  Summer definitely went out with a bang.  We went and played at the lake, went to Cowabunga Bay, and spent the weekend in Sun Valley, Idaho.  It was awesome.

We've never gone to Sun Valley as a family before.  It was definitely a last second trip, but so great.  We decided to just get a hotel and not worry about camping.  We wanted a super relaxing trip, and that's what we got.  We took our time on the way up and stopped at Shoshone Falls.  Very beautiful, but in the time we were there Zack got stung by a wasp and Sage fell and scraped her knee and got a big goose egg (or goose bump as she called it).  Shoshone Falls were not good to us.

Sun Valley was beautiful, although a bit smokey.  The kids spent hours swimming in the pool and having a great time.  I spent hours relaxing by the pool and having a great time.   Jake and I managed to go mountain biking, each of us by ourselves, but at least we got to go right?  We spent lots of time walking around the little shops, playing at a park, and really doing whatever we wanted to.  Saturday night Kenny Loggins did a concert at Sun Valley.  We listened to some of it for free on the grass.  Nothing like a free concert:)

It was a great weekend.  The perfect ending to the summer.  And now we're already in the thick of school (well the kids are while I eat bon bons on the couch).  More to come on that…

Sage getting the most of her drink

Zack is always so excited

Kate got her ears pierced!

Shoshone Falls before tragedy struck

Waiting for the concert to start

Right after this Sage jumped off the rock and was shocked to land in water - she didn't realize it was a water fall.  Pretty funny

More Birthday Fun

The last couple weeks have been full of more birthday fun.  Good news all around though.  The first good news is that I managed to survive birthday season and I'm done for a year.  I don't think Jake fully appreciates what birthday season entails.  He's not impressed.  The other good news is that I think all of the birthdays were a big success.  Everyone had great birthdays, which I don't pull off every year.  A definite.

Kate's birthday always falls around Heber Fair Days so she always gets parades and rodeos around her birthday.  This year she got the special treat of having her cousin Megan come stay for a couple of nights.  I think that pretty much guaranteed a good birthday for Kate.  And then we managed to talk the family into coming to our house on her birthday (Sunday) for dinner.  It was good fun.

Sage's birthday is a national holiday according to her, so I definitely feel some pressure to make it good.  I felt so much pressure this year that I actually did a birthday party for her.  This party was super low key.  Definitely not Pinterest worthy.  But the girls all had fun and Sage loved it, so that's all that matters.  They made some bead bracelets, played with balloons and bubbles, and decorated cupcakes.  The party ended with a dance party.  Jake walked in right in the middle of this.  He was amazed at the dance moves and is really looking forward to future dance parties (said with great sarcasm - he thought it was great but I think it was all he could do to not turn around and run out of the house).   Sage's birthday concluded with pizza and brownies, enjoyed with Grandma and Grandpa Spjute.  I think I somehow managed to give her the "best day ever!"

We have managed to do other things besides birthdays the last couple of weeks.  We went to the rodeo (well, Jake took the kids while I stayed home and made a birthday cake - a perfect arrangement), the parade and fair.  We got to watch a lot of the Tour of Utah professional bike race.  That was a lot of fun.  Especially fun because they ride so close to our house and even rode right past our house on Sunday.  I also went to my 20 year high school reunion.  Yes, I am old.  Really old.   Sage thought I was going to come home with a cane.

Anyway, that's how we've spent the first couple of weeks of August.  We're bracing ourselves to start school in a week.  I'm both dreading and super excited for this.  Not looking forward to the craziness it brings.  The lazy days of summer are nice.  But all of my kids are in school all day this year and I have to admit I'm looking forward to it.  Everyone asks what I'm going to do now (apparently I must get a job or something to have any worth now that my kids are in school).  My answer, I'm going to sit on the couch and eat bonbons.  Jake is especially excited for this new occupation.

Peace out.

on the ferris wheel

best car ever

heavy heavies for Kate

don't look too close at the cake, but Kate sure is cute!

tour of Utah fun

Awesome free stuff including getting nails painted

Zack mixing a smoothie by riding a bike

birthday party fun

intense decorating of cupcakes

there is some cupcake under the candy

awesome dance party

Sage is 6!

Cottonwood Lake

We did manage to go camping for more than one night.  My kids were so excited to not come home the next morning.  We even managed to go for three nights, and we picked the most beautiful place in the world to do it.  It's called Cottonwood Lake and it's right outside of Star Valley, Wyoming.  We learned about it when we visited family in Brigham City.  Apparently my mom's family had a cabin there while she was growing up.  I remember her talking about it a few times.  They showed us some pictures and it looked beautiful, so off we went.

The lake was surrounded by pine trees.  There were natural springs everywhere and just a thick growth of trees and bushes.  We got to see lots of wildlife too: a mama moose and her baby, deer, rabbits, kangaroo mice, and a huge owl kept watch over our campfire one night.  We all had great fun.  Jake had fun fishing in his float tube and caught lots of fish.  The kids had great fun exploring, playing games, and riding bikes.  We went on a couple of hikes and walked around the lake multiple times a day.  We even had our own polar bear plunge in the lake.  The water was cold, cold, cold.  But all of the kids got totally wet just for an extra ice cream sandwich.  Crazy kids.  Their faces were pretty funny.  We had a couple of good bike wrecks.  Sage went crazy down a hill and got scraped up a bit.  Then Zack caught some good air on a jump.  He landed the jump fine but then went off the trail.  He slammed into a rock and flew over his handlebars.  I thought for sure he was dead.  Miraculously, and it really was a miracle, there were no broken bones or big injuries.  I will be forever grateful for helmets though.  The back of Zack's helmet (the thickest part) cracked all the way through and the strap ripped off on the inside.  I don't even want to think about what would have happened without a helmet.

Anyway, other than a couple of mishaps we had a great time.  We'll definitely be returning to Cottonwood Lake!

Cottonwood Lake - so beautiful!

Trying to get up the courage to get wet

Zack did it

Kate mostly did

This is Sage's attempt

Zack pre-wipeout

cracked helmet

Summer Stuff

We haven't gone on any big vacations this year, so I've been trying to do fun things every week around here.  Sage rode up Memorial Hill on her bike for her first time.  This is something we've done with each of the kids when they're about 5 and its great.  Just hard enough that it's a challenge, but pushes them enough that they feel good when they do it.  We've gone on little hikes by our house.  There are plenty of those around here.  We went on a Sunday drive through the mountains and picked lots of wildflowers.  I've never seen as many wildflowers as this year.  They're beautiful.  And one weekend we went to Brigham City to visit my mom's family.  I always love doing that.  It's so great to visit with everyone.  My cousin has an amazing house with a little orchard, an awesome garden, chickens, goats, and donkeys.  The kids love it and even got donkey rides this year.  It was a great day spending time with family.

Sage conquered Memorial Hill!

My biker gang

Oh yeah, Jake had a birthday!

The overlook hike

Feeding the donkey in Brigham City

Aunt Barbara in the background, with Heidi and Sofie, Alicia and Owen, and Season and Sierra

Kate holding the Sofie burrito

There are no words

My little mexican

Pretty wildflowers

Festival Days!

I love Farmington Festival Days.  It's got all the makings of a great weekend:  a race, a parade, and yummy food.  Doesn't get better.  Kate and I ran the 5k again with cousin Megan and Uncle Toby.  The girls did great.  Kate's a trooper of a runner.  She keeps pushing along and then has an amazing kick at the end that always gets her to the finish line fast.  I hope she keeps running so we can run together more.  She finished in just over 30 minutes and got second place in her age group.  Go Kate!

We had Dad's who hash casserole for breakfast and then rolled to the parade.  I love the Farmington parade.  They threw so much candy that the kids finally stopped picking it up.  A sure sign of a great parade.  The kids spent some time on the slip 'n slide after the parade and then we had a lunch of hot dogs and watermelon.  My kind of lunch.  Zack wanted to celebrate his birthday there (since Festival Days are in honor of his birthday) so we had birthday root beer floats per his request.  I was happy to oblige since that's way easier than a cake.

And in case you were wondering, we're now entering birthday season in the Jorgenson household.  In the next month we'll celebrate four birthdays.  Yes, four.  Deep breaths on my part and prayers in my behalf would be appreciated;)

Grandpa can't make a pancake too big for Zack to finish

Uncle Dan may have been doing a dance to get chocolate

slip 'n slide fun

Birthday root beer float

My running buddy Kate

Kate and Megan after the race