Birthdays Part Two!!

We made it through all of our birthdays!  Hooray!!  Kate and Sage both celebrated theirs in August.  Kate got to celebrate hers in Bear Lake with the whole family.  She got a huge birthday cake with lots of people singing to her.  Before her birthday we had a shopping day.  We got her lots of cute clothes and even stopped at the makeup counter for some makeup tips.  Then we went to my hairdresser for a trim and some cute hair style ideas.  It was definitely a birthday for a tween!  I think she liked it but is a little unsure about the lack of toys.  Kate is the compassionate one in our family.  If anyone is hurt or sad she's the first to try to help.  We love her giggle and also love listening to her play the piano these days:)

Somehow I survived Sage's birthday.  If this girl doesn't have a business organizing then she should be an event planner.  She loves planning events and is the one who makes holidays and other special occasions fun in our house.  She's been talking about her birthday since the day after her birthday last year.  I finally had to forbid it from being discussed until she got out of school.  So I was feeling a lot of pressure to get it right.  Luckily, she was very specific in what she wanted to do, which was very helpful.  Her BFF Kami came over bright and early for waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  Then we went shopping.  We got some clothes, stopped at a toy store, and she got her ears pierced.  She's been begging to get her ears pierced for years, so this was a big day.  We went to lunch and then we came home and she and her friend watched Descendants 2 and ate popcorn.  We had pizza for dinner with the grandparents and cousins and then presents and cake.  Phew!  Needless to say I was exhausted by the end of the day.  Sage brings a lot of fun to our family.  She loves life and makes everything a party.  She helps us smile and do fun things more.

Birthday Season is over!!!

Kate learning how to do makeup

I think those cousins want some cake!

It begins bright and early!

Ears pierced!

Best Friend necklace

The heavies

Bear Lake!

The whole Spjute family actually got together for a few days.  I mean the whole family.  Including 10 day old Henry and his tired mamma.  It was a Christmas miracle for sure.  We had great fun eating good food (of course), visiting ice caves (most of us), holding babies, and talking a lot while doing those things.  With mouths full of food of course.  Some family friends let us use their beach and water toys, which was especially awesome because there aren't any beaches this year because the water's so high.  So we got to drive past all of the poor souls on their 20 feet of beach and laugh....or at least be glad it wasn't us.  The Jorgensons got to try paddle boarding and kayaking for the first time (on a lake that is).  We loved it!  Paddle boarding is harder than people make it look, but fun.  Sage loved getting in her own kayak and paddling all over the place.  She's a water girl for sure.  A bunch of people went to the ice caves in Paris (Idaho that is).  Some of us tried to go to the caves, ended up at the wrong place, and went to get a shake instead.  The shakes lived up to their reputation by the way.  We tried three different places and decided Zipz was the best.  Yum.

We went to the Raspberry Days parade.  Officially the best parade ever.  In addition to throwing out tons of candy, they also threw out mini shakes and I scored chips and salsa.  Doesn't get better than that.  We had a camp fire one night, and every night we got to learn about ancestors.  Grandpa told ghost stories, but kids are tough these days.  They were not phased by them.  Or maybe Dad is getting old.  Probably a little of both;)  Jake and Greg and I went mountain biking one morning.  Greg wouldn't let me take any pictures.  I'm glad I have one sibling who will mountain bike with me.  It was a fun trail.

I loved being together with everyone.  We all had to work hard to get there (some more than others), which meant there was some stress while there.  But I think we handled it, ate chocolate cake, and had a good time anyways.  Its good to know that we can enjoy being together even when things are hard.  I'm sure that next time we get together no one will be stressed and it will be one big party (right).  I love being around my little nieces and nephews.  Its so fun to play with them, but I have to admit it's pretty great having older kids and not having to worry about things like naps, diapers, melt downs, etc, etc.  I'm getting old, but at least there are some good things that come with old age:)

Cute Sofi

Megan and Kate

The hot tub was definitely put to good use

First round of shakes

Parachute fun

Grandpa wearing weird pirate goggles found on the bottom of the lake

Our own private beach

Relaxing on the patio

Cool animals in the parade

The kids swam in the pool.  A lot

The whole family!

Uinta Camping!

We went on one last camping trip of the summer to the Uintas.  I LOVE the Uintas.  It's sooo beautiful up there.  This year the wildflowers have been amazing.  I love all the pretty lakes and the cooler temperatures.  This year it was only 56 degrees one afternoon!

We camped at Moosehorn Campground.  We were right by a little lake and really close to Mirror Lake as well.  Everyone got to do lots of fishing, and the kids are trying to figure out fly fishing.  Definitely more challenging.  We got the dutch oven out one night and made cobbler.  For some reason it's been a really long time since we did this.  Sage didn't even know what cobbler was.  But it was a hit!  We gobbled the whole thing up in seconds.  Delicious!

It was another great camping trip.  I've really loved our little camping trips this summer.  I think they've definitely been successful and hopefully we'll continue them in the future!

That small dot in the water is Jake fly fishing in his float tube

Beautiful wildflowers

A lot of the hikes have fun bridges to walk on

Dutch oven cobbler!