Spjute Family Fun

Last week was a week of fun with the Spjute Family.  As usual, we packed a lot in in our time together.  I think its safe to say that everyone had a great time.  This is the first time we've had every single one of us together in like 5 years, so it was definitely long overdue.  Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before this happens again.

We started out the week at Lagoon.  My kids were soooo excited for this.  They all even chose to have Lagoon be one of their birthday presents.  They loved it, and it was especially fun to be there with cousins.  Zack and Kate went on all of the big coasters.  I even got to experience Cannibal with them.  Loved it.  Sage is my timid girl, and although she's tall enough to go on all of the rides, she was more than content to hang on the kids rides.  It's been years since I went to Lagoon and it was a lot of fun to be there with the kids.

Wednesday was Sage's birthday.  Finally!  The poor girl is the last of the birthdays, so I think it feels like its never going to be her turn.  She chose to go to Kneaders for breakfast and got the all you can eat french toast.  Well, all she could eat was like 4 bites.  Good thing I didn't order anything.  She's my little bird eater, lots of small things all day long.  She played with friends and then we took off for camping at Tanner Flats.  This isn't her first birthday where we've headed off on an adventure.  I guess we tend to vacation in August.  She was so excited to be camping with family on her birthday and requested a special birthday pirate adventure.  I managed to convince her that she didn't need a big cake (trying not to feel guilty about this).  Instead we took cupcakes with frosting for all of the cousins to decorate.  I think it was a hit.  Can't believe my baby is 7!!

We had a great time camping.  It was so much fun to spend more than a few hours together.  I especially loved watching the cousins have so much fun together.  It brought back a lot of fun memories of camping with my cousins when I was a kid.  We took a break from camping to go to the aquarium.  Toby's dad was nice enough to give us a bunch of passes to use.  We had a great time.  None of my kids had been there before.  Camping was full of fun hikes, food, games, food, campfires, food, rock climbing, and of course food.  We Spjutes always make sure there is plenty of food at our gatherings.  This is probably not a good thing, but I don't see it changing so I'll just enjoy it;)

Anyway, I'll let the millions of pictures tell most of the story.  A big thanks to my dad and Kathy who brought all kinds of fun games and worked hard to keep fun things happening for the kids.  They also put on an epic pirate adventure and even brought a bunch of glow sticks that the kids loved.  It was so wonderful to hang with the family for a while and I'm sad that its over.  Thanks for a great time everyone!

Sage crying after a small roller coaster ride.  Not my child.

The Tweens

So stinkin' cute

Lagoon fun!

Soaked after Rattle Snake Rapids

Birthday cupcake decorating

Happy Birthday Sage!!

Campfire nights.  Wish I could go back

Shark tank.  I'm sure Zack was thinking all manner of facts about sharks at this moment.

Sage managed to have fun with the boys even though she says she, "still likes girls better."

Pirate Sage

Albion Basin (we made the mistake of doing this at lunch time and not bringing snacks.  The kids were definitely hangry and deemed it the "worst hike ever")

We made it to the top!  

Finally all together!!!

Grandkids!

Zack at the top of Lisa Falls (someone fell and died here the next morning.  Its a miracle we had not injuries)

Kate made it to the top!  This is a big deal because she gets really scared climbing.

Zack does not get scared climbing

This is how you look when you wake up at 4:30am

The view from the top of their hike

The Home Stretch

We're in the home stretch of summer.  We've survived most of it and school is in sight.  Good thing too.  I think we're all breaking down a little every day.  My kids are fighting more.  They somehow find it impossible to go to sleep before 10:00 or wake up before 8:30.  This is going to make the start of school really fun.  The things they've been doing to stay busy no longer seem as fun.  I no longer have any patience to entertain them.  Really, I don't understand why kids need to be entertained these days.  I don't remember being entertained when I was a kid.  We were on our own, and that was cool.
I'm actually freaking out a little that we only have three weeks left.  This week has a lot going on, next week has even more going on (camping with my family which will be awesome) and then we'll be into the final week of summer freedom.  I'm not gonna lie, the silence that will exist in the house the first day of school will be amazing.  Beyond amazing really.  But I am dreading the morning rush.  This year Zack has to leave for school at a little after 7:00.  This is 90 minutes earlier than what we're used to.  90 minutes.  That's a lot of minutes.  Those minutes mean that I will now have to wake up in the 5's to work out.  The 5's people.  That's way too early.  It may kill me.  There will be weeping and whaling and gnashing of teeth I'm sure.  So, even though I've lost patience with everything lately, I'm trying really hard to take a deep breath and enjoy every second.

In other exciting news, Zack got the priesthood last week.  It was a great experience that he was excited about.  Today was his first day of passing the sacrament.  He was nervous but did a great job.  So far his comments are that "deacons quorum is really different than primary."  True words.

Beautiful Cottonwood Lake

We went on our one vacation of the year.....for three days.  While its a definite bummer we couldn't get away for longer, we all enjoy Cottonwood Lake so much that I think we're ok with it.  One of the reasons we love it is because of how remote it is.  You can't drive into town easily, so you're pretty secluded.  There's also no cell service anywhere close by, which is double awesome.  We especially had a great time this year because we were able to camp with our cousins.  We don't get to see these cousins very much, so it was really great to spend time with them.

Kate and Sage had tons of fun playing with their cousin Chloe.  They spent hours swinging each other in the hammocks and doing crafts.  Who knew you could craft while camping?  Definitely not my idea of fun, but they loved it.  Jake's birthday was on Saturday.  He and Zack went on a 13 mile hike.  Jake is so excited that Zack is finally old enough to do things like that with him.  They're already planning their hike up Timp.  That night Jake took Kate fishing and she did great!  She caught a decent sized fish and loved it.  When they got back we had some chocolate cake.  Jake declared it his best birthday ever.  Awesomeness.

This year we took a raft with us to use on the lake.  We had great fun in it, although I learned that I'm not so good at rowing.  The first time we went out Jake had Zack and I row.  It took us a second to figure it out and the girls were screaming because they thought we were going to go over the waterfall.  That would have been exciting.  Right before we left we went out on the lake one last time.  This lake is ice ice cold.  Freezing.  Kate said she was thinking about jumping in.  Next thing we knew she was in the lake.  Then Zack followed, and even Sage.  It was hilarious.  They were so proud of themselves and Sage made sure they got an extra treat for their efforts:)

We had a really great time, were able to relax, and really loved spending time with family.  It was a perfect trip:)

And I can't end this post without saying that Zack turned 12 the day before we left!  I can't believe I have a 12 year old!  He's so excited to get the priesthood this Sunday.  Although he admits he's nervous to pass the sacrament.  He's such a great kid and we love having him in our family.  He's a super hard worker.  Love that I can count on him to help.  He's pretty mellow and goes with the flow (we are starting to see some teenage complaints though).  I also love that he's pretty much incapable of telling a lie.  I always know that whatever he tells me is totally accurate, which is awesome.  Zack chose to have root beer floats for his birthday instead of a cake, which makes him my favorite at the moment:)

Snuggling in the morning.  I kept having to wake everyone up at 9:00.  That never happens!

First ride on the raft

Our awesome camp site

Beautiful Cottonwood Lake

Rope swing fun!

Kate and Sage rowing

Wet from jumping in the lake.  Sage wasn't sure what to think about it all

Beginning of the extreme hike

They hiked really high.  Beautiful!

Love this picture

Kate, Chloe, and Sage

Water balloon fun

Kate's first fish!

They spent hours playing in this creek

Some serious crafting