::blessing baby clayton::

The day after we got back from Idaho we got to enjoy little Clayton's baby blessing. It was so fun for Kris Max and I to get to be there for that.
Little Clay is so cute, and so friendly. He was always smiling and talking to me and I loved it.

I took some pictures of Kari's cute little family before the blessing, just for fun. And they turned out great. I love the little boys in green with their blond hair.



Grandpa and Grandma Jeffery came up for the blessing, so I took an opportunity to capture the two Claytons together.

So cute.

It was so nice to be there with the family, to be part of it all and see everybody. It's always so special to see the strong wonderful priesthood holders in the family come together to uphold strengthen and bless a new little one. Thanks for waiting it for us Kari! And you sure did make a cute little guy!

::ideeeeho::

No, my E key isn't stuck down. I don't think it is anyway.
We headed home from Lava Hot Springs a little before lunch time. We had Kari's minivan, and then another that we'd rented, so we could fit all the silly kids and equally silly grownups.
Grandpa Ken decided that we absolutely needed to pull off the road somewhere in Idaho--Malad maybe? He had driven through before and had seen this fence--miles of fence with a boot on every post. I've since heard there are other fences like that, maybe closer to home in UT, but anyway, he had to see it.
So we stopped. And got out to take some pictures.


I have to admit, though weird, the boot fence was pretty cool.

While out exploring we realized that the rental van had a low tire. Which soon and suddenly became a flat tire. In trying to find the spare we ended up taking out all our luggage. And the kids thought it would be fun to mess around on the side of the road.

Max and Parker, so helpful, opening and closing the doors, and putting extra gravel under the flat tire.

Everybody else tried to be helpful, but it took us a long time to locate the spare and to get it on. I didn't try to be helpful, besides banishing the kids to the other van. I just took pictures.
It was picturesque, though hot and dusty.


We drove into town and luckily there was a tire place right there. The guys took the van over there and the rest of us went and had lunch in the smallest hottest yuckiest burger king ever.
Turns out the tire had really big problems--problems that were most likely there before we ever picked it up from the rental place. The guys were able to get a new tire while we got lunch, which was lucky. It was also lucky (probably more like a blessing) that we were able to have the flat tire happen on the side of the road, rather than a big blowout while we were driving on the freeway. That would've been a scary way to end our vacation.

We finally got back to Highland. It was a fun trip and we were glad to make it back.

::scenes from laaaaaava pt 2::

I'm just completely ignoring the fact that this was all a month ago. At least I'm posting!
Anyway. We stayed at this funny little bed and breakfast kind of place in Lava Hot Springs when we were there. They had about 5 or 6 hot springs pools around the building. The kids were in heaven. The day we left I guess they were refilling the main pool in front, and so the water level was a little lower than normal. This meant that the big boys didn't need their floaties and they could go crazy.
Speaking of the boys, they all woke up SO excited.  They just wanted to get into the pools right away.  They really had a blast.

Here's the funny mountain hill thing that looked like popped up right behind the pool.

and the pool:

Like usual, the pool looked really gross because of all the minerals in the springs, but luckily, _unlike_ other pools like this we've been in, it was nice and clean. And it was truly heaven for the boys. They could've just swam for an entire week straight--well swam and just come out once in a while for red vines and chips of course.
Grandpa Ken always coaches little boys in weird kinds of jumps.

I just asked Max what kind of jump this was and he said "the belly-flop." I guess I wasn't there when we was taught that one.
Parker was a great jumper too.

Max says the next one is called the "daddy jump."

There were some really beautiful flowers around the hotel and pools, we enjoyed those for sure.



After the swam we packed up our stuff and headed back in the mini vans for home. Now that's a whole nother story...

oh, but not before a little big boy fun:

::lunch::

It was so cute the way he had peanut butter and jelly smeared across his face in a big line. The sad news is that as soon as I brought out the camera he started wiping his face (on his shirt of course). I guess it means he's growing up--that sense of self and self consciousness just isn't there when they're littler. Kind of sad. Kind of fun though too I guess.

This last one was posed by the man himself.

::::

Some things I like tonight:

the beach (I didn't get any photos today, we were having too much fun)
sweet husbands who mow the lawn
bubble mowers


dogs that aren't as stinky as usual
fuzzy little friends that request group photos

evenings that actually get a little cooler, yay!

::beach!!!::

We finally made it to the beach last week with some friends from church as well as some friends from Kris's work. It was really fun.
Max and little Natalie (one of the new resident's daughters) hit it off quite well. They spent about an hour in a muddy pit in the sand, throwing sand at each other and generally having a blast.




Natalie is so adorable!
It was great. They were occupied, and as long as they were throwing sand at each other they weren't throwing it at anybody else!

The beach we went to was one I hadn't been to before. It was good for little kids because the waves were really small. That made Max think he could go way far out though, since things were relatively calm, so it made me nervous. I finally got him to just float on his boogie board not too far out and that was fun.
It was nice to go and get a break from the heat. The ocean breezes feel lovely, and the water is just cool enough to feel great!
We're heading out again tomorrow. It may be our last visit since school starts next week, and hopefully the weather will start cooling off a bit soon. But it could be crazy crowded tomorrow considering that everybody's going to be trying to get the last bit of summer fun in. I guess we'll see. It'll be fun either way. We're used to the crowds at the beach out here.
It's so fun to go to the beach with friends. We sure do miss Melissa, Grant and Angie though!