Birthday Boys. . . better late than never!

My big boys turned 9 and 13 this year!

Kris wanted "a red birthday without a cake"!

Done!

And the theme for birthdays this year was backpacking equipment. . .

Kale became a TEENAGER!

What?????

And again. . . the only request. . . no cake.

What about a cake made out of his favorite soda and favorite candy bar?

And all that backpacking equipment came in very handy on the BIG BACKPACKING TRIP the boys went on this summer!

And this is how I spent my weekend. . .

checking up on them. It was great to be able to see where they were every couple of hours and make sure they were all OK!

So happy the boys are finally big enough to go with their dad and participate in one of his great loves!

BACKPACKING. . . 

and after looking at how amazing all the pictures are I'm almost convinced that I need to go next year!

6 months late . . .

So, I was uploading pictures to the computer which got me distracted and I spent the next few minutes scrolling back through months of pictures. . .

So fun.

But, it made me realize just how far back I haven't gone with this little blog of mine.

I'm ok with it.

I have way bigger things to feel "mom guilt" over than not keeping up with my blog,

but I do love the outlet this little blog gives me so before the holidays and before I start blogging about fall again I am determined to prove we had a summer. . .

Found this fun one . . .

and I realized I blogged all the way through Kody's first year except for his 10th, 11th, and 12th month!

So we will start there!

10 MONTHS

Oh this boy. . .

He began to really give hugs and become super cuddly and I loved every minute of it!

11 MONTHS

At this age he kept us very busy. . . 

But when he smoothered me with kisses it was all worth it!

12 MONTHS

Could not believe how fast that first year went!

I was convinced I had the happiest baby in the whole world.

He loved to play!

(and he learned how to take his diaper off. . . If he didn't have pants on. . . his diaper wouldn't last long on either!

One of my favorite pictures. 

Because he has three of his favorite things:

grandpa, outside and baseball!

So we fast forward a few months to today!

We take a lot and I mean a lot of these!

And he loves them.

All you have to say is "bath" and he runs right for the bathroom!

It's easy to see why he needs all the baths. . .

he is happiest when he is outside and dirty!

But then the boy loves his bed! 

Almost as much as he loves his bottle!

These little eyes have opened mine to what Motherhood is all about!

It only took me 12 years and 4 kids to figure it all out.

(OK I probably don't have it all figured out. . . )

but 12 years ago I would have stressed out about blogging this post 6 months late. . .

but not now!

I have learned to enjoy the little moments. I have learned to be happy even when chaos is all around me. I have learned just how quickly my children will grow up. I have learned what joy it brings me watching my other children have just as much fun with this little boy as I have! 

I have learned just how much I miss my mom.

I have learned that being a mom gets harder and better at the same time.

I have learned to LOVE being a mom!

Our Anniversary Trip. . . with the kiddos!

 Last week we took a little impromptu getaway to celebrate our Anniversary. . .

 and we took the whole FAMILY!!!

All 6 of us to celebrate 16 years of being a FAMILY!!!

 These are the views that welcomed us into the park. . .

And this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. . .

I loved how the mountains could absolutely mesmerize my boys. . .

The first day in the park we hiked, and hiked and hiked. . . 

We were told by a very "funny" bus driver that the hike up to vernal falls was very easy going mile and a half until you get the bridge. . . so we decided to take the mile and a half hike as a family and then let the big kids travel the other half of the hike up to the falls.

That easy mile and a half. . . not so easy. I was so impressed with my little family for making it. . . especially Karalyn. 

Kyle and Kale decided to make the rest of the hike up to the waterfall. . .

And I took the other 3 back down the mountain. . .

We took a lot of breaks. . .

But when the scenery is this majestic. . . I didn't care that it took us so long to get back down!

After the hike we just got in the car and drove around the park. . . we would stop and pull over a lot. We were in and out of the car a million times and it was amazing.

The kids were so funny. . . they were always telling us to take a picture since it was our "anniversary"! 

They were so fun to make the trip so special!

As the day began to end we headed to what would be our little cabin in the woods for the night. . .

On our way out of the park the sky began to get very dark. . . but it wasn't sunset yet. The trees had an eery glow to them. You could tell there was a fire somewhere but we had no idea how close it was or where it was. As I was driving I felt that with every corner I turned I was going to run right into the flames!

We came to a turnout in the road and we could finally see the fire on a ridge. . .

We pulled over to get a better view of it. . .

There it was. A little fire on the side of a mountain.

We watched as airplanes were already there dropping the red retardant on the fire.

We watched for a few minutes and then finished our drive to our cabin.

Cutest little cabin. . .

It was so nice to have a kitchen. . . a bedroom and a super cool loft for the kids to sleep in!

We ordered pizza in. . . and took a hayride to roast marshmallows before heading to bed!

The next morning we woke up ready to tackle the park again!

The kids surprised us with orange juice in fancy glasses as Kyle and I were sitting out on the deck!

We decided we were going to have a less physical day in the park and we started out the day by swimming and cliff diving at Rainbow Pools just outside Yosemite!

Kris actually started the cliff jumping. . . 

the cliff he jumped from was over 20 feet!

Then the boys got brave and wanted to jump off the 30 foot cliff. . .

but I made Kyle go first to make sure the water was deep enough. . .

Then it was Kale's turn. . .

that's a long way down. . .

and it took him a long time to decide to do it!

But he finally took the plunge. . .

and then we couldn't keep him off the cliff!

As we headed back into the park the skies were clear and blue and it was a beautiful day!

We thought they must have already put the fire out. . .

but we drove by and it was still there. It didn't look any bigger. And we continued into the park!

We took it super easy this day and took more of a walk, than a hike. . . 

to Mirror Lake!

This little hiker was in much better spirits than the day before. . .

The kids were dissapointed that there was no water in the lake,

but. . .

It gave you some of the most spectacular views of Half Dome from the back side!

It was beautiful!

And of course the children made us pose again!

They are not the most romantic pictures. . . but I love them. . . and I love that my children took them!

We ended the day in the park eating ice cream cones and taking in the scenery one last time. . .

We headed home. . .

knowing school awaited us the next morning!

We watched the sun set on our little trip. . .

and our summer!

**That little fire has now burned over 100,000 acres and completely burned our little swimming hole. . .

We still cannot believe we watched that little fire in its earliest hours. We never would have guessed the devastation it would soon cause over the next few days.

We are thankful for our memories!