Montana Lewis and Clark Caverns & Dinosaur Museum

We decided to drive up to the Lewis and Clark Caverns.  Here are the kids playing in the play area while we waited for our tour to begin.

 It was a hot day and a little more of a hike than I thought it was going to be to get to the top of the caves.

 Here are the kids taking a break.  Kara loved hanging out with our kids.  It was fun to have her along with us.

 About to enter the cave!

 My camera took terrible pictures in the dark so not very many turned out.

 There was a lot of ups and downs inside the mountain.  It was a crazy place and there was a lot of bending, ducking, and sliding to get through it all!

 Here is a picture of our whole group, Evan, my stepbrother came up for the day and even Great Grandma got to enter the final room.

 We figured since we won't be back through Montana for a long time that we'd better drive over to their dinosaur museum in Billings.  Tommy LOVED it.  He has been waiting months to be able to see a real T-Rex skeleton.

 I liked how this museum made the white fake bones different so you could see what bones they have actually found and what is plaster.

Cabin Visit with my brothers

I am sad to say I don't have a picture of my brother Jason during the whole week!  I took the kids on a walk out in the woods and we made our own fort.  It was a lot of fun. My nieces are full of energy and imagination!

 We borrowed a 4-wheeler because we thought it'd be a fun treat for my brother's family, but my brother wouldn't let anyone ride it so we went and had fun!  I forgot how fun it is to ride 4-wheelers on bumpy trails!  Here is Tommy and I.

 The beautiful view from the trails.

 Vic & Tucker

 We have to leave a life jacket on Tucker all day because he sneaks down to the lake whenever he can.  He loves it out there! He is our only kid that has done that.

 Tommy and Kara played great together and were good buddies.

 They decided to dig a giant hole that got even bigger.

 Played games out by the lake.

 Evie eating her roasted marshmallow on a piece of watermelon... this picture explains her perfectly... messy, carefree, and fun!  Whitney and Evie were good buddies this trip.

 Here are the kids doing their junior Olympics.

 Tommy got 3rd on the sprint race. I was hoping he'd place in the running to boost his confidence.  He isn't coordinated in a lot of things, but he's a really good runner.

 Whitney and Evie shocked everyone by coming in 1st and 2nd in the mile run.  They were good little troopers!

 MORE games!

 playing croquet in the yard.

 We were too late to get a picture before Jason left, but here is my parents, Ben's family, and our family.

 Picture I grabbed of Tucker and Tommy afterwards. The light was too dark, but they were still cute :)

4th of July Weekend

We headed to the cabin for the start of our 4th of July weekend.  I was busy packing in the morning and Tucker came and told me that he packed all of the food for us.  I asked him to show me what he packed and he pulled out his lunch box w/ a container of chicken, a few loose almonds, and a few toys!  LOL, won't be letting him pack for us any time soon!

 Picture of our family on Saturday before the parade

 Here we are after decorating the truck

 Picture taken during the parade, Chloe, Will, and I rode in the back of the truck.

 Tommy and Evan rode their bikes.

 ...and Whitney, Tucker, and Sam rode in a train behind a 4 wheeler.

 Here are my munchkins trying to get a few pieces of candy after we circled the island.

 After the parade we hit the lake.

 We bought another new little boat for the kids to ride around on.

 I like this picture because it shows Ivy, Whitney & I on the jetski, Chloe on the paddle board, Evan in the kayak, and Tommy and Sam in the raft... lots of fun scattered all over the lake!

 The kids wanted to eat in the tree house for lunch.

 Whitney getting pulled behind on the tube, she thinks she is pretty cool stuff because she can do "tricks".  She jumps her feet up in the air and stands up on the tube.  All the other kids are too scared to try.

 Tucker rode in the big tube a lot last year, but this year he was a bit afraid of it so this tube was just right for him.

 After everyone else had gone inside and showered, these kids were still out there playing in the sand all afternoon.

 The 4th of July was on a Monday so we drove home to do the Idaho Falls parade. We lucked out and got a pretty good spot.

 Whitney is obsessed with candy and she was not shy about running all over the place to grab it.  Here she is running back to us after another candy grab.  People saw how excited she was for candy and would throw theirs back out to her too!

 It was a super hot day so after the parade we spend the afternoon swimming in our backyard and getting some much needed family time.  We've been so busy it was nice to have just our family for a little while.

 We turned the playhouse slide into a water slide and the kids loved it!

 Even Vic thought it looked fun enough for him to try too!

 After we got done swimming we drove out to my dad's house to see my brother Ben's family.  They had just gotten there from Missouri!... The boys loved doing a 4-wheeler ride.

 CUTE cousins all together!

 We didn't get back to our house until late and everyone was kind of tired so we decided to try viewing the fireworks from far away this year... that was a bad idea!  We could barely see them!!

 Afterwards we did a few fireworks.

 The next night we did more when it wasn't so late and Uncle Jason was with us.  The kids loved having him around.