Summer tradition

This favorite(family) Summer tradition is 8 years strong. Our very first family trip to Kings Beach was when Garrett was just a few weeks old. Garrett is now 8 years old. We love this Summer tradition, it is one of our absolute favorites for sure.

We spent a gorgeous day on the shore of Lake Tahoe. The boys were armed with their string, hot dogs and fishing nets. They headed over to their favorite dock and began collecting crayfish by the buckets. This was the 1st year that Brody caught them all by himself. He was thrilled and giggled the entire time.

There was plenty of picture taking.

Dock jumping.

Boat rides with friends. It was fun to visit with the Jones family!

Hanging out on the shore with friends.

Playing in the sand...lots of sand.

Yearly family photo on the shore of our favorite lake.

We are already dreaming of our next visit!

lake day

One of our favorite Summer activities is to head to Lake Tahoe. This Summer flew by and before we knew it, the boys had started school. We realized that we had not enjoyed a day of play on the lake. On a whim, we decided to head to the lake. We were thrilled to have our friends, the Pinney's join us. It was a perfect California day. We spent the day playing in the water, fishing for crayfish, soaking up the sun, building sand castles, eating, reading books and enjoying each other. Perfect day in my book.

We have had a wonderful Summer, filled with many adventures. I can't believe that school starts in about 2 weeks for our boys. It just doesn't seen right to have to start school in August, let alone the 2nd week of August. We are trying to cram as much as we can in, as our Summer is flying right on by. We are having so much fun and are not ready for it to end. My goal is to catch up on blogging all of our Summer adventures...stay tuned.

On the lake

We enjoyed a fun outing to Camp Far West today. It was our first visit to this lake. We loved it! When we left at 7:45 in the morning, it was cold and dreary looking. As we made our way towards the lake, the clouds began to part and the sun decided to peek around the clouds. It ended up being a perfect day on the lake. Warm sunshine, with a cool breeze = perfection. It was a wonderful day with friends.





This cute little munch was happy to be the passenger on the boat. He wanted nothing to do with the tube rides.


These boys just wanted to be pulled and flung around the lake. They kept giving the thumbs up sign because they wanted to go faster. They had so much fun!


Sienna wasn't too sure about riding with the wild boys who just wanted to go fast:-).


Holden found the perfect seat on the boat, he crashed and took his nap right up next to Sandi!


Again, he was just happy to be on the boat...the one that was moving slowly!


Garrett, Tanner and I went out for one last run! We had a blast. We laughed the whole time as Jason zipped us all over the lake. We caught air and got wet!

A big thanks to the Packer's for a super fun day! We had a blast!

colorful yumminess

I have had this image saved/waiting on my computer for over a year now.



















Just dreaming and waiting for the morning when we would have some extra time to make some of our own. My friend, Amy posted this recipe, with her version of these colorful pancakes. We decided to make them for dinner this week.The boys thought they were great and well, I love anything that is colorful.

















Next on our "to make/create" list...















YUM!

Our Summer is off to a great start. They boys have been busy with baseball practices, All Star tryouts, movies, birthdays, soccer camps, a Summer job(for Tanner)...it is never too early to earn your own $. Our favorite activities thus far have included a little of this





















and a little of that.












We have driven past this Shaved Ice shack several times this Summer. We finally stopped today and the boys were in heaven. So far, they have given the Root Beer and Pink Bubble Gum flavors two thumbs up.

What has made your Summer great so far?

to do list - Summer 2011

After brainstorming for a bit and trying to do anything to will the warmer weather to join us, this is what our family decided we would like to do this Summer. I should mention, this list is in no particular order.

* cement slides
* scout Camp
* Lake Tahoe
* B&N reading club
* Farmers Market
* Twilight Camp
* Baker Beach
* Ride bikes from the Golden Gate Bridge down to Pier 39
* Folsom Lake
* bowling
* soccer camps
* go camping at Memorial Park
* Drive In movies
* make homemade lemonade
* water Park
* celebrate Garrett's birthday
* All Star games
* Six Flags
* picnic in the park
* Aunt Raimi Camp - cousins over to stay for a few days
* Read. Read. Read.
* find the Shaved Ice Shack and enjoy the different flavors
* keep journals
* teach the boys to cook
* science Experiments
* F.H.E. in the park with friends
* slip n' slide
* soccer tournaments
* berry picking
* Sacramento Temple at sunrise for a devotional
* swim days at the A.C.
* swim lessons
* water balloons
* Santa Cruz(Friday night concert on the beach)
* make rainbow pancakes
* family bike rides
* water fights
* Concert @ Sleep Train
* Sunsplash
* make fried green tomatoes

We realize our list is lofty. We are really hoping to put a big dent in our list by Summer's end. We will keep you posted. Bring on the SUN.

on the shore

We enjoyed a beautiful Cali day at our favorite Lake Tahoe beach. The weather was perfect. The company was great. The water was refeshing and there were smiles all around.It was fun to have a few of our favorite families join us. Between the 6 families, we had 20 kiddos. That simply means lots of F-U-N!

{Brody had already escaped this photo}

It is always a treat for me to visit with my girlfriends.

{love these girls}









aaahhhhh...another perfect Summer day.

6 Flags FUN

We have season passes to 6 Flags-Marine World. I don't think we have used them as much as the boys would have liked to this Summer :-). We were able to squeeze a trip in today. We opened and closed the park today (10:30 am to 8:45 pm). We brought our good friends, Jake & Katelyn with us. We walked a total of 7.25 miles today. It was a long, fun day!













It is a good thing we walked 7 plus miles today. We ended our day with a few of these to share (Funnel cakes)...YUMMY!

summer tradition

One of our favorite summer traditions is having my nephews, Malakai, Kannon and Jace came to visit. We love when we get to have them for days straight.


We rode bikes, had Nerf Gun Wars, Air Soft wars at the wetlands, root beer floats, swimming, Popsicles AND...

They jumped on the trampoline and had water fights...several times a day!




They ate. Oh boy did they eat.


We hit the bowling alley for a few frames.



We played at the water park.



We hit the cememnt slide...weeeeeeee!




We made forts and moved the air mattress to all corners of the house. I am pretty sure they thought it was a portable trampoline.

We had a great 4 days. My boys are already planning the 2011 summer activities with the cousins. We are looking forward to it.