Island Park 2009

**WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES**

We just got back from a little family vacation/nielson family reunion/Brooke and Max goodbye party/Isaac and Brandon birthday party. In the past five days we have been in six different states (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming). We stayed at my Aunt and Uncles cabin in Island Park, Idaho and had a great time. We did lots and lots of this....

My boys just couldn't get enough (and that included Shawn).

We did a little relaxing.

'

and the girls enjoyed some time with Grandma.

My mom had lots of fun things planned for the kids.

The kids loved the campfire.

We went to Yellowstone. We were stuck in HORRIBLE traffic that about drove me mad and this is what our drive was like...

We stopped for a picnic along the way, but our picnic was a little too close to the water and the kids could not help but jump in.

Old Faithful and some Geysers.

Our next adventure was Shawn's favorite :). We floated down a river on rafts, but our raft started sinking pretty quick and so Shawn ended up dragging us down the river.

We stopped at a cute little cabin built in the woods surrounded by wildflowers and a river. It is a no fishing area so the fish are huge. We saw trout bigger than two feet long.

more fun back at the cabin.... (and check out the hot wood cutter)

What a fun weekend. Thanks mom and dad, we love you!

Last Day of School

Shawn is at the gym and I am sitting here eating a bowl of ice cream with the kids. I know, I am one classy lady, but seriously someone has to watch the kids :) So I thought I would blog about Ethan's last day of school today. He will soon be a first grader and go to school all day. I am excited for him, but a little worried about him eating lunch at school. He is such a slow eater and SOOO picky, and you can always tell when he had cupcakes at school because he comes home with frosting all over his face and clothes. Hopefully some nice teacher will look out for him and tell him to wipe his face :)

A new school was just built by our house and Ethan will be going to it, but most of his good friends from Kindergarten are staying at his old school. So we had one more last celebration today after school with his Kindergarten friends at Chuckee Cheese. We had lot's of fun. Ethan made so many great friends and we are sad to leave them. One of Ethan's best friends was a cute little girl named Makenna. They sat by each other the whole year and had so much fun. Ethan wanted to get her a gift for the last day of school. We went to Walmart and he chose this cute little silver bracelet. He went home and wrapped it up with a cute card he made and gave it to her at school the next day. After school I asked Ethan if Makenna liked her bracelet. He said that she said she liked it and gave him a hug (then he started blushing), but then the other girl on their table said she wanted a bracelet also. Ethan asked me if we could go back to Walmart and get another bracelet. I said he can only have one girlfriend at a time :)

...And here's to the kids favorite past time in the evenings. Stripping down to their undies while Dad sprays them. I was busy trying to fix a hole dug under our fence by the neighbors pitbull. It kept barking at me and about scared me to death so I quit and decided to take some pictures instead.

Hiking

We got bored this afternoon and decided to try some hiking. It was hot, but I came prepared! The boys got tired pretty quick, but Liv and I had a good time. The end of the hike had this pretty pond. Too bad it said no swimming or I am sure we would have jumped in.

Here is a cute picture my sister Brooke took of my mom and dad on a hike down in Southern Utah over the 4th of July weekend. Aren't they cute!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

This morning was Ethan's Kindergarten Graduation Program. He was so cute! He stood up there singing and dancing. I was so proud of him~Love you Ethan!!

and a little post-graduation celebration at the waterpark...

parade and more fireworks.....

We started out at the 4th of July Parade.

Here was the highlight of the parade....the motorcycles.

They just made my boys so HAPPY!!

Anxiously awaiting the fireworks

and a little fire blowing from our friend ( a skill he proudly learned on his mission)

Happy 4th of July!

We just couldn't wait until tomorrow.

After our trip to the firework store we just had to do a few tonight....