CRAMER Bros.Trip

A few weeks ago we had a bunch of Cramers drive out from California for the annual Cramer brother back-packing trip. This time 6 out of 9 of the brothers made it. Not bad!

 My brother Steven and his wife Kathy were also in town from Oregon, so as soon as the Cramers left they came and stayed with me to keep me company while I was a single mom for 4 days. We kept so busy and had so much fun that the time actually flew by.

Here are some pics of the cousins playing together. Mikayla was in heaven playing chase and tossing the ball with her two boy cousins while we had a weenie roast and cobbler made by my awesome hubby with his new dutch oven.

                                                                                   Kathy with new baby, Emmalee.



This is my hottie with his new military-style haircut. I was cutting it to the normal length and he told me to do a #5 with the clippers, so that's what he got!









Mikayla and Teagan watching a movie after a long day playing in the dirt.

Here they all are right before they took off into the Uinta mountains for the trip. Kent, Kraig's older brother, took along two of his older kids and one brother Kliff brought his dog.  All in all, there were 6 men, 2 kids, and 1 dog. 

While they were gone we visited Thanksgiving Pointe, which has a lot of fun stuff for kids.

The Dinosaur Museum

Mikayla didn't appreciate the Triassic period-like sound effects or the dim lighting with huge dinosaurs looming overhead. We went this time last year and she was fine, but I think there's something about being 3 - 4 where their imagination really kicks in and they get scared more easily.

After the museum and lunch, we visited the "Country Farm" which has farm animals to see, ponies to ride, play prisons to hang out in, etc.

This goat couldn't resist Ashlynn's tasty shoe.

My cute sister-in-law got really excited about the baby goats.  She used to have them for pets at her home in Kansas.  Haha, you can just see the glee on her face. :)

We got to ride in a horse-drawn carriage.

The next day we hit the Thanksgiving Pointe Gardens, which are immaculate, beautiful, and huge.  It was a really hot day, so we hit it in style!  Cruised around on this golf cart for an hour and a half (totally worth the $25 in my opinion) and Steven and our friend, Joe Thiriot, rented Segways and had a blast!

The next day the Oregonians left, the Californians returned, and we got to hang out with the happy Cramer crew for one more day till they all headed back home.  It was great to see so much of our far-away family, thanks for coming you guys!  (Pics of their backpacking adventures will follow....maybe I can even convince Kraig to blog a bit about it)

July B-days

"Happy birthday America!"

This is what Mikayla shouted when I told her it was FINALLY the 4th of July.

We have a tradition of doing the local 5k run at 7am on Independence Day.

Then we go get the kids and head to a local breakfast diner.

Then on to the local fair for some (HOT) fun for the kids.

;)

We took much-needed naps, hit the parade, BBQ-ed, then of course, watched the fireworks.

We usually aren't real big on parades (unless it's a Disneyland parade or the Rose Parade)....they're a bit boring in our opinion. But this year, we had a lot of fun mostly because Mikayla was getting into it and getting lots of free stuff...like a fire fighter hat and a frisbee and a lot of CANDY.

Up until this parade, Kraig didn't know that it's common for the paraders to throw out candy. Well, we got a lot of salt water taffy thrown to us and NOW he's a fan of parades. My silly guy. ;)

Mikayla hates loud noises. When we were about to get out of the car to watch fireworks, she started to panic and insisted she wanted to stay in the car to watch. After we convinced her and she started to watch, she was dancing, singing, jumping around, exclaiming out loud, and having a great time, to the point that when it was time to go she insisted that she wanted to sleep right there on the grass and never leave. Sigh. Kids....

We also had a blast celebrating Kraig's 34TH birthday this past Saturday. He's an old man now! I pretty much spoiled him the entire day. He likes to make a big deal out of my birthday, and surprise me as much as possible, and so I have over the years tried to do a better job at surprising him. He's a lot better at it than I am though.
So, anyway, I as his super wife slaved away the entire day for him (with an injured foot I might add....but that story is for another day)
1. Made breakfast burritos and waffles
2. Took the family swimming
3. Had roast beef melts and watermelon for lunch
4. Opened presents (I gave him a dutch oven, which he has been asking for for a while.....and he has cooked in it 3 times already...win, win situation I'm thinking. 'Why didn't I get him this last year?' I ask myself.)

Mikayla gave him candy bars, a lego creation, and a handmade card.

5. Had cheesecake
6. Got a sitter and took him out to dinner (Sushi - he LOVES it)
7. Took him to see "Avengers". No, we hadn't seen it yet. Yep, it was pretty good for a guy movie. I appreciated the comic relief.
8. Enjoyed coming home to a quiet house and not having to put the kids down (or as I heard one woman call it, "Whack-a-mole" because they keep popping out of bed)

I love my man. I'm grateful to his mama for giving him life and raisin' him right. He treats me so good, makes me have laughing fits, provides for our family, and is a sweet and silly daddy who enjoys life.