Tony Grove

We went to Tony Grove on Saturday. It is sooooooo beautiful. We love to go hiking there as a family. We go hiking there at least once a year. We take pictures of the kids and have a great time. Tony Grove also has a lake and it is beautiful. So this year instead of hiking as far as we normally do, we decided to hike to one of our favorite spots and take some pictures then come back to the lake and kayak with some friends. The place we hiked to is full of wild flowers this time of year and it is incredibly beautiful. The lake was a little cold but the boys managed to get in and swim around a bit. The girls and the adults all stuck to the kayaking and sitting around chatting in spectacular surroundings. It was fabulous. If anyone wants to come kayaking, come on up. We are always looking for an excuse to play! Of course it has to work around all the ball! Actually as a little side note, Katie, Cole and Connor are all finished with their baseball seasons. Connor's team won twice before they lost to the #1 team in the tournament. It was a single elimination. So they are done. Andrew's team is still going in their tournament. He, along with his team is doing very well. He has pitched twice and is doing great! The tournament continues this week so I will keep you posted. Andrew has also been invited to play on the All-Star team. So we have a few weeks of baseball left. I love it! I have such a fun time watching my kids activities, even though I may be a little more vocal then they would like sometimes! But someone has to keep the umpires and referee's in check...right?!

4th of July in Delta

We had so much fun! The weather was great!!! Usually it is really hot, but we had cloud cover most of the weekend. We went to the parade and the kids collected a ton of salt water taffy. (Why can't they throw good candy like, bit-o-honey's, smarties or more tootsie rolls?) After the parade it was off to the fair at the park. Grandpa Finlinson posted the colors for the patriotic program while we all looked on. Then the kids took off to play on all of the inflatable toys. Cole wasn't feeling very well so after Layne and I talked to some of our friends, I took Cole back to Grandpa & Grandma's house so he could nap. The other kids stayed with Layne and went to the new event at the fair...fishing with your hands. They had a big shallow pool that they put fish into for the kids to get in and catch a fish with their hands. I thought they would be fairly small fish. I was wrong. Connor and my niece Miranda both caught fish and brought them home. (Andrew caught one but a boy took it after he flipped it onto the grass...oh well.) When they called to me to see the fish, I was really surprised. They were about 20+ inches long. We grilled them up with the hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. That night we went to the Demolition Derby... a Fourth of July tradition. It was fun as we all cheered on our favorite cars. The fireworks after were amazing like always.

The next day we all went to Fishlake National Forest in Fillmore and 4 wheeled. Grandma made so fried chicken and we packed it all up and took it with us for our lunch later on. It was so much fun. We took a before and after picture. Before we were clean...after we were filthy!!! We only had each other's dust on the way up but on the way down we passed so many other's that we were in someones dust most of the way. When we got home Tamera (Layne's sister) took all of the kids swimming while Grandpa, Grandma, Layne and I cleaned up. It was a great day.

Sunday we went to church. I haven't been in Relief Society forever. (I have been in Primary for years!) Going to Relief Society was fun. The teacher was hilarious! She had us laughing so hard, which is a good sign when the lesson is about relieving stress. Later that day we drove home and stopped at Great Grandpa and Grandma Evans' house to celebrate my Dad's birthday (Grandpa Evans). He turned 64! It was a great weekend with lots of family.