Last summer Hoorah! WILD RIVERS!

Since I had mono through half the summer, and we went on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks, we didn't make it to our favorite water park, Wild Rivers (in Irvine), until the last Saturday of August. I forgot my camera and had to take all the pictures with my cell phone. This was an especially cute moment when Aleya was playing in the tubes.

Amara nearly made it all the way across the rope.

The lazy river is the girls' favorite.

The boys tried their hand at body boarding in their wave pool, but quickly figured out it is much easier to do at the beach in the real surf.



Aleya was a real dare-devil this time around and loved going head-first down the slides.

Orrin pretended to be dead, but I think it's more realistic if he's face-down. Am I wrong?

Orrin loved getting pummeled by the waves from the body boarding pool.



They hung out at the main wave pool for more than an hour.

Aleya loved the tube slides the best and kept going over and over and over again.


We had a terrific day and were glad to have one last summer blast before we're into the hum-drum of school.

BACK TO SCHOOL! WA-HOO!

I really should be excited that the kids are going back to school, but I dread the early wake-ups, stressing to get them to school on time, the stress of helping the kids with homework and correcting it, and fitting in extra-curricular activities. We've decided to wake up 1/2 hour earlier than last year, to help get us to school on time. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Orrin is in the 4th grade this year and rides a bus to the Annex at the Wild Animal Park. They interact with the park several times a month.

Amara is in the 2nd grade and is the most excited to get back to school.

Her new teacher seems really nice!

Joseph is in the 7th grade and is NOT looking forward to the challenging work and large homework loads. He does plan to try out for the football team, the volleyball team, the choir, and the basketball team. You can't pay for that kind of personal motivation. I completely support him 100%!

Final days of Utah summer vacation.

In the final days of our summer vacation to Utah, we did a few more fun things to top everything off. The kids played Risk with Grandma Yates.


We went swimming at the Murray Pool with Christian's brother, Jordan, and his family. Amara loved playing with her cousin, Oselle.

The boys loved the diving board.

We visited the Church History Museum. We have a copy of this painting on our wall at home.

The kids tried out the pulpit replica from the Conference Center.

Joseph tried out the replica of David's slingshot.

Joseph gave a sermon from the pulpit of the replica of the Tabernacle.

The kids all dressed up for the nativity. Christmas already?

Next we went over to enjoy the Salt Lake Temple grounds.


The boys had their cousins (Luke, Alan, and Charlito) over for a sleepover just before we left.

Christian and I went to a show that my awesomely talented friend, Eden, had a role in. The show was incredible . . . and much better than I expected. A visual masterpiece!

Eden has been able to keep up her singing and acting talents over the years since high school and college. She is an exceptional woman! I'm glad she's my friend.

Summer Vacation--Bear Lake

We met Christian's sisters Honor and Corinne, and their families, at Bear Lake on the way back from Idaho.

Our brother-in-law Jeremiah provided waverunners for us to enjoy. It was a blast!

Christian took the boys out one at a time while the kids played on the beach.

The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins in the surf.


We joined their campout that night, near the beach. Jeremiah provided us with a delicious dinner and the kids roasted marshmallows and enjoyed s'mores.



The kids also enjoyed singing and dancing together as the sun set in the distance.

The next day, we wasted no time in getting out to the beach again to enjoy using the waverunners.

Aleya even had a turn!

We're going to have to do this again . . . rent a pair of waverunners for a couple of days on a nice lake. IT WAS FANTASTIC!

Summer Visit to Idaho Relatives

We attended the Bean/Beattie family reunion in Ammon, ID.

There was food, auctions, games, and a lot of catching up with the Idaho relatives.

Christian's sister, Corinne, and her family also drove up from Utah to attend.

Uncle Blake road to the reunion in style.

They had a good 'ol tug-o-war to end the festivities.

The kids couldn't stay out of the tree and had contests to see who could go the highest. I think Joseph won, and he ended up ruining his pants with tree sap, in the process.

Orrin has a birds-eye view from up there.

Sunday night, all the Beattie relatives gather at Uncle Todd and Aunt Vickie's house for treats and visiting.

Most of Christian's cousins are all married with kids, now.

Our kids had a lot of fun playing in their VAST backyard. It has the greenest, most perfect grass you've ever seen. (and a canal behind it, so we were careful not to loose any kids). Orrin thought the canal circled back around, so if he floated a boat, it would come right back. No . . . its not like a "lazy river" at a waterpark.

The canal was a like a magnet for the kids.

Seriously . . . I want a back yard like this someday . . . and a ride-on mower. AWESOME!

We ended the night with swimming in the hotel pool with the Gardner cousins. They all had a blast!

Our kids love to spend time with their cousins.