A Visit from the Cardon's and a Manly Man Adventure

I drove back to Idaho with Sara and her kids for her yearly visit to Boise.
We are so thankful that Colorado is within driving distance but it is still a very LONG 12 hour drive. Thankfully we made it safely and we arrived home late on a Monday evening.  Sarah P and Whitney had our week together planned starting off with a "Tea Party" on Tuesday!
We love this new tradition and love using Grandma Gabe's beautiful tea sets

Miss Leah

Zach was our "butler" and he escorted us all to our seats.

It's hard being the only boy in a family of girls

The next day, the girls got to go out to lunch in downtown Boise.

Sarah arranged for a babysitter

That night we had dinner and a party at Devin and Sarah's in Hidden Springs

Creamies and Fat Boys are always a hit for dessert

Devin and Sarah have the perfect hill for a slip and slide

Go Eva

Yay Sophie!

Taylor and Devin also got in on the action

Don't you love the pose

Thursday was our Bikeride/Picnic day

Thanks to Sarah for wrangling enough bikes for us all to ride on the Greenbelt

We rode from Veteran's Park to Zoo Boise

This little guy was exhausted by the time we finished

That night, just the adults got to go to Sara's favorite place for dinner,

Goodwood Barbecue!

Uncle Taylor was a hit with the kids.

They all loved riding on the "ruckus"

They also loved horsing around in the yard

One of Grandma Joanie's favorite things to do,

read bedtime stories!

We had a great time at the "Hydrotube"

Sophie and Leah liked hanging out in the pool

Eva and Lucy were even brave enough to go off the diving board

We had an awesome J-Dawg picnic

And that evening we had a campout with Grandpa

It started with an awesome hike

Then we roasted marshmallows for s'mores

Then Grandpa set up the tent and slept with all the kids

The next morning we took family pictures

Here's a sampling

I loved all the adults trying to get the kids to smile

We had lots of pool parties

 

  and Auntie Whitney taught Lucy some new tricks

Monday afternoon the boys all were leaving on their week long backpacking adventure so we took advantage of the babysitters on Monday morning and headed out to get pedicures.

Kay and Ken had arrived Sunday evening so Ken could go on the backpacking adventure

The adventurers!

Tom, Jon, Devin, Ammon Taylor, Ken and Rick Hurst

We headed to Delsa's for an ice cream treat after they left

And on Tuesday we met some friends at a splash park

Keira flew in to spend some time with Whitney while she was in Boise.

Leah LOVED Keira!

Meanwhile, the guys were having a pretty great time too at Goldbug Hotsprings

Taylor was on jury duty so he was unable to go on the backpacking adventure,

so we met him for a picnic at a park right by his work

We drove by the Meridian Temple so Kay and Sara could see it's progress

We invited Missy and family over for a pool party!

Looks like lunch at Costco

On Pioneer day, my neighbor let me borrow these cute pioneer costumes for Lucy and Leah

Our stake had a children's parade and barbecue that evening

One more pool party and popsicle

And a celebratory dinner out with the mountain men when they returned from their BIG almost 50 mile hike in the Big Horn Crags

 

We had such a wonderful time together.

We LOVE having the Cardon's and the Hinton's visit and hope they come back SOON!