Shakespear Shuffle

150 or so pictures in July



My parents came to spend the 4th of July with us again this year.  We celebrated Pa's birthday, played at the park, enjoyed the 4th of July breakfast at church, the Gearhart city parade, fireworks & a bonfire on the beach, played baseball & had a beach day on the 5th of July too.  We always have a great time with Pa & Darlin' & the 4th is one of our most favorite holidays.

Our friend Len won for most patriotic

(at least he would have if there had been a competition)

We actually decorated the kids bikes this year

 

 

 

The kids were pretty brave with our little fireworks before the big show

Jeremy & I went on a date one night & rode our bikes down to Seaside & ate Mediterranean food & walked along the beach.

Being a shark I think?

We've been buying lots of ice cream cones lately & of course ice cream to go in them

 

Yes we have had several days hot enough to warrant a pool party with friends!

 

First homemade bow & arrow

  

 

As you can see Dallen loves to help me bake especially when I'm distracted enough I don't notice him dipping his finger in the batter & eating it.

If you wear someone else's shoes it magically transforms you into that person. Here is Emma impersonating Daddy.

 

  

 

Jeremy spent 3 days in Salem volunteering at a dental clinic.  I took that opportunity to overcome some fears I have -- such as taking the kids all by myself to places like the beach, movie theater, out to eat at a sit down restaurant, clothes shopping for myself & the zoo.  All these things I have avoided doing by myself so far & swore I would never ever do.  Everything went very smoothly except for the clothes shopping.  That was a nightmare & I may never do that again.  But everything else was great & I would do anytime.  I must say it is so cool having my kids be so much more independent now.  Oh we also petted some goats too.

  

 

 

   

Enjoying the beach after Daddy got back - it still is much easier if he comes along too

 

 

I love starting each day snuggling with my Bear!

 Hyrum had an art class in Cannon Beach each afternoon for a week.  Since it was several hours long we thought we would just hang out at the beach & the park since we haven't spent a lot of time down here.  It's a super cute spot but boy is it crowded!

 

 

This kid & his faces...

    

And then in mid-July we went on a 9 day excursion to Utah! 

Honestly one of my most favorite things about our long trip was sitting in the back seat with the big boys.  We read Fablehaven, worked on workbooks, Hunter read to me & we goofed off a lot too.  I did drive occasionally & sit in the front but it was so much fun back there with those two goofs.

We got a new dual DVD player for our trip & it was so nice! The big boys could watch Harry Potter in the back & the little guys could watch the Tigger Movie in the front & everyone was happy.

Meeting Cowboy Bob

Ahhh the beauty of red rocks!

 

This kid lost a tooth in the back of the car & was very excited

We stayed a couple of nights in Tropic with Nana & Poppie.  There isn't a whole lot in Tropic but we lucked out our cabin was close to the neighborhood park & it was a hit on both evenings.

 

  

 

We went to Bryce Canyon before & the day after the Shakespear Family Reunion.  I can't believe I have never been there before & I spent 3.5 years living in Utah & spent lots of summer time there before that.  It's absolutely gorgeous!  We hiked at Navajo Loop & Rainbow Point & just admired the rest.

 

 

We had a big ol' Shakespear Family Reunion on Saturday afternoon.  I didn't take many pictures.  It was sure fun to see a lot of people we haven't seen for years & years.  It was Jeremy's Dad, his 9 siblings, their families & then Jeremy's Grandpa's siblings kids & their kids & grandkids & grandkids etc.  So there were a lot of people there.  We snapped one picture with our favorite cousin Michelle.  It probably isn't fair to pick one favorite but oh well we have!

  

Bolt came everywhere with us, at least until Emma left it at my friend Bridget's house in Orem.  Bridget was sweet enough to send Bolt through the US post & he was soon home safe again.

 

  

We also did one other hike at Mossy Cave.  The kids & I walked for a long time down the river.

 

  

The day after our second day at Bryce we headed down to Zion & spent the night & the whole next day there.  We did the Emerald Pool, Kayenta & Riverside Walk Trails & spent a lot of time playing in the river. I was so impressed with how much walking the kids did - a few miles every day with minimal complaining.  I think if it hadn't been hot we would have had no complaining.  We also drove the Mount Carmel Highway & the kids loved the 1.1 mile tunnel.  Going around a curve a big horn sheep bounded across the road right in front of us.  It was so awesome.

Between these two parks I would say the majority of the people in our hotels & hiking around us were from Europe.  We heard French & German & I'm sure other languages I didn't recognize.  It was very cool.

Enjoying a picnic lunch under the shade of a giant tree.

After our canyon adventures we were ready for some fun in Provo.  A friend had mentioned that Provo now has a rec center & because it was deathly hot we decided indoors in water was a great idea.  I'm so glad we went! It is quite extensive & almost as awesome as Great Wolf Lodge.  It has a section outside too that is just as big as inside.  And it's only 5 bucks a person instead of like 500 bucks.  Highly recommend!

We walked around BYU & saw all the many changes & improvements to the campus.  Jeremy used to work for the Alumni Office & now they have a brand new building & it's so nice.

Here we are with our favorite cousin again :)  She has her PhD in food sciences & works at BYU.  They were having some taste testing of pudding so we kindly agreed to become some of their taste consultants.

 

Future BYU scholars..it's possible they could all be there at the same time some day in the future

We took my Grandma up to American Fork Canyon for a Cafe Rio dinner.  It's always great to see her & chat.  Dallen was exhausted!!

We are quickly making a tradition out of stopping in South Fork for a picnic dinner & lots of playing .  It's so much cooler up there & there are lots of hills to roll down & an endless supply of rocks to throw in the river.  We also were able to see my good friend Bridget & her family.  She had just given birth to her 3rd daughter  about 5 days before we saw her.  I love seeing that family!

We met my best friend Kaylene & her husband & 3 cute boys at a restaurant part way through Idaho.  I have not seen this girl for 8 1/2 years!  I was pregnant with Hyrum the last time & she wasn't married yet so a lot of time has passed.  But it was just like no time had passed at all - I love that!  I love this girl & hopefully it will be much sooner next time we meet.

We spent the night in Boise our last night & we played at a great park with a fun splash pad & playscape.

Of course for the kids the highlight of the trip was the many hotels we stayed in. You never know what you're going to get with Priceline but we lucked out pretty well & had free breakfast all but one hotel & had two queens all but a couple nights.  As fun as it was & as much as I love Utah it was so nice to come home!!!