Bear Lake-Sister Party

We had a Bear Lake sisters trip, Marta, Heidi, Katie, Keri & Whit. We all took our kids and left our husbands home. It was awesome. We camped, we biked, we played in the sand, we ate ice cream, and we stayed up late after the kids were in bed and chatted. The boys had endless hours of playing with the cousins. I love my sisters what a blessing to rub shoulders with such awesome women.

Lake Powell

The annual Lake Powell trip was fun as always. Lots of sun, frogs, lizards, flat water, and no rocks to the boat which always helps. The highlight of the trip was the frogs. Bode loved them and Ryder was terrified of them. The boys played, played and played some more. Ryder fell asleep at the lunch table in his food twice. To many friends and to much fun!

Christmas Celebrations

The Paulsen Family has a tradition a few days after Christmas we all get together and Celebrate the holiday. We act out the Christmas Story and Play till the kids cannot move.

Jakob, Emmy & Ryder being pulled by Whitney's 4wheeler.

Ryder enjoying a nice belt and his cousins pants.

Cliff, Bode & Brinley

Bode being a Shepherd.

Bode playing on the swing.

Jakob, we love you!

Reeder Gets Married

Reeder got married.. I know a miracle. Heidi, Katie, Keri, Mom, Dad and Whit all went to the wedding.. That does not leave a sitter. So we hired the neighbor. She came over all day 7 kids.. She said it was out of control. The kids loved it and asked if they could stay another day. We would love to have them another day, but I think they want the sitter along with it, and I am not sure I can talk her into it again.

Tri..Tri..Tri

Marta invited us to do a Triathlon. So Katie, Keri & Heidi all made a team and went for it. We did the Park City Triathlon. We have wanted to do this for years. We rock the house.. We did not train, Katie is 6 1/2 months pregnant with Mindy. Not to brag, but we have some mad athletic skill.
So the swam began, Katie's doctor was a little worried about the cold water on "Mindy" so she wasn't standing down in the water.. She was up chit, chatting. The whistle goes off and she continues to stand their.. waiting for the crowd to clear.. Final she gets in the water.. I do the bike next, so I don't expect her for some time.. Well the 1st girl comes out of the water, and to the transition area and I look down the ramp, here comes "Mindy". Katie killed everyone.. Yes she did take state in high school. So I rush off on the bike. Now I am really sick, I have a really sore throat and cannot talk.. It doesn't matter. Heidi ran track in high school. Lets just say this.. We won! Yea, we rock the house! We are so excited maybe next time we will think about training! Or maybe not!
How fun to see our family along the way! Dad riding his bike and Mom swimming. Chandler... I beat you. Yes, Katie swam faster, I rode faster... our runner well maybe she should train.... Thanks Marta for such a fun memory!

Cousin Camp

Last week was Cousin Camp. Bode and Ryder joined 14 of their cousins in heber for fun. With lots of preparation from many the kids learned about being a warrior and putting on the whole armor of God. I don't think Bode got it, but it was really cool for the older kids. Bode favorite part was Jacob got Bode a Turtle.... He brought it over to the house on Thursday morning before camp. Jake put it on the floor and ran outside to get his own new turtle... I told Bode to pick up his turtle... Bode got down on all fours and growled at the turtle, like it was a tiger. We are getting braver. Now we touch it with one finger and sometimes we will even lift it up for just a min. It was fun to see Bode, Jake, Chase and Brycen run around in the fields chasing and playing with each other. The four of them basically slept on top of each other totally entangled. Thanks for the memories and all the hard work put into the camp.

4th of July

For the 4th of July my parents got some rooms at "The Cliff"..and all these years, Cliff thought he was "The Cliff". How disappointing the truth was for him. We spent a few very fun days with my Parents, Katie, Jeff, Payton, Jay, & Chase. We hiked, made a float for the parade, create dams in the streams, swam, throw rocks, hiked and swam some more. Every year this time of year we like to ride the tram up and hike down, sliding on the left over snow patches. It was fun as always.

Eat Fish Really?

This last weekend grandpa Val was incharge a big scouting event. He rounded up the troups, "the fam" to help him out. Cliff was mostly in charge of setup and take down of everything big. Bode was in charge of playing with the cousins, I was in charge of the "Mystery Dare". The mystery dare was you had to build a fire with flint and steal, make it big enough to burn through the string 8 inches up for every two scouts. Then if you could not get the string burnt then you had to eat a gold fish. Every troup was required to eat one gold fish and then an additional gold fish for every sting that did not get burnt.

So friday I went to pick up my goldfish. Well the store I had arranged with previously was sold out. So I went to Petco... well Petco asks what you are doing with the goldfish. And, if you tell them you are feeding them to scouts.. well they will not let you purchase them. So after stopping at the 3rd store to get the fish, I have to lie about what the fish were for. Then somehow at my booth "Petco Goldfish Patrol" showed up... About 200 scouts came, and 50 fish got eaten... so moral of the story, don't plan on the scout knowing how to light the fire.