Camping with the Kotters

We had a fun three-day camping trip (June 9-12) with our old friends, Jayson and Selina Kotter. We first met them when we lived in Clearfield (10 yrs. ago). We've stayed friends since then and we were excited to go camping together. They have two boys, Kaiden and Paxton, and they also have a trailer. We went camping up Ogden Canyon in the North Fork campground. It was amazing! Beautiful and right next to our campsite was a wooded area which the boys quickly claimed as their FORT. The boys had a blast making a "camp fire" in their fort and collecting sticks to use as weapons. Derek informed me that they had "two bathrooms in their fort." I said, "Wow, two bathrooms." And yes, as it goes with boys, Brennan comments, "Well mom, it's just too far to walk all the way to the trailer." I guess a designated spot is better than no designation at all, right?

As soon as we got to camp, Brennan and Shaun take-off on their bikes. First Shaun wrecks and the next morning Brennan wrecks. We had it down to a science. Wash, alcohol wipes, neosporin, and bandaids. Derek tripped and was proud that he had a scrape too.

Kaiden caught a fuzzy caterpillar and Derek loved just looking at it.

Caleb discovered root beer. He LOVES it. 

He'd walk around camp looking for open cans.

I loved the red and blue jammies. 

I could see Caleb very easily through all the brush.

Jayson had an infected toe. We convinced him to soak it in Epson salt and by the second day, he didn't have to limp all over camp anymore.

Caleb's BFF, Ryan Boyer. Ryan was one of the priests when Clint was Young Men's President. Ryan is great with kids and Caleb was just a baby when we started having Ryan and the other YM over on Sunday nights. Ryan always holds Caleb and Caleb adores Ryan. 

Derek thought the fire was tooooo hot!

"I'm just sitting here, minding my own business."  Caleb

Quick, grab the can and drink as much as you can, as fast as you can.

"I hope no one sees me and takes this can of root beer away from me!" 

Caleb, 2 yrs. old

Swimming Lessons for Derek

Derek is taking his second set of swimming lessons. He did great last year. This year it took him a while to be brave. In January Clint was swimming with the three boys in a pool at a hotel. Derek went under and Clint had to pull him out. Ever since then he's been a little timid. Ok, not timid, but terrified. His teacher was GREAT. She helped him get his confidence back and yesterday he was so proud when he jumped in all by himself. He just kept saying, "I need to tell Daddy I jumped in all by myself. He'll be so proud." Yes, little buddy, we are so proud!! His little smile says it all.

Doing a back float all by himself. 

His big moment... jumping in without gripping his teacher.

Derek's Tumbling

Derek is taking a little tumbling class at our rec center. He loves it. His teacher is great. They sing itsy bitsy spider to stretch and play all sorts of games. Derek loves it when she tells them to roll up like a potato bug. Derek knows exactly what that means (our little rolly polly collector)!

Red, White and Orange Carrots

Our neighbors, Patrik and Amber Garcia, are master gardeners. They have a wonderful garden and our boys love going over to their house to see what Patrik is going to pull out of the ground for them. Yesterday it was a red, white and orange carrot. Derek was so excited!!

Caleb in the tub...AGAIN

Caleb LOVES taking baths. He splashes and splashes. Now that it's summer and he's playing in the sandbox, we have to do a bath once or twice a day. He usually comes in with sand in his hair, all over his feet and in his diaper. Once it gets warmer, I'm going to try rinsing him off outside with the hose :)