AAND it's another running event!  What fun!  This was a mini triathlon, but we didn't swim at the end--we went in a kayak!  We ran 1.5 miles, biked for 6 miles, then paddled a Kayak around the lake (almost a mile).  So fun!  Andrew and I were a team.  Josh and Claire did it on their own.  I was SUPER proud of all the kids!  They all finished strong!  Not only that, Josh finished FIRST overall! WOW!  I sure hope we're in town to do it again next year! :)

Josh went on a National Geographic Student Expedition, and at the end of it, the group put on a gallery exhibit of their work, so Peter, Andrew and I drove up to see it!  We took a little detour through Yellowstone on our way to Bozeman, Montana--a field trip with the little boys all by themselves!  Neat!  We had a great time!  We saw some cool stuff, even with ALL the traffic! Whew.  Word to the wise--don't go to Yellowstone in July!  Sheesh.  And it was HOT! Wow.  We made it to our hotel and got to go swim in the hotel's pool and jacuzzi before we headed off to the gallery.  My mom and dad came up, too--much later, of course--and funnily enough, as we were driving over to the gallery, I looked back, and they were right behind me! Ha!  It was pretty cool of them to drive all the way up there, stay for an hour, then head back.

The exhibit was SO great! I loved watching Josh interact with the other kids--he was right in the thick of it!  He helped the trips leaders/expert to make a slide show presentation at the end.  The leaders had nothing but good to say about Josh--that he was respectful, full of questions and energy, and so helpful!  "He's a Rock Star!" was probably my favorite statement. :)  It does my heart good to see him grow like that and be in those types of situations.  While I miss my kids when they're gone, I know that the growth that they experience when away from me is immeasurable and does them so much good!

The boys and I went back to the hotel and watched the Food Network for a few hours before going to sleep.  We picked Josh up the next morning and headed on back to Rexburg.  A great trip!

This was SO much fun!  It was a 5K obstacle run--we carried buckets of dirt, jumped over hurdles of hay, climbed over walls, jumped in giant mud puddles, crawled through mud, slid down mountains of dirt, then ran through the finish line right into the lake to wash it all off! It was awesome!  Made awesomer by having my brother and sister and Katie there, too!  Yay for getting dirty! :)

Happy Independence Day!  We did a flag raising ceremony in the morning--where we did a 21 gun salute using our iPads and fingers and Claire played 'My Country Tis of Thee' on her flute.  We sure enjoyed our Fourth of July Parade!  All the kids got tons of candy.  (Unfortunately, Andrew left his in a bag in his room...and the ants found it...and they ATE through the BAG to get to it!  Whew! Gross! It was totally infested and he had to throw most of it away.  Poor guy.)  The rest of day was laid back and fun...and we had a TON of fireworks things to all of our pitching in together!  A fun day to celebrate!