Cousin Fun in the Sun!

McKylee came to stay with us!  The boys were so tickled to have Kylee come stay with us for a couple days.  We did many things while she was here, including earning about 15 Brag Tags.  It was so great that they allowed kids from out of town to earn the tags too.  One of the tags was wash a car, so here the kids are washing the van.  I think the focus wasn't on getting the van spotless as much as it was on just spraying water with various items (ie. hose, squirt bottles, mustard bottle, etc.).
We also went to the Heber City Park.  They just recently redid the whole play area and put in AstroTurf.  It is SO GREAT!  I love doing laundry without all the sand, gravel, and wood-chips that find their way into pockets at the other playgrounds.

I think McKylee's favorite thing we did was to go and see the horses.  There is a business that teaches equine handling and to get their tag you had to go visit the horses.  Kylee LOVES horses and so she was pretty happy to spend some time seeing them.  However, the kids didn't spend much time petting the horses once the owner told them about the electric fence they have protecting the horses.  The kids were sure they would get shocked so they kept their distance. 

Vivian Park Trail Ride and Fish Pond, and Bridal Veil Falls

We have been really loving the UNPLUGGED program that Heber Valley Tourism has been doing this year.  We got a late start because at the beginning of summer we spent every minute working on the moving process and any minute that wasn't devoted to moving was spent out of town.  Well we finally got our Summer On!  We today we went with the Spencers down Provo Canyon to Vivian Park.  We took our bikes and rode the trail down to Bridal Veil Falls.  I can't believe I haven't done that before.  It is SO beautiful.  The kids really enjoyed the ride too. It wasn't super short but not too long either-- just right! :)  We haven't been to Bridal Veil for a couple years I think, so we were excited to find the new fish pond they have created.  There is a little section of the pond that they have rocked off and they have planted some fish in it.  The kids were excited to purchase some fish food from the dispenser, throw the food in the water, and then watch the fish attack.  Then we moved down to hike the waterfall a little.  Kade and Clint were pretty disappointed; I wouldn't let them go all the way to the top.  I think they could have gone far and done well but I couldn't leave Cole to go help  them if they got in trouble so I kiboshed their accent to the top.  They did get to go up quite far so I think they were still happy.  While we were climbing I looked over to the highway and noticed the 4 FedEx guys standing staring at the falls.  I thought, "This is why we don't get our packages on time."  I'm glad they, "stop and smell the roses," even if their job is pushed by time-- good for them!  When we were done playing in the pond we jumped on our bikes and headed back to Vivian Park.  The kids fished in the river for a little while but just couldn't catch anything.  The river is so shallow and clear you could watch all the fish swim next to your bait but they just wouldn't bite.  Oh well, we still get Brag Tags!  Yeah! For Brag Tags!  We just earned 2!

Gooseberry: Bubbles, and Fashion!

The bubble snakes were a hit!  The only thing that made everyone nervous was the food coloring  on the bubbles would get on kids if the bubbles popped on them.  I think it washed off easily though since it was attached mainly to soap.  Cole had a rough time too because he wouldn't move his mouth off the nozzle when he would need to take a breath and so he'd end up inhaling bubbles-- not fun.  He eventually got the hang of it.  They had so much fun trying the different colors on their socks, grouping together to make a pile of bubbles, and trying to make the longest snake.  Later in the day the girls made vests, and head bands for some fun fashion, and of course the boys had to play a little more 2 ball.  Another great day at Gooseberry.  Though we don't have pictures I should make note of the fishing trips.  It was awful.  The fish looked funky/sickly so there were many we didn't even save to eat.  We hardly caught any in the first place so that made for a very small take home.  We tried to do our trip to Salina Reservoir but when we got out the wind was bitter cold and so everyone loaded back up and left.  Darryl, Neal, Jason, Greg, and Kelby (I believe they all went) decided to hike up to a few lakes and try the fishing there.  They didn't have much luck either-- bad year for fish.

Gooseberry

We had a great time at Gooseberry this year.  Unfortunately Jackie wasn't able to make it but everyone else at least made an appearance so we had quite the crowd at times.  It's always better with more people!  Granny had "Bosshardt Bunch" shirts and bags made for everyone and so we had to sport them for a family picture.  We had a great time relaxing in the hammock, playing 2 ball, doing the flying squirrel, gathering candy from the candy cannon, crocheting pot scrubbers, building paper rockets, and just playing with the cousins.  As you can see we were swamped!  Wendy was busy brainwashing Cole.  She was quite successful.  He now responds, "Wendy" and "Red Socks," very readily when asked questions like, "Who's your favorite?" or "What's your favorite team?"  or "Who do you love?"  We tried something new this year and ended the day with a DeWitt Jones video which is always a fun way to wrap up the day--deep pondering.  I think a few of the family members really enjoyed it.  I don't remember exactly what happened on day 1 but we didn't start taking pictures until day 2 so here they are: