Summer at The Ranch

Every July we take a trip to Grandpa Greene's Ranch up in Atlanta, Idaho (population about 2, I swear. . .I'm not really a small town girl). Anyway, this is the kids favorite spot - they swim and motorcycle, float in the lake, play cards and maul their cousins for an entire week. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

I have to give a big thanks to Uncle Todd for lots of these pictures - I of course forgot my awesome camera. So thanks Todd - you rock. This is one he took of Alex on the motorcycle track.We are very spoiled by this beautiful swimming pool that is heated by a natural hot springs. For someone who is always FREEZING, this is really a dream come true. It is too warm for most everyone else, but I tend to really make the best of it all week.These poor guys were tormented for an entire week by. . .

These two. Looks like fun doesn't it? This is Todd and Val's cute bloodhound Maggie. We love her. The dogs wrestled like this at least once a day.

Some of the gang having smore's and sitting around the fire.

This is the airplane gang. One of the dining room tables was converted to a work station for these guys for the week. These planes are cool, but either the pilots aren't really that good or they just break A LOT. It is one of their favorite hobbies.

This is Alex and his cousin Tanner. I thought these were kind of cool shots.

Sydney and Makail getting ready to ride. You have to admit, they look pretty cool. Once they get started, they just go and go and go - like the energizer bunny on a motorcycle.

Little Brandon loved Lizzie's motorcycle almost as much as Lizzie. She was a maniac rider by the end of the trip. She even took a long ride driving by herself with me and Ev. She goes really slow which is just perfect for me because I crashed my bike one more time than everyone else did - yes - I was the only one to go down, but I jumped off so it was all good.

Group picture on one of the long rides.

The girls and their cousins Makail and Alyssa and the Master Frog Hunter Evan, caught just a few frogs to play with and one very stinky snake. During the night the frogs would escape, but come 10:30pm the next night, they'd catch them all again. I think we got up to 16. Gross.

This is the real hot spring that heats the pool. We always have to take a trip here and play for awhile. I'm leaving out a few things like jumping off the bridge into the freezing river, some of the crazy pool play and stuff like that, but all in all, we had a great week. There really isn't anywhere quite like The Ranch.Make no mistake, if we ever move to Atlanta, Idaho (population 2), this is what Evan will look like. Good stuff, don't you think?

Take only pictures, Leave only footprints

Bet you can't guess by the look on this cute dog's face where we just got back from. Is this the cutest Buddy picture, or what?! We had a great time in Lake Powell with five other families from our ward and neighborhood - the Morrison's, the Rasmussen's, the Summerhay's, the Willit's, and the Thompsen's (only 22 kids between us!). What great friends they are to put up with the heat, and sand - sometimes I really think I am over Lake Powell - or maybe I just really need a houseboat. Anyway, good times.

As always at Lake Powell (another reason I think I'm over it) we had a little wind. This is not our tent, this is the Thompsen's tent which happened to be housing an 8 month pregnant Katie Thompsen - the men made it strong again with Duct Tape of course! This was really the only casualty of the small tornado - thankfully.

Some serious sand castle business.

And a little cliff jumping - or in Lizzie's case, "My Mom threw me off!"

One of the highlights of the trip was the time that we took to name all of our boats. We were the only one's whose boat had a name when we left the Salt Lake Valley, now every other boat is officially named. . .take a look.

Moss Boat: MALIBU CHICKEN (I guess because it is a malibu and we like chicken? Remember our dog was named "Kris Moss" - creativity does not run deep in our family!)

Willits Boat: MAKE TIME (Max, Ali, Kurtis, Erika - creative huh?)

Morrison Boat: THE BREAD BOX (Chuck lost his wallet for the duration of the trip. He was convinced it was at the bottom of the lake or one of the kids took it out of the cup holder of one of the beach chairs - yeah right. It was miraculously found in the Morrison's Lake Powell bread box - just in time to buy gas to go home. . .thank heavens for small miracles!)

Thompsen Boat: THE JOLLY BLAJR (pronounced bloger for Brendan, Lauren, Addie, Josh, and soon to arrive, but already experienced Lake Powell - Riley!)

Rasmussen Boat (my personal favorite!): THE JACK RASSES (no explanation needed, obviously!)

Many thanks to our cute friends for such a fun week - we love you!