and now for...the REST of the summer....

Katya turned six..um, got lots of presents, had a good time...she's growing up so fast!

Aunt steve had some time off, so she made a trip up to see us. i took her up in the arch, where she freaked out a little b/c she's claustrophobic. then, we went to one of the fountains downtown and let the kids get soaked. i love impromptu visits (or not so impromptu)!

um...just a few of the boys bein silly. caleb is the silly face in the first on, adam is the one with his finger up his nose.

we went on a 2 week long vacation out to utah and colorado. unfortunately, our car's dvd player stopped working, but we somehow survived. one day, we went to see dear charlotte's grave while in salt lake. it was so peaceful and lovely. also took the kids to the oquirrah (sp?) mountain temple open house, which was very nice--except for liam throwing a fit at the end there. this is all the boyce grandkids to date.

enjoying popiscles with cousins cole and jem

cousin ella playing with adam

the boys going to play paintball--even went to d.i. to get the camo clothes. i think this is going to be one of nate's favorite activities now





cousin rachel with liam--they really hit it off and played great together--mainly b/c they weren't included in all the 'big kid' games



we went to colorado for a sloan reunion (my side). i was so excited--my dad has been fishing up at turkey creek ever since he was a boy, and i haven't been back since i was probably 16 or 17. it's where i learned how to fish, although i didn't catch anything this time (steve caught them all instead!). but i always had such great memories, that i knew i wanted my kids to come here and see how beautiful it is and get dirty and eat worms and all that. anyway, these top pics are from a hike we went on. katya spent the whole time picking wildflowers and ended up with a gorgeous bouquet.



this picture really doesn't do it justice, but the views from this hike are just incredible--they were breathtaking!




the goal of the hike is to get to the waterfall (pic left). it started raining, and then hailing (as it had been doing most afternoons on the mountain), so here we are camped out under the rock to protect ourselves. this is when liam decided he had had it, so he spent the rest of the 4 miles back wanting to be carried. as we were leaving, we did get stuck in a sudden, but short-lived hail, and then some sprinkling the rest of the way back, but i still loved the whole adventure.






we went innertubing down a small stretch of the san juan river. grandpa got to watch the twins and they just played in the river. we went down a couple of times as singles, or a couple tubes together, but it's much more fun to all try and go together--inevitably someone gets flipped! (which actually happened to jeremy once, but he was a real trooper, and kept coming back for more. the rest of the kids didn't really care for it--okay, they were crying and scared! maybe next time they'll wanna go!)


here's most of the gang--some kids are asleep and we are missing one of my uncles and his entire family as well as a few other of the grandkids. my grandparents are there in the middle and are truly the best people i know and i want to emulate them in every way! i love my family so much!



these next pics are from a place called johnson's shut-ins. here is seth with his friend christan. after my high of being in colorado, this definitely did not disappoint. we got to spend hours climbing, sliding, getting wet, laughing, exploring, jumping, and losing shoes. i was so proud of katya, who i didn't think would jump from the rock (maybe 6 ft up?), but she did--and did it a couple of times!

right across from the rock katya jumped off of, is a higher one (maybe 11 ft), which jeremy eventually jumped off a few times (i did it 3 times myself). it was so fun watching everyone try it out and helping the kids who were brave enough--including 3 year old baker!

for labor day, we went to indiana to meet up with a couple of friends from our stanford days. it was so wonderful to sit and catch up--i love that we just pick up where we left off without any problems! the pic of the kids is them jumping on the footprints left by neil armstrong on the moon. he went to purdue, which is where they live. the next is of me and two very dear friends--dacia (the one in indiana) and emily(who lives in wisconsin).

here's all of us at a fountain there at purdue. we also went to a little zoo and did some rides/activities that were going on in the area for labor day. they also introduced us to the joys and heartache and embarrassingness of 'rock band'. we stayed up talking til 1 and generally had a blast. this is also the kids sleeping in the car. katya is actually the green blanket in the back. i love sleeping kids!

katya and nate went on a father-daughter campout this last weekend. here she is with her friends katie and anna. nate is also pulling his weight by helping with the cooking.

another classic mopey katya picture taken at the caves that they got to tour at the end of the campout. katya also lost her first tooth there--from eating a cinammon roll no less! i miss all of her milestones.

on saturday, i was ironing and had to go answer the phone and jeremy hit the cord of the iron with his foot and it fell on his leg. it ended up being more serious than we thought--a 2nd degree burn, and nate took him to urgent care. now it has to be wrapped up all the time, but is getting better. luckily, it hasn't really bothered him since they got back. there's always something....