Happy Birthday America!!

We got to go up to the cabin for the 4th of July again this year!! It was so wonderful to get out of the heat and spend time as a family. We had a wonderful time and were so sad to leave. Whitney and her family were in Idaho this year, so we switched things up. Typically we do a big water balloon fight and water games, but this year we did a hike and played in the creek. As always there was yummy food, fresh air, and good memories.

We were the first to arrive. After we unloaded the car we headed off for a walk down to the crossing. I busted out my SLR (which I don't do often enough) and snapped some pictures of my cute boys.

This old "carport" behind Oliver and Tim has been around since my grandfather was a boy and has been rightfully named the "witches house".

The boys started out so innocent with their feet in the water throwing rocks.

Totally overexposed (it's hard to shoot in manual with all the shadows, I need to practice more often), but I love the hand on the hip.

Then shirts came off and hands started getting messy.

Peter LOVES throwing rocks into the water!

And before I knew it they were sitting in the water splashing and having a good ol' time.

Then the cousins showed up and we took an evening walk back down to the crossing. No getting into the water this time.

Logan came down from Flagstaff for dinner. Peter thinks "Lo Lo" is pretty great.

Piper has started cheesin' it for the camera. So funny!

Max and Oliver both found some sticks and were of course making boy fighting noises most of the walk.

Friday morning we woke up at 3am (you read that right, 3. a. m.!!). Tim, my dad, Claire and I hopped in the car and drove to north Flagstaff to hike Humphrey's Peak, the tallest point in Arizona. 

We stopped for a little snack along the way.

We were all really impressed with how lush everything was. It was a beautiful hike.

This is called "the saddle". It's another mile to the top from here. The view was beautiful and we were all pretty surprised to see snow.

Have you ever seen a picture of yourself and thought, what the...? That's how I feel about how incredibly slumped over I am here. Posture check!

Selfie at the saddle.

5 miles and 2 hours and 40 minutes later we made it to the peak. It was windy and chilly and so beautiful!

It was also super sunny despite being really cold. Claire was having a hard time opening her eyes for a picture. 

The views really were spectacular. We could see the Grand Canyon in the distance. It was also amazing to me how perfect things look from so far away. Hiking through the trees there were tons of fallen trees and dead trees and once we got above it, everything looked perfect. I'm sure there are some deep life metaphores in that thought.

My first ever hiking buddy with pop tart on his lip. He was pretty excited about his pop tart!

Claire found a box at the top with all sorts of goodies in it. 

I was wishing that I had a jacket at the top which was funny because halfway down I was so glad I didn't. It was so fun to finally make this hike. I've done the Grand Canyon so many times I've lost track, so it was good to mix it up. Next on my list, Havasupai Falls.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, my mom took care of my two boys. She's so awesome!!

Peter and Piper!! They are going to be little besties. Peter already says her name and it is pretty dang cute.

A little watermelon for lunch.

We were all so tired from Fridays hike, that Saturday we all slept as late as the children would allow it. And then we laid in bed for as long as we could after that.

We had crepes for breakfast out on the patio on the Saturday. It was delicious and felt very patriotic with the flag waving in the background.

We all said the pledge before we ate.

Then we went for a hike to Butterfly Garden in. The boys stopped to check out a bug on our way.

And to pose on the bridge.

Both boys rode shoulders for a lot of the hike. I'm going to be sad when I can't carry these little friends on my shoulders.

Oliver and grandma after eating ice cream.

The boys were checking out this vintage soda machine. They collected a ton of bottle caps.

How spot on is this red white and blue in front of the soda machine??

After our hike home we played in the creek.

Peter and Piper pretty much sat for hour on this rock throwing little rocks in the creek.

The adults worked on building up a dam below the cabin. We try and build it up to a little pond every year (yearly floods tend to break it down), so that the fish will come down stream and live there. 

After a delicious hamburger dinner the kids got all cleaned up for sparklers. 

Peter was pretty happy being perched up there by grandpa.

He really just wanted to chill up there and when my dad brought him down, Peter begged to go back up.

My view, finger holding.

The boys were a little nervous about sparklers, but they had fun with them. 

I played with my shutter speed a little bit which was fun. 

Next year I need to get sparklers that last longer than 10 seconds.

When we were there for Memorial Day weekend my dad chopped down a dead tree for fire wood (he is such a mountain man stud) and a big part of the tree was covered in ants. He just left it alone and decided to break it open while we were there. It was an insane ant nest. The ants went nuts (rightfully so) when he chopped it open. This picture doesn't do the amount of ants justice. It was crazy!!

We left Saturday night so we could be back for church on Sunday. We hit some nasty traffic on our way out of the canyon, but caught a beautiful sunset.

I'm always so happy to celebrate the 4th and to be reminded of how grateful I am to be an American. I love America so much and all that it represents. It truly is the land of the free!