Keen's 8th birthday!

Keen turned the big #8 this year!  He really wanted to have a Smash Bros party so I made his cake to go along with it.  He had a few of his favorite friends come and they played video games for 2 hours and had a blast!  I have a feeling that we have many video game birthday parties in our future...

8 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 4'8" - 99%

Weight: 71 lbs. 3 oz. - 89%

My favorite things about 8 year old Keen:

1) Keen is big and tall and especially this last year has seemed to shoot up like a weed!  But even though he looks like he's older, he's still a little boy at heart.  He loves to play games, is still a really thoughtful little boy especially to me, and can laugh and cry within 15 seconds of the other depending on what is happening to him.  His emotions are all over the place at times and I have to remind myself that he's still just a young kid, though he may not look it!

2) Keen plays really hard!  When he's awake, he is jumping, kicking, running, screaming, climbing, wrestling, bouncing, asking a zillion questions, playing, teasing, punching, laughing, hitting, and anything else that he can find to do.  He has energy that won't quit and always wants to do something with it - which unfortunately turns out to be something to or with his brothers. (One of them is usually crying or fighting at all times of the day.)  But when the day is over, Keen is the first one to fall dead asleep on his pillow.  It's usually within 2 minutes of laying down on his bed and I can see why.  He exerts every bit of energy while he's awake, then crashes the minute he can to replenish for the next day.  Oh do I have a life ahead of me with this kid...

3) Keen LOVES pokemon cards!  He is crazy about them and always wants to play and trade and reorganize his binder.  All he wanted for his birthday this year was a new set of pokemon cards.  He is so cute as he's trying to always trade up for the best card he can find!

We love this boy and look forward to an energetic life ahead of him!  Happy Birthday Keen!
 

Cool

This one is taking full advantage of the time he has as the only one at home while the other kids are at school.  He claims the front seat and dons the glasses as if he owns the place.  I guess he kind of does...

 

First day of school

Can you believe we actually made it to the first day of school?  I think we were all nervous that we would actually never make it here, but the coronavirus can't stop this from happening!  There are a few changes things year as the schools are trying to figure out how to keep the kids safely in school but we're so glad that we're trying it and getting these kids back into the classroom.  They have a shortened week and only go to school Monday-Thursday with Friday being a "cleaning" day and also a day that kids can get extra help if needed.  They also have to wear masks all day, which is a big bummer but they don't seem to be too worried about it yet.  We will see how the year goes.  We are hoping for a year of fun and staying in school! And I can't hardly believe that all 6 of them are in school!  Desh starts preschool this year and is so excited that he gets to be like the other kids.  I'm amazed at the time that seems to be flying by.  Love these kids and am so proud of each of them in the stages they're in!

 

Hiking Mt. Timp

Josh, Rease, Rhen and I had an ambitious goal to hike Mt. Timpanogas this year.  I've never hiked it in all my years of living in Utah and we all wanted to say that we'd done it.  So we've been training for it this summer and finally the day arrived.  We stayed at the cabin the night before so that we could get up early and get on the trail while it was still dark.  We figured it would be good to get some miles behind us before the sun came up and it got too hot.  Turns out, it was a really smart thing to do - and an idea that many other people had as well!  When we got to the trailhead at 3:30 am there were already lots of headlamps along the trail ahead and above us.  We set out in the dark with our headlamps and map showing us the way.  It was actually really fun to hike in the dark and we felt like we were making lots of good progress.  The girls did great - only a couple times that we had to sit down and really talk through how we were actually going to make it all the way to the top and what kind of effort that would take.  They waffled back and forth between good and bad attitudes (with a few tears here and there) but finally decided that they were going to do it no matter what.  Onward and upward.

As the sun was coming up we realized how gorgeous our surroundings were and took some time to enjoy the wild flowers and the incredible view.  It has been so smoky in Utah the last few weeks, so it made for a hazy sky and a bright red sun.

I have to admit, this hike was long and hard.  By the time we got through the rock field and up to the saddle where we could look out over the valley, we were all pooped.  It was another mild and half up to the top and I wasn't sure how we could make it up.  But we took a good break and then gathered our energy to traverse the side of the mountain and up to the summit.  It was rocky with lots of climbing up big boulders and some really steep switchbacks.  It was for sure the hardest and most tiring part.  When we were just a few feet away from the shack at the top, my eyes filled with tears because we had actually made it!  I was so proud of the girls and their will power to make it through something that was really hard for them and to just keep going.  We were all so happy to be up there and realize that we had done something amazing!  It was nice to take a rest before we knew we had to head back down the way we had come.  But we did enjoy the rest!

In some ways, the way down was just as hard as the way up.  It turned out to be a pretty hot day and the trail was in the sun the whole way down.  We trudged on and on and couldn't believe that we had come so far just that morning.  The trail seemed to never end!  We tried really hard to keep up the good attitudes and fight away the tears.  And we did it.  We were tired, hot, dirty and by the end, pretty grumpy.  But we did make it back to our car exactly 12 hours after we had started early that morning.  

We all felt a real sense of accomplishment as we got in the car and headed for home.  It was a tough thing physically and mentally that we had just done and we were so happy and proud to say we made it to the top!

 

Armor

We've had some extra boxes floating around the house the last couple weeks and the kids decided to do something with them.  They played in this body armor all afternoon!

 

The bike wreck

Josh and Rease took an early morning trip to Corner Canyon for a bike ride this morning.  Unfortunately Rease had a crash and burn on the way down...She's tough though.  These things only make her stronger...

 

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays for two of my very favorite people in August! Melissa's birthday is Aug 13th and Stephanie's is Aug 24th.  We wanted to do something fun for each of their special days so we started out with a girls sleepover at the cabin.  We stopped for dinner at Thai Land on the way down and once we got to the cabin we sat down and had a night full of playing Sky-Jo.  Melissa made cinnamon bear popcorn and we each brought a treat to share with everyone for the evening.  It was so fun to be together and have such a great place to stay.  We got up early the next morning and paddle boarded at Deer Creek for a few hours.  I haven't done much paddle boarding so it was an adjustment to get my balance figured out.  But it was soooo fun!  We had a great morning with perfect weather for it.  

And for the other special day we got a group together to go to Top Golf.  It's always fun when we got there even if I'm not a very good golfer.  The food is yummy and we had two pods side by side that we could all hang out together and chit chat back and forth. 

Such a fun month of celebrating these two wonderful friends!

 

St. George

Our annual end of summer trip to St. George is here!  Robin and Guy are always so generous to let us stay in their house down there and we look forward to it every year!  This is our van all packed and ready to go for the week!

Once we get there we basically do the same thing every day.  We wake up in the morning and take an early morning hike before the sun heats everything up.  Then we have lunch and sometimes a nap and then spend the rest of the day at the pool. At night we watch movies, play games, eat treats and then start over the next day.  It's amazing.  Here are some highlights from our week:

The kids always request to hike at the Dixie Rocks at least one of the days every year we go.  It's super fun with lots of little hideout spots to discover.  Both Roosteries, Waaa Waaa and Buzzard came along for the hike today and we had to get a picture of all of them together.  

The pool is soooo fun down there and when I say we spend hours there every day, I'm not lying.  Literally we are there for 3 or 4 hours a day.  It's the best way to beat the heat!

Last year we discovered the White Rocks hike and the kids wanted to do it again this year.  It's really fun to see the contrast between the white and red rocks and this place has a lot of open rock that the kids always love to run around on.

Keen's birthday is usually smack in the middle of our St. George week and this year we celebrated again while we were there!  I'm sure another day of cake and presents is coming when we get home, but for now these gifts and a trip to Nelson's Frozen Custard did the trick! Happy Birthday Keen Gregory!

Josh met us down there for the last couple days and we loved having him with us!  We took a hike together in Snow Canyon and went on the Pioneer Names trail.  It was really cool cause we climbed up the rocks and saw names that had been written in wagon grease when the pioneers came through.  It was really cool to see!  

This is such a fun week that we get to spend together before the kids all get back into school and we're so grateful that we got to be there!  

Next up?  We'll see if school actually starts for the kiddos this year...Corona has messed everything up...

 

Wasatch Crest

Andy requested one thing for his birthday this year - to ride Wasatch Crest together.  We were happy to oblige!  Josh and Andy have ridden this together a couple of times, but this was my first time and it was just as incredible as they said it was!  We started up Guardsman's Pass and had a bit of a climb at the beginning.  But once we got to the top of that pass, it was lots of downhill and traversing and just a little bit of uphill here and there.  It was absolutely gorgeous the whole ride!  It was so fun to see the valleys from up top and the wildflowers were out in full bloom.  I could not get enough of the scenery that we were riding through and kept thinking how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful state!  We had a really fun group and stuck together most of the ride - though I always bring up the rear which is totally fine by me.  I hope this is Andy's request every year cause I would gladly do this again!

 

Butt Pics

We've got some crazies in our life...and not sure what we're supposed to do about them...

 

Beck's 6th Birthday

We are usually at the lake for Beck's birthday so he gets an extra day of celebrating every year when we are home and make his cake.  He wanted a caterpillar cake and fireworks for his birthday this year - so that's what we gave him!  We celebrated with the cousins and had fun watching fireworks out in the front drive.  It was the perfect thing for a 6 year old birthday party!

 6 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 4'1" - 96%

Weight: 56 lbs. 7 oz. - 89%

My favorite things about 6 year old Beck:

1) Beck is a very smart kid.  He thinks things through and likes to do things the right way.  I can often see a look in his eye as he's trying to figure something out or make sure he does something exactly right. He reminds me a lot of his Papa Losee in that way and that's always a good thing!  He's a great student and loves to learn.  I know this one has a bright future ahead of him!

2) Beck is my little friend.  He never shies away from giving me a hug and likes to be by my side.  I really missed him as he went way to kindergarten this year - it isn't quite the same without him around the house.  I am so grateful when he wants to sit down and talk to me and I hope that never stops!

3) Beck has a voice that he does that is a mix between a gremlin and ET and it is super funny/obnoxious.  He won't do it on command but when he's around people he's comfortable with, the voice just comes out without a second thought.  Unfortunately for us, we hear it quite often.  I can only handle so much of the gremlin before I have to tell him to turn it off.  He's such a funny character that Beck!

We love our boy and can't wait to see what this 6 year old does this year!  Happy Birthday Beck!

Tilly

Tilly has fit right in to our family since she got here.  Sure, she has an accident once in a while and no, she doesn't always listen to us.  But she sure has taken a liking to this guy and loves to sit right here on his shoulder.

 

Rodeo

Super last minute we found some tickets to the Spanish Fork Rodeo tonight and took the boys down to watch it with us.  I'm pretty sure none of our kids have ever been to a rodeo so they didn't quite know what to expect.  Every other town in Utah has cancelled their town days, rodeos, demolition derbies, carnivals, etc because of covid, but Spanish Fork said they were continuing on.  We were SOOO excited to be able to do and watch something that felt really normal.  We had the best time! The boys were so into everything that was going on and of course thought the bull riding was the coolest.  We loved being out and around people and feeling like things were "back to normal" for just a day.

 

Bike Rides

We have loved every minute that we get to spend on the trails up behind our house.  Lately we've been doing lots of early morning rides and watching the sun come up and taking in the awesome views from the top of the trails.  The kids are doing great and take things slow and steady (just like I do!) but it has been so fun to get out on our bikes!  Josh and I have taken Eric's Trail the last few times we've gone and it's a great ride that goes clear back in the mountains before it comes back down to where we started.  It's a blast and I'm so grateful that we have all these trails so close to our house!

BBQ

Uncle Greg came to town and we had a BBQ together tonight while he was here.  The kids had fun making their own shish-kabobs...though some turned out lopsided with olives...

 

S'mores

We had a s'more night tonight with the kids and some of their friends.  One of our favorite summertime treats and it never seems to get old...

 

Beutler Reunion

We gathered as a full Beutler clan last week for a reunion and to celebrate Mom and Dad Beutler's 50th wedding anniversary!  It seemed like the perfect thing to get together.  We rented a big house at Bear Lake that fit all the families so it was a big party! The cousins loved being together and we all partied until late every night.  We played lots of games and ate a ton of food and enjoyed being with each other.  It's not too often that all the families can be in one place at one time so it was great to have that chance for a few days. 

We took a drive up to Bloomington Lake the first day that we were there and it is such a gorgeous setting.  The water is a tad bit cold but that didn't stop anyone from jumping in.  There's a cool rope swing that we all took turns playing on and doing tricks into the water.  And those that didn't swing just had fun playing near the shore.  It was a hit!

There were lots of arts and crafts for the kids to do during the week and my boys especially liked drawing and making bracelets with the other kids.  Josh and I went for a run each morning and the views along the run were pretty incredible with the big open fields and then the lake behind us.  It was really gorgeous.  

One of the days we spent the whole day at Bear Lake down at Rendezvous Beach.  We rented paddle boards, boogie boards and a water trampoline.  The best thing about Bear Lake is the shallow beach that goes out so far! We played and played and played all day on that beach and I never worried about the kids because it's so shallow and was hardly ever even past their waist.  We played cornhole, the kids buried each other in the sand, hunted for seashells, sunbathed, boogie boarded their little hearts out and soaked up lots and lots of amazing sun.  We could not get enough of that beautiful lake and didn't want to go home when the day was over!

But the whole point in gathering was to celebrate 50 years of this amazing family!  We had a night where we watched slide show of old videos and pictures, told childhood stories and even gave mom and dad a memory book with old pictures and memories written by each of the kids and grandkids.  It was a really special day and definitely the highlight of the week.  They have created an incredible family and passed on so many great traditions and qualities to their children.  I'm so grateful that we got to be together for these few days and remember the life they've had and look forward to more life ahead!

 

Buds

Love these two little buds!