Our Summer Vacation

We are finally home and instead of doing the laundry I am here blogging. Thats when you know you had a great time, when you just cant want to share your experiences. This is the longest vacation we've been on. It started out with me and the kids driving to San Clemente California with my sister in law Margaret and there kids. We stayed half the time at her moms house just minutes from the beach and the other half with her sister, who had the most amazing pool. They had speakers set up so you could listen to your favorite song while under the water! I had never heard of that before. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun watching the kids play and playing in the waves myself. What is summer with out California! Next Alivia, Mia and I flew into SLC were Ben was helping his brother Dan on his campaign. I was hoping to be more help to Dan and Brooke but Mia and I both came down with a 24hr. flu, not fun. But Ben was a huge help and gained a new found desire to see all his brothers go into politics. He wants to be the behind the scenes guy. After Dan won State Senater of Utah we were on our way to Idaho Falls to spend some quality time with Bens family. We stayed with bens brother Dave and had such a good time just hanging out. Alivia absolutely loves playing with all her cousins even if most of them are boys and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, she would spend the night on the floor in there room watching movies. My family arrived and it was off to Salmon, ID for our three day river rafting trip without the kids. Which I highly recommend to everyone! it was sooo fun! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Syringa Inn, which had the most amazing views and kindest owners. If you go with Idaho Adventures you have to be sure to stay there at Syringa. We had the whole lodge to our self. the next day we were out on the river, and since it was high water the water was moving pretty fast and there was alot more white water rapids. If you were in the paddle boats you were having the time of your life, however, if you were in the kayaks for the class 4 rapids like the boys were you were afraid for your life. Ben said he thought he was going to die a few times.He was so wiped out after being dumped into the river by criss crossing waves that he had to be pulled in by his life jacket and he ended up mooning my sisters in the other paddle boat. Good thing he has a night bum! He walked away with just a few scrapes and bruises. The food was excellent and so were the guides. But the most amazing part was the views, we saw alot of wild life. After the trip we got back just in time for the 4th of July parade in the morning, BBQ at Matt Grigg's house(Marshalls brother) and the awsomest fireworks west of the mississippi, right next to the snake river. After my family left, and Taylor my sister stayed behind to help me with the girls and we got ready for Bens brother Sam to get married at the end of that week. In the mean time Bens other brother Tome got engaged, it was a crazy week. We moved over to Bens parents house to help with the wedding reception that was going to be held at Bens house. We did have a chance to hang out with cousins at a hot sping pool called Heise that has a huge slide. Taylor got surprised a few times by Bens nephews who would stop themselves in the slide and press up against the side to scare her as she was coming around a curve in the slide. It was funny to see them all come out together. I dont think the life guard appreciated it though. The day after the wedding we drove all the way down to AZ from ID. The kids did a lot better than I thought, DVD players probably saved our marriage. It is good to be home though and sleeping in our own bed. But we are definitely going to miss that 75degree weather. That is our summer vacaton story! I will publish pics as soon as I can.