Cherry Hill Water Park

These boys LOVE water parks and we thought we'd try out a new one this year so we went to Cherry Hill up in Farmington. 

I want to note too what a good sport Nolan was. One Friday towards the end of the summer season we went up there to go to the park and he was so excited, only to find out that it was closed that day :( Justin and I felt SO bad, but when we broke the news to Nolan he was obviously sad, but didn't throw a fit or anything. He does that a lot - surprises us with his emotional maturity. Of course other times he's a toddler and acts like it haha, but he's such a good boy.

Anyway, we double and triple checked the remaining dates the park was open and went the next week. We all had SO much fun!

This ride was pretty big for Nolan, but he wanted to try it! There were a lot of waterfalls (that of course he didn't really like, I wouldn't either haha) and he got stuck a time or two and he had to go on a different tube than his dad. I don't think he really liked it, but I'm so proud of him for trying it AND he actually went a second time!

They loved these slides and were so cute when they rode together ♡

While we were ordering food Branson decided to try out the syrups for the shaved ice #facepalm.

 I thought they did such a good job with this place. I loved all the pirate and western themes!

Tired B after an evening of fun!

They're already asking to go back and are a little disappointed they'll have to wait until next summer!

Fun at the Cabin

We always look forward to our yearly trip to the cabin! This year was different because it was just us and my grandparents and Uncle Andy. We of course missed the craziness of our big, fun group, but to be honest it was also kind of nice! Things were slower paced and we had time to really chat and enjoy each others company.

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 It was so fun to watch Nolan enjoy puzzles so much!

GG is so good at this great-grandma gig and I told her so. 

Here she is building Lego airplanes with Branson. (it was cute, when she called herself "grandma" Branson quickly corrected her saying, "You are GG!!"

And reading with the boys. She read with Nolan and listened to him read for a long time and never seemed to get bored. She even paid attention to a book (Transformers) that I'm sure she had no interest in and was able to have a cute conversation with him about it.

AND she made the boys Mickey pancakes for breakfast one morning. We love GG!

Looking so comfy. Poor Nolan had a few bloody noses during the night while we were there and woke up absolutely hysterical :( Poor guy.

They lived for rides on the quad and rhino. 

Of course, the loved going on adventures too!

  

But arguably their most favorite thing at the cabin is the swings. They would swing non-stop if there was someone there to push them! 

Other activities included blowing bubbles... 

...throwing rocks into the stream...

...and general playing and eating snacks.

 They also loved exploring on "the island."

 

Fathers and Sons Campout

Last year was Nolan's first Father's and Sons campout and he had an absolute blast! So when we moved into our new ward one of the first things we checked the bulletin for was Father's and Sons. To our disappointment though we only saw an announcement for a Daddy-Daughter camp. Long story short, we asked about it and they just don't do a Father's and Sons (totally LAME if you ask me).

Well anyway, Justin wasn't about to disappoint his oldest son so he made it happen! He called up a few friends in the new ward and talked them into coming. He also researched nearby camp sites AND even got up at 6am the morning of to reserve the site (which, if you know Justin, that's some serious love). I'm so proud of him for making this happen! And Nolan of course had such a good time with his dad!

 

Some of our friends actually brought their daughters too haha, but that's ok. Nolan just wanted to camp!

Justin was worried about taking both the boys, especially because the campsite was close to water and looked like a recipe for disaster with a, um, not so careful kid like Branson haha so he decided to wait until next year to take B. Branson was really upset at first when Nolan and daddy left, but I talked him into having a fun time with just mommy that night.

Actually my friend Emily ended up being in a bind and needing someone to watch her two little ones, Clint and Lillie so I told her to bring them over to play. So it wasn't just B and I, but it was still a lot of fun! After they left we settled into my bed and since Justin was gone I asked B if he'd sleep with me. Of course he was excited about that! I let him pick the movie and he picked Coco :)

The morning after the campout.