The kids were absolutely ecstatic to be going back to the ranch for Labor Day with our Jex and Robinson family...okay, Dave and I were pretty ecstatic as well! Dave left work early on Thursday and we drove to Star Valley, getting there pretty late. Amazingly, we were the first ones there because everyone else stopped to see Great Grandpa and Grandma Jex in Laketown. We waited for everyone to get there to figure out what we were doing sleeping-wise, and then got our tent set up by the garage. It was a very late night.
The next day we all hiked up to the Intermittent Springs. It's fun that it has become such a familiar hike to our little family. The kids and I have hiked it together 4 times now, I think! We kept a slow pace and had a very pleasant hike.
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| All 9 grandkids together at last! |
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| The whole hiking group...Sjani and Ryan's family, Myra and Madi, our family, and Justin and Gretchen's family. We wish Eliza, Craig, Mom and Dad, and Grandpa and Grandma could've hiked with us! |
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| Sjani and Elli, hiking buddies. |
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| I love the boys carrying pink backpacks. These are good dads! |
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| Lucas knows how to smile for the camera. |
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| Getting ready for the hardest part of the trail. |
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| All smiles. |
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| Austin was ready too. |
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| Cousin "twins" |
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| Atti found his stick, and all is right with the world. |
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| I love these guys. |
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| Can you see the mouth of the spring way, way up? |
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| There it is! These three hiked with Justin, Dave, and me up the more treacherous path to the mouth of the spring. It's pretty amazing up there! |
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| Emma wasn't so sure about this part of the hike, but she did it! |
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| I think it's the first time I've made it all the way to this ledge. |
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| There's the water pouring out. |
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| We went a long way up... |
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| I love how these cousins love and help each other. |
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| Looking back up to where we hiked. |
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| Joely's got it made! |
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| Cute Madi. |
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| Gretchen carried Alexis the whole way. What a trooper! |
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| That's one way to carry a kiddo's hat. :) |
For one of our craft activities, Uncle Ryan made wood boxes for each of the kids to paint and keep their nature collection in. All shirts were off for this project!
Four-wheeler rides are probably my kids absolute favorite thing about being at the ranch. At New Years they set goals about driving the four-wheelers and they anticipate it all year. We definitely had fun riding around!
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| This year, Grandpa spent lots of time taking the kids for rides. They loved every minute of it! |
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| Carson has been driving the four-wheelers long enough that everyone was okay with him giving the littler kids rides in the fields down by the ranch house. He was in his element! |
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| The kids spend lots of time playing with rocks. |
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| Ready to roast a hot dog on the fire. |
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| Uncle Justin made a great fire for our hot dog dinner. |
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| Handsome Lucas |
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| Elli and her nature treasure box. |
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| Beautiful Alexis |
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| Emma hopes next year she can "drive"...we'll see! |
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| Grandpa and Grandma drove down to the ranch house to watch the shotgun fun. Boy, do we love them both! |
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| Carson and Lucas driving around. |
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| Aunt Sjani took the girls for a spin. |
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| This is my favorite picture of Madi from the ranch. What a sweetheart! |
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| Our chiquita bonita. |
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| More cousin "twins" |
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| Madi was NOT happy about riding the four-wheeler. |
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| COUSINS!!! |
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| Another of my favorites...sibling buddies in the hayloft. |
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| Let's be honest...I love the four-wheelers too! |
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| Hanging out with Grandma Mona. |
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| Dog Pile! Everyone jump on Uncle Craig! |
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| Once grandpa and the uncles were done shooting, the kids got to go gather up all the clay pigeons. It's like an Easter egg hunt! |
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| Two of our favorite people. |
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| Beautiful kids in a beautiful place. |
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| We liked Uncle Justin's inventive earphones. :) |
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| Aunt Eliza is a great shot! She's amazing! |
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| The whole crew plus the Heiners for our big dinner. It was yummy!! |
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| Can you tell these cousins love each other? Enjoying root beer floats for dessert. |
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| Look out! Restless natives are attacking... The kids loved playing in the bushes on the hill. |
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| These girls are so cute together. And they look a lot alike sometimes with their blond hair and love of all things pink! |
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| I took over a hundred pictures of these 5, trying to get a good shot. But they were so silly! These are my faves. |
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| This is my favorite one of Sjani... It makes me smile every time. They're in birth order in this one. |
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| Sjani, Dave, Myra, Justin, and Eliza |
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| Can you feel the love tonight? |
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| Put them all together and you get a lot of laughter! |
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| Justin and Gretchen with their crew...Lucas, Austin, and Alexis |
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| My favorite of all of us. And if you had a magnifying glass, you could almost see our old townhouse way in the distance! |
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| This makes me think of El Toro Caliente! |
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| What sweet kiddos. |
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| Grandpa surprised everyone and made bugs for all the kids to paint. They had a blast! Carson's bug was ginormous! |
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| Joely's cute little bug. |
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| Emma's too! |
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| Dave and I were in charge of our last dinner there and we did tin foil dinners. They were a hit! And it's always fun to eat outside in beautiful weather! |
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| The kids even liked it for the most part! |
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| She just can't get enough of those rocks! |
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| Best buddies. |
And there you have it...our Labor Day weekend at the ranch in much more than a nutshell. Sadly, our wonderful time came to an end. We had the greatest visit and thoroughly enjoyed being with our Jex and Robinson family. We also loved going to all 3 hours of church in our Freedom ward and seeing old friends again. The kids are already planning what they want to do next year! A huge thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Robinson for making the ranch such a nice place to gather. We are very grateful!
