Battle Creek Falls

If only all hikes could be

• a short 15 min drive from our house
• a short 25 min trek to the waterfall
• downhill both ways (just kidding on this last one, but Battle Creek Falls does meet the first two criterion!)

The trailhead for Battle Creek Falls begins in Pleasant Grove at a place called Battle Creek Canyon, close to where the "G" is on the mountain. Fortunately for us our grandparents live right next to the "G". 

The base of the falls

The view from the trail

And 473 pictures of my adorable children on the hike:

As a bonus, right next to the trailhead is Kiwanis park, with cool, shaded picnic tables and lots of places to explore. It was the perfect spot for our PB&Js.

Fun times!

Goodbye, Mullett

From this and

this

to

this

and

this.

Summer Scenes

A few scooters....

A few toys.....

Cute girls.......

Cute boys...

And more cute boys....

SUMMER TIME AT OUR HOUSE
by Kelly L. King

What's Working: Our job (chore) program. B and C are up everyday by 730ish (G wakes up generally about 930) and are on task. We decided at the beginning of summer that the children would NOT have any screen time until the afternoon, and this has really worked for us. I've found the trick is to make sure they know the night before what their assignments are. We have a weekly chart that they fill out to keep them on task.I have promised them BIG rewards at the end of summer for never missing a day on their summer job chart.  Now as soon as they get up everyday they have about 1 to 2 hours worth of "jobs" to do. I love walking into the living room in the early morning and seeing my children reading or writing in their journals or scrubbing walls! Kudos to B, C, and sometimes G for being such great workers! 

What we're still working on: Fighting. Tattling. Problem-Causing. Boredom. Dissatisfaction with the lunch menu. Leaving the sliding-glass door wide-open when the A/C is running. Playing with friends while ignoring siblings. Whining. Red Otter Pop drips on the kitchen floor. Leaving the freezer door open. And the kids are struggling too....

Onward, ever onward!


Oops! I almost forgot two more pictures that I liked:

7 Peaks with 22 Cheeks

On a Tuesday in June we went to

with

plus three more (not pictured) kidlets and 3 moms (not pictured for obvious swim-suit reasons).

There were prizes given for

fastest slider,

most laps around the lazy river,

funniest self-portrait ever, and

world's best-ever photographed smirk (look closely at Ben's face).

We shared good times with friends....

and got a little wet,

and hung out with every other person in Utah County who was using their free Val-Pak coupons or Peak Reader Passes.

(It was a little crowded, to put it mildly).

But even with the ultra-long lines, continuous head-counting, a trip to the children's lost-and-found to reclaim one of our off-spring, being bag and body searched by Rambo, and us moms laughing hysterically at getting our fannies in and out of the tubes, 

it was good times.

(And PHEW! I'm so glad my kids only earn passes once a year. I need a nap.............)

Cascade Springs

On a Thursday in June we headed up to

with

and we took some pictures of

and

and

.

Some of us also did this

which I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to do because it's like a protected plant area or something and if it's one thing the King children are not good at it's "treading lightly" through protected plant areas.

There was also some of this

and some of that

and for good measure just a little of

Another year older and wiser too............

Saturday we celebrated R's birthday in American Fork Canyon, at a favorite little picnic spot called Mile Rock.

 In addition to grandparents, our friends the Knoxes joined us for dinner and s'mores. This is Eva, their fearless clan leader. She and I have known each other since birth, grew up a mile apart in California for 18 years, and now live within a few miles of each other in Utah. 

These are the children from the orphanage I've been telling you about. They are all fairly well behaved and in desperate need of a loving home. If you have a place in your heart.....JUST KIDDING! I guess you could call this photographic evidence of what Eva and I have been doing (separately, of course)  in our 18 years since we graduated high school. Not too shabby.....

(and yes, our husbands deserve some credit, too)

According to the looks on their faces, roasting hot dogs in the canyon is comparable to scrubbing toilets! Come on people! Where is your hot dog joy?

Now that's more like it!

After hot dogs but before s'mores there was

hide and seek,

rock climbing,

and a game I like to call, "fun-with-a-cup".

And then it was time for every parent's favorite activity: marshmallow torches (aka s'mores)

And even with all the picture taking-marshmallow melting-hot dog burning-rock climbing-corralling children we did manage to sing happy birthday to the greatest guy I know.

Happy Birthday, Rich.