Summer Catch Up

So I decided I had better catch up on my blog with all our summer happenings since summer is now over. We have had a fun summer and I am not looking forward to it being over. Anyway here is what we have been up to lately. It is kind of backwards starting with the most recent stuff to the oldest and if you aren't too bored you do have to go to the next page to see more of it.

Scerra Pool

In August we went down to see Teagen again. We went over to the Scerra pool and the kids had a blast. We had spent the majority of the summer with the boys not wanting anything to do with water. Well they finally decided to be brave and they had so much fun on this outing to the pool. They were being so daring and jumping of the side into the pool without me even catching them. I am glad they finally decided to love the water.
Boston getting ready to jump in.

Preston just jumped in.

Going down the slide.



The three amigos.

Thanks Teagen and Sean for the fun day. We can't wait until we can see you again Teagen.

Fun with friends...

This is Brandt. He lives across the street from us and has been coming to play with the boys. He is such a nice boy and is so good to play with Boston and Preston. This day we had some fun jumping with the sprinkler on.

Oak City Canyon

We were at my mom's for her birthday this year. We decided to all head up the Oak City Canyon. It was so fun. I forgot my camera so here are a couple I took with my phone. Ignore Boston's big jacket. I had not come prepared with warm clothes and it was raining this day, so he had to wear one of my moms jackets. I think he looks pretty cute in it though.

Without Training Wheels?

Gary decided to take the training wheels off the boys bikes to see if they could learn to ride. So far we have had no luck, but they looked so cute I had to post this pic.

Cowabunga Bay

Also at the end of July we were able to go on a little vacation with all my family. I did not get very many pictures but we all had a fun time. Thanks mom and dad for the awesome time. We started out at a hotel in West Valley. It had a huge swimming pool with a kids area, a 3 story water slide and a hot tub. No pictures here though. The next morning we headed to Cowabunga Bay. It is a water park right of the freeway in South Jordan. We had a blast. My boys are not big fans of the water but got a little more brave and spent the entire day in the lazy river. They did go on a couple of the slides but we spent the rest of the time just floating the lazy river. I was so proud of them though that they enjoyed that as we had not been able to get them to do any water activities so far in the summer.
Gary, Boston and Preston in the lazy river.

Gary and Boston coming down one of the slides.

Me and Preston coming down the slide.

Gary and I had not done any of the other slides so at the end of the day we left the boys to dry off and we went to try some. When we came back this is how the boys were. They had just crashed and were sound asleep.

Knudsen Family get together...

At the end of July all the Knudsen side of the family was able to get together. This was the first time all the cousins had been there at the same time so it was fun for all the kids to get to play.
Playing on the slip and slide.
Cute Chaz.

Boston and Preston were still actually really scarred of the water at this point of the summer so they wouldn't really do the slip and slide. This was they closest they would get.


All the cousins. Tyler, Connor, Sage, Teagen, Boston, Preston, and Chaz.

Again all the cousins looking good after church.
Tyler, Chaz, Teagen, Preston, Sage, Boston and Connor.

Boston and Preston with the Roddy bunch: Sage, Ty and Connor.

Family picture.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a nice drive up Provo canyon. We went to a nice little spot where we could sit in the shade and the kids could play in the water.
Cute Sagie. Poor thing she is the only girl in the crazy bunch of boys.

Boston finally being brave and putting his feet in the water.

Gary sitting with the kids taking a look a beautiful Bridal Veil Falls.

Ty and Gary taking a little hike up the falls.

It was so fun to spend time with everyone. We were sad Steve couldn't make it and hope we can see him soon. It is so nice when then kids get to play together since we don't see these cousins as often as we would like.

Angel Moroni

So back in July they were putting the Angel Moroni and the Brigham City Temple. So of course we wanted to go watch. Well it ended up being a horrible day (weather wise). We went and sat for about 2 hours in the rain only to have it clear right at noon when they were to start but then the wind started blowing. We sat there for about another hour, so total 3 hours and there was no sign of them starting. They had to delay for the wind. Boston and Preston and finally had it so we decided to go. By the time we got home (5 minutes) the wind had stopped and they put the angel on. We missed it but went up later to get a look.
Here we are sitting in the rain. Luckily I had the umbrella in the car.

Boston got pretty bored. Here they are being silly.


When we went back up to see it I let the boys play in the irrigation ditch for a bit. They had so much fun.

And here it is.

It has been so neat to have the temple being built so close. We are about six blocks to the west and get to see it every time we go to Smith's. The boys have loved it. We can't wait for the open house when it is done. What a blessing it will be to have the temple so close.

4th of July

This year for the 4th we were able to spend part of the day in Delta and then we headed up to Gary's parents because this is also Ernie's birthday.
We went to the Delta parade. The kids loved it and loved all the candy they were able to get.
Waiting for the parade. Our Pace family crew.

Rylee and Preston

Boston, Taylor, Rylee and Preston watching the parade.

Sadly I did not get any pictures at Gary's parent house. But we enjoyed celebrating Ernie's b-day with a bbq and ice cream cake from Cold Stone (so yummy).

Cool dude.

One day while we were at my parents house Boston was having some fun playing with the hose. Doesn't he look so cool?

The Hogel Zoo

On our way down to my parents house for the 4th of July we decided to take the boys to the zoo. They had been wanting to do it all year. I wish we would have done it earlier because man was it hot. But we all had a lot of fun. My mom and dad were nice enough to come up and go with us because that was one thing the boys wanted. They had asked if grandma and grandpa could come and of course my parents couldn't say no.
They have an amazing bird show where all these different birds can do tricks. This was one of the macaw's.

Me and Boston on the Carousel.

Preston and my mom on the Carousel.

They have been doing something with dinosaurs at the zoo. So here we are in front of one of the life size dinosaurs. This was this first and only one that they would have anything to do with.

This is the baby elephant. It was too cute. And it was amazing. It could do a head stand and all sorts of different tricks. Did not know an elephant could do that.

Boston's Surgery

Back in June, Boston got his tonsils taken out. We had not had any problems with them but they were huge. I had first noticed them back in December when I was brushing his teeth. We went to the ENT and he said they were big but like not quite big enough to remove. So we set up a follow up appt. in April to have one more check. This time they were even bigger. They were just about touching in the middle. So they said this time that they did need to come out.
We went in in the morning and waited for our turn. When they were just about ready to take him they gave him some Versed to calm him down. When they went to take him he wasn't hysterical or anything like I expected but he did cry for me to stay with him. It was a little heart breaking and I may have cried just a little. When they brought him back from recovery he was kind of awake and just crawled into my arms where I held him for about two hours. He just kept on sleeping. Finally maybe three hours after he had come back we got him to wake up enough to eat some ice cream and drink some juice and they let us go. He was so good the whole time. I don't think he even cried at all except for the part when they were taking him. He was so glad to be home. This is the first time that him and Preston had really ever been away from each other for a long period of time. They were so happy to see each other. Boston wanted Preston by his side for everything and Preston catered to everything Boston wanted or needed. That night they went out to throw some water balloons together and while they were waiting for me to fill them up Boston was just sitting there rubbing Preston's head so happy to be with them. I love that they love each other so much. We were so blessed. Boston did not have any problems while healing and was up and at it in days.
Here is Boston and Gary while we were waiting for Boston to be taken back.

Strawberry Day's Rodeo

Back around Father's Day I think we were down at Gary's parents house. Sean, Gary's brother, had his son, Teagen, for the weekend and asked if we would want to go with them to the Strawberry Day's Rodeo. We went and had a lot of fun.
Boston had not taken a nap that day so here he is asleep during the rodeo on Gary's lap.

Me and Preston.

This was my favorite part of the night. They brought out the baby horses and their mothers. These are the future horses for the rodeo. They were so cute. And they just ran around the arena right by their mothers. So sweet.

Tired boys

I can't even remember what we had done this day but obviously it was a tiring day. I came out and found all three boys asleep like this. Too funny.

Bird Refuge

Back at the beginning of the summer Gary was going out into the back yard and the was like 50 birds going crazy up in the trees squawking at something. Then a cat ran out across the back yard. So Gary went out further to see what was going on. He found two little birds down on the tennis court that couldn't fly. The cat had somehow gotten them out of the tree and the other birds were squawking to scare the cat away. Gary didn't know what to do with the birds and didn't want the cat to come back and get them. So he put them in the trampoline and zipped it up. I did not really like this because birds are gross and we have no idea how to take care of them. So I thought for sure they would be there for a few days and die of starvation or something. But Gary could not just let them die, he had to try something. The next morning it was crazy, Gary went out to check on them and other birds were flying down and bringing them food. Luckily they weren't tiny little babies and were able to fly away about two days later. Here are the little birds and their destruction of the trampoline. It was pretty gross to get all that bird poop off the tramp.