Oh goodness, June was BUSY, but all of it was fun, so that's the kinds of busy we like. Miss Ava had her birthday. Turned the big 8!! I was having a hard time thinking of something to do for her cake and then it hit me, she LOVES LOVES LOVES to look at books, so I knew I needed to make a 'Book cake'. She was in the middle of her Judy Moody series and I bought her The One and Only Ivan for her birthday. I love how it turned out. She requested a tree frog, so that's why there's a random frog on the books. The tiny books are fondant with edible wafer paper on top. I ended up doing the top of the Judy Moody book decorations out of chocolate and then filled in the color with food coloring. Ava loved her cake and it was a fun one to make.
These books turned out so cute. Can't believe how clear the print came out on the wafer paper.
Grant really wanted to give Ava a present, so he wrapped up some red shoes he knew she liked (they were Noah's and then Grant's) and an old dictionary. HA!! :) She was thrilled.
We gave her this frog pool toy, a couple new books and a new dress.
We used the tiny books from her cake and made cupcakes for her class. She said everyone loved them. 
Finished up baseballs season. Noah's team only won 2 games, but they won their playoff game so they got to advance in the playoffs. Ha. I told Noah it really only matters WHICH game you win, not how many. :) His coach said Noah had really improved and that he can strike out and miss fly balls and it never gets to him. He walks off the field with a smile on his face. I love that about Noah. He really doesn't care about winning or losing, and he doesn't let an error get to him at all. He's just there to have fun, which is all I care about.
Noah was #5 (I think) on his team for batting average. (0.60)
Helped at field day for Grant's class.
School went until June 13 this year!!! It was ridiculous, but we survived.
Our summer rules chart, so I didn't have to listen to my kids ask me every 5 seconds if they could watch a movie or play on the computer. It worked pretty well. They learn real fast that the answer is always NO, unless everything is marked off.
Practicing our cone making skills. Not very good at getting a closed bottom. Hmm...
Noah's last year at cub scout camp (Twilight camp). He and his dad got to camp out for the Webelos over-nighter. Of course he loved it.
I helped out a couple days at camp, so I got to hang out with Noah for a few hours.
Ava started activity days!! They only had 1 meeting during the summer, so she's super excited to start going more regularly. Her cute adviser (my friend) gave her a cute little tote with some candy inside because they were 'tote-ally' excited to have her in activity days. :)
Adam did 2 activities in a row at the lake, one with the YM, and then one YM/YW combined. These guys were tag-alongs so they got to have a turn. :)
Cabin with the De Burgh family. Super fun. We were home for 1 day (Father's day) and then Adam headed off to scout camp. He was the boating merit badge counselor, so he was on the boat for a few days whipping boys around on the tube and teaching them boating safety. He came home and worked for 1 day and then we had visitors for Ava's baptism.
Got this metal sign made for Adam for Father's Day (and my birthday). It's hanging at our cabin now. Love how it turned out. I had to spend a few hours on photoshop getting a map ready to send to the fabricator, and he still didn't know how it would turn out. We have the inside piece that we'll hang up there also.
Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rob got here on Thursday night so we took them to Upper Clementine to play while we waited for some other visitors.
My cute girl got baptized. It was such a great day.
Newly baptized Ava. Aunt April, Brooks and both grandparents came, along with Doug and Linda and lots of friends from the ward. We are so lucky to have such supportive family and friends.
Afterward we had lunch (sloppy joes and hot dogs) and swam for anyone that wanted to come over.
We had to ship grandma Connie, grandpa Rob, April and Brooks back home, but we got to keep my parents for a few more days. We headed up to the cabin after church on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday we showed them our beautiful lake and took mom on the hike to see the slide.
My busy-body mother came up with all sorts of things we 'need' to do at the cabin. She climbed down the hill and made a target practice out of my dads Coke cans.
Grandpa helping Grant get his BB gun sited in. We had the scope on backwards. :) Oops. We're obviously not big gun people.
The kids got to show grandma and grandpa what good skiers they are.
Tuesday we also went to the Shasta Caverns. It had been a few years since we went, so we figured it was time to do them again. Always a fascinating experience. We were supposed to be acting like we just saw bats.
I made my mom pose in this photo booth outhouse. She was a good sport.
We also took them to our favorite restaurant, YAKS in Dunsmuir and to Hedge Creek Falls.
Tuesday night Adam had to go back to work. Wednesday the rest of us headed north to Oregon on our way to the Redwoods. We stopped in Medford to see the tiny temple and also at a dumpy town to eat at a sausage place.
After lots of driving we made it back into California and to our first redwood forest. Just as you cross into California you hit Jedediah Smith state park. We did a little hike thru Stout grove. My parents first site of the MASSIVE trees. We took the bumpy windier rode toward Crescent city thru giant redwood trees.
Stopped in Crescent city to the let the kids play on the beach. They found treasures and we walked the pier and collected drift wood.
We had dinner at a yummy restaurant (can't remember the name). Good fish and chips. After dinner we headed to our cabins in Orick (Elk Meadow Cabins). The cabins were awesome. Nothing fancy, but they were clean, 3 bedrooms, kitchen 2 bathrooms, a firepit...... Each night they start the fire and we would go out and talk with the other visitors. Fun to get to know people from all over. There are only 10-12 cabins so it's pretty quiet and remote (this entire part of California is very remote). Supposedly the elk come and graze right outside the cabins, but of course the 2 nights we were there they never came. Someone said they will come every day for a couple weeks, then be gone for a couple weeks and then come back. Of course they were there the night before we got there. :/
The cabins were right by the road to Fern Canyon, very convenient. Thursday morning we hiked thru Fern Canyon. When we got there, Noah said, "Oh I remember this place. I always thought it was a dream I had, but it was actually real."
The clovers are HUGE and purple underneath. I REALLY wanted to find a huge 4 leaf clover. No luck.
Fern Canyon really is an incredible place.
Stopped at the beach outside of Fern Canyon for lunch and let the kids play. My 3 munchkins were pretty naughty this trip. They tormented and pestered each other a lot. I wanted to strangle them a handful of times.
Next we went to the touristy Trees of Mystery. It's a tourist trap, but still worth it, I think. It's in the middle of a big redwood forest with some pretty impressive trees. Their trails are marked well and they have signs that explain what some of the trees are or what they are named. These trees are called cathedral trees because they grew together and formed a half circle. I guess people come here to get married. Ava and Grant were getting married by Noah the preacher.
The highlight was the gondola ride to the tops of the trees. Grandma wasn't too sure of the height, but she did fine. It was pretty cool.
Paul Bunyan and his anatomically correct Ox. You can ask Paul questions and he will answer you. The kids tried to get funny with him, but he just shot back at them. :)
We went to dinner in Trinidad and took a scenic way there. On the way we saw the Elk in one of the meadows, so we turned around and tried to get closer.
And closer we did. You could almost reach out and touch them. Some stupid tourist were our of their cars right in their faces. Seriously people, these are WILD animals. The park rangers finally came over had them back up. So fun to see them so close. We had super yummy Fish 'n' Chips in Trinidad and then came back to our cabins for the night.
Friday morning we had to check out of the cabin (we would have stayed there the last night because they were in the perfect location, but it was already booked, some big wedding was happening there) and head south.
We hit up Lady Bird Johnson grove before getting too far into the drive. It's a great little hike with lots of huge trees.
Our hotel (Miranda Gardens) is on the road to Avenue of the Giants. These cabins weren't as nice, but the grounds were fun. They had a swing set, ping pong, basketball, swimming pool (cold), firepit, etc. Again, in the middle of nowhere, so there was a tiny market and 1 pizza place. We ordered pizza (pretty good actually) and ate it by the fire.
Actually, before dinner we headed up the road a few minutes to where Big Tree and a REALLY wide tree is (can't remember the name of that tree). I remember last time we crossed the creek to see the wide tree, but later found the bridge. Well, I couldn't remember where the bridge was again, so we crossed the creek (the bridge was right past the parking lot :)).
Saturday morning we woke up and headed towards Sacramento. My parents flew home that afternoon.
It was a really fun trip, and we loved having my parents with us. So fun to show people these remarkable trees and this part of California.
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