Our Big Camping Trip and Hiking Timp

The first week in June, we decided to take the boys camping! We had big plans to go to Calf Creek Falls (remember this hike brothers?). But when our plans of pulling out of Heber at 2:00 fell through and we were leaving at 6:00, we decided to go somewhere closer. We ended up just going up above Aspen Grove and it was beautiful! We almost had the whole campground to ourselves.

We decided to hike up to Timp. caves on Friday. Choosing to go at 2:00 in the afternoon wasn't the smartest idea. It was very hot and the hike was all up hill in the sun.
Here are the boys in the caves with some girls we met. Their Mom (who was with us in the cave) was wearing a Dairy Keen sweatshirt. Come to find out she one of the MaWhinney's and was here visiting her parents.
Look how high we are - 6730 feet above sea level! They said the biggest problem is when people fly in from California and try to do this hike the same day. People can get sick from the elevation change. (Ask Paul - he felt it the next couple of days - it didn't help to be carrying McKay on his back the whole way either).
Okay, this is one of the best pictures I've taken. I am right up there with Natalie's picture taking abilities with this picture. Look at the tiny road in the background. Thats a pretty impressive hike!
Luckily we had a hydration backpack from Costco (thanks to Paul). The boys loved getting drinks of water from it. We went through lots of water!
We did it! The boys didn't think they were ever going to make it. But with a lot of pitstops along the way, they did it!

Memorial Day

Mom and Dad asked us to go and decorate the graves will they are on their mission. They had even drawn out a map of where to locate the graves in the cemetary - of course I found the map a couple days after Memorial Day. Anyways, I was very proud of myself when we pulled into the Spanish Fork cemetary, I walked to the right graves without a problem. It was fun telling the boys a little bit about their great grandparents.
Lehi cemetary was a different story. I thought for sure I knew where I was going. First off, we could find the cemetary. So, we had to asked two different people how to get there. Next, I couldn't find Grandma and Grandpa Edwards' grave. I called Dad twice and walked around in the cold wind trying to find it. After a while I was successful. But we didn't take any pictures because we were all freezing at this point and couldn't wait to get in the car.

After decorating the graves, we decided to take the boys to Cabella's (the new outdoor sporting goods store) in Lehi. The boys loved it (especially Paul). It is now right up there with Costco on his list. Paul found the cot he had been coveting that Jason Danley has on their campouts. The picture above is taken inside of the Aquarium tunnel. McKay's favorite part was the stuffed animals, especially the bears. He kept running over to them and growling.

Our Family Faces in Florida

We decided to get family pictures at the resort. But McKay and Tanner both had accidents the night before. McKay fell out of his stroller and Tanner fell out of his bed and hit the nightstand. I asked the photographer if we could angle the kids so you wouldn't see the wounds. She said not to worry that she would "photoshop" it out. I guess she forgot! Oh well, I guess our picture has character.

Grandma and Grandpa with all their boys. The picture with all their girls is much smaller!
What handsome boys we have!

Here is all the family. There is one person missing, any guesses?

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Disney World. Look at all the different smiles you get when you are the in the "happiest place on earth!" (The ride behind us is the newest ride in Disney World, its called Mt. Everest. It is a wild and crazy rollercoaster that goes backwards in and out of the mountain doing 2 loops. All the boys loved it (including Paul) they couldn't get enough of it. I went once and then was happy to sit and watch McKay while the boys went again and again.

Autographs with Disney Characters

Garrett bought an Autograph book while we were at Disney World and he was determined to get every character's autograph possible. We all worked very hard at this and stood in many lines to get the coveted autographs.
After spending a few days at Disney World we want to give all of you future Disney travelers a tip: Book a meal with Disney character dining in advance! Luckily someone gave us this tip and we were able to dine with Mickey and friends and have these characters all to ourselves. Trust me, it is well worth the extra few dollars a plate to eat a nice meal in a laid back enviroment with the Disney characters all to ourselves (at least that's how it felt). The kids had a blast and we racked up autographs and pictures.
The first few pictures were taken at our dinner, the rest were taken at different parks. See if you can name all the different Disney characters. . .(better yet, all the Ritchie cousins).

Fighting over girls

Bryson won't even talk to anyone about girls. But Garrett and Tanner are a different story. The problem is they both like the same girl, Summer Chappell. We were invited to go have a BBQ with our friends, the Chappell's, in their new home in Salt Lake. Our kids get along great, they have 3 girls and we have 4 boys. Garrett and Summer are the same age, but Tanner is now trying to hit on Garrett's girl. Tanner always wants to have Summer come and play house with him. They both say their girlfriend is Summer Chappell. I'm a little nervous if this is just a taste of whats to come. The Chappell girls are all cute, I wish they would each like one. . . but not for another 15 years!

Tanner rides "a two wheeler"

Tanner has been telling us that now that he is 5, he should be riding a two wheeler (a bike w/o training wheels). He said, "Mom, I just keep watching my brothers and it looks so easy." So, after watching his brothers ride so effortlessly, Tanner enlisted Bryson's help. After a few pointers, Tanner was ready and just took off. As you can see, Tanner is very proud of his accomplishment. His feet have hardly touched the ground since then. He loves to ride his bike and will get up early to go outside and practice.