Visiting the Dairy Farm

After the wedding, we drove back to the Dairy Farm and stayed overnight. First stop on the farm is the milking barn. We 4-wheeled down to the barn to see the cows be milked. 

This dairy farm milks 350 cows. Every morning and night the cows get milked. Uncle Mark gave us the tour of the milking barn and explained to the kids how it all worked, where the milk goes, where it's stored and what it can be made into...cheese. The kids were fascinated! 

No time for pictures mom, we are learning. 

We saw the last of the cows being milked...I guess we'd have to get up earlier if we wanted to see all 300 plus cows be milked. LOL 

Brooklyn watching all the action at the milking barn. 

Kaden, Uncle Justin, Silas, Zaralyn, Uncle Mark, Isaac, Brylee and the Milker...listening to Uncle Mark talk about the Dairy. 

Looking at the Milk Storage Tanks 

Then, the kids learned how to bottle feed the calves. This is one of the best parts about the Dairy Farm...feeding the calves! 

Isaac feeding his calf 

Kaden feeding his calf with Katie's help. 

Abbie feeding her calf 

Brooklyn helping Abbie feed her calf. 

Then, we went to see the calves that are a little bit older and don't need to be bottle fed. Brooklyn fed them hay and thought it was so fun feeding the calves hay. 

Brooklyn kept feeding the calves hay..she tried to feed them from her hand. Brave little girl! 

The girls feeding the calves. 

Kaden got to feed the little ones some water, he thought it was great fun! 

The  we toured the rest of the Diary farm on 4-wheelers. The kids sure love riding 4-wheelers. 

Abbie rode with Uncle Justin

Kaden rode on the 4-wheeler with Katie and Rupert the dog. 

and this was our goodbye...it's tradition.....whenever you leave the farm they wave until you are out of sight! We love you Hegerhorst family and thank you for letting us come visit the farm and let the kids experience some of my favorite memories of being on the Farm. Love you all! Hopefully we can come visit again soon!

Emily and Ben's Wedding in Idaho

The next weekend, we drove up to Idaho to attend my cousin Emily's wedding. They were married in the Twin Falls Temple and it really is a beautiful place to get married! 

Isaac waiting outside on the temple grounds. 

My sister Nichole and her family was the only other sibling to attend. We had a good time!  

Brooklyn, Reed and I outside the Twin Falls Temple waiting for the Bride and Groom. 

The happy couple, Emily and Ben! 

The Hegerhorst Family (my cousins). She had the cutest colors of Orange and Yellow! Such happy colors and at the reception it was a country reception with little personal containers of milk. So appropriate since my Aunt and Uncle own a Diary Farm. 

Our family at the Twin Falls, Idaho Temple. 

Brooklyn loved the flowers at the Temple grounds. They were so pretty! 

Reed helping Brooklyn smell her first flower! SO precious!! 

It was so cute seeing her expression after she smelt each flower! (I remember Abbie doing the exact same thing at someone elses wedding) 

Cassy, Patsy and Nichole

It was a little windy but, I am so glad we got a good picture of us even if we are a little windblown. I have so many memories with this favorite aunt Patsy and I think of her like my second Mom. Love you both... and so glad we could all spend time together at the Farm. Fun Times! Congratulations Emily and Ben!

Swimming in Vernal

While we were in Vernal, my sister invited us to the hotel pool. She works at the Dinosaur Inn during the summer so we all went swimming. I thought we would be there probably just over an hour because it's really not a very big pool but, we ended up staying for almost three hours. The kids had a BLAST! 

 

Brooklyn at the pool. She loves jumping in from the side. She loved getting out, going and putting her arm out of the fence (the maintenance guys had watered the flower pots and they were dripping out of the bottom that hung out of the fence). So she would put her hand in the dripping water then come and jump back in the pool. She was fearless! 

Isaac Abbie and Kaden are now swimming without lifejackets. They've had swim lessons and they were showing me their skills. They love jumping all in together. 

Splash! 

This is their new favorite picture and it is now on their playroom wall. They love it! It was so much fun swimming with all the cousins in Vernal!

Fishing at Mirror Lake & Hiking the Falls

After the family reunion, we headed to Vernal to spend a few days but, not until we had gone fishing and had fun on our way to Vernal. We stopped at Mirror Lake and went fishing. Here is Kaden fishing with his new pole that he got for Christmas (each of the kids got a new fishing pole...a real big kid pole....the baby poles weren't working for them anymore or maybe Dad was tired of untangling the cheap line! lol) 

Abbie Fishing....each of the kids caught a fish this year. Abbie caught a BrookeTrout (also known as a Brookie...which she was thrilled about because her baby sister is called Brookie sometimes) 

Isaac using his slingshot. He got a little tired of fishing this time so he was playing in the trees with his slingshot. 

Abbie's new casting technique! 

Then we stopped at the waterfalls and hiked a little bit. Isaac was taking a picture of the girls and us and passerby must have felt bad because she asked to take a family photo of us. So...here is a family photo of us at the falls. 

This is the one Isaac took...pretty good! 

The kids were always making funny faces and poses as we hiked the falls.  

The kids skipping rocks at the base of the falls. 

Kaden Abbie and Isaac....the awesome rock skippers!

It is beautiful up the Mirror Lake Highway. We love camping up there and we love the mountains! Such beautiful scenery and it was fun hanging out as a family!