Vacation! We were very blessed to be able to take 3 weeks (yes, 3 whole weeks!) off this summer to go visit our families. It was so nice to relax and enjoy each other’s company. We are so grateful to Grandma and Grandpa Kotter for making this trip possible by helping with the cost of our tickets. We spent the first half of our trip in Idaho. Grandma and Grandpa picked us up from the airport in Salt Lake and drove us back to Idaho. Kara joined us from Utah later that evening and Alvin visited for a few days in between flights, so we had all of the family together. It was awesome!

Alvin convinced us to go and see an air show in Rexburg one Saturday. It was the first air show I had ever seen, and it was great! We had front row seats right on the runway and we had a perfect view of the stunt planes. It was crazy to see what those pilots could do.

Cute Cousins!

We had such a great time in Idaho. The kids loved playing with their cousins, Lucas, McKinley, and Nigel. We had fun building Legos (Kendal helped Oliver build an alien Lego set that he still talks about!), playing outside (Grandma helped Oliver find a “fort” by the field and they spent a lot of time fighting bad guys and poison – aka the sprinklers from the field), and eating wonderful food (Mom did an amazing job at feeding all of us!).

She loves Grandpa’s swing!

Abby loves to read stories with Grandma

Grandpa showed the grand kids how to use his tools

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Kotter/Fielding Party without a water fight.

One day we went to visit the Greenbelt to feed the ducks and geese and to see the temple.

Oliver, Kaitlin, and Kendal in front of the Idaho Falls Temple

Oliver and Lucas at the Greenbelt

There’s nothing like a walk with Grandma.

Yogurt! Yum!

Another day we drove to Mesa Falls. We enjoyed feeding the fish and then had a wonderful picnic lunch. On our hike to the old railroad tunnel, Oliver fell down and scraped his knee. It was bleeding pretty good, so Kay and I took him back to the car to wash it off and patch it up. He recovered quickly, though, and we were soon back at the railroad tunnel and climbing the rock slide. Oliver loved climbing the big rocks; he assured us that he didn’t need any help (and though it made me very nervous, I let him climb by himself). He was very proud of how high he could climb and he made sure that Grandma saw him.

Watching Great Grandpa feed the fish

Our trip was full of lots of other fun things as well. We went to Rexburg to try out a new family pool; the kids loved it. Abby especially loved the lazy river and wanted to go around it again and again. Kay actually made multiple trips to Rexburg to attend an art class with Kendal. She loved the opportunity to get away and draw for a few hours. We explored my Grandma Kotter’s barn and took pictures with the kids on Grandma’s old trikes, we had fun visiting Darin and Kryssi’s home and playing there, and Dad and I had some friendly games of “horse” (I won handily on the first couple of nights, but he warmed up and I mostly lost after that. He still has the basketball touch!) Somehow I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I’ll have to get copies at some point from my mom. I love being with family!

My siblings!

Our new family photo – it’s great to have everyone together!