Camping at Payson Lake

To celebrate the 24th of July, we spent a few days camping at Payson Lakes with some of our friends. There were 39 people and 3 dogs there together. We really had a great time together. We arrived Friday afternoon/evening. After dinner we took a walk around the lake and some of the boys and dads did some fishing. We spent the whole day at the lake on Saturday. I forgot to take my camera to the lake so I don't have any pictures to display. We spent the day jumping off the doc, swimming in the lake, having family boat races and just hangout out together. It was so much fun!

We decided to have each family in charge of one meal. So whoever was in charge had to feed everybody for that meal. It turned out really nice. I only had to worry about one meal and when you have all those women around, there is tons of help. It was great!

On Sunday, after breakfast, we all went on a little walk up to a waterfall. The kids had a great time getting their feet (and a little more than their feet) wet. It was fun to hang out up there where it was cool. After we got back, we hung out around camp and played games. It was so hot so we decided to let the kids swim for a little while before dinner.

Kyson was one of the first kids to go in the water to get to the waterfall. He didn't care about getting wet at all. It was really cold but he had a great time there.

This was taken on our hike to the waterfall. We had a great camping trip. The kids especially loved playing outside all day with their friends. I think this will become an annual tradition.

Girl's Camp!

Today Kierra got home from her first Girl's Camp. It really seemed like she had a great time! She told me all about her favorite parts and taught our family all of the wonderful camp songs she learned. I'm glad that she is the type of person who can leave home for a few days and be totally ok. She had a great time with the girls and made some new friends. I am so thankful to the young women's leaders in our ward. Kierra's leaders, especially, are very dedicated to the girls and Kierra loves them.

The best Saturday ever!

We started out the day by taking Jake and Jaxon over to the church to head up to Scout camp. This was their 2nd day and they were both excited to go. After we dropped them off, Dale and I took Jenny and her friend, Zoey, on a walk. When we got home we went over to help our friends move. They are moving to Bountiful and they were only moving their food storage today. They filled up two moving trucks with FOOD STORAGE. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty bad about our small amount we have that would definately fit in our van. Anyway, it felt good to help someone out. Even though we were exausted when we got home, I talked Dale into cleaning out the garage. Since we got so hot doing that, Jadon asked if we could get the slip-n-slide out. It was quite a project since there were several holes in it that needed to be repaired before we could use it. Somehow while they were slipping and sliding they came up with the idea to play kickball and use the slip-n-slide as homebase. They asked me if I would play. I told them I would kick the ball but someone else had to run for me because I didn't want to get wet. That didn't last long! Not very long after we started playing, it started to rain. At first it was just sprinkling but the more we got into the game, the harder it rained. Pretty soon it was pouring and I was soaking wet so I decided to really get into the game and slide head first into home. We had so much fun playing in the rain. Luckily, Jaxon got home from camp during our game and he joined us for the fun. We played through the whole rainstorm and pretty soon the sun came out. Katie, Kyson, and Jake then joined us to do some more slippin' and sliding. There isn't a lot of things that are better than playing outside in the water with my kids! After we were done, Kierra said "This was the best Saturday we have ever had!"

"I'm safe!"

"You're out!"

Jaxon sliding into home

After we all got cleaned up, I fed the kids dinner and then Dale and I went out to dinner. It felt so good to finally sit down and enjoy some good food! What a great day!

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July, like many years in the past, at the cabin. This year was a little different. We usually go to the Brighton breakfast. This year we decided to have a big breakfast at our cabin. Sandy, Steve, Danny, Amelia and Hannah joined us for our breakfast and then we all went over to the parade. Another change was the rain. It's usually hot and sunny but this year it was overcast all day and rained on and off. The kids still had a great time!

They all love Danny. He was playing games with them all day. All the kids loved picking up the candy and cheering for the people in the parade!

Luckily we were able to find a close spot at the parade so that we could sit in the back of Lisa's van to stay dry.

After the parade, we all went on a walk around Silver Lake. It was pretty muddy and there were some parts that had snow on the trail. The kids had fun, like always, climbing the rock. After our walk, we all went back to the cabin to visit and play games all day. I love being at the cabin and I love the 4th of July! I am so thankful to live in this beautiful country and have the many wonderful things that I have!

Aspen Grove

Last Friday our family returned from a wonderful trip to Aspen Grove that my parents so generously took my family on. We spent a week together, as a family, in the mountains with no TV's! All the cousins had a great time together. The Aspen Grove counselors had our kids in groups with all the kids that were their same age! All the kids made new friends and had a great time with their energetic super duper counselors. They had such a great time swimming, doing arts and crafts, going on treasure hunts, hiking, playing water games, climbing a rock wall and even going to church outside in the mountains. A lot of the people in our family were able to climb the rock wall and/or do a difficult ropes course. We were so proud of all of our kids because of the progress they made there. Our family was able to participate in family competitions like volleyball, basketball, walleyball and even dodge ball. Unfortunately we didn't win any but everyone had a great time playing. We had a blast playing paintball against each other! The employees at Aspen Grove were always happy and willing to help. It was such a great environment to be in! We made a lot of memories there and we were all sad to leave! We will definitely return to Aspen Grove some day!

Create your own photo album

Growing up too fast!

Katie is now two and half years old. If there was something I could do to get her to stop growing up, I would. It has been fun to watch her go through all the different stages but I need her to stop. She is so cute right now. Her vocabulary is endless and she is very expressive when she talks. I could listen to her explain things to me all day! She uses her hands and eyes so much when she talks. She still loves babies and is completely fascinated with strollers. She can't take her eyes off them. Whenever she sees someone with a stroller you can just see her holding back from running over to push it.

Katie loves to go places. I love that she always loves to go with me, no matter where I am going. She is fun to take anywhere because she always has so much to say about everything. She has a great memory and is just starting to remember songs and loves to listen to them and sing them.

Katie is 100% all girl. She loves to have her fingnails painted and wear pretty dresses. She doesn't like to get her hair done but she loves it when it looks pretty and has a bow in it. She absolutely loves shoes. She is a social butterfly. She makes friends wherever she goes and isn't afraid of talking to anybody. She loves hanging out with Kierra and her friends and thinks she's so big when they let her. Everyone in our family loves Katie so much and has so much fun with her.