Echo Lake....

We had a blast this year at Echo like always. I love being down there so much and could of stayed another couple weeks. Just our family went and it was so nice just being on our own time table and doing whatever we wanted whenever. The kids had most of their fun just playing in the water and swimming. I felt like even if we didn't have a boat there they would of still been completely entertained.

Well here are some highlights from our trip....

Summer was so scared of the water. Well I guess I should say the deep water. As long as she could touch the bottom she had a blast but as soon as you tried to get her to swim in the deep water she would freak out and cling to you like her life depended on it.

It never fails, every year at least one of our kids gets sick while we are at Echo. This year it was Kash. We hadn't even made it to the lake yet and he started puking. All over his carseat. There is nothing worse. At least we were only about 20 minutes away. This continued every night pretty much the whole trip. The only up side is he was up all night so he slept alot during the day and I could relax all day and not have to worry about him eating rocks or falling down the stairs.

One of the our last days there we got a surprise visit from our good friends Tim and Sarra and their kids. We could not have been happier. The kids had a blast playing with them, Steve had a blast snorkeling with Tim, and I had a blast kayaking and visiting with Sarra. Love this picture. All the kids did this the whole way back to the cabin.

Of course we had to go turtle hunting and Scuba Steve was not going to give up until he found a turtle.

Sarra and I after our kayak trip around the island.

Pretty sure these two will get married.

Micah's victory this trip was crossing the wake on the kneeboard.

After some tears were shed and many attempts made, Briggs made it up on the wakeboard. He didn't give up and I was so proud of him for trying so hard.

Haylie loved wakeboarding this year. She loved getting air off the wake until she got a little too much air once and had a major wipeout. Hopefully she forgets about that little incident by next summer and will step in a wakeboard again. She did an awsome job this year.

My little spectators. Love how they are sitting so close together when the whole rest of the bench was empty. Such good little friends.

Here I am attempting to do a 360 on the kneeboard. Steve was trying to get Briggs to do it, so I told him that I would try it first and then he had to. I don't think that he thought I would really do it so he agreed.

Here's Briggs holding up to his end of the deal. He actually did it and thought it was fun.

Skylie water skiing for the first time. Some tears were shed here also but she tried (Steve forced her) and she did it. I love Haylie cheering in the background!

Anyone that knows Steve well knows he likes trying to get (forcing) our kids to try stuff. He made all the kids jump off the tower of the boat. No one wanted to but in the end they all liked it.

Family Pictures....

There's lots I should be blogging about. Like Kash's b-day, Echo, bridge jumping, and all the other stuff we've been doing lately. But I just have to post a couple of our family pictures that we had done the other day. I'll post some others of the kids later cause I don't feel like down loading tonight. And in case your wondering if it was fun getting everyone dressed and ready and hair done by 9:30 that morning....it wasn't.

I think that I like this second one better.

I wish I had a picture that showed it better but when we got to the river I looked at Summer and noticed that she had two different flip flops on and this flower elastic on her ankle which you can see in this picture. It wasn't worth the fight to get her to take the flower off so she just left it on. Luckily you can't see it in the family picture.

Camping....

Steve's dream of camping every weekend this summer sure didn't happen but we were able to get out at least one time. When Joe and Karen were here we did a little planning and got Steve's whole family out. We went to St. Mary's which was nice cause it was so close and is actually a nice little campground.


There was a nice little swimming hole the kids had fun swimming in. Way too cold for me but the kids didn't mind.

Cute little Kage. I swear he is always smiling.

Here's Joe and Karen posing for the camera. Such a cute little couple!! Can't wait till these guys are done school so they can move a little closer.

And here's their cute boys Mikey and Max.

I think it's funny that these girls are all posing. I swear I didn't ask them too. Kenny brought his boat and took everyone boating. Karen and I gladly volunteered to stay back with the sleeping babies and had a nice quiet afternoon chatting and trying to scare the pesky gophers.

Here's all the cousins except two of them.

Cute little Brayker.

Here's where Kash spent a lot of time. Trapped in his playpen. He is at a hard age for camping. Not walking yet so he crawls all over the ground eating rocks and whatever else he can find.

The kids had so much fun playing horseshoe. So did the competitive brothers.

Conversations.....

So here's my conversation today with Skylie when we drove by the temple.

Skylie: Mom, there's the temple!!!! (we see it every day and she still acts like it's the most exciting thing she's ever seen)

Me: Yup, there it is. It's so pretty isn't it. (same thing I always say)

Skylie: It is so pretty.

Me: When are you going to go to the temple?

Skylie: Umm, when I'm dead.

Me: Are you sure that's when?

Skylie: Yup.

Me: When you get married you get to go in the temple. So Skylie when do you get to go to the temple?

Skylie: Umm, when I'm dead.

Me: How are you going to get in when you are dead?

Skylie: Umm, someone will just have to carry me.

1st of July and more......

So I've had these pictures downloaded forever but just haven't had the time to write about them. Anyways here it goes. Pictures from the big 1st of July celebrations in Hill Spring.

Here's my Dad. Leading the way in the big 30 second parade. Well I think it was actually about 3 minutes. But once they looped around it ended up being about 6 minutes. No matter how much we make fun of this parade I secretly love it!!

Briggs and Chase road their dirt bikes this year. It was really cute. They even got a 3rd place ribbon to share between the 2 of them. Some how Briggs ended up with it....

Here is a group of the second generation cousins. I love more than anything being with my cousins and it's so fun to watch our kids have fun together and get to know each other.

Just a random picture of my sweet little Micah at the parade.

And one of Haylie.

This is what Summer looked like half way through the day. You can only imagine how dirty she was at the end. Not sure why I even thought of putting white tights on her.

Here's my bestest friend Lani. We've been friends literally our whole lives. She lives in Vegas now so I don't get to see her too often, but when I do it always feels like the old times and like time has never past. She hasn't been in H.S. for the 1st forever so it was fun seeing her.

So after the parade there is always a program at the school which I didn't get a picture of. I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of the star performer, my mom. I must of been to busy laughing at her. She recited a poem. And put a lot of feeling into it. I think I liked watching my Dad's face more than anything and just wondered what he was thinking the whole time. I love my mom!! After the program we headed down to the park for some beef and beans and lots of other great food.

Every year the family has the annual root beer contest. Every year it seems to get a little more intense than the last. I love watching everyone get ready for it.

And here are the champions. Jeff and Kelsey. Beginners luck I guess. Jeff could not be prouder.

After lunch comes the races. It's fun, but there always seems to be tears shed by someone. Here goes Skylie!

Here's Skylie and I in the 3-legged race. It might look like were the only one's in the race but that's probably because everyone else is already done the race. We were dead last by a long ways.

After the park we headed up to the church for another little contest. The slide show-off/talent show. Then later everyone headed to the farm for fireworks.

This is the very reason I love the 1st of July so much. All the cousins. Every year they all come up and stay for a few days and it is a non-stop party. Here's a picture of some of us, there's a few missing. I honestly love my cousins so much! We have so much fun together.

Here's the boys before the roman candle war. Their acting pretty tough in this picture but I'm sure there a little scared for what's to come.

My Dad is also a little scared for what's to come too.

So this is what they do for fun. Shoot roman candles at my Dad while he cruises around the field on the quad. I am always so worried every time they do this that one of them will hit the gas tank and the quad will explode. My Dad assured me that that won't happen. Maybe next year I won't be so nervous.

My Mom and Kash watching the war.

To kill time before the amazing fireworks Jay put on for us, we had a little family dance. Fun times.

We had lots of fun through the whole week with all the cousins and family. These pictures are a little out of order but oh well. The first day all the cousins got here we headed down to the river to have a wiener roast. It was fun cause everyone was just getting here so we were all able to be together at the river and visit and catch up with each other. Didn't get to many pictures of this day for some reason. Here's a couple of the kids playing in the mud.

It was my Grandparents anniversary that day so we headed up to the H.S. hill and picked flowers for my Grandma. It was such a nice day and it is such a pretty view of the mountains up there.

Some of the other things we did I didn't get pictures of were tubing, which I haven't done forever cause I always have the excuse of being pregnant. It was really fun. We made some trips to Glenwood where all the cousins were staying and hung out at the lodge. Made lots of ice cream stops. Had lots of good laughs. This time of year is for sure one of my favorites and something that I look forward to all year. I know I've said it before but I just love all my cousins and love hanging out with them.

One Down, One to Go.....

Does this title sound familiar? About a month ago I used this title on my post talking about Summer. You know the one where I was proud/relieved/happy as ever that she potty trained herself. Well she was doing really good. No accidents. I think I might of bragging a little about her. Then I wrote about how she still had a soother and was completely attached to it. Well we've had a little change in events in the last few weeks. Summer is no longer potty trained, but her soother is gone.

Steve one day just took all her soothers, didn't tell me where any of them were, and said she couldn't have them anymore. She was a little grumpy the first couple days, and every once in a while she'll ask for it, but it's gone. And she is fine.

As for the potty training. No idea what's going on there. I know it's normal for kids to have a bad day or two after their trained but I can count on one hand how many times she's gone in the potty in the last few days. It's so annoying. I know it's the summertime, we are really busy, haven't been home tons, but honestly.....