Holiday Weekend

Jim had Friday off this week, so we were able to have some extra adventures. We'd planned to go up to a reservoir to go fishing on Friday, and around 7:30pm Thursday night, Jim decided we would camp too. He, Logan, Mariah, and Bryce (my niece and nephew) packed up and took off two hours later. They arrived around 11pm in the rain...I am SO glad I wasn't with them that night. The next morning they broke camp to find a better spot because the place they'd slept wasn't any bigger than our tent, and there was an amazing number of people all around...but no luck. Jim remembered that a family in our previous ward had some mountain property about a mile away, and he called them to see if we could camp on their property. They were so kind to let us set up our tent there. The spot was beautiful...AND there were no people! (Except for them because they came up that night and we shared a campfire.) I came that morning with Annie, my brother, and Aubrey (my other niece). I have to admit it was nice not having to set up camp.

We spent most of Friday fishing at the reservoir. Jim hiked us up a cliff face (sort of) so we could get to the best spot...and the least crowded. I didn't fish, but hung on to Annie so she wouldn't take a dive into the water or get injured in some other way. It was nice to sit by the water and just enjoy my girl, and she was happy for the majority of the time. She spent a lot of time tasting everything on the ground...pine cones, dirt, sticks, rocks, and even some broken glass. Logan was a great sport about it all, too. We were at that spot for four or five hours, and he was totally happy. We learned that he is a great little outdoorsman! He climbed the steep incline without a whimper with hardly any help. In fact he was thrilled to do it. It was a difficult climb; I couldn't even help the kids down it because I needed all four limbs to get myself down! Camping and fishing are truly his favorite activities. Between the two guys and all the kids they caught 7 fish...not bad. I guess it really was a great fishing spot.
These are the only pictures I took because I forgot my camera when we went fishing.

On Saturday we took our time packing up, but decided to head home early so we could have a nice nap before we attempted to go watch fireworks that evening.

After a bath and a nice long nap we all felt great.

It looked like it was going to storm, so we decided to forego the fireworks show. Since we were already out and Logan was excited to see fireworks, we stopped to buy some of our own fireworks to set off out at Jim's parents' place. We walked into the tent to discover it was the fireworks stand my dad was working at. We knew he was selling them, but had no idea where he was! We fully intended on paying full price for what we wanted, but he gave us a great deal...no charge! We couldn't complain about that.

At my in-law's we set them all off, and the kids were impressed. Logan had an exclamation of delight for most of them, and Annie either giggle or whined depending how loud they were. It started raining just when we were finishing up, too, so our timing was perfect.

I purposely dressed the kids in red, white, and blue last night, but it was unintentional for Jim and I.

More Visitors

This week we had two more visitors: Kayla and her husband, Keith. Kayla lived with my mom for a little over a year when Jim and I were first married. She became a member of our family during that year, and we've missed her since she moved away. It was fun to see her and her husband this week.

We all went to the zoo together.


I call the next three pictures "The Many Faces of Bryce". What a silly little guy!




The kids had fun playing in the water by the petting zoo.

Cousins

Last week, my older sister and her kids drove here for a visit. She stayed for a week, and the kids are staying for the whole summer. We're having a blast with them. They get to stay at my house a couple days of every week, and Logan and Annie think they are the greatest. I haven't had to entertain my own children (or change their diapers, dress them, etc...) since they've been here!

Left to right: Mariah, Logan, Bryce, Annie, Aubrey

All four siblings: Sarah, Me, Danielle, and Josh

Aubrey and Annie


Everyone that day: Josh, Danielle, Mom, Sarah, Me, Logan, Mariah, Bryce, Aubrey, Annie

The four siblings again

Everyone except Mom

What a stud!

*Smooch*

Enjoying the ride...

We convinced all of the kids to climb through this crevice.




Heavy lifting

Danielle with her kids

Best Buddies

Last night we babysat for some friends, and the kids had a great time. Logan and Gabrian are best buddies.

This was their post-dinner snack on the bed (they are actually eating the same thing we had for dinner).


They are both fascinated with the piano.

Annie's Favorite Activity

Our little Annie doesn't like movies; in fact she gets mad when we watch one. She DOES like books, though. Every single day I can count on her to unload all of the picture books, and she spends a LOT of time looking through them. She'll spend up to an hour doing nothing else...all by herself. Did I mention that she has to sit on Logan's bed to look at them?

This is how she takes them off of the shelf...not sure why she has to climb on the bed first...

The English Language

Yesterday, we were driving around some cars on the interstate, and Logan enthusiastically proclaimed, "We're ROUNDING!"
We then commented that we were going fast around those cars, and he exclaimed, "We're FASTING!"
These words also apply to anytime he spins in circles, or runs.

He also knows how to apply the plural "s". One of the cereals we eat around here is Chex, and Logan frequently loses pieces off of his spoon. If it's just one piece he says, "Mommy, I dropped a chek!"

I love his understanding of the English language.

Liz and Thomy

Last Wednesday I flew out to California (by myself) for a wedding. Liz and I have been friends since we were twelve. I had a great visit, and the wedding was wonderful. The only negative was how much I missed Jim and the kids. I came home yesterday, and received the best hug of my life from Logan. I'd hidden in the back bedroom when my mother-in-law arrived with the kids, and he didn't know I was home. I coughed and he wandered back to see who it was. His face totally lit up and he flew into my arms. Annie absolutely clung to me. Today I've had a little girl who has wanted to be held EVERY MINUTE. It's wonderful.

Now for the wedding pictures:

The night before the wedding, we dressed Liz up and took her out for dessert (it was our little bachelorette party). We made her do a couple of silly things at the restaurant.

In this picture she had to ask a guy to write his best pick-up line on a napkin. These were the only single looking guys in the restaurant, and it turned out they were from Austria and didn't speak English!

Liz had to sing to the cooks.

She also had to arm-wrestle a strong looking man.
She even won!
The last thing she had to do was find someone who had a picture of his wife or girlfriend. The first family she talked to, told us not to get her too drunk. (I suppose we were a bit loud and silly, and they assumed we'd be drinking.) She told them that we were only having dessert and she was being married in the temple the next day. It turned out they were members of our church, too!

The preparations for the wedding were a bit crazy, and an hour before we had to leave for the temple, Liz's mom realized that Liz's bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets hadn't been made! We'd bought the flowers the day before, but hadn't put them together. Her mom commissioned me to go and make the bouquets since I was already dressed and ready to go. I asked Thomy's sister, Dorianne, to help me and we whipped up five bouquets just in time. Neither of us had arranged flowers before, but we were pretty happy with the result.

This is Liz's bouquet.

The temple sealing was a very special experience. I was so grateful to be there.

This is on the steps of the temple just as they came out.

All of Thomy's family. I got to spend a lot of time with his parents, and his youngest sister while we were there; they are great people!

Liz and Thomy

Bridesmaid fun

Liz with her siblings; I hadn't seen most of them in years. It was fun to see them and meet their spouses.

Me :)

Beautiful!

Liz with her parents.

The reception was held at a beachside lagoon.

The first dance...they didn't stop dancing for most of the night.

The cake



Thomy's best man decorated their car.

Pulling the plastic wrap off so they could get in. He'd also filled it with balloons.

The look says it all.