The last 3 months...more or less

Where does the time go? So, here's a quick catch up on the past 3 months or so...

I love this shot of the 4 kids.  We went on a bike ride and took a break at Pond's Park

Kate turns 8 years old...and gets 2 bunnies for her big day.  On the left is Georgia and on the right is Scout.

Kate also gets baptized.  Here is a pic with her favorite primary teacher, Brother Thomson

Kate with her friends, Emmie and Camilla Bruse

 

Happy Mother's Day!!!

 

The cousins are at it again at the soccer field

Liam at the big Mountain Man Rendezvous

Both Chloe and her friend Erick Osberg gave talks in our ward.

We were invited to come up to Snowbird with our friends and neighbors the Osbergs-had a great time.

The kids loved the pool time

Eli's a psycho sometimes...

Both Kate and Chloe were in the summer recital for ballet.  It was titled Pixie Dust and they danced to nursery rhymes and the story of Peter Pan

Sisters

Our 11 year old campout with the dads.  This is our 5 mile hike...

So, long story short...well, sort of.  Clayton gets a job in Italy for the summer, his aunt and Heather's sister Lori said: "hey Heather, you and I should go over and visit him and tour around a bit."  Well, it was about that quick that the decision was made for the 2 of them, plus Clayt's girlfriend, to go to Italy to see him.  They were gone for the longest 16 days that me and my family have EVER experienced...way TOO long if you ask me.  In a nutshell, she was missed beyond belief.  This picture below that you see of Kate was put together by Kate.  This mother bear is a representation of Kate's own mom until she returned home.  You'll notice Heather's sunglasses, necklace, hat, workout gloves, Book of Mormon, earrings and of course, cell phone.  It really did provide a small amount of comfort to us.

I took Kate on a date since Heather wasn't available.  This was our first stop-Tilly's in Farmington.  I think Kate's best memory of the night was going to Harmon's grocery store and spinning up and down on the chairs at the restaurant they have there.  Love you Kate!

 

This is the place that Clayton was working called Casa Carres near Florence Italy.  This was one of Heather's favorite places to be.  Clayton learned a bit about service and gardening while he was there.

Liam came to work with me sometimes and loved to help however he could.  Here he is coloring the ends of the frames before we would assemble them.  He's a great helper.

 

Kate loves to throw a tea party together.  I believe this is Lovey's birthday party (the red monster with the enormous eyes).

Chloe was in the 4th of July parade with the rest of the new Student Body Officers for this upcoming year in 9th grade.

 

Next we have the Family Reunion in Snowbird Utah.  We had a great time.  Just my opinion but I think every successful family reunion should have the following:

Lazy days...

Times that you think you may lose your life amidst the fun....

bonding moments getting stickers applied all over your face....

spiritual moments...

watching people having a great and frightening time while in the safety of a boat...

 

loving what Mother Nature has to offer...

 

hanging out with the party hosts....

reaching your destination!...

riding a mechanical bull gripping for dear life once again....

 

enduring a downpour...

 

more hoopin' and hollerin' wondering if and when you will crash and die...

 

brothers that dress up as a past relative and tell stories...awesome

Making it to the summit of the mountain as a group of cousins and still smiling for the photo...

Still being happy even though your plans get rained out....

riding on a piece of plastic with greased up wheels on a cement slide.  Safe???  You betcha....

 

Jamming into an elevator with as many people as possible while drinking hot chocolate...

and there you have it...recipe for success!!!! 

Loved the family reunion.  Such great memories: fun, spiritual, scary, rainy, and just plain awesome! 

Liam's been dying to do some sort of project at home with cement.  We decided to pour a small pad for our basketball hoop.  Grandpa Danny was more than happy to help out. 

Liam was loving all of the hard labor...

Heather and Grandma Jeanne were on bunny duty...

 

Oh Harley!  We have to throw a pic up every once in a while of the ever important Harley!

Next stop, the cabin...and even more specific, the Rodeo!  We've only been one other time but this is a fun activity up in Island Park.

Ah yes!...the calf chase.  Do you see Kate running her guts out to try and get him?  

Kids wanted to get their picture with the Rodeo Clown...

and Eli with the Rodeo MC..."The Silver Fox"

Chloe and Emma with some of the Bull Riders....



 

OK, on to regular cabin activities....fishing at Coffee Pot Rapids

even Kate gets a catch!

Liam on another day of fishing....

All cousins report to the wooden canoe out in the gravel parking lot right away!!!! 

And there you have it.  May through July in the quick and abbreviated version.  More to come soon....

Heather's Birthday in Hawaii!!!

Heather's 40th birthday was quickly approaching and my brother in law Josh, asked if we'd like to go to Hawaii with he and Amy to their time share to celebrate her birthday.  Fine!  I guess that will be ok...hahaha.  We had the BEST time.   Honestly the most relaxing vacation of ALL time.  We did a bunch of...nothing really.  The morning we left we had to wake up at 4 a.m. to drive to the airport for a 5:30 a.m. flight.  We arrived in Kauai at around noon, drove to Costco to load up on food for the week and went to our room at the Kauai Coast Resort. 

At the Kauai Coast Resort looking at the ocean.

We immediately drove to Bubba Burgers (a local favorite) for lunch

When we went to Hawaii a few years ago we met this same woman ("Bea") and bought some of her coconuts.  She remembered us! 

I believe this was called Waimea falls.

 

The birds loved Josh-he had all of the goodies

 

This is what we did with most of our free time: boogie boarding.  I wish I had a video of this but there was one time when we were all out there on the water, caught the same wave and rode into shore together.  We were all laughing our heads off during the whole thing.



In Hawaii they hire live scarecrows (real people) to sit on a chair in the middle of a field to thwart the enemy birds.  You kinda have to squint to see this guy.  8 hours sitting in a chair in a field...guess it wouldn't be that bad.

 

Yes, a pretty chessy picture but oh well-it was Heather's actual birthday.

 

This was taken just outside the restaurant "The Beach House" where we ate for Heather's Birthday.

We went on the famous Napali Coast hike the next day and arrived at this secret beach and saw this sign.  Of course we saw many people getting in and swimming in the water there.

Such stunning views

 

Josh and Amy coming up the trail

A perfect day

There were wild chickens all over the island.  It made Heather and I miss our 4 chickens back home.

 

This is a famous road called "Tunnels Road"

One day we went to this beach called Polihale Beach.  Little did we know that it was also a missle testing area.  While we were laying on the beach, you guessed it, a rocket was launched (you can see the faint smoke trail in the sky).  It scared us when the sound finally hit and it just rumbled for about 2 minutes straight and it took off in the sky.  It was amazing to see. 

Guess what this cool building is?  It's the local LDS meetinghouse.  We were priveledged to hear the words of the local seminary students and their testimonies that day.  Such a great spirit there-one of our favorite memories about our trip.

Heather and I got up early one morning to hike the "Sleeping Giant" trail that one of the church members just raved about.  It was awesome.  We climbed to this level after only about 20 minutes.  One of the perks of the hike was finding the wild strawberry guavas (next picture down) and eating them while hiking. 

It was so peaceful and gorgeous up at the top.

 Our last meal at the Hukilau Lenai before going to the airport to come home.

 A sad moment for all of us.  We had such an amazing vacation in Hawaii but were anxious to see the kids again.  We knew however, that they were in good hands: Tim and Taihana Olsen stayed with them for a few days, then off to Grandpa Danny and Grandma Jeannie's house then finally Dad and Mom flew up from Cali to stay with them for the last few days.  We were excited to come home and find out also that Chloe had made 9th grade officer!!

Happy Birthday H!!!