Oh WHAT a Summer!

We have had so much fun the past six weeks; The stuff lasting memories are made of! School starts on Monday so it's back to the real world. I'm trying to frantically get caught up on everything from housework, to email, to haircuts (no kidding, Landon hasn't had a hair cut since June!), to all the errands and responsibilities I've been putting off the past month and a half.

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Most recently, we gave ourselves our first ever real family vacation. The first time we weren't traveling to visit family (although, you know we love to do that! And there are plenty of pictures of us doing that this last month too - we had a great time with our families this summer). Just the six of us; we went to Big Sky Montana. Montana, you ask? Yes. Montana. A resort town 40 miles from West Yellowstone. The perfect combination for a family of {mostly} boys all different ages. It was a great great week.

click on images to enlarge (it REALLY bugs me the way this all downloaded - sorry about the spacing and jumbled sentences. I might try to fix it later, or not. Gotta get going on dinner and then Young Womens... no rest for the weary, I tell ya!)

We spent an afternoon eating at a motorcycle-theme resteraunt and watching the kids do "rides".

We took the kids to Toy Story 3 one day, after a hike, exploring Bozeman, lunch at a great mexican place, and play time at a park. Isaac loved the 3D glasses and called them his Popcorn Glasses from the Popcorn Place. {I think that's the only reason he cares about movies - popcorn}

We stayed in a 3 story town home in the middle of the woods at the top of a huge peak. It was so beautiful there. In the winter you can just and ski down to the lifts from your front door. (200 acres of lifts) We were at 8,000 ft and surrounded by trees and mountains. We saw a bears just outside our "little house" twice.

We spent a day at Yellowstone Park, of course. The kids LOVED it. So did I, actually. They kept saying how awesome it was. Isaac kept telling us it was
"goy-geous". Perfect place for three little boys to run around. How do you know they had fun? They were covered in dirt by the time we were done.


One morning Cameron took the older boys on a white-water raft tour (I wanted to go but the hotel daycare was closed for the summer - next time!!). They all had a blast, and came back exhausted. While they were doing that I walked around "down town" with the little kids, and explored. Isaac found a tee-pee and a playground so we were quite entertained.











More pictures of Yellowstone. It is beautiful there.

The wildlife was unbelievable. I've never seen so many buffalo! We probably saw over 200 - including one up close and personal in the parking lot where our car was. We saw every animal listed on the map of animals in Yellowstone. Seriously, we were in wild-life heaven.

Ella was an angel-baby, as usual. She was so so good. Didn't mind the stroller, car, or strange bed. Little champ. I love her!

To be honest all the kids were so well-behaved. We had little fighting and lots and lots of family bonding.

I love how he is so excited about little things like this tree trunk.

Good kids, I have. I just love 'em!

JUST BECAUSE

...I love this picture...

{we had a great 4th of July/going away party for Cameron. it was good to spend the day together as a family}

... and I love this quote...

"The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean, you're 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don't feel like it - it's not uncritical love; that's a different animal - but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it's going to make for a better human being." Warren Buffet - when asked how he became a multi-billionare.

Let Freedom Ring

Have a happy Independance Day...

a {crappy} new summer "tradition"

The Air Force has created a new summer tradition for our family. Once again Cameron will be a couple states away working most of the summer. He's doing a "man-and-assist" assignment in CA. I'm grateful it's not Afganistan or Iraq; greatful it's not a longer assignment. Feeling a bit sorry for myself that we have this new tradition. At least I'm not suffering from morning sickness this summer! That alone will make this summer waaayyy better than last. But, Cameron, we will miss you like crazy.

a little somethin' to let ya know we're alive

From the curly blonde hair to the clothes that never match (cuz he wants to get dressed him"belf") to the swiming suit he wears at least part of every day to the rain or snow boots he insists on wearing because he doesn't want to take the time to put on actual shoes... we LOVE this kid

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...and if you've been wondering... life has not slowed down like I thought it would when school let out. there is just always something going on. We've been having a lot of fun. Despite the fact that lots of our time is spent driving (just today we drove 2.5 hours + the time it took to get from place to place just to go to Target, Winco, and take a walk through a park) and (it seems like) the rest of it is spent on laundry, we're doing what we can to make the best of our summer... One of these days I'd really like to not drive to Boise and not have laundry to do so I can post some pictures of: rodeo, mini-golf, hanging out, swimming, traveling, biking, visitors, preschool graduation, last day of school, zoo... but for now enjoy this POTD

a {baptism} a {funeral} a {very} long week

Last Saturday, June 5, my little {big} Landon got baptized. We are all so proud of his decision. And, yes, it was his decision. We've been talking about the promises he'd make to God during baptism for months. We've been reading scriptures as a family and he's been reading on his own. We've been praying as a family and he's been praying on his own. I made a little baptism book for him to fill out - a little scrapbook for him to record things about his life now, his preperation for baptism, his testimony, how he felt before, during, and after. Reading through it, I can tell that he really did think about his decision to be baptized, and for that I'm proud of him. And for the fact that he really is trying to keep the commandments and "choose the right". Man, the kid is growing up.

This is my Great-Grandpa Joe. That morning my Grandma called to tell me the doctors said it was time to take him off life support (he'd been in the hospital for a week, with pnemonia and never recovered). My parents and brother were already on their way here to Idaho and had to decide if they should turn around to be there at the hospital or continue on to be with us. I know we all wanted to be in two places that day. The doctors took his breathing tube out and he died within minutes, with my grandma and aunts and other family there with him.
We'd been praying for Grandpa all week. Actually, Landon is the one who prayed for him first, because he heard me on the phone with my mom and decided to say a prayer right then. As updates came we changed our prayers from, "please help Grandpa recover and be healthy." to "please give Grandpa Joe peace and help him feel thy love." I hope he did have peace.

The day went on, though, and we had a beautiful baptism. After, we had all our out-of-town family and some people from our ward come over for a BBQ. The food was great - seriously, can you not get enough hamburgers during the summer?! The kids jumped on the tramp and ran around, the adults chatted and ate. Isaac was in absolute heaven, helping himself to any treat he wanted, chugging down a sprite from the can (he's never allowed a whole can!) and coloring with sidewalk chalk. I think he sat there coloring and chugging for an hour, at least. Landon and Austin were way too busy with their cousins and friends to even talk to me.

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Thank you so much to Gary and Sharlene, and Tammy and Cordell, and Mom and Dad, and Jared and Steph. I know the drive is a pain but it meant the world to us that you came to be with us for Landon's special day.

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We went to church on Sunday. I went home after sacrament to see off my brother and his wife (and give them a delicious breakfast of cold pizza!) After hanging out a bit with my parents and brother everyone got on the road to go back to Utah. I was planning on driving down in a couple days for my Grandpa's funeral. But, plans changed when we got a phone call from my dad - a shaft on the transmission in their van broke. So, Ella and I jumped in the car to pick them up. Since Cameron's parents were staying in Idaho for the week and could help Cameron with the kids, it worked out that Landon could stay here for Scout Camp and Austin could stay for baseball.

I was happy to be there for the funeral. And it was nice to be there for the couple of days before too. I saw some uncles I rarely see (in fact I hadn't seen Jamie in 18 years!). It was nice to connect with them again and remember how funny they are! I was happy to drive around in circles with Jared for a bit, looking for the church; a chance to force him to talk to me :) before his big move to Michigan for med school. It was fun shopping with Mom for baby hair bow stuff - I always learn things from her - never would have put that center on the white flower but it is my new favorite bow. I was happy to see the house my Grandma is building - her dream house, finally, she deserves it. I loved all the attention Ella got. Seriously, that girl can reel 'em in with her smile! I loved sitting in the back of my van while my dad drove home and feeling like a little girl again, just for a while. I just really enjoyed talking to everyone. I really do have a wonderful, great family.

And I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful husband with a wonderful family. Thanks, Gary and Sharlene, for getting the kids where they needed to be all week, and for taking care of everyhting else. We all appreciate it.

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So, now I'm home. I've been a bit emotional the last couple of days. I'm mostly just tired, I think; emotionally tired. And getting used to the craziness of summer with kids (in Mtn. Home - not much to do!). Maybe it's just the circle of life that's getting to me. A few regrets - a death always reminds us of how short life is. Unfullifilled expectations. At the funeral my dad reminded us of Grandpa Joe's catch phrase, "I'm hangin' in there". So I'm reminding myself to be like Grandpa, and hang in there. And I'm reminding myself to be like Landon - pray, trust the Lord, keep the promises I made when I was baptized. With two great examples to follow, I can't go wrong...

ELLA @ 4 months

seriously! the cutest little thing. she is so content and happy. sometimes she'll be sitting in her bouncer while I'm doing dishes or cooking and I look over and she's just staring at me... with a HUGE s.m.i.l.e. on her face. cooing. giggling. hanging out. laughing at the boys. double chin. 15.5 pounds (her weight gain is slowing, though according to her curve). prefers stuffed, soft toys over hard plastic ones. loves blankets. we love her.