Family reunion camping trip.

Last year mom gave us a wonderful tent and for Christmas she and dad gave us fabulous sleeping bags, with the promise that we would be camping in the summer in honor Grandma. Well we did it, and it was AWESOME!! We started early by setting up the tent in the back yard to make sure we knew how it was done when we arrived at camp. The tent is so great and so easy to put up.
After much anticipation we finally arrived in beautiful Tusher Lake in the Beaver mountains.

Shortly after arriving it was time for dinner, talk about perfect timing! Maggie had a good conversation with Grandpa.

Enjoying the fire that night.

Maggie had the time of her life. When she wasn't walking the dog......

she was taking care of her babies.

Nothing like a good ol' family game of Minute to Win it. We started off with the game of get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth. We had many who were close but didn't quite make it in a minute.

Stack the dice (I think the sticks I brought were a little too narrow.)

This was my favorite! Put the nylon on your head with a baseball at the end and try to knock over the water bottles. It was so great to see Jon, Luke, and Danielle take part.

Next it was stack the ding dongs on the forehead. Minute to win it was highly enjoyed and not as easy as it appears in t.v.

Time for the little Pip to have a bath, he thought it was GREAT!

Then on to face painting.

The face painting turned out fantastic! Thank you Aba and Danielle!

The camp site

I just thought this picture was so dang cute. She such a big shot trying to use a shovel.

Mostly we just loved being able to be with family and talk and laugh A LOT!

The keepers of the fire.

The others may think they are the keepers but the truth is Abi was really in charge, (or at least we let her think that!)

Angel girl!

Taking a hike with Grandma

Hanging out with Uncle Joe

Ladies and our babies

Camping can really tucker a person out.

Nothing like good dutch over chicken!

We loved every minute of our camping trip. There's something to be said about being in nature with the ones you love. The beauty that surrounded us brought us closer to our Savior and closer to each other. Thank you mom and dad for starting such an amazing family tradition. We hope that it continues for many many years to come.

Wow school starts earlier and earlier every year! We were not ready for summer to be over. The whole crew looking so nice for the first day of school. Miss Maggie feeling a little left out, she and I didn't start school for another month.
It is hard for me to think that my baby girl is in 8th grade. I mean seriously in just five very short years she will be a senior! It makes me SICK!! I don't know what these two are going to do next year when Abi goes to high school. They are buddies, Abi is ready extra early every morning to ride to school with Kev and sometimes (I've had to limit it so Abi will be with her friends) they have lunch together. They are going to miss each other.

This may be hard for many to believe but she wanted her hair curled this year.

My guys heading off,

and of course mom follow them to school and takes pictures outside the school!

AND inside the school! Well Ben let me I mean hello he is my baby boy and this is his first year!! Mac on the other hand told me I could walk him to class but had to draw the line at pictures and hugs and kisses. Man they grow up so fast!

Needles to say they are all having a wonderful school year. I couldn't ask for better students. The boys come right home after school and without even being asked they pull out their homework. They all love their teachers, Mac has Mr. Barnett and was so excited to have a male teacher. Ben has Mrs. Robinson, who had our older two and she is AMAZING!! Abi likes all her teachers, even the one she thought would be soooo hard. Kev, well he likes almost all of his classes as well. I feel blessed that our kids like school so much.

We had an amazing summer! Probably the best yet! Of course there were many trips made to the lake.
The water came up so far there were more opportunities to do a little safe cliff jumping. Ben thought this was great! The little guy has no fear! This picture is him doing a cannon ball but what he really wanted to do was a flip, he loves to do flips!

Jut Chillin'

For years Kev has asked me to go on an off route tour of the dam with him. I decided to finally go when he was given special permission to do the tour himself. He did a great job! My Aunt Kathy and her family came and took the tour with us, Kev was so excited to have people who were as interested in the dam as he is.

The view at the end of the tour is beautiful!

Sadly we had a lot of this! I am coming to the fast realization that baby girls cry a whole bunch more than baby boys. I had forgotten between my two girls. Oh well we will keep her, crying and all!

We love our visits with Kennon,and Maggie has warmed right up to him. As soon as he gets here she starts bringing our her toys and books for him.

The boys and our neighbor Vance had an awesome summer. They were kids! not a lot of video game playing went on. They spent their time outside jumping on the tramp, playing war, and hunting in the desert for lizards. To my dismay they actually found one! They were beyond thrilled when I opened the door and they were holding the lizard out and it scared the snot right out of me! The best though is when they found a dead lizard that was so gross and they went around the neighborhood leaving it on peoples door steps knocking and running. I was worried when I asked what they had been doing when they came home and said, "Playing pranks on people."

Gearing up for the day!

Lots of naps take place in the summer, LOVE them!

Early morning cartoon watching with sissy is the best!

I mean really is there anything cuter than pig tails!

Happy Happy Birthday to our Angel Girl!! Abi is fun to give presents to she is always so excited and so appreciative. It is hard to believe she is 13!! This is what she saw when she came around the corner. She has been wanting a new bike and was so excited!!

Her brothers gave her a volleyball for her birthday, it was just what she needed because she was getting ready to try out for the volleyball team.

Trying out the bike!

Waffles and cool whip with coffee cake for breakfast!! She had a great day hanging out with Mia having queso for lunch and taco salad for dinner.

For cake and ice cream Uncle Verle, Kennon, and Travis came to share in the celebration.

It is hard for me to believe that our Angel girl is 13! It is freaking me out!! She is such a good girl and we feel so blessed to have her in our family. She is such a good example to her younger siblings. She is always busy, but more than anything she loves to be with her family. Abi is what we call a traditionalist, or our families tradition nazi. She loves tradition and keeps us right on track as to how things are suppose to be ran. She makes sure we are all in our right seats at the table, and that everyday as well as big traditions are right on track. She does so well in school, we told her if she had straight A's she could get a facebook account. She gets so close, just one bad assignment lost it for her this last time. I love that it is easy for to choose to do right, and I pray that it continues that way. Abi girl we love you so!!