It's been a longtime!

It's been a longtime since my last post. I'm sure that I have lost all of my followers, but I need to start this up again as it is also a form of journaling for our family. The kids are big into Sundance ski team right now and you can see pictures on Facebook. Just go to Sundance Ski Team and like them. Anyway, I'm typing from a new computer that doesn't have any of my pictures on it so I guess I'll go for now but I promise to post soon.

Love, me

Park city mini-vacation

Long weekend in Park City at the Waldorf! So fun... They had a beautiful pool, smores, and of course we took the trolley bus in downtown. We had such a great time.

Fun Friday

We started off the day with a hike up to the "Y"! I never think it will be that big of a deal to hike up there until I'm half-way to the top. Then I feel it and wonder why I'm there. The kids, of course, are full of energy and practically sprint the whole way. Oh to be young again. (Smile)

 Proof I climbed!

Later that day the kids had their BYU Intermuse choir practice and performance. They did a great job. They had lots of fun this week going to campus and pretending they were BYU students!

Family fishing in June

Fishing at Vivian Park up the Provo Canyon. The kids are into fishing this Summer. Hopefully, they will catch a fish one of these days. We love it when dad comes with us on these adventures.

Tate's helping hands

Tate helping me pack the car as we leave
 CO for UT... He's so cute and yes helpful!

Fort Collins in June

The week after we were in Oregon, we decided to take a trip to Colorado to visit my sister's family in Fort Collins. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Julia's dance concert. She is so cute! And she is so into dancing and dressing up and princesses and mermaids!!! What a fun age. Her dance was to the song, Kiss the Girl, from Disney's Little Mermaid.

The girl cousins (three of seven girls out of 25 grandchildren total on my side of the family) Lindsay and Julia and Emma.... they are all five years apart but still good friends. Gotta love cousins!!!

Julia and Calvin messing around before family prayer that night. Calvin is a hoot!

We were only there for a few days. Tate learned how to rollerblade... Caroline and I had a girl's night out at Cafe Rio (yes, they have one in Fort Collins), and Emma enjoyed every minute of hanging out.

Forgot to mention that Keith was out of town on business so he didn't get to come. He traveled lots in May and June. We miss him when he travels but love all the frequent flyer miles.

Lincoln City, Oregon

We had a fun day at Lincoln City on Sunday. It was a bit cold and windy, but we were lucky to only have a bit of rain and only when we were in the car. The beach is so beautiful, and I even found a few pieces of sea glass.

Tate had lots of fun playing with his cousins! Here he is with Griffen.

 And so did Emma!

 Emma and Tate love, love, love the beach.

 Keith and Adrian

Tana, Catherine, Jen and Brooke

So fun to have girl time this weekend.

 My favorite friend!

Lunch at an overcrowded chowder house that had great food! Here we have Keith, Brooke, Jet, Jayce, Beth and Joey.

The Kids... left to right, back to front.... emma, joey, emily, alexis, jared, gage, aiden, jayce, tegan, jet, ryan, bridger and tate. They had so much fun.

The boys... minus Chris who went home a little earlier with the littles.

Salem, Oregon... and the big Mountain Biking adventure!

We've had a great Summer so far. The kids got out of school early to take a trip. to Salem, Oregon, for Memorial day weekend.

We met up with friends from Seattle and Keith's brother and family. The boys mountain biked, and we all hung out at hotel pools and parks and the mall, etc. Here we are at McDonald's after a night of swimming.

Keith ready to mountain bike with his buddies. He left Arnold at home with Grandpa.

We had the royal treatment... grandpa's breakfast and cousin time.

That day the rest of us went to the Carousel in Salem and the neighboring park. The kids had lots of fun!

Driving to Oregon

We just drove to Oregon Wed afternoon and Thursday. We had a great trip. So glad to be here at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Here are a few photos from our drive. Emma took them with her camera. My camera was packed away.

LDS Twin Falls temple

 I made a pact with some of the Mia Maids that we would visit all the temples in the world! I know it's a lofty goal, but I'm putting it on my bucket list. We've driven by this temple many times but this is the first time we stopped.

Tate the reporter.

Emma with her funny glasses!

We stayed at the KOA campgrounds Wednesday night in Twin Falls. They have a cabin option. It was really quite comfortable  and reasonably priced and we were able to have Arnold with us.

The next day we had 10 hours to get to the Portland airport to pick up Keith who had been on business in Cleveland and Philadelphia. We had plenty of time so we stopped to see the Boise temple and the Multonamah Falls. Arnold also needs to stopped more, too.

Arnold enjoyed the temple grounds, too.

LDS Boise temple.

It was a beautiful day!

 

The other side with a tiny Emma.

So beautiful and very, very rainy!

I guess I should add a few things here, too. There was a beautiful husky, wolf, something else mixed dog. I asked to see if Arnold could meet this dog. It was a very aggressive dog and Arnold got all worked up and somehow he got out of his collar. Then I was chasing Arnold trying to catch him to put his collar back on. A bit of a comedy! Oh well.

We've always wanted to stop and see the falls, so this was fun. 

The worse part ended up being Tate's allergic reaction to petting the other dog. He sneezed and sneezed in the car and his eyes were all bloodshot. I felt so bad for him... because I've been there! Finally, when we were parked waiting for dad's plane to land, I poured some rain water from a top of a plastic bin (in the back of the truck) on his face and gave him a Claritin. He recovered soon after. Phew.

All in all, it was a fun day. Glad to have made it in one piece! We even made it on time to pick up Keith.

Wasatch track day

Unfortunately or fortunately... you could look at it both ways... I didn't get any pictures of the track meet, but here are a few after pics... not pretty. My sweet Emma has quite the big heart. I love this girl.

The first time Arnold was aloud in her room.
It didn't last long. He couldn't  sit still.

The flesh wounds.

So many good reasons for her to be just like me
... just not this one. Oh well.

I almost forgot to write about the reason for the skinned knees. Emma was all ready to go in her heat for the 50 meter dash. There were about 7 heats altogether. Her's was the second. She was off to a great start and fell right in the middle of it all. I was cheering.... then I was walking down to the track to my heart broken little girl as she was being bandaged by the teachers on hand. Her knees looked awful, and I know she felt awful inside, too. She, however, as always, was undaunted and kept her head held high. This is one strong cookie! I love her so much.