Devon and Mary sittin in a tree

Last month my youngest brother, Devon got married to Mary who we LOVE. I didn't take any pictures for some reason but luckily my sister sent me hers. I think when I'm on my home turf I don't think to bring my camera.

We tried to do a pyramid with all the cousins. It was not a success, but fun trying. This was at Mt. Timpanogoes Temple right after the wedding.

We had a yummy luncheon afterward at Thanksgiving Point. Lyssa let Joshua and James take pictures with her camera and they got some good ones. Here are James, Max, and Thomas.

That night we had a reception in Spanish Fork in Mary's backyard, it was beautiful. Donovan and Paige got to come visit from AZ. It was good to see them and they loved having a break from their hot weather.

One of their presents was a rooster. The kids liked watching that box, I think Mary had to give it to her sister who lives on a farm.

We didn't actually get to see Devon and Mary very much because that's how weddings go. Here is a picture of them passing by. They then went on their honeymoon to the bahamas, went on our family vacation with us to CA, then went on a trip with her family camping with their mules. Now they're home and working again. Congratulations!

Washington adventure

Jon's sister Sara lives in Washington. We have never been up there for a visit in the 5 years they have lived there. We decided since Olivia was getting baptized and it was summer time we should go for it. Too bad it is soooo far and we decided to do it in one day! We got stuck in a traffic jam for almost two hours because they were "blasting." It was kind of fun for the kids because we got to get out of the cars and go to the bathroom in the nearby forest and share treats with other cars.

BY the time we got there at 1:20 am we had been in the car for over 17 hours, whoo hoo. Plus, about 30 minutes before we got there Max threw up. The roads were really windy and he was asleep so he just woke up and blaaaah. It probably didn't help that we had been eating lots of treats in the car all day. We pulled off at a closed bbq restaurant that happened to have a hose with a nozzle in the front so we used it. We were all so tired by that point and the smell was NOT good. What an adventure. The next morning when we got to see how pretty Washington is and be with the Pinson family, it was all worth it.

The next day we drove into Seattle. THis is Maddie covering her nose as we go by the sea food. We went to the Public Market Center where we got to see men throwing huge frozen fish around.

Sara also showed us "Seattle's best kept secret." It is a wall of A.B.C. gum. Pretty gross but fascinating at the same time.

After that we drove to the Space Needle. It's huge. We didn't actually go in it because they charge a lot and we had a big group. Jon's sister Becca and her 3 kids, Grandma Marilyn, Sara with her 5 kids, and our family with our 4 kids. THey have a huge fountain at the Space Needle that was SO much fun. The kids played in it for a long time. I'm so glad we made the kids all line up for a picture. I usually don't want to take the trouble to get everyone's attention then have them get organized and pose for a picture, but it's necessary sometimes. The next day we got to go to Olivia's baptism. It was really nice and she was beautiful. We're so glad we went, it was a lot of fun and so good to see the Pinsons!!

Pogo Stick King

Seth's cousin Olivia has a pogo stick, so when we were in Washington he spent a lot of time playing with it. When we got home we ordered one for him and he spent all of his allowance, he's pretty much obsessed with it. It came in the mail today and that's all he's been doing. His record is 427!! He's getting some good exercise and should sleep well tonight.

Max's birthday

Instead of birthday cake I made Grandma's famous rolo pretzel candies for the party. My mom already made a cake on his real birthday and we were going to drive to Seattle the next morning so I asked Max if it was okay if I made treats instead of a cake. Of coarse Max was fine with it. He's the type of boy that doesn't care about the details he just wants lots of friends around him.


Instead of a goodie bag filled with little treats and toys I like to buy one big thing. This year we did squirt guns that actually didn't work very well, but the boys were excited initially.

Here's Max's great friends. Lots of 9 and 10 year old boys, yay!

Max really wanted to swim at night in Grandma's pool so we had a "late night" swim party. It went from 7-10 pm, party animals! The hard part was we got up at 6 the next morning for our long trip to Seattle to visit family.

This is Max's actual birthday. The day we traveled home from CA was Max's birthday so he got to be in the car all day. He did get to sit where ever he wanted in the back of the car, whoo hoo. Also, since my parents got home before us Mom and Gram got him a couple of presents and made a cake so we drove directly to their house. He got to open presents on his actual birthday, shew.

Sorry, Max we've had such a busy travel summer around your birthday but I think it was still a great birthday! I don't know how much I'm making sense because we got home from Washington at 1 in the morning last night (this morning?) but I really wanted to blog, it's been too long. I'll blog about Washington next, it was a great trip!

California vacation

Seth as a mermaid.

Our family, along with Lyssa's family and mom, dad, Linc. Mary and Devon, went to California. It took us about 13 hours in the car. Car trips are getting better and better for us with the kids getting older and movies and game boys and even the wii plugged in but it's still a long way. Once we saw the beach it was all worth it.

Katie and Maddie dug a huge hole, when they climbed in and sat down you couldn't see them.

Max, he's just cute. We convinced him that his wet suit was suppose to be snug so he wore it and loved it. The beach was pretty cold but the kids got in a lot. I only got in twice.

We let the kids pick out a shirt and Seth knew exactly the one he wanted.

We went Santa Monica pier on our last day. It was a very fun trip and always great to be with lots of family.
Max and Thomas working hard.

Cul-de-sac of Fire

The kids couldn't wait to do fireworks, even Maddie was asking if she could do a parachute at 10 in the morning. We were able to put them off until about 8:00.
This is Mary, Devin, and Maddie doing a balancing act. Mary and Devin are getting married on Saturday, pretty exciting!
Later that night we did the "Cul-de-sac of Fire" which is a little out of control but the kids LOVE it. We all bring our fireworks together and the kids light them and we as adults all sit in our chairs and talk and watch. I brought glow bracelets and lots of people bring food. It's a great neighborhood that the kids will remember.
Maddie enjoying her snowcone.

The Claw (Talon actually)

We went to an Orem Owlz game for the 2nd of July. It's nice because they do fireworks after the game and we can just remain seated and enjoy the show and still be home before 11, I think it counts as going to a professional fireworks show. Seth bought an Owl talon with his own money, wait he hasn't paid me back yet. That was good entertainment for him and the cousins. The kids really enjoyed watching the game this year and eating all the food. It was fun to be with everyone. There were 19 of us. Everyone but Lyssa's family, sorry Lyssa! Go, Owlz, Hoot, Hoot!

Hubble Pictures

While we were in Idaho for our last visit, we went to the visitor's center at the Idaho Falls Temple to see some pictures taken from the Hubble telescope. I believe they launched the telescope in 1990, so 20 years ag0 and have gotten some amazing pictures and discoveries from it. The idea of taking pictures from space is to eliminate interference from the earth's atmosphere. I had the kids stand by their favorite picture, I should have labeled what they were a picture of. They were just fun to look at, you could actually see a lot of galaxies. (Note: I love Max just as much as my other children I just didn't get a pic. of him in front of a picture. Plus I was getting nervous because I wasn't sure I was suppose to be taking photos.)



Afterwards we got a quick family picture in front of the beautiful temple.

Camera Found

I really started losing hope. I e-mailed the camp site and they said all the Lost and Found items were taken by the leaders. So then I e-mailed the Camp director and the Young Women Stake Leader. It was kind of funny because they both said the other one had the lost and found so I forwarded their messages to them and they realized the Secretary had the Lost and Found. So even the Lost and Found was lost for a while. I also went to our ward's camp leader to look through the Lost and Found garage but it was not there. Then at 4:00 I got a phone call from the secretary saying she had a bag full of stuff with a digital camera. I rushed right over, YAY! It turns out I did not lose my camera in the bathroom but left a big white plastic bag somewhere on the trail between our camp site and down to the parking lot. It had in it my scriptures, Maddie's scriptures, Maddie's water bottle, flip flops, toilet paper, and my camera. I'm glad someone turned it in which I'll never know who it was but I thank them!!

Girls Camp

Let's just say I'm a wimp and am not a happy camper. I went to girls camp with our 30 Young women this week. It was a lot of fun!! But... I am so tired and sore. I got home and started crying because I felt so exhausted, I'm a little embarrassed. I took a shower then a power nap and am feeling a little better. I would love camping if I could shower everyday, if the bathroom were closer, and if it wasn't so cold and uncomfortable at night, is that asking too much? I loved how beautiful the mountains are and loved getting to know the girls better, they are pretty funny. I would post pictures but just realized I left my camera up there in the bathroom, ugh. I'm the worst at leaving my camera, phone, purse, etc. everywhere. If it's not attached to me then I'm going to leave it somewhere. I just e-mailed the camp, hopefully someone found it and turned it in to Lost and Found. It was a bunch of mormon girls so my chances of getting it back are pretty good. Hopefully I can blog with pictures again soon.

We had a fashion show that we had to make a dress out of things around camp. Maddie's dress is made out of a table cloth, mosquito netting and duct tape. Beautiful.
This picture was from our hike...it was a long hike and most of the time I was looking at my feet because it was steep down hill and had lots of gravel and pine cones to slip on.
Climbing wall, it helped to take off your shoes.
Zip line. It was a lot of fun!

The sound of music

Seth started piano lessons today. He is SO excited to start. He came home and practiced right away.

Maddie started Band Camp this week for Jr. High. She's decided to play the clarinet, which is what I played. She's squeaking quite a bit which gets to Jon. She almost chose the violin which I think would have been harder on the ears during the beginning stages. She also has a lot of enthusiasm and practices a lot. I let her quit piano so Seth could have her spot which she wanted to do. Makes me kind of sad, she was doing so well on the piano. But now she LOVES the clarinet.
Maddie and Seth playing Mary Had a Little Lamb together.

Cheese!

So, Tanner gets his braces off...again. He got them off last year and the orthodontist put a permanent retainer on the top (which I didn't know they had them for the top teeth) and he didn't anchor one tooth and it turned. Something like that. So then he put the braces back on for free for "three months." It ended up being exactly one year. Tanner was a good sport although toward the end he was really ready to be done. Now he has big, free, teeth, yes!

School's out!

The kids all did great this year. Maddie got "Outstanding student" in her class and wanted to pose with her plaque. Good job everyone! Now what are we going to do all summer....

SWIM!!! Okay, I guess the weather did get better. This is the opening of the pool for Memorial Day. We had a great day of swimming, food, and sun (we actually got a bit sunburned). Devin and Mary and Lincoln also came over.