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We just got home from my absolute favorite place in the world- our cabin in High Valley, Idaho. On the way up there I was calculating how long we have been going there. I was very shocked when I realized that it's been 15 years. That's a long time. However, our cabin is a place that you could never, ever get tired of going to. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Each time we go, I love it more and more. I think a lot of the fun now is in seeing my kids having fun doing all the things that I loved doing up there when I was younger. It's also so nice to be able to just relax. So, here's a few of the highlights of the trip. Now when I say a few, I mean a lot. However, I probably took over 100 pictures. So it is a few in comparison to what I could post.
Here are a few reasons why we love the cabin (in no particular order)...
1. We love the cabin because we always see so many cool animals. This trip was no exception. Some of the spotting's included snakes, a beaver, a pot gut with four little babies, thousands of tadpoles, a toad, a wolf (or coyote), tons of catfish, squirrels,bats, and lots of neat birds. Of course our favorite bald eagle friend was still at Tripod. I think he's getting more daring each year. This year he swooped down right in front of us to get a fish that had gone belly up after being caught. We tried to get a picture but ended up with this...
Here's a picture of the toad we caught...
And here's a picture of what some mysterious creatures did to our bollo balls (I'm pretty sure they stole my flip flops, too!)...
Last but not least, a picture of our favorite bear...
2. We love the cabin because there's always time to fish. Once again we headed to Tripod Lake for a day of fishing. We didn't make it up on Idaho's free fishing day this year so just the guys (who bought licenses) and the kiddo's actually fished. Hailey caught her first fish on her Disney Princess fishing rod. Her face says it all...
A few of us decided to take a little walk around the lake. It ended up being longer than we had planned but was still fun. After carrying Ashlyn the one way, I've concluded that I am very out of shape.
Here's a picture of the hikers taking a break...
All in all, I'd say it was a very successful trip. Baylen said that between Corey and him, they caught around 30 fish. We brought five back to the cabin for dinner. I'm not a trout eater but they said they were delicious!
3. We love the cabin because of our need for speed! Just kidding mom and dad. We always go very slowly (smile). One of my all time favorite things to do is ATV riding. This trip was awesome for that because we had four ATV's. We were all able to go on several rides. It was extremely dusty this year (which is obvious from the pictures).
This year was especially memorable because Tanner, Mickell, and Hailey were able to head up to the hills for their first "long rides." They loved it! Tanner also learned how to drive the ATV's. I was quite impressed at how well he did.
Ashlyn and Raylee rode on the ATV's for the first time. Ashlyn loved it. She was all grins and said WEE for most of her ride.
4. We love the cabin because only HERE is work FUN! We were able to help with a few maintenance jobs during our trip. We raked and burned pine needles.
The guys were able to use their new waders to fix the dock.
5. We love the cabin because it has the coolest tire swing ever. Because it was so blazing hot, grandpa had the fun idea to put the sprinkler under the swing. He even put his swimsuit on to play with the kids.
Ashlyn loved the tire swing.
6. We love the cabin because of all the fun we have on Leo's Lake. It's always fun to head out on the paddle boat to catch a few tadpoles or go for a relaxing ride in the canoe. One of the days Cherice and I headed out on the canoe right as a thunderstorm began. We made it back to the dock safely but there were a few strong winds that scared us. Tanner was brave enough to go for a ride in the canoe, too.
7. We love the cabin because of all the beautiful wild flowers.
This time they were exceptionally pretty. Here are a few pictures from our amateur photo shoot. (Note- There isn't a picture of Tanner because he didn't think posing with flowers is a very manly thing- he's probably right!)
8. We love the cabin because we get to spend so much time with some of our favorite people.
Mickell made a new friend named Ashley on this trip. They spent a lot of time together. Ashley is quite the character. She could never remember Mickell's name so asked if she could call her Michelle. It was really funny watching Mickell answer to "Michelle."
We went on our Sunday walk over to the big rock. I guess it's become tradition to pose as muscle men at the top.
The kids had a lot of fun painting faces with Leslie. It reminded me of the time I took Baylen to the cabin right before we got married. We did the exact same thing.
Leslie was really sweet to sleep in the same bed as all three kids (even though there was an empty bed that she could have had to herself.)
Well there you have it. The post ended up being even longer than I thought! I think I'm ready to go back.
It's been two years since we've all been together, but this past week the whole Sillito clan headed up to Island Park, Idaho for a week of fun. It was great to be able to see the cute Texas kids again. I cannot believe how big they've gotten!
Here's a run down of the week. I'll apologize in advance to anyone who might be reading this. I fear this may be the only scrapbooking I ever get done, and I want to include the whole trip. So if this post is long and boring, I'm really sorry.
We headed up to Island Park on Sunday. Baylen worked Saturday night so I drove up. It was kind of tricky driving and trying to entertain the kids. Baylen wasn't able to get as much sleep as I was hoping he'd be able to, but I think he survived. The lodge we stayed at was huge! There were enough beds for all the adults and several of the kids.
Sunday night we just hung out and played games. We went on a short little walk around the surrounding area. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.
On Monday, we went into Yellowstone. We did the entire bottom loop- which took a good portion of the day. We started with Old Faithful (luckily it wasn't all that faithful because we got there late and were still able to see it).
We also went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. That experience made me a little nervous. There was only a short rock wall separating my curious kids from a several hundred foot drop. I was a basket case the whole time we were at that stop.
We saw some wild life... a grizzly bear and cubs, a coyote, buffalo, and elk. Baylen took lots of pictures of these but none of them have our kids in them (for safety reasons!!!) so I decided they weren't interesting enough to post.
It was neat to see some of the sights, but this portion of the vacation definitely wasn't top on my kids' list. It was a lot of driving!!! Ashlyn had a really hard time being confined to her car seat!
This may seem cruel to take a picture of my screaming child. However, I had literally tried everything else and I thought maybe the camera might distract her. No such luck.
On Tuesday, we were able to go to Mesa Falls. This stop brought back to mind several fun memories of my time at Ricks. I think Baylen got a little tired of my stroll down memory lane, but he was sweet to listen.
The kids had fun designing bottle rocket launchers and bottle rockets. They also had a blast testing them out. We ended up with several of them stuck in trees.
We were able to enjoy the hot tub as well. Actually, some of us enjoyed it. Tanner was terrified of what might attack us from out in the dark woods. Hailey was terrified of the jets and bubbles. Their smiles on this picture are definitely forced smiles!
On Thursday, Baylen and I took the kids to West Yellowstone to shop. We then played around in Island Park while everyone else went into Yellowstone to do the upper loop. We had a lot of fun just skipping rocks in the water and hiking around.
Of course, no Sillito family get together would be complete without some jammin' with Grandpa. The kids had a blast singing and dancing to grandpa's guitar.
Unfortunately, we had some kind of stomach bug go around the group. Several of us ended up with it and were down for a day. It seemed to hit the adults alot harder than the kids. Either that, or the kids are just tougher than we are!
Grandma planned several things to do with the kids. She taught them how to water color paint and painted the girls' nails. I don't have any pictures of these things because they happened on the day that I was sick in bed, but the kids did have a great time!
Baylen got in a lot of fishing. Not much of it was successful fishing, but I think he still had a fun.
I took a picture of these shoes because it always made me smile when I looked over at how many shoes were lined up. There were a lot of "silly" toes- 360 to be exact!!!
The kids really did have so much fun playing together. I rarely even saw them when we were at the lodge. Tanner loved having his boy cousins around. He and Koby are best buds. It is too bad that they live so far away!
Baylen ended up sick on the day that we left, so we didn't do a whole lot on the way back. However, I did take the kids to the St. Anthony sand dunes for a few hours. They were in heaven. Mickell loved doing summer saults down the hills. Tanner- well, he was in his own world. I'm not exactly sure what he was playing, but I'm sure he was pretending to be some kind of super hero. Hailey loved building with the sand. Ashlyn couldn't stand the feel of the sand but she loved watching everyone else. We definitely need to go back there again when Baylen can enjoy it with us!
Overall, it was a good trip. The weather didn't exactly cooperate (it snowed and was freezing cold), and the sick days were the pits. But, we loved spending time with the people we love. We really are blessed with such an incredible family. This trip definitely reminded us of that!
This is the best picture I could get of the grandkids. It's sure hard to get a good picture of 18 little kids!
I don't have a picture to go with this entry. However, I wanted to jot this down so that on bad days I can read back on this to remind myself how blessed I am. Keep in mind that today is not my birthday, anniversary, or mothers day- it is also not any half of any of those events. This morning I woke up to breakfast in bed! When Baylen got home from work this morning, he made me a delicious breakfast of pancakes and eggs. What a sweet guy!
It has been just about three years now that I have been searching for a swing set. I have been to every store (I thought) that sales them and have spent hours and hours on the Internet looking for what I wanted. I wasn't being picky (I didn't think). My only requirements were that it was metal (so we wouldn't have to do any upkeep on it), that it had monkey bars, and that it was in our price range (which I really thought was a reasonable price range for a swing set). Just when I had resigned myself to the fact that this particular swing set does not exist, I went visiting teaching. The girl I went to had the swing set of my dreams. I was quite discouraged when she informed me that it was the set that she grew up using. I assumed that meant that it must not be made anymore. I told her about my swing set woe's and she quickly chimed in that they still make the exact same set here in our own backyard (Ogden). I was so excited. When Baylen woke up that day, we went straight there and bought it. 48 hours later it was picked up, assembled, cemented into the ground, and was ready to go.
The kids love it! They spent a good portion of the day yesterday on it. I went back and forth on whether I should get the set with the deck or not. In the end we decided to spend the extra money and get it since this will be the set that we hope to use all the way through our grandkids. I am so glad we did. There were at least two kids playing on the deck most of the day. Another nice thing about this set is that so many things can be added over time- if we want. There's a spot for a tire swing, rock wall, rope ladder, and disk swing. We figured that those things will make for some good birthday presents over the years. So- here's to the swing set that does exist outside of my head!
Today is officially the first day of summer break and we couldn't be more excited! One of the most exciting parts of summer break is the fact that we get to sleep in. Because this excitement has been building for some time, you can imagine my disappointment when Ashlyn decided that she wanted to wake up at 7:00 this morning. I was finally able to get her back to sleep but never fell back asleep myself. Even though I was wide awake, I refused to get out of bed until 9:00. It felt so good not to have to worry about a scheduled morning! The kids were very excited to do their new list of jobs and worksheets. I'm positive that this excitement will not last for more than a few days but we'll enjoy it while it lasts!
Tanner and Mickell had a really good first grade year. Both of their teachers (their teachers did a time share) were excellent. Both kids have become very good readers. They loved school. In fact, each morning for the last week or so, I have gone into their bedroom to wake them up with a dumb made up song saying how many days were left of school. One of the mornings Tanner rolled over in bed and said, "I don't want school to end. I like first grade!" Baylen claims that Tanner said this to get me to stop singing. However, I'm certain it's because he really did like school! Here are a few pictures taken the last day of school...
Tanner and Mickell with Mrs. Elswood (Mrs. Dimond's last day was the day before and I didn't make it in to get a picture with her)
Tanner and Mickell on their funky playground (Snow Horse had some pretty strange playgrounds shipped in from some other country. The kids love them though!)
Here's a picture of the toad we caught...
And here's a picture of what some mysterious creatures did to our bollo balls (I'm pretty sure they stole my flip flops, too!)...
A few of us decided to take a little walk around the lake. It ended up being longer than we had planned but was still fun. After carrying Ashlyn the one way, I've concluded that I am very out of shape.
This year was especially memorable because Tanner, Mickell, and Hailey were able to head up to the hills for their first "long rides." They loved it! Tanner also learned how to drive the ATV's. I was quite impressed at how well he did.
The guys were able to use their new waders to fix the dock.
Ashlyn loved the tire swing.
7. We love the cabin because of all the beautiful wild flowers. 
Mickell made a new friend named Ashley on this trip. They spent a lot of time together. Ashley is quite the character. She could never remember Mickell's name so asked if she could call her Michelle. It was really funny watching Mickell answer to "Michelle."
We went on our Sunday walk over to the big rock. I guess it's become tradition to pose as muscle men at the top.
The kids had a lot of fun painting faces with Leslie. It reminded me of the time I took Baylen to the cabin right before we got married. We did the exact same thing.
Leslie was really sweet to sleep in the same bed as all three kids (even though there was an empty bed that she could have had to herself.)
Well there you have it. The post ended up being even longer than I thought! I think I'm ready to go back.
