My Favorite Week of the Year

We headed up to our cabin the end of July. We went for almost a full week this time so I thought we'd have plenty of time. However, it still went by in a blink of an eye. I've decided there isn't such a thing as too much time at the cabin. As always, we were in heaven and I took way too many pictures. But, they bring back happy memories so I'm going to post alot of them. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down.

One thing that was extra special about this trip was that we went when the huckleberries were ripe. We spent several hours picking but have been enjoying them ever since. Ashlyn is a huge fan. She'll eat as many as we put in front of her. Here are a few pictures taken during one of our "huckleberry trips" to the hills.



We did a few fun crafts. Grandma brought visors for all the kids to decorate. They had a great time decorating and wearing them.



Leslie also painted their faces

Ashlyn and Raylee were best buds during this trip. They were always doing something fun together.




As always we had tons of fun on the ATV's.

I think it might be on backwards, hun!
Grandpa pulled the kids in the wagon, too!
Man does this picture have me wishing I was in High Valley, Idaho right now!

Jared brought up his motorcycle. Baylen decided to try it out. I had my camera ready just in case... (I ran into a tree my first time riding a dirt bike up there) However, he was a natural.

Jared
We also had fun out in the lake. The kids caught tadpoles, frogs, and baby catfish.
Of course, there's always time for a little nap...

Tanner just started cub scouts the week before we left. We found that the cabin is the perfect place to pass off requirements. He got half his wolf done in one week and loved every second of it.

Tanner and Baylen also had a blast putting this bionicle model together. It was a lot of work!
The kids had fun running through the sprinklers in the heat of the afternoon

The guys kept busy fishing, paint balling, shooting, playing badminton and horse shoes.
Does this picture have anyone else worried? Just kidding Tweety!
One afternoon they pulled out this knee hockey game. It was pretty entertaining to watch.


Ashlyn and Raylee had a little photo shoot. (Weis if you read this, I still need to figure out how to get your pics to you without the blurry factor of this dumb computer).

I know Ashlyn is sideways, but my brain is not functioning at a level to fix it right now.
Here are just a few more pictures that I liked. I guess you could just put them in the spending quality time with family category...

Baylen and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary while we were up there. We went on a little ATV ride to the hills... just the two of us. I know this picture is just oozing romance. But hey, the cabin is our favorite place and ATV riding is our favorite thing to do together! Brings back memories of our honeymoon!
and 9 years later, look what we've got to show for it...
Pretty Lucky!

How Old Are You?!!!

I am home by myself today trying to recover from surgery. I can't fall asleep, am sick of TV, and am not in the mood to read. I get depressed if I lay around thinking too long (my hormones are out of wack), so I'm forcing myself into this blog thing again. I have so many amazing memories and pictures that I need to get down... so here we go! Note: I'm very serious when I say I think I lost half my brain when they put me out for surgery. So, if I don't spell easy words correctly or things sound a little crazy, that's why.

The explanation behind this picture: Baylen and I were sitting on our bed talking one Sunday after church. Ashlyn came in and started playing the keyboard with her feet. I complimented her on her song and asked what it was. I was expecting "Twinkle, Twinkle" or even "I am a Child of God." However, her response was "It's a Jonas Brothers song." Wowsers, what two year old even knows who the Jonas Brothers are?! I think I found their youngest fan!

It's Great to be Eight

Wow. Eight years old. That is a BIG birthday... and it happened for my sweet Tanner and Mickell on July 18th. That makes me officially old!

I can't tell you how many times they asked if I would be making them breakfast in bed. They even slept in the same bed so that I could put both of their plates on the same tray. I tried to get up early enough that I was sure I'd be waking them up when I brought their food. However, I think that Tanner had been awake for at least 45 minutes when I brought the food in. I totally remember that excited feeling from when I was a kid!

After breakfast, we got ready and went over to Grandpa and Grandma Sillito's house for a while. Tanner was really excited that they gave him all his scout stuff. He told me that he was more excited for scouts than for his birthday!


Tanner and Mickell also got a really neat towel for their baptism. Grandma sewed their names on them.

Then we headed over to Emily and Dave's house to go swimming.
Tanner got a new pair of goggles...
Kell got a new swimsuit...
The other kiddos
Baylen had to work both Friday night and Saturday night. So, between sleeping and work, we met him at the theater and watched Monsters vs Aliens.

After the movie, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Whipple's house to open presents, each pizza, and have ice cream cake.
One of Tanner and Mickell's gifts from Baylen and I is a mini vacation with just us. We thought this would be something special to do for the eighth birthdays of all our kids. However, we've been on so many vacations this summer that we thought it would be more special if we waited for a couple months. So, this birthday celebration is TO BE CONTINUED...

The Greatest Fun Spot You'll Ever Know...

Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill!! Do I have you all singing? I guess only Utahns would know what I'm talking about :). The day after returning from Powder Mountain, we headed down the street to Cherry Hill. This was a first for our family even though it is literally five minutes from our house. In my opinion, Cherry Hill is WAY over priced, so I could never justify it. However, Tavi found us a sweet 2 for 1 deal so we took advantage of it while Breven was here. We had a blast. If it were only cheaper, I would be a HUGE fan!!!

Here are a bunch of the cousins waiting in line for the tube slide...
Brynnly and Kayla

Kayle and Morgan
Kamry and Mickell
Hailey was so brave. This was a huge tube for her to keep herself up in!!!I never saw my glasses again after this photo shoot. I guess that's why I should stick with the Walmart $5 variety. I've never had a pair for more than a few months.

Tanner was on the go ALL DAY! I guess that's why I don't have him in very many pictures. Here he is going on the Dragon Slide.Ashlyn would beg us over and over to go on the "baby dragon" slide. She loved to look in the holes in the wood while waiting in line. There were little dragon figures that would move and make sounds. However, when we actually got to the slide, she would scream and cry. Then when it was all over, she would want to go on the "baby dragon" slide again.

Here she is on a slide more her size...The little girls loved playing in the pirates cove
Breven wanted a picture of Caden up on this post. It is supposed to look like he's peeing. I'm at the wrong angle, though. I had to snap fast because the life guard was walking over to get mad at us.

A Week on Top of the World

*I'm not sure why all of my pictures are blurry. They don't look that way on my camera. I'm using a computer I'm not familiar with so I think I must be doing something wrong. I'll get it figured out. Sorry!

The day after we got home from Bear Lake, the kids and I left to go to the Bird family reunion. This year it was up at condos at the Powder Mountain Ski Resort. It was quite the drive up a VERY steep mountain. We ended up at the top of the world. It was absolutely beautiful!!! We had a great week. It's always fun to hang out with all the Bird's. There was lots of swimming- a family favorite...


Ashlyn loved "chillin" in the float boatThe boys had a blast playing basketball and in the game room...
The girls had fun doing gymnastics. (Does anyone have pictures?)

We hiked around the beautiful area...
Baylen was able to come up for a few days. Here he is playing horseshoes with Mike...

There was lots of hanging out with the cousins, grandma and grandpa...

and of course no reunion is complete without the couch game. The grandmas were very sweet to take the little kids so that the "teenagers" could play. I haven't been called a teenager for a long time. Maybe it's because of how immature we were acting. This game gets better every year! I thought I had a picture but I don't know what happened to it.

SURPRISE!!!

Are you as surprised with the fact that I'm posting again as I am?!!! We had an amazing summer but we literally were gone on trips all of July and August with the exception of a few days to come home, do laundry, repack and leave again. It is very nice to be home long enough to turn the computer on!

Like I said, we had a really fun summer. I guess the best way to start is with our first trip. Breven and Luci came up the first week of July. So, we planned a camping trip with the Sillito clan up to Bear Lake. We had a great time even though the weather didn't cooperate 100% of the time. We spent the days at the beach and the nights laughing around the campfire. The cousins all had a blast together. Tanner LOVED having the boys around to hang out with! The first night we saw Breven's family, Tanner and Koby gave each other a HUGE hug and Koby yelled "Tanner, my man." So cute!!!

Here are a few, okay a ton, of pictures of the fun...

Grandpa playing ball with Tanner

Fun with the floaties...

Ashlyn loves her Uncle Brian!!!....
almost as much as she loves Kayla!
Hey Good lookin!
Best Friends Hailey and Avery
My Beauties... Kayle and Morgan
The BIG kids had a blast playing games in the tent trailer
The little kids had to find other things to do since the big kids wouldn't let them in the trailer. Luckily Aunt Tina is good at coming up with games!
Little buddies Emery and Ashlyn

Hailey, Cassie, Cora, and Avery

Ashlyn rocking out to Caden's IPOD
The sunset over the lake was amazing. This picture doesn't do it justice.
To be continued... I have hundreds of summer pictures still that I need to post.