Family Reunion at Crystal Hot Springs

For Mike's family reunion this year we went up to Crystal Hot Springs for the weekend. It was tons of fun for everyone. If you haven't been there before it's a water park resort. They have a hot springs and a cold springs that run within 50 feet of each other (it's 1 of only 2 places in the world that have a hot springs and a cold springs running that close together). They pipe the springs into different pools, add in a water slide and PRESTO! family fun for everyone! We camped in one of the sites right behind the water park.

Rule #1: Don't take pictures of me in a swimsuit. Mike took a bunch of horrible pictures of me on vacation once. I was in a suit that was too big and packing some baby weight. I was horrified and refused to scrapbook them. Now he's scared to ever get another swimsuit picture of me.....so, this is the only photo of me from the trip and I'm okay with that.

This cute kid is excited to go swimming, can you tell?

This is my wonderful, amazing, kind, sweet, generous mother-in-law. I know the stereotype is for women to dislike their MIL's, but I really lucked out in that department. She's someone I look up to and I love her so much! Mike's oldest sister and one of her two cute boys........

Second cute boy....
Can you believe that this beautiful girl was just barely born when Mike and I started dating? She's all grown up now. Time goes so fast! Tanner loves, loves, LOVES Tia and her older sister Morgan. He asks all the time if they can be his sisters. They are so sweet with him. They spend a lot of time playing with him, it's great!

The kids all got a kick out of standing underneath the "waterfall".....can you guess who that is?
I don't have any pics of Mike's other sis, but this is her hubby. Jake and I worked together and that's how Mike and I met. Jake and Mellinda are body builders, can you tell? They have four sweet girls and one boy.
This sweet little guy was cutting molars on the trip. He was pretty crabby, even in the water. I thought I had some really cool waterslide pics, but when I got home and dowloaded them most turned out really fuzzy. I'm not a photographer so I'm not sure why. These are two of our nieces. Caeden and his cousin Dylan claimed that they went down the waterslide a million times. I think I believe it. For at least 3 hours straight they ran up the stairs and went down the slides over and over and over. He slept good that night! Tanner went down once, but was too scared after that. This boy? No fear!This is one of the hot mineral pools, hence the color. I love these handsome guys!

Sisters Trip 2010! Whoot! Whoot!

My sisters and I have sporadically taken Sister's Trips together. We've always had tons of fun, been as silly as teenage girls, and had lots of heartfelt talks.....the kind only sisters can have. Life has gotten in the way for too many years now and we haven't done one in forever! My oldest sister lives out of state so she wasn't able to come, but me and my baby sis decided that we need to start the tradition up again....even if it means just going somewhere close for overnight. Our wonderful hubby's took the kids and she and I headed up for a two day one night canoeing trip at Causey Reservoir. She'd never been canoing before and loved loved loved it. It's a beautiful place to paddle and we had an incredible time together. We fished, swam, talked (and talked, and talked, and talked) made s'mores, hauled the canoe up and down the beach (we are women hear us roar! yes, it was heavy and hard, we even lifted and strapped that thing to the top of my Toyota!), laughed (and laughed and laughed and laughed), and "cliff" dived (well, our version, which consists of a rock 2 feet up from the water, there are a lot of people who do real cliff diving there though and it's exhilirating to watch!) We had a wonderful, amazing, memorable time.

When I get together with my sisters we are the biggest bunch of goofballs. Seriously I think we would put a pack of 12 year old girls to shame. My sister Cherie always strikes the corniest poses in pictures. It's a family joke. Luckily I know she'll always love me no matter what and that she'll forgive me for sharing these on my blog he he he.




I love this girl and I'm so lucky to have her. She's my best friend and a wonderful example to me. She's big-hearted, fun, supportive, and strong. The only thing that would have made the trip even better is if my oldest sister, Tonya, could have been there. We missed her tons, it just wasn't the same! I have a photo of me and my sisters in the kitchen, the frame reads: Having a Sister is Like Having a Best Friend for Life. So true.

Our trip could have ended on a real sour note because just as we were getting ready to finish loading up and heading home we realized that I had accidentally locked my keys in the car. Causey doesn't have cell phone reception and the nearest gas station is 20 min away. We had a nutso who was determined to break one of my windows, but luckily a nice couple intervened and drove us down the mountain. These people were incredible! I had locked my purse in the car and so I had no money, no cell phone.....I felt so helpless. They offered to buy us drinks and lunch (we passed, we were both starving, but we already felt we were putting them out so much!). Cher had a girlie emergency (worst timing in the world!) and the woman handed her some cash to help. They drove us to the gas station and when there wasn't a city phone book they drove us to the ranger station to track down a sheriff, then they drove us back to the gas station to meet the locksmith. They guy even tried to talk me into taking his cell phone, he lived in the same area as I did and said he'd just pick it up from me the next day. I declined, but I couldn't believe he would offer that to a complete stranger. They were so sweet and so nice. The locksmith was great too, he drove me up to the top of the mountain (he could only take one passenger, Cher waited at the gas station), made me a spare key in the back of his vehicle, charged me the "city" price (just to be nice, he didn't want my vacation ruined), and helped me strap the canoe on before I headed back down to get Cher. It went about as well as a bad situation could have. We felt very blessed and watched over. There really are some wonderful people out there!

Mike's 24th Birthday!

We celebrated Mike's 24th birthday (that's what age he's claiming this year) by dining al fresco in our backyard. The weather was just too beautiful and perfect to pass up! We had one of Mike's favorite meals: fresh baked French Bread, homemade Lasagna, a green salad, and a Chocolate Mousse Crunch cake for dessert. For his birthday the boys and I got him a new biking outfit and helmet and an Ipod gift card. He's been biking to work on Wednsdays every week (all the way out to Cottonwood) and we wanted to show our support. He's a great husband and father and we love the opportunity to celebrate him!

School Begins!

Here's my big 2nd grader! I can't believe how grown up he's getting! In a couple of months he'll be baptized and joining scouts. I'm so proud of him! (He would be SO embarassed to read his mom's gushy posts).

Watch out World! He's Five!

Yesterday was Tanner's 5th birthday. His favorite present was a scooter from Mom and Dad. He's growing up so much! He adds lots of suprise and spice to our lives!
Likes:
1- to make messes!
2- cuddling and giving kisses
3- bandaids, tape, stickers...basically anything sticky
4- sweets.....lots and lots of them, we have to hide everything that has sugar!
5- his Nana
6- pirates
7- camping
8- being outside, he's a summertime boy!
9- following Caeden around .... he always wants the same thing that Caeden picks
10- fireworks
11- bugs
12- popcorn
13- cooking with mom

Dislikes-
1- Time-out, being sent to bed, being grounded (he gets lots of this unfortunately)
2- being left out when Caeden's friends are over
3- watching TV
4- tuna fish
5- being stuck in the house
6- holding still
7- water (he's scared if he's not held while in a lake or swimming pool)
8- chores
9- car rides
10- having his hair combed

Argh! A Buckaneer Bash for Tanner!

Tanner really wanted a Pirate Party for his 5th birthday this year. We had so much fun with it. I sent out Message in a Bottle invites......

We decorated our whole patio and yard for the party. It looked pretty spiffy, but as usual, my poor photography skills don't do it justice!

The Captains Quarters- the table is has gold coins, jewels and a silver hook.....

A Seascape with a treasure chest.....

All the kiddos were dressed up like pirates with an eye patch, bandana, sword, sash, treasure pouch, and tattoo......

The Galley (I had to post this picture because it shows one of the two pirate flags I made, I'm not an artist, so I was quite proud of how they turned out!)....

I made card labels for all the snacks: SeaChips (blue corn tortilla chips) Seaweed Dip (guacamole) Sea Knots (pretzels) Shark Bait (Goldfish) Minnows (Swedish Fish) Gold Nuggets (cheese cubes) Tasty Treasure (Rolos) Cannonballs (Whoppers) and bottles of cold Grape Crush to drink.

To prove that they had what it takes to become a true pirate they had to pass a series of Pirate Tests.

Our canoe became The Red Dragon. The most feard pirate ship around.

The kids threw cannon balls (water balloons) at the other enemy ships.

As a reward for their bravery and valor they got to dig for jewels in the creepy Pirate Graveyard.......

Then they had to show their mettle by Walking the Plank. Afterwards they got to look for gold coins in The Swamp (a big tub filled with water and slimey wet raffia).....

Their pouches were getting filled with treasure, but pirates are notoriously greedy and they wanted more so they had to do a 3rd test. They had to show that they could "bail" water, by filling up a cup with water, walking up the ladder and sliding down the slide without spilling it. The rewards was another hunt for gold dabloons.

We then feasted on a pirate ship cake .....

Their last activity was following a picture Treasure Hunt that led them all through the yard and to the chest filled with the greatest treasure of all....their party favor bags.

Everything went great and I think the kids had a fantastic time. We ended up getting rained out the last few minutes, but overall it was a great party!My little buckaneer.......

Too Much Fun!

I haven't had time to update the ol' bloggy blog. We've been having too much fun this summer! I honestly haven't been on the computer much......which is a good thing. So be prepared, when we have a day at home I'm going to download tons of photos (why does that process always take so long?) and probably do several posts in succession. Some of the exciting things to blog about:

our Summer Activity Group and the fun stuff we've been doing:

Sweet's Candy Factory, hiking, Blackridge Reservoir, Bingham Copper Mine

summer dollar days at the movies

family reunion

canoeing

fishing

swimming

Mike and I even go on a kid-free weekend away together......pretty cool! Lots to tell!