Island Park

Our trip to Island Park and Yellowstone.....all out of order and random.....enjoy :)

When we first starting planning our trip to Island Park we thought it would be fun to camp with the kids...you know rough-it a little. Well, we ended up just getting a big cabin that
would fit everyone in it. It was way better than camping! In fact I think it's my new way of camping.

The boys made this awesome fort out in the trees.
Great for pretend wars and such and even greater because it kept them busy for hours!

I told you this was random...this was my favorite mountain man we saw at Yellowstone.

Old Faithful was pretty exciting actually. I really wasn't sure what to expect but it was fun to see it blow. I dared Kyle to yell "THAR SHE BLOWS" really loud when it started to shoot up. Everyone laughed, it was totally something his dad would have done if he was there.

Looking cute while waiting for Old Faithful!

The boys favorite part of the whole trip was getting to go fishing with their dads. They caught a whopping 1 1/2 fish. Hayden almost had one but then it got away.

Crew and I saw a big MOOSE on our 4-wheeler ride. I am still to this day thankful for that Moose. Whenever he is wondering away I just have to say - "oh no, there's a moose" and he'll come running back to me...... sneaky - I know.

The boys all bought knives at a giftshop at Old Faithful. They widdled their little hearts out and made good luck charms. Only 1 finger was sliced so we were excited about that.

Crew LOVED Alexa! She was so cute with him and gave him tons of attention too.

The girls.

Get up you lazy Bison!

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Lots of sword fights,

and yelling JENGA - JENGA.

I loved getting to spend time with Alexa. She is such a doll and has grown up so much.
She has the cutest little southern accent too.
I loved being able to tease Kade too. My boys especially had fun playing with their cousins they
don't get to see very often.

Just wish we could hang out with the Cunningham's more often.

YELLOWSTONE

The SUMMER has begun and we started it off with a trip to Yellowstone with Kyle's family.

I have loads of pics to upload but I'm needing to pack for the next venture tomorrow to
Vegas baby!
We are off to pick up Riley's bff Courtney for their annual 2 week extravaganza.
Some things we have been up to:

Riley's softball tournaments
Riley and Hailey's summer day camp for kids
Hayden has been getting babysitting training for McCrewber
I've been trying to lift lots of weights and hit the zumba class and trying to lay off the treats - the first two are working well but the treats part is not :)
picnics and lots of playtime at the park
getting to know some new fun neighbors
father and sons camp-out, which means moms night out dinner and pedi's
McCrewber talking up a storm which is good and bad
tons of yard work trying to make the place more low maintenance in the weeding department
got my garden planted and some herbs too
Reece is loving his job chart and excited to make some $$MULLA$$
we just signed up for a pool pass and will be hitting that lots in the months to come
an organized pantry - woot woooo!!!
**and last but not least getting ready for Riley's TREK this summer and my girls camp with the beehives!!

I have a feeling it's going to be one of the busiest summers on record!

Spring Break

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We went on a last minute Spring Break trip to Vegas. 3 moms and 9 kids = quite the adventure!!
(except I can hardly count Riley as a kid when she is more like an extra mom - right?)
We packed up all our goodies and swimsuits and headed for some sunshine!!

Have I told you lately how much I miss the sun and the WARMTH of Arizona?
The winters are long and hard and I really need to plan more trips to unthaw during the winter months.

The kids had SO much fun swimming and swimming and more swimming!

The hotel we stayed at had a HUGE fish tank with a Mermaid show.
Is it sad that I was disappointed that the Mermaid had an oxygen mouth piece?
Come on....it's Vegas!! Can't they figure out some under water secret way to breath?

Lame - but the kids liked it!
Then the scuba-diver came out and of course he can have an oxygen tank!

Two things: notice Crew is not with the group. I was able to leave him with dad and grandma O. It made for a more relaxing trip for me :) We missed him though.
Also, Reece lost BOTH of his two top front teeth on this day. One of them was expected to come out at any minute but with the help of a slight collision with Parker he lost both! YAY Reece...but poor Parker :(

The kids in front of the largest chandelier - like ever!
We were quite the site walking the strip with our big gang!

Claire - Me - Juli
(and a whole lot of kids)
This may be our new spring break tradition!
We had the best time, but next time we are going to have to add a couple more days to the trip!

Fall Break Day 1

Last Thursday was the first day of our fabulous Fall Break and since almost everyone we know went to Disneyland we thought we would "out do" all of them and go to

CORNBELLY'S. 

I know my kids are like----so lucky!

I'm pretty sure Disneyland doesn't have a huge rocking chair like this.

I know they don't have awesome tractor races that you have to pedal yourself.

I know they don't have CORN BALL!

We even got to spend the day with these two - that's way better than Mickey Mouse!

I've never seen a hayride at Disneyland.

It was a great day at CORNBELLY'S! We are SO lucky!
It was a beautiful day to spend together!!

one loved lil guy - part two

The Festivities

PONY RIDES

I've always wanted to have pony rides for one of my kids birthday parties so that is what we did!

Big Bob and Old Joe couldn't wait to give the kiddos some rides. 

Can't you just see their excitement?

FACE PAINTING
Cousin Isabel brought her face painting skills to the party!
She was amazing!

 The Tractor Ride
I loved the account of the tractor ride my cousin Cynthia put on her blog so I'm going to cut and paste it here. It made me laugh!!

In Cynthia's words:
"Everyone should have a party in Uncle Dale's backyard!
He brings out the horses for rides
and his backyard has
a trampoline
a swingset
and treehouse!

But one of the best things of all is the TRACTOR RIDE!

Let me try to describe the scene to you:

We are all sitting around, enjoying each other's company, eating good food, and the children are having a great time playing and riding horses.

Suddenly you hear a motor.

Everyone looks to see Uncle Dale driving the tractor which pulls the apple boxes through his orchard.

Then it's like a scence from the Pied Piper.

The kids all stop what they are doing.

They know exactly what to do.
They grab a lawn chair.
(It's hillarious, watching the littlest kids carry lawn chairs)

They hoist the chairs into the boxes,
climb in themselves
and wait for Uncle Dale to pull out of the "station" for a ride around the orchard:

I love the farm and I love the way that cousin Brian captured its beauty in these photos! thanks a bunch!

My dad is the best grandpa! He always knows how to make thing so fun for the kids and the adults enjoy it too! Someday I'll have to blog about the school bus rides we used to go on with him.


Happy Birthday Josie and Crew!