Summer in a nut shell

(Yes I know its November...don't judge me.)

I am going to attempt to sum up a few of our summer activities in this one blog. Wish me luck!


Hiking up Blacksmith Fork Canyon with the Wood's


Silly string fights

Aftermath from silly string fight (Carter, Ethan, Brennan, Collier, Mason)



Nursing a hummingbird back to life


Camping with the Wise family (Gavin, Kenadei)

Camping at power house; a hike up to the springs


Four wheeler rides while camping


Tongue tattoos



Monkeying around with friends, Gage and Citorie

A black eye from big brother (Its the right one, kinda hard to see in this picture)





Swimming lessons

I'm watching you!

I've decided I have the funniest kids ever. I know, I know, everyone says that. But I'm a mom, I'm suppose to think that. The other night the boys were in the tub and dumped out all of my facial scrub (which cost a pretty penny) and filled it back up with water. I was so upset, I kicked them out and told them to get their jammies on and go to bed. When I was tucking them in I told them I was going to have to take the money out of their wallet to pay for my face scrub that they dumped out. Mason immediately started crying, begging me not to take his money. I was over in the corner cleaning up their messes and he kept saying to me, "Mom, I'm watching you. You better not take my money...Mom, I watching you." I was trying so hard to stay mad.

Carter, being the sweetheart he his, in a quiet voice said, "Mom, just take all the money out of my wallet and not Mason's." Oh, that melted my heart. He is such a good brother. Don't get me wrong, they fight like crazy, but he always has his brother's back and will do whatever it takes to make him happy.

I love both of my boys. I kind of like to say I have "sugar and spice" when it comes to the two of them.

A vacation tradition

It's official. I would say this Bear Lake trip has become a tradition and I don't see it going away any time soon. We look forward to it every year. Great friends, beautiful weather, beach and water...ya it's pretty much perfect! I just wish we could live there all summer long! This year we were able to reserve a camp spot that had a lot of grass, a pavilion, and room for all our camp trailers! I was worried the water would be too high this year and we would have no beach but that wasn't the case at all. The water was high enough that it came right up to our camp spot, but left just enough beach for the kids to play. We didn't have to haul up lunches and toys each day and drive 300 yards down to the beach! We could watch the kids play right from our camp spot and they could come and go as they pleased. It was PERFECT!!! We spent every day swimming, playing volleyball, and eating yummy food.


Ethan, Mason, Hallee, Talon, Teagan

Carter and Kyler

Jaime, Jillene, Kristen, me

Mason and Kyler

My handsome boys and I

Harley, Carter, Brad, Ethan, Tyson, and I'm certain Mason is asleep on that bed somewhere.
We did have a couple evenings that it rained on us, so thank goodness for modern technology: a camp spot with electricity and a computer that plays movies. Gotta love technology!

We of course didn't survive without an injury. Carter had a bike crash that ripped his toenail and quite a bit of skin off! This shot was taken after we got home a couple days later. It looked quite a bit worse than this. As a matter of fact, his toenail was ripped from the bottom up and I could tell that the skin around the toe was coming up with it. It actually looked like the tip of his toenail was about to come off. It was still connected and I didn't want to try to do minor surgery to remove it in the wilderness so I bandaged it the best I could and left it until we came home. Upon returning and removing the bandage, I found a toe that was white as can be and the tip just sort of hanging on by a flap of skin. I was so freaked out, I called a neighbor who thank goodness is a doctor. I ran Carter over and he removed the nail and the skin for me. He said it could have been stitched if we would have gotten to it right after it happened but after removing the skin it didn't look nearly as bad as it did when it was still attached. I must say that Carter was a champ from start to finish. He never complained that it hurt the whole time we were in Bear Lake and then again at home when our neighbor removed the nail. Pretty tough kid!

Our missionary

And he's off! Eric left for the MTC on June 22 and then on to San Diego on July 12. We are so proud of him. I know he will do a great job! The MTC was a little hard for him. I haven't heard from him since he got to San Diego, but I'm really hoping it is better now that he's officially on his mission. Hopefully the homesickness is subsiding and he's keeping busy.

Favorite Holiday

I absolutely love the 4th of July!! This year the kids and I made holiday treats.

This is what it is like to try and get two boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time. UGH!!!!





We spent the 4th in Malad and I was too busy as usual to even take one picture. We played softball all day and in between the kids played on the blow up houses and with friends and cousins. The boys ran in the kid races and Carter took first for his age group! Harley participated in the closet to the pin competition and took first. It was a fundraiser for the golf team and since my dad is the coach and my brother plays he decided to donate his winnings back to the golf team. We ended the night with fireworks, probably one of the best shows Malad has ever put on. It was a great holiday!!! Happy Birthday America!

A night at the park

We went to a bees game with our good friends, the Daniels. Jillene's sister and her husband were there too (whom we also love!), I'm just not that good at capturing everyone and everything. Fresno (the Giants triple A team) was playing against the bees and Pablo Sandoval was there on a rehab assignment. For anyone who isn't familiar with him, he plays for the Giants and is referred to as Kung Fu Panda, a pretty big favorite in our family. After the game was a firework show. Every year we try to go to a game when they are doing fireworks. They always put on a great show. What we didn't sign up for was the 12 inning game that preceded the fireworks.
9 innings is the absolute max kids can handle and even the adults were beginning to wonder if the game was going to end. Thankfully it did end and the fireworks were well worth the wait.

Tyson, Jillene, and their gorgeous kids, Teagan and Hudson


This picture was to capture the horrific mess that a $6 bag of cotton candy did to my children. (Yes I did say $6!!) However, the picture doesn't tell the whole story.

These two were besties the whole night.

Chris's Graduation

There are so many great things I can say about this kid! I'm not sure where to start. He was that obnoxious, but super cute little brother who followed me everywhere. I can't believe he is this big already. He spent most of his 18 years playing about every sport you can think of. He excelled in wrestling and golf. He is the most polite, kind young man you will ever meet. I'm so proud of him.

Chris and my Dad

Chris with him mom, Jamie

Our little family with uncle Chris