Vacation!

Yes, once again it's been a month since I've posted. Tyler's family was in town the week before we left to go on Vacay.

We had so much food and get-togethers that week that I literally took a time out one night.

 I think my sister-in-law took this pic. McCall was fabulous once again. This was seriously a rare time when all of the grandkids got along and all of the parents were pleasantly surprised!  The kids were quite funny.  My niece, Ginger, also know as a spitfire, refused to be called by her name the whole trip.  She wanted to be called, "Purple."  So "Purple" is what we called her.  She was very consistent, I must say.  Monica and Brad had just had the baby before we left, so we were sadly missing them as well as Olivia.  Because there was now extra room in my parents' car, we rode up with them.  Can I just say two Tylenol PM's and 2 benedryl work wonders.  I slept all of the way to Boise and didn't even complain.  Tyler was thrilled.  I think the kids did well too...hmmm...The first day of arrival, Madeline and I went for a run because we were both sick of being lazy after the long drive.  Wow was it gorgeous.  I was able to go running every morning and enjoy the gorgeous scenery.

What a great husband I have for holding down the fort and letting me leave him and the kids.

The next day was church and pretty much half of us spent Sacrament in the hallway.

Our family tradition is to drive up the road and take family pictures.

 

London was torn between taking pictures and wanting to look over the bridge.

  In the water were two massive salmons stripped clean.

My Uncle thinks that they were cleaned and then dumped in that water but, that they weren't fished out of there.

It was funny how the best part of that bridge was tossing pebbles into the water for all the kids.

Papa was the coolest man ever because he had all of the rocks!

We went on a couple of new hikes which were awesome.

The first one I carried Madden up and Tyler carried him back.

I have to say there are no complaints from the grandkids.

I'm so proud of all of them!

That's said, they were all exhausted at the end of every hike. 

My favorite hike was up to Boulder Lake. 

We had a schedule to keep so we were in a bit of a hurry.  

My dad and I raced up the mountain (With Madden on my back) and got there in a ridiculous short amount of time.  

I was sweating so dang bad. 

 

Fortunately, my little Madden falls asleep easily in his carrier or else I'm sure it would've been a smelly ride for him!

Monday was a jet ski day and Mia and London were able to ride from the dock to our beach with Tyler.

 

I thought that Madden would love it! 

 

Here I am walking along thinking this will be so fun.

  Dean's putting on the wrist band and Madden is acting fine. 

 

We pose for the camera and off we went.  No...not so fun for Madden. 

As soon as I gunned the engine a little bit he started to scream his head off in complete terror. 

He turned all the way around and we ended up returning with him facing me! 0 for 1.  So next I took London out...0 for 2.

  Apparently she said I went too fast and we hit a wave and she bumped her lip.  I guess I'm not the favored driver when it comes to jet skiis.  One of the days on the trip, the men let all of us Mother's go out to lunch while they took some of the kids fishing.  

Unfortunately Tyler had been sick a day before this venture and as a result, I was pretty sick this day.  I tried to enjoy the ladies' lunch, but pretty much sat while everyone ate and shared a bench with Mandy (The preggers) while everyone shopped. 

 

The kids, however, had an awesome time fishing.  London caught one and was absolutely thrilled.  I love this look on her face.

Even Gabe caught one!  I guess Trent just handed him the pole to wave around in the water and he actually caught a fish!  So funny.  

We went rafting at the beginning of the week and Mia and Luke were able to come. 

 

Mia was on my raft and was so dang cold that if I didn't have to paddle, I had to sit with my arms around her to keep her from turning blue.  

 

We ended up being so cold afterwards that we never took any pictures!  Oh well, next year maybe.  The canoe day is always a favorite of everyone.  

Since we've had so many babies born this year some of the little families have been forced to split whose able to do what and who babysits.  

Luckily halfway through our canoe ride there's a dirt road next to the river. 

Emily and Mary were able to meet us there and switch with their hubbies so that nobody got left out.  

 

Mandy was a good sport and very pregnant!  

 

We did miss Monica, who had her baby literally right before we left on vacation.  

 

The water was surprisingly chilly even for this time of year.  

 

Last year Mary and I could not let the boys be the only ones who jumped off the rock.  

 

This year we looked at each other and didn't even care about the goading men.  

 

We were not going to freeze to death and didn't care what anyone said!  

I think my goal in life is to get a good picture with me and Madden. 

 

I think we literally took twenty pictures of him and me the whole vacation and not one of them is he cooperating!

Grr!  I'm glad that this year Madden and London didn't try to jump out of the canoe.  Usually I bring barbies and toys but I totally forgot.  

Luckily I had massive amounts of food and our kids stuffed their faces the ENTIRE canoe ride.  

London did ditch us to ride with Aunt Madeline in her kayak at one point.  

She's really letting me know that I'm not that cool.  

 

The last hike we did was to Louis Lake.  It was VERY steep. 

 

Ty carried Madden up this time and stayed ahead with my parents while I stayed back to help with the little kids.

 

  I was so glad that I had candy.  I kept telling London and Luke that if they'd make it to a certain rock or tree, then they would get one piece of candy.  Those kids were amazing. 

 

They were hot, tired, and didn't complain once.  They would just eat their candy, ask for a drink, and then go to the next check point.  I was so proud.  

The lake was gorgeous!  

 

I think it's my new favorite hike.  Of course, Dean got in the ice cold water and Luke followed dutifully.  I felt so bad because they were freezing the rest of the way back. 

On the way down Tyler found a snake for the kids to play with so I continued walking because I had a sleeping Madden on my back. 

 

I passed this little family and they asked if I was Mandy's sister.  I said, "Yes, is she okay?  Did she have her baby?"  They laughed and said that she was still pregnant and sitting in her lawn chair at the trail head. 

 

It was just funny that this family new Mandy's name and then they told me that had passed Camille, my mom,  two seconds earlier. 

 

I guess they were reassuring us all that she was okay.  Mandy did NOT have her baby on vacation, thankfully.  It was such a great vacation.  Thank you parents for loving us enough to have us crash your vacation every summer.  I love my family.

The Fourth and Family Fun!

Oh has it been a fun week! 

Of course, we had to head to Cherry Hill to get our sun on since Tyler decided to shock me and buy a pass.  

It's so fun because Mandy and I go almost the exact same days and the kids love each other.  

Madden and Gabe are constantly running away from Mandy and I to head down the slide!

  I lost London only once this summer and she said she knew exactly where she was the whole time....yeah, sure.  She's still pretty content to be in her own world and play by herself. 

  Madden plays by himself most of the time as well. 

Fortunately, he's okay staying close to Mommy while he plays:)  

 

I put him in bright green water-wings just in case he runs away, which is exactly what he's doing in this picture.  

 

Our good friends Phil and Tiffany usually meet us there too so that their girls can play with London.  She's pretty sure that they're her cousins but, can never figure out why.  Even when I tell her the girls are just her friends, she refuses to believe or accept that.  

Here's Tyler and Phil laying out.  Guess who the white one is? ha ha!  Just kidding Moby. (No Tyler, that is NOT a fat joke.) 

Saturday we went to Eaglewood Golf Course to watch the fireworks.

It's a hike up to the golf course from my aunt's house.  

But, the kids love the adventure and the adults all needed to walk off our gluttonous meal.  

Mandy and I were pretty concerned about  whether or not Gabe and Madden would handle the noise okay.  

Surprisingly Madden did awesome...Gabe...not so much.  

Madden watched in complete silence and awe while Gabe covered his eyes with one hand. (can I just ask why is it so hard for everyone to look good in THE SAME picture?)

After the fireworks we couldn't find Luke.  Frantic and split up, everybody was looking and running around like crazy!  They finally found him.  Apparently he was wandering around without a care in the world BEFORE THE FIREWORKS! 

We lost him and didn't even notice amongst all of the kids!  Luckily a woman saw him in front of her house and told him that he was too young to be walking by himself.  She asked him to sit with them during the fireworks and watched him until we found him.  Thank heavens for good people.  Before the fireworks the kids had been playing around and throwing rocks in the pond with Papa....and..uh, Dean and London posed. 

My dad was probably the most popular person because he was handing out the pebbles to be tossed.  It was actually quite a fun and memorable night even with the fear of losing Lukers. 

On the fourth, Maddie and I woke up at the crack of dawn to go running in the mountains. 

It was overcast and totally perfect for a morning run.  Ty and I were just going to take the kids to Cherry Hill instead of the parade but, quickly changed our minds.

  London would have been devastated to miss the parade.  I called Mandy, since nobody else in our family could go and luckily her in-laws and set up a place ahead of time.

  London, Gabe, and Madden were going nuts on the blow-up slides and that bouncy-thing.  In fact, Madden DID NOT want to leave it. 

When we finally got him away to watch the parade, he was pretty exhausted.  

He ended up sitting on my lap most of the time, but only after he sat in water that was in the gutter.  I guess he was hot or something.

  I had to undo the buttons on his onesie to let it dry.  London was eating candy like a machine but, Madden wouldn't even have it.  

He was just so tired.  It was a great Fourth of July and ended with a great BBQ and the grown-ups. 

I love when a holiday goes well!

Stories of Hilarity

Wow, are my kids funny.  London has been coming up with the best lines lately.  We've actually had quite an entertaining week!  London asked me to tell her a story about animals.  I began by telling her that once upon a time all animals were best friends. 

Then I had to tell her about the Fall of Adam and went into that story.  I got to the part where they were making leaves to cover their nakedness and London said, "Mom, are you almost going to say, 'the end' yet?"  I said, "No, is this boring to you?"  She said, "No, but this story is really weird.  They were naked!"  I told her that they were innocent and had minds like Madden.

  They didn't know that they were naked.  She gave me a bored stare that clearly said that she thought I was full of it.  After a minute she said, "The end."  and she walked away.  That was that!  Later that week she asked for another story.  I said, "Do you want to hear about Adam and Eve again?"  She said, "Let's not tell that story ever again, Ok?"  Okey dokey!  London is also learning about technology, thanks to her little friends.  She asked me this morning in the car on the way home for the gym if she could have a DS.  I had to think for a minute and then I said, "You mean like a Gameboy?"  

She rolled her eyes and said, "No, like a DS!!!!"  Nope you can't have one.  She started to cry and I started to laugh!  ha ha!  After she got settled down and was eating lunch with Madden, London asked me, "Mom is their a mysterious beyond?"  Totally confused, I asked her to repeat herself about four times.  Finally I assumed she'd heard something like that from a sci-fi cartoon or something.  I finally answered, "I guess there's a mysterious world beyond this one and we call it heaven."  She said, "I'm not talking about heaven...you just don't understand."  Okay, I guess I don't.  What four year old asks about a mysterious world beyond?!!!  Madden has had some funny moments too.  

He's been quite a handful and frequently tests the waters to get me angry.  Today he pushed our fertilizer spreader half-way down the block while I was watering flowers.  After I saw him and started chasing after him, he dumped the spreader and ran in the middle of the road and just stood there!  He had the most naughty grin on his face.  Monday I was getting ready for Cherry Hill and I heard complete silence from him.  Oh no, he's doing something bad. 

I finally found him almost sound asleep in the office chair.  He smiled and cooed a little when I got the camera out.  I love those little moments. 

My last funny story involves me and Ty.  Tyler had the flu pretty bad on Monday.  He'd been throwing up all day and was pretty much stuck in bed.  I came home for Cherry Hill and was trying to take care of him, the kids, clean the house, and fix dinner at the same time.  In a hurry to put away the clean laundry, I literally ran right into the couch and broke my toe.  I realized it was bad when it was facing the wrong direction.  I yelled at Tyler to come set my toe in place and my hero ran in to help me.  Problem....he passed out in the family room right in front of me. 

Then he crawled to bathroom down the hall and puked his guts out.  When he was finished there, he literally crawled back to our bed with periods of just laying on the floor during that journey.  I was left with overlapping toes and Madden concerned with his crazy mommy laughing her head off while clearly in utter pain. 

It was hilarious.  I finally just had to pop my toe back in place myself.  Tyler heard the pop and my yell but, other than that he was pretty much out.  Don't worry, Tyler is feeling much better today...my toe however will feel much better in six weeks!  That's all for now!  Ta ta!

Here's a video for Tyler's stepdad that Ty never posted for Father's Day!  Blame him!  Happy Father's Day, Bert!

Madden's taste of lemon