Utah trip Week 4: Part 1

Playing with the Robbin's crew.
Here we are up at Christopher's Mom's cabin. The kids loved riding horses for the first time.

Israel with Joshua

Julia with Sarah

Eliza with Joshua

Milking goats at the neighbors

Stan got pretty proficiant and even went back for a 6 am milking. Not only that, but he loved drinking the fresh milk-he even drank half a gallon in one sitting!

Julia loved the baby goats

I'm not sure which of my kids took this picture, I was just really impressed by it. In picture-Michele, Christopher, and Elizabeth

playing dress-up. Don't they have an awesome swingset? The tall swings that are so hard to find these days. This is my dream swingset when we have a bigger yard (and extra money)

Julia

The only picture I got of the fireworks/sparklers. Huntsville has a really good show.

Utah Week 3

Playing in Laketown is always a highlight. This time we even got to go shooting AND ride tractors.
Here we are shooting grandma's .22

 Moving Pipe in the North field with my Uncle Eldon

 Enjoying tractor rides with Eldon. He taught the kids to answer "green" to the question, "What color should a tractor be?"

 Playing in Bear Lake. The water is up so high that we only had a tiny bit of beach. We still managed to have plenty of fun.

 Aunt Jan let us ride Squirt. Julia rode too, but I forgot to get a picture:(

 Grandma gave the girls this blanket she knit. They share it and have been taking turns sleeping with it since.

Utah Trip Week 2

We got together with Katie's kid's Aidan and Ivy and have a fun time visiting old haunts. We of course had to get donuts at Krispy Creme and then we went to Wymount to play at our old playground.

A new sign-up at Wymount-you have to love BYU and all their signs . . .

Julia and Ivy-so cute!

Israel with Aidan. Israel planned this shot:)

We sure love the Purdies. Katie and I have been super friends since moving into Wymount together 5 years ago. We wish we didn't live on opposite ends of the country. (they live in Florida)  My happy hope is Jason'll find the perfect teaching job in Utah and then when I visit my family I'll be able to see her too.

At the Lehi parade with my big brother Mike's family. The kiddos loved collecting all the candy.

Emily and Rachel marched in the parade with the American Fork marching band. Julia loves these girls (and their "cowboy" hats)

Utah Trip Week 1

 I went to my first Writer's Conference- Writers and Illustrators for Young Readers in Sandy, Utah. I took Louis Plummer's Novel Writing class. I just loved her!

 My good friend Katie took the class as well-isn't she beautiful!?!

 While I was at my conference 8-5 for a week my wonderful sister Jane (with my mom's help) took care of my kids. Julia with cousin's Hannah and Hailey at their lemonaid stand. Eliza holding a marshmellow shooters Jane made with the kids out of pvc pipe. So fun. Note: I don't know if this is the same site my sister used.

Happy Father's Day

Even though we can't be with you today, we are celebrating that you are our dad. We miss you and love you so much.

From Israel: I love how Dad wrestles with me, how funny he is, and that he goes on fun trips and pays for us.
From Eliza: I love that Dad is funny and gives me good hugs and bike rides.
From Julia: I like that Daddy loves me and that he's a good ballerina stepper.
From Robin: So glad we're married and can be a family forever. You are such a good dad for our kids. Thanks for the time and energy you put into being involved in each of their lives. I love you.

A picture post of the last few months

So I haven't been too good with the camera, so we don't have very
many pictures. but here's some from Easter and a few random ones thrown in as well.

Playing with Good Friends

Alan and Melanie came out from Phoenix to see us this past weekend and of course they brought their adorable baby Marianne, and 2 boys Peter and Andre.
This is one of those wonderful couples that both Stan and I get along with Alan and Melanie really well. That's not always easy to find for us with our unique interested, no desire to watch sports, and not being into reality tv shows. These guys we could live close to and be very happy-besides, they're really good cooks:)
No surprise here-we rock climbed, went swimming, made sushi like we did last time-thanks for the (sushi cups and roller and bringing the goodies), learned how to make this amazing bread in a dutch oven, played games, and just had an all around fun good time.

Eliza and Andre were inseperable. They're such close friends. Not only that, but they play together really well. No fighting or having to seperate them the whole weekend. I have to admit to day dreaming that they'll get married some day, but I'll remember not to tell Eliza that or it will certainly never happen:)
Eliza wrote him a note we need to put in the mail. So cute:

Julia and Peter played really well together as well, but there were a couple of times we had to break up an argument. Peter loved playing Wii games with Israel- the Indiana Jones and Starwars Lego games were his favorite. Julia kept calling Peter Petes. We thought it was so darn cute.

The big kids at the pool.
Jules and Petes

PS-I'm 17 weeks pregnant and starting to feel like a human again, so hopefully I'll be posting again.