June 2011 - Family Reunion in Pagosa Springs, Colorado

As far as awesome family reunions, this one takes the cake! It was perfectly relaxing, seriously fun, and amazingly beautiful. Though it was a pretty long drive I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Brett's Dad owns a "cabin" (aka. breathtaking mansion retreat) in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I think it had like 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, two kitchens, a huge walk-out basement and the most beautiful views of the mountains and valley below. It's like a dream, really. Since our boys go to bed so early (and wake up excrutiatingly early) we actually scored the "Maid's Quarters" above the garage complete with kitchen, bathroom, family room, etc. Awesome!

Of course I didn't take nearly enough pictures. :(

Having fun fishing. On our first night there Garrett caught the largest fish of all. We were all impressed that he caught it off the dock and completely by himself - casting, catching, and reeling it in. It was easily about 18 inches. He was WAY excited!!!




Oh, and did I mention that there was a private lake for residents of the gated community and a boat at the cabin for our use? Awesome!





Relaxing with Grandpa Gary under the shade of the gazebo.


Fun at the cabin:











A Night of "Dance 2" on the Wii - HILARIOUS!


We also spent LOTS of time around the kitchen table playing "Hand and Foot," "NERTZ," and the occasional "Settlers." I love time with family and cousins. It's always guaranteed to be a great time. We laughed until our sides hurt when we heard about Brett's "covered wagon" and also how he thought for so long that "mwah" meant "Me Want A Hug." hahahahahaha! Other things we did at the cabin were playing "Frisbee Golf," having a HUGE cheesball fight outside, a water balloon fight, movie nights, making peanut butter pinecone bird feeders, etc.


One day was reserved for individual family day. Of course we chose to go to another lake to check out the fishing. Even though I think the boys' fishing line was more often stuck on rocks and logs than catching fish we still had a great time. C'mon... check out those dirty faces. That had to be fun :)















Chimney Rock was a short 45 minute drive from the cabin. Again, the scenery was beautiful and it was educational to learn about the Pueblo Indians lived.









Another highlight of our trip was the Fair.












Brexton and the Pink Elephants. I wonder when pink will cease to be his favorite color. He loved this ride!




Though it took some serious coaxing for these boys to get on the miniature horses, I think it was their favorite part.





And perhaps, my favorite part of the trip was our hike up "Treasure Falls" - absolute perfection!

























I think Brexton would have ran the entire way down. This boy can hike! He skipped and skipped his way along.


More to come... Mindy took some AMAZING family pictures of us while in beautiful Colorado!

May 2011 - A trip to G&G Stapley's and a Shiner...

We were all excited for a chance to escape the early heat of summer - we went up to Pinedale to help my Grandparents plant their huge garden. They are amazing examples of working hard, loving others, and following the Prophet's counsel in every way. Raising 9 children on a school teacher's salary couldn't have been easy, but like they say... there's not one child they would have done without; each is a blessing. Every year they plant and take care of this garden, without nearly enough help from the rest of us and they lovingly preserve and share the harvest with everyone: green beans, pinto beans, corn, cucumbers, watermelon, etc.







Taking a break to swing and ride on the tractor:








In other news, Brexton got his first "Shiner" while visiting G&G Tompkinson in Tucson by tripping and catching his eye right on the corner of their concrete slab. He was mighty tough and always wanted to look in the mirror at how purple his eye was. Purple has always been one of his favorite colors. ha! Purple... and pink. Silly boy!




Even after all that excitement happened at 6:30am he was still game for going shooting with Dad and Grandpa.





And now... random pictures of Maddox :)




This kid LOVES to splash. He cleans the bathroom for me every time with how much water he disperses :)




I love my boys!