Pioneer Day, Marysvale Style

This is possibly one of my very favorite traditions. The 24th of July in Marysvale. My kids love it, I love it, Josh loves it. Nothing beats a small town celebration.
Here are the kids on our cute float. Sherry and Mom made the cute barn in the background.

Look at Tyson! What a stud.

I had to ride on the float because Sherry has bad hay allergies. Here are me and Pip waiting to start.

We've got foot races!

And of course Carnival Games.

They all won goldfish. That died the next day. But the kids were super excited about them.

I'm gonna have to buy a beta or something.

Grandma and Piper waiting for the Fish Rodeo to start.

This is what draws people in. It's the fish rodeo. Josh and Austin are fish cops every year. They love doing it. This year their didn't seem to be as many fish.

It's chaos, but everyone loves it.

And that's how we celebrate in Marysvale!

Girls Camp 2010

It was stake camp this year. We got to go up on Cedar Mountain and camp at Camp Little Thunder. The theme was Anchored in Safe Waters.
We were the cruise ships. Bekki Hafen was the ward camp director this year. Mandee was on the stake committee, and Kim Henke was the Stake Camp director. They did a great job.

Probably one of the rare pictures of me from camp. All you can see is my hair and the pink flower. This was during our "Isn't it about Time", family skit. I was lighting sparklers!! That pregnant woman next to me was eating!

Beckki had this awesome devotional where the girls had to figure out how to eat M&M's off of a long stick, with a spoon attached to it. It was fun to see the girls try and do it by themselves. They finally figured out that you had to be willing to help each other.

Ha, ha, ha! I almost peed my pants. We had 3 girls, Tawny, Elisha and Alexa who were the only 6th years at camp. They had to do a skit with the 3 of them. They did a spoof on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was hilarious! Tawny, "What you want here?" With her Hunchie! Ha, ha, ha!! They deserved a trophy!

All the cuties in a row!

Some more cuties!

The 2nd best moment of Girls Camp! Mandee set up to have Cjane speak at camp and I got to meet her and make a fool of myself!! She is the rock star of the blogging world. She is as sweet and genuine in real life as she is on her blog. I got to visit with her a lot and she left me a nice comment on my facebook wall later that night. We're gonna do lunch one of these days!! Wouldn't that be cool??

Ahhh, it was such a great camp. The highlight for me was doing the Faith Walk. Blindfolded and stumbling up through the tree's, trying to find my way. It paralleled my own life so much. It was ironic. And the most frustrating part for me was being unable to help the girls once they were in the maze. It was so cool. I won't elaborate here, but it was cool.

Thanks to everyone who helped to put it on! It was a great experience! Nothing beats girls camp!

Happy Birthday JD

It's hard to believe that JD is turning 8 today. It seems like just yesterday we had him. It's amazing how quickly the time flies by.
JD is the sweetest kid with the most tender heart. He seriously loves everyone and goes out of his way to help others. He always has a hug for everyone and all the ladies at church just love him, because he always has a smile and hug for them. He will see people in the store or across the street and run out of his way to give someone a hug!

He's my sweetie! He still likes to snuggle his mom and is a great help. I know that sometimes I expect to much of him, and sometimes he complains (alot), but he is a big help and there are days I would be lost without his help. He loves his brother and sister so much and is so helpful to watch them and to play with them.

He's such a character. He is full of laughs and jokes that make no sense to anyone but JD!! And silly kid that he is, he just laughs at himself. He loves to play with friends and has a lot of them. He's my social butterfly. His best-buddies are Breckin, Rylin, Camden and Baylee and that is just to name a few!

He loves to ride his dirt bike, loves to read and loves to play video games. He eats popcorn just about every day and loves all food! He's a food junkie like his mom!! He is full of random bits of knowledge. He loves cowboys and the wild west and right now is obsessed with Jesse James and the Younger brothers. His favorite place in all the world is Marysvale and he loves to go there and spend time with his cousins.

JD, we are so proud of you. You are such a good kid and great son! You bring so much joy into our lives and we couldn't imagine a day without you in it! We are so proud that you have chosen to get baptized. I hope that you always are as sweet and kind as you are now! We love you so much. Happy Birthday Jaders!!

Judds & the Main Street Splash Pad

I took my kids, plus a few extra to Judd's last week. Now it's all any of them can talk about. It's an old fashioned ice cream/soda shop. And it's an old fashioned candy store. The place is amazing!

We went to the Main Street splash pad, which is our very favorite! We haven't been there all summer!! Not sure how come, but we had a blast! We met up with Lynette, Nicole and their kids. It was sooo hot, but the kids had a blast.

Tyson laying out in the heat. The kid is defiently a desert dweller.

Gret and Baylee

Piper cooling off under the waterfall!

This kid is just plain cute! Had to share this picture!

Baylee's Baptism

Our sweet little friend, Baylee got baptized yesterday!
J.D. and Baylee are tight! They have been best-friends since they were born. It helps when your momma's are best-friends!!

Here is the thing about Baylee, all of my kids love her! There are very few kids who don't love her. Except maybe Carsyn!!! The Carsyn and Baylee relationship cracks me up!

Tyson loves her too. She is so sweet to him and watches out for him like he is her own little brother.

And here is the happy family! We are so proud of you Baylee. Your such a good girl and we love you lots!

Tyson's New Smile

He is a brave soul. I would never let Josh near my teeth. EVER!!
I don't do teeth. I had to keep turning my head and was cringing every time Tyson made a peep.

Here he is telling Josh that it hurt!! I don't think Josh believed him.

I had one picture that looked like Josh was choking him. It was pretty funny!

It was a 2 for 1!! We popped it out and the one next to it was loose, we just popped it out too. The tooth fairy brought him $3.00. Which he used to buy his brother and sister treats at Jumping Jacks the next day. What a sweet kid.

BBQ at the Olsens

The last 2-years we have went to Josh and Charly Olsen's for a BBQ. It is alway's a lot of fun. Great food, good friends and family. What else could you ask for?
All the kiddo's lined up in a row, throwing poppers at the ground.

Vernon Worthen

We don't typically attend the 4th of July celebration at Vernon Worthen. It's way to expensive. We usually try to go camping, but with Josh working, we had to do something. So we went and it was actually really fun. I steered my kids away from the things that cost money and we walked away only spending $5.25, and that was for ice cream from the ice cream truck. It was awesome!
Here the boys are participating in a tug-of-war.

Look how ripped Tyson is. You can tell he definitely tell he is built like his dad.

The huge slip and slide was the very favorite thing to do.

Of course they got drenched.

But it was so fun for them. I spent about an hour talking with Jessica and Lucy (aka Dr. DeSaibro), I haven't seen her in a a few years. Her little girl is darling. The kids had a blast doing the baseball hit, the football throw and golfing. And at every game they some type of prize. A free corn dog!!! Root beers from A&W. It was awesome. We stopped at Artic Circle on the way home and had a free corn dog lunch! Gotta love it!

Swimming at Casa Blanca

On Friday night we went to Mesquite and met up with Ryan and Tiffany and Paul and Karen. They were staying the night at the Casa Blanca so we hung out with them and spent the evening swimming and eating good food!

Piper and Taija

Brecking and J.D.

Piper and Lainee

Tyson said that having Josh throw him in the water was the funnest part of swimming!