what we did over summer vacation...

...and then some

Science Camp for Daylon

Visits to Capitol Reef

4th of July

another visit to Capitol Reef

Daylon's 11th Birthday

Pudge - May he rest in peace

day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 of our annual Fish Lake Reunion

and the 24th of July right in the middle of that

Daylon's Arrow of Light

Fremont Indian State Park

Back to school for Daylon and Rianne

garden goodness

Fremont Indian State Park again

and again

The New Harmony fire that darkened our skies for a few days

Western Governors UniversityWGU - I'm a college student again

Labor Day vacation

Sam's first day of school

and inbetween all of that, there was
family, more family, even more family, and even more family... and more and even and more

and inbetween all of that, we managed to have time for:

movie night

and pool time

WHEW! it's been a heck of a summer. I'm actually glad to have the school year back again.

Fish Lake - Day 2

The actual start of Vacation!

Everyone was up bright and early that morning to get packed up and off to Fish Lake. It's super nice that it only takes a hour tops pulling campers to get there from my house. Since i had to work, Kaye decided to give the kids a taste of country life and joined me at work. I'm guessing it was a bit of culture shock for them with all the comments LOL. After work we headed up to Fish Lake to meet up with the rest of the family. We spent the afternoon setting up camp, fishing at the beach for yellow perch and roasting hotdogs and smores over the fire. Later that night, I took Kaye and her kids down to my house for the night. They had to be on the road back home the next morning.

Tattoos galore... my mom has always got something great for the kids. Last year it was butterfly nets. VERY cool Grandma!

Kaye behind the camera... always. Howerver, not complaining at all

Uncle Gary and his one eyed wookey dog

my dad teaching sam on how to pull apart worms...

...and Sam NOT liking it one bit!

Uncle Gary showing Daylon where fish are supposed to go

... showing Sam where worms should go

... and how to properly kiss a fish

The evening fishing for yellow perch with the kids... absolutely priceless

Fish Lake - Day 1...

...which turns out isn't even the first day of vacation for us

The biggest thing in July is our annual vacation/family reunion type of thing that gets planned every year in advance. Every year my Uncle Jim and Aunt Connie reserve the big Doctor Creek campground and we go out and camp for 5 days. It's always during July and it's always nice to get away and still be close to home (i really love that part). This year it was over the 24th of July which made for and especially busy week for us.

But before the big camp out at Fish Lake, my parents and my grandparents, and every once in a while my Uncle Gary and Aunt Becky come to stay at my house for a day before going up. Everyone parks their camper trailers in front of the house for the night and we have a day of catching up and relaxing before the big week of R&R. This year was a special year. My oldest sister decided to come out for a visit during the same time as the family get together. She showed up with her two youngest just as my parents and grandparents pulled up. I spent as much time as i could catching up with my big sis (that i miss SO much), letting cousins get to know each other over again, and, more importantly, reconnecting with my grandparents that i never get to see except for these few days in July every year. The day was full of pizza, swimming, laughing, reminiscing, and just plain wishing i lived closer to my family.

A few of my favorite shots from the day, that my sister took. Did i mention that i loved that she has such a GREAT camera and she's not afraid to use it????

My Dad's Mom. I love this woman. I don't think I've ever really heard her say anything REALLY bad about anyone. Most times this woman has nothing but nice to say about everyone.

My dad and his dad. It's amazing how much they are alike. I love watching the two together. I can see so much of my dad in his dad from the way they talk to the way they hold their hands. My grandfather... he rocks. He's a great man and he's hilarious in his grandpa kinda way.

My dad... i can see him getting to be more and more like my grandfather. It's weird seeing him through other peoples eyes. It totally gives me a new appreciation for him. Makes me love him even more and more.

My mom. She hides from the camera way too much, and when you do get a picture, she's never smiling. This is my mom... and how i always think of her, with her smile. The smile may be hard to find sometimes, but it's there. And she puts up with so much of her kids crap! And yet she doesn't call us on it... what a woman.

This is my Sam. He's a spitting image of his dad. It's not often that i get him to myself when he's calm and wanting to snuggle. He's a daddy's boy all the way. Thank you Kaye for getting this... it just didn't last long enough.

The two girls, BobbyJo and Rianne. The kids, i swear they were twins separated at birth. They are so much alike it's unreal! I love that Kaye got his picture of the two girls with the horses. Oddly enough, i hardly seen either of the girls the whole time. They were off doing their own things together. Amazing how much calmer Rianne was with another girl around. Apparently all the boys around here makes life tough on a little girl.

and who could forget the two older boys? or well... three older boys.

Lets face it, DarRell is just as much a boy (with responsibilities) and they two youngers are. Hunter and Daylon got along great. I love that the kids think that DarRell is so cool. Someday Daylon will appreciate having a dad that's cool. The two younger boys ran wild and loved every minute of it. I love it when my family visits... i wish it would happen more often. I'm missing out on some very serious family bonding time and so are my kids.

Capital Reef - Hickman Bridge Trail

Saterday we decided to get out of town and take a day off since DarRell has been working NON-STOP and is just plain burned out. I've been wanting to head out to Wayne County for some time now and everyone of the kids have made a trip out with DarRell to Torrey while he's been working there. He needed to go take a bill out there and do a bit of repairs so we decided to head out during a weekend and enjoy some time out there as a family. I spent some time online looking through websites looking for something fun that we could all do as a family. Since Capitol Reef is just barely outside of Torrey, i decided on a nice little trail hike that we could all do. I feel so guilty now knowing that Capitol Reef is only a hour away and super accesable and we've never been out there to enjoy it. After looking through all the many trails and hikes they have out there, i decided on the Hickman Bridge Trail.

It was absolutely beautiful! It's only a two mile round trip hike and even Sam was able to walk most of it (DarRell ended up carring him the last 1/4 mile because both Sam and Rianne had to go to the bathroom). There were SO many different awesome things to look at on the way up AND on the way down. We bought a trail guide at the trailhead which ended up being a really good addition to the hike and showed you points of interest you normally wouldn't see or pay attention to. Daylon passed off a lot of scout stuff on this trip which was a nice bonus to the trip. It was definetaly a trip we want to take over and over again. We've got the summer planned out for more trips out to Capitol Reef to do some of the other easier hikes/trails and we CAN'T wait!

Some of my favorite highlights:

The begining of the trail. It starts out just beautiful and has this rock wall against the drop off into the river and the first set of rock stairs just above it. It's just beautiful.

Daylon found the "Loch Ness Rockster". It's a formation that i had read about while looking on the internet. Totally didn't even realize we had gotten a picture of it until i uploaded the pictures onto my computer.

The Hickman Bridge itself. It's amazing! I wish i would have gotten a bit of a better picture from the back side. A repeat visit is definately in order.

Sam's hole. It was just big enough for him. This is one of my most favorite pictures from the trip.

This tree up against the rock stairs was too good to pass by without a picture with everyone. Just wishing i got a picture with all of us in it. I'd almost want to use it on Christmas cards or something.

Watching DarRell helping Sam down the steeper parts. Sam was so independant the whole way. Once he got to a spot he could handle. He didn't want help from anyone.













Two of my favorite pictures of me and the kids. The first one has all the great black volcanic rocks in the background and the second one has a great hiding spot that the kids liked to go play in.