July Happenings

Ella and I got to spend a whole month with my family in Utah. We were so looking forward to this vacation and knew it was going to be non-stop fun. We were right! It was, and we were sad to leave. Thanks for such a fun time everybody. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Ella and her bed for the month. She was pretty excited.

Ella and Grandpa

We were in UT for the 4th of July. And you know what that means.....waffle flags! Haha, it's one of my favorite traditions. Before the parade everybody makes a waffle flag for breakfast. It's fun and delicious!

Lyndsie and her flag

Ella and her flag

My mom and her flag

My grandparents and their flags

Everyone's flags were pretty good, but mine was the winner! At least that's what I think anyway. Haha

Grandma and Ella at the parade. We were kind of far away and Ella couldn't see very well so Grandma Jan held her up so she could see what was going on.

My niece is raising some steers so she can sell them. They were out of town and needed someone to feed them. So, we stepped in. Let me tell you, I am not a farm girl! Hay makes me itch, so I tried to stay as far away from it as I possibly could.

Fourth of July fireworks. They were so dinky, but we did it for Ella. Here is me and my dad getting ready to light one.

Lyndsie and Ella. Ahh, two cute girls!

Wilson Family Reunion

Once again we had our family reunion up the mountain at the Carter Cabin. Us Wilson's aren't much campers so we only stay ONE night. After that we've all had it, but this year was a lot of fun. This year the reunion happened to be the same weekend as my little bro. Erik's birthday. He is serving a church mission in Brazil. So, we decided to bring him a long with us anyway. Or a picture of him at least just to let him know that we were thinking of him. So if you see a random picture of a handsome young man, that's who it is!

Lunch at Navajo lake. DELISH as always.

Annual boat ride. I think Ella enjoyed it a little more this time around.

Whitney and Natalie (nieces) took my camera while I was on the boat and took some random pictures. I decided to post this one as payback. Pictured: Whitney

Just lounging around, eating some licorice.

Roasting mallows

Enjoying s'mores.

The kids did a scavenger hunt. This is what they had to find...

Ella was so proud of her large pinecone she found

The loot! Everyone got a ring pop for finding everything

Ella holding a horned toad! These remind me of when I was little and at the cabin. We would find these everywhere.

The hikers. This hike was awesome. I had never done it before and the views were amazing. We literally climbed to the top of a mountain and could see forever. I miss my mountains!!!

At the top. It was straight up to this point. I should have taken a picture of what we climbed. I'm holding up my flip-flop to prove that I could make the hike in them. Everyone thought I was dumb for hiking in them and I was bragging about how I made it up easy. Then on the way down I slipped and landed on my foot. I couldn't walk on it for like a week and it was all swollen. It still hurts! That's what I get I guess.

Me and Aubrey decided we were going to hike to another mountain top and saw some amazing views. These next two pictures don't do them justice!

Aubrey holding up this rainbow tree

Ella holding Uncle Erik

Just the girls

The whole fam, minus Dave (taking the picture) and Brad.

To end the weekend we had ice-cream cake to celebrate Erik's 20th birthday. It was a super fun weekend. Can't wait till next year!

Friends for Life, Cousins Forever!

Ella got to spend some time with her cousins in Utah. She was so excited to see everyone and loved having someone to play with. It's hard to be so far away from family and we sure loved being able to spend a whole month with everyone. I decided to do a whole post with just pictures of Ella and her cousins (these are just SOME of her cousins. I didn't get pictures of everyone:(). Our big Utah trip is something that we all look forward to every summer. We miss you all already!

Ella, Aubrey, Lauren, Aunt Lyndsie

Halle, Ella.

Ella, Aubrey.

Ella, Halle

Ella and the boys: Kaden, Cooper, Carter. One of my favorite pictures. These boys were so sweet to Ella and were always taking care of her. Ella just couldn't hold in her smile!

Carter, Ella, Kaden

Ella, Halle. Cutest ever!

Lauren, Ella. I loved to just sit and listen to these girls play. They were so stinking cute together.

Aubrey, Ella. I can't help but smile when I see these two together. So silly!

Ella, Lauren

Ella, Lauren

Aubrey, Ella

Monticello 24th of July

My dad grew up in Monticello, UT. A tiny little town in the lower eastern corner of the state. I hadn't been there in a few years so Ella and I tagged along with my parents and grandparents to celebrate the 24th of July there and also so my dad could go to his 40th high school reunion!!

Eating at a restaurant on our way to Monticello. Ella is pulling a silly face. Pictured: Grandma and Grandad Carter, Mom, Ella, Dad.

It was so good to visit with family that I hadn't seen in too long. Pictured: Mom, Ella, Aunt Ann (dad's sister), Dad.

Ella rode a horse all by herself! To be honest she just SAT on the horse all by herself. She kept using the excuse that she needed her dad to take her for a ride (he was back in KY). Really she was just a little nervous and didn't want to admit it.

Ella and Uncle Gary (dad's brother). Ella loved Uncle Gary's house because he had a puppy and a kitty.

Ella and cousin Ryan. Ella loves the boys!

Ella and Ryan again at the parade.

Showing me all her candy. I couldn't believe how much she got. I think she got more at this one parade then she did trick-or-treating last year!

Me and my cute girl at the parade.

They had a tractor pull after the parade. This was one of the old tractors that they had for show. I thought it was pretty cool.