The Adventures Continue...

Our next stop-o-fun was to Missoula, Montana. We went to visit Devin's sister Shawna and her husband Slava, as well as their two boys, Kayden and Keegan. An extra bonus was that Devin's sister Alisa and her husband Ren also came that weekend. (Although they only live in SLC, we still don't see them that often!). Devin and I really have Shawna and Slava to thank that we even met each other, since they were the ones he lived with in IF prior to his mission. Anyway, we were happy to go visit them.



The first day, they took us to a lake nearby called Seely Lake. They had rented a pontoon boat for the day as well as a tube to ride around in. Isn't this picture so cute? The boat topped out at about 8 mph, so even Hallie got to drive. Hals got to take a dip in the lake with daddy. He was working overtime to keep her afloat, but hey, she loved it. She is such a water baby!

We went to the shore for a while so the kids could play in the water and again, Hals was lovin' life!

Our little family. The water looks dirtier than it actually was in this picture. (I think?)

The 2nd day we went to Glacier National Park. It was quite beautiful. We took a hike to the "Going to the Sun". It was an easy little hike, luckily for us. Devin carried Hallie in Shawna's Kelly backpack. She hated it, but I think it was more that she was so tired than anything.

Look at that gorgeous scenery! So pretty. I am not usually one to post scenery pictures, but you have to admit, this is pretty.

The whole group of us up top, overlooking the lake. Sorry the picture is not the greatest. I met some friends from Virginia who took it for us, so its the best we have. Devin, Alisa, Ren, Kayden, Slava, Shawna, Keegan, and me.

On the way down, we got stopped on the road a long with everyone else because there was a rescue going on. We watched the whole thing, which was pretty intense, but really cool. Good thing Slava is prepared everywhere he goes and had binocolaurs for us to check it out up close. I think everyone turned out okay, but who knows, there was an ambulance there to meet the people that the helicopter dropped off on the road right in front of us.

Good job men.

These next pictures are from our Monday reunion with my mom. We went to Green Canyon, Aka, the "Pee Pee Palace". We first went swimming. Good thing Hallie has a nice Aunt Jen, because she bought her this floatie toy, which she loved. Her and Sadie loved playing bumper cars with them.

Cortney came with her kids as well, which is always fun. Here is Max, Hallie, and Sadie chilling in the pool. Don't ask me why Hallie looks so mad!

Afterwards, we roasted my favorite, hot dogs. Yum yum yum (can you sense my sarcasm!?) Grandma came to be with us too. Here she is with Avery, Hallie, and Mason. Jen and Devin roasting their dogs. Don't worry, I ate bratwurst instead, which was definitely not any better.

Here is a video of Hallie and Keegan playing in the lake from our trip to Montana. He got her laughing so much, it was hilarious. What little darlings, as Devin would say!

Long in Coming!

Never fear! We are alive and well, though our lack of blogging might indicate otherwise. We have been traveling to and fro across the country and having a great time. Be prepared for a few mighty posts in the next few days documenting our fun. First, we went to Island Park, Idaho for a family reunion for my dad's side of the family. I think anyone who misses these things is crazy, cause they are always full of fun and good times catching up with family members. Then, Devin and I packed up and left early from the reunion and went to spend the weekend with his sister Shawna and her husband Slava as well as their two boys in Missoula, Montana. They also jammed the weekend full of fun (more on that later). Upon returning from there, we spent a day in Idaho with my mom for her reunion as well, where we went swimming at a natural spring place we lovingly call "the pee pee palace". I was then home for one day before hitting the road again, this time leaving Devin home to start some home improvement projects. I went to Philadelphia and DC with my sister, cousin Cortney, and all of our babies to see our beloved Che'Lyn. Of course, whether you want to hear about all these adventures or not, they will be coming right up!!

This post will only be about the family reunion though since that was first and this post would break records if I put up everything from all the trips.

My grandma is the most generous person ever and she just loves for the family to get together, so every year, she foots the bill for our lodging. This year, she rented an entire ranch so we could each have our own cabin. We stayed in a big cabin with Jen and Sadie. The only down side of our cabin was the mice! I am not kidding. Devin saw one run across the floor our first night there and then thought it better for me not to know until the next day. Rude! I slept with a mouse. Sick. This picture is of Hals taking her nightly bath, though the sink had to do because the cabins only had showers. She is ridiculously cute though, no? First activity: Rafting. It was meant to be a family friendly rafting trip and let me just say it might have been a little too family friendly. And by that I mean, even the kids got bored by the end because it was so slow. Here is our raft attached to our car. Poor car is drowning!Jennifer and I had to hold it down while we drove. Good thing we are buff. Never doubt that.
Once we got there, we had some waiting time while the men drove the cars to where we would end. Look at these cute little munchkins! Alia, Addy, and Jackson. While we wish Jackson belonged in the family, he doesn't yet. He is my best friend Haylee's little boy and he will one day marry Hallie. I was so happy to have Hay there since she lives in Tennessee. She is spending the summer in Jackson, WY with her parents so she made the trip to see us. I am so glad she did because I love her to death and I don't get to see her nearly often enough.

Here are the three of us: Me, Haylee, and Anneka. We were all best friends in high school so it was awesome to have the time to catch up on the 4 hour float ride. Ha ha!
Getting ready to go! The first round we had 5 rafts go out, so everyone was divided amongst them. Due to Justin (Haylee's husband) and Devin's lack of rowing skills, we were unable to make first place in the race to the finish. Just kidding men, it wasn't even a competition.Jennifer and I on the raft. Do you think we look alike?
Our whole amazing raft. We had a grand old time floating, pulling ourselves out from the 2 inch water, looking for fish, swimming, and telling stories. Activity Number Two: Horse back riding! Although I was not about to go on a trail ride after listening to everyone that had been's woes about their soreness, we did take Jackson and Hallie down to ride this pony called "Boots." Jackson LOVED it. It was the cutest thing. He repeatedly said, "Boots! Boots! Boots!". We got a cute picture of the couple on the horse. Too soon it was time for Haylee to depart. Here is our parting shot. I am so glad to she got to come and spend some time with us. It made the reunion for me.

Later, we got around to having a good old barbecue dinner and smore's roasting. Here is Grandpa with Hallie and Sadie. This must have been right before I sat on a cooked marshmallow. Just lovely.

Activity Three: Good old canoeing. Well, that was fun the whole 2 minutes it lasted for us. Hallie wasn't having any of the life jacket thing. She was ticked, as you can see. Oh well. We will try again another time.

We also had hot tubs on each of our decks, so it was nice to just sit there and catch up with cousins after the kids had gone to bed. Nothing better than Dutch oven cooking, campfires, stories, relaxing, and fun in the sun for a family reunion. Can't wait till next year!

We are now professional....

...movers. Yep, it's official, we are now home owners. We bought this little home just a few blocks down the road from where we are now. This will be the third place (fourth if you count Che's house for a month) that we have lived since we have been married. Crazy! Good thing we plan on staying here for a while, probably about three years. Our "new" house was actually built in 1943. My favorite part is the back yard, which is quite large. There is a garden and a big cherry tree as well as a basketball hoop and little pavilion. The inside needs a little TLC as it has not been updated for some time. The kitchen floor, for example, has a nice orange and yellow pattern. We are excited nonetheless!

Anyone who wants to come to visit, we would sure love to have you!

Relay for Life

Well, the Relay has come and gone for this year. We had a blast and it was such a worthy cause, I think we will be participating every year from here on out. We got there Friday afternoon after everyone had set up all the tents and everything. Our camp was extra awesome, I must say. Jennifer and I with Eva and Sadie. We were super energized at this point. I wish we could say that we were that full of energy all night, but we sure weren't!Our brother Mike, his roommate Schwab, and Hallie. All I can say is good thing they were on our team since they did far more than the majority of the walking. If you don't know how the Relay works, it is held at a track and someone on your team is on the track all night long. Cancer never sleeps, so neither did we (for one night!). Mike and Schwab (I don't even know his real name, thats just what they call him) walked 80 laps, which is 20 miles! Whoooo!!! I walked maybe 20 laps. ha ha!Check out our awesome shirts. Classic picture of Chris. He used to say "Thanks for Noticing Me"- the quote on the bottom in an Eyore voice.Guess who else showed up!?!? If you went to high school with me, you will most definitely recognize SUPER FAN!! He is famous in IF for going to ALL the games, dressed up and decked out in Tiger gear. I am so glad to know that he is also a Braves fan and supports cancer research. My opinion of him just went up a few notches!Here we are getting ready to start our team walk around the track. YAY TEAM!!
View from the top of the bleachers of all the camp sites and fun stuff going on.Each team was able to sell things. All our proceeds went to the American Cancer Society as well. We raised over $500 in things that we sold. Look how awesome all that stuff is. I wish I could say that I made some if it, but I made NONE of it. Devin and I decided that we better contribute something next year! Doesn't Devin look pretty behind the booth? :)At one point, there is a Luminaria Ceremony to honor those who have lost their lives to cancer. These bags are dedicated to those people and each is decorated in honor of a family member or friend who lost their lives to cancer. We had a bag for Chris of course and Jack, my step-brother, made a bag for his mom Gina who passed away from cancer last August. The lit bags line the track and there is a small speech and bags are lit in the bleachers that spell HOPE. It is awesome and I am glad we were there, particularly that part. It was very touching.Ok, it's getting later now and we are getting a little more hyper and a little more crazy. Chris' sisters Becky, Stephanie, and me. Chris' sisters are just amazing. They do fun things all the time and invite me along. Jennifer is lucky to have such awesome in-laws!We also busted out Ticket to Ride of course. Middle of the night games are the best, especially when Steph and Cheilah are on a team and it takes them 20 minutes per move! Seriously, they were sooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooooow. Just kidding ladies! Good thing we had Mike and Schwab to man the track so we could just play. Early morning walking. By this time, we were all beat and it was FREEZING!! It is amazing how fast the weather went from blasted hot to pretty much below zero (ok, thats what it felt like at least!).

And, most of you will probably not enjoy this video, but at least my family will. We sang kareoke in the middle of the night- never a good idea! Please, please refrain from suggesting that we try out for American Idol. I know we are good, but perhaps we aren't quite ready for that yet.

I am so glad Jennifer arranged for us to do this. It was an awesome way to remember Chris and to help the fight against cancer. THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who donated. I appreciate it more than you will know. We, as a team, raised almost $4000 and our goal was $2000. How is that for awesome? We raised the 2nd most out of 60 teams in Idaho Falls. Next year we will go for the gold!

For more pictures, you can click on this link to see my sister's blog!

Flashback

When I was little, I had a pen-pal named Nada, who is from Slovakia. She danced with a folk dance team from her country. Each summer, the team came to the Folk Dance Festival in Rexburg, which my parents were always involved in. We always housed dancers during the week that they were there. Our family formed some lifelong friendships with the dancers from Slovakia. I was so excited the summer that Nada got to come! She and Eva, another dancer, stayed at our house. We introduced them to barbies, cereal, and ice cream. I recently got back in touch with Nada after lots of years. She gave me these pictures from their visit that I have never seen before. Somewhere in Yellowstone I am imagining. Me, my dad, Nada, my mom (love the hair!), Eva, and Jennifer. Aren't we looking awesome?! Gotta love the side ponytail!

Jennifer (cute shirt!), Eva, pony, Nada, me, and Clark.

Oh...the nostalgia...so fun.

8 Months!

Our little diva is now 8 months old (as of tomorrow...). She is hilarious and makes us laugh all the time. Here are some recent things about her:

*She loves walking with our help. She also loves to run. She dies laughing every time. We will have to get a video of it, it is funny. I think she is bull-legged.

*Her favorite place is in front of the mirror. We have a fireplace in our front room and the front is a mirror and when she has free reign on the floor, she will inevitably roll over there and check herself out.

*She has such an attitude sometimes! Like today, she woke up from a nap and wanted some milk, though of course she can't tell me that. I gave her cheerios, crackers, and water, all of which she chucked on the ground as hard as possible all the while screaming her head off. She is certainly into getting her way.

*She is not crawling yet, though it should be soon. She gets one leg stuck behind her and then falls flat. Soon, although I am not sure if I should look forward to it or dread it.

*She knows how to give kisses now. Hers are very wet and for some reason when we say "Give me a kiss", she comes close and sticks out her tongue.

*She claps all the time and I have tried to teach her lately the word to associate with it. So about half the time, she will clap on command now. I love it when I come home from work and she claps and smiles when she sees me. She must like me.

*She likes to hang upside down. When you put her on your lap, she will bend backwards so that she is upside down. I can't imagine that being all that comfortable.

*She is a MASTER spitter. Don't ask me where she learned that. She spits just to spit, but also randomly she will decide to spit out a whole mouth full of food. The other day I came home from work to Devin covered in oatmeal after she had spit bite after bite back at him. It's not that she doesn't like it, she just thinks she's funny!

Here are some pictures of the missy as well.



Hals and Sadie, check out the matching pajamas! Cute, eh?

Hallie prefers books and paper any day over regular toys. Oh, she also loves cell phones and remotes. She regularly takes them over as if she owns them all.



Hallie had her friend Ally over today. Try keeping that straight for a while. I could not for the life of me get Ally to smile, but she sure did cuddle much more than Hallie ever has in her whole life! They were cute together though. Don't ask me what Hallie is doing with her face. She has the most awkward sleeping positions sometimes. Her legs are down the slats in this picture. I think I get the paranoid mom of the year award since I think that when her legs are stuck in there for long periods of time (like over night) that the circulation will be cut off and we will have to amputate them or something. Yes, just another of my irrational fears.




Hals has started making some really funny noises. Of course, she doesn't do it as much when the camera is out because she is just so fascinated with it, but she is still funny.

We just love our girl and are so grateful for her every day! I tell Devin that all of our kids better be this outspoken and full of attitude, otherwise Hallie will totally overshadow the poor things. I guess we will worry about that when the day comes.

Kaptain

This weekend, one of my very best friends, Kylee, got married in Boise. We made the trek to be there with her during her special day. Kylee and I met our sophomore year of high school during the first week of school. We were at some homecoming event and I was sitting right in front of her with my friend Haylee. It was my birthday that day and these boys had given me three pairs of those really hideous velcro shoes from Wal-Mart (you know the kind that old men wear). So, I was wearing a pair and she happened to notice and commented on them. Well, the rest is history. Kylee is the one who introduced me to my husband, so I have her to thank for my happiness in marriage.

Ky and I became really close very fast. We have a lot in common and have been through a lot together. She definitely kept things fun in high school. She later took my place in the apartment at school when I went to Ecuador. When I was so homesick for Ecuador after a few months of being home, she was the one who encouraged me to get tickets to go back and she came with me.

I just love everything about her and I am so grateful that we have become friends. I see us being the old ladies who take trips together when all our kids are out of the house. She is the kind of friend who would be there in a heartbeat for anything. I am now trying to convince her and her husband, Seth, to come move here so they can be near me! I think its a wonderful idea, but she isn't so sure yet. Anyway, enjoy some pictures from her big day. The beautiful bride along with Camille and myself. We probably have hundreds of self portraits just like this, but this one we can say is from her wedding day! WHOO!!Dev, Kylee, and Hals. Good thing they worked at Jamba together so that we could be introduced!Nice diaper shot, I know. Hals with Mille and I. She matched! Mille was happy to see her since she moved to DC recently. I am not so fond because I lost all my babysitters.

I love this lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Camille and I along with our other dear friend (and my cousin) Anneka, who trekked all the way from Washington to be there for Ky.

Oh, we did such a good job on that car. Except then Seth just took his keys and ripped right through all our saran wrap, so that wasn't any fun. Oh and since I have pretty much zero pictures of Seth (sorry Seth!) here is a picture of them cutting the cake.

It was a wonderful day and we were so happy to be there to celebrate with Kylee and Seth. I haven't had so much fun in a long time!! Love you guys and congrats again!