Oneida Narrows Trip

My family headed up to Oneida Narrows for our family trip again this year. This year was especially fun because Lance, Heather, Brooke, and Cicely flew in from Tennessee to come with us! It was so fun to catch up with them and I think all the kids loved being together.

We always like to go the weekend of my dad's birthday, but we always worry because the campground is really small and we never know if we will be able to get spots by each other, or even at all. This year we lucked out because the camp ground was pretty much empty and we were usually the only ones on the lake. 

The first day we set up camp and then went to the lake to play. All my brothers went water skiing and the girls and kids stayed back at the lake to play.

If the kids are playing I can usually find Tyler right in the middle with them. He loves hanging out with Cole, Hannah, Preston, and Maddie.

Preston, Gage, and Brayden caught this huge fish

Sadie, Brooke, Cicely, and Makayla played together all week. Cicely and Makayla are only 5 months apart and it was so fun to see how interacted.

All the cousins had so much fun being together. Here's Brooke and Hannah. Brooke is the cutest little girl and is so smart! You would never guess she is only four.

Makayla loved playing in the water.

We got this floating toy for Makayla but at first she was terrified of it and would scream when we would try to put her in it. Once we finally got her in it she decided it wasn't that bad.

Caden got a lot of attention from everyone. I absolutely LOVE Caden's smile in this picture (and Ryan in the background)

Preston and Caden were bestest little buddies on this trip. Preston was so cute with Caden and kept telling us that Caden looked just like him.

That night we celebrated my dad's birthday. He turned 66 this year.

My dad said the best part about his birthday was having his whole family together and I couldn't agree more. We snapped a picture of my dad and all the grand kids together. Our little family is getting pretty big now with 11 grand kids.

Each night we would build a fire and sit around talking. Thanks Meg for being the only one who would look at me.

The rest of the days we spent at the lake and going down the river. I didn't have my camera with me most of that time so I didn't get any pictures of our awesome water skiing skills or at the river, so just take my word for it when I say we had a blast! Tyler tried water skiing again and he got up after a few tries. I wish I could have taken pictures because he was "showing me how it's done"... and yes, Tyler, I did get my tickets to the gun show! :)

Right by the campground is a small pond and the kids loved to go down there and get minnows and frogs. Here's Gage's frog that he caught. He was so proud of it. P.S. don't you love his toothless grin?

 The second night at camp was the worst. We were sitting by the fire and we heard a skunk, so Cole went to go get his BB gun. I think his intent was to just scare it, but he ended up hitting it, and the skunk sprayed... right by all the trailers. It was the WORST smell ever! Our entire campground and trailer smelled for the next few days and I am still trying to get the smell out of our clothes. Darren and Cole thought the whole situation was pretty funny, but the rest of us were pretty mad. Lance and Heather even had to move to a different spot because the smell was making them sick. Other than the skunk issue, and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we had a fun trip!

Since we have two under two, we decided to rent a trailer and I'm so glad we did because our kids were able to stay on somewhat of a schedule. Even though it was really hard to wake up at seven every day, my favorite part was the mornings. We got to snuggle in bed with our kids

 Kayla and Caden got to play with each other.

 We liked to eat breakfast together as a family

 Kayla liked my Reece Puffs cereal more than her oatmeal. Smart girl!

 My two favorite boys eating.

 Makayla didn't eat like she normally does on this trip. We could barely get her to drink her bottle and she wouldn't eat anything. We later figured out it was because she was hanging out with Grandma who would give her cheese puffs, Rice Krispie treats, and every other possible kind of goodie. I guess that is one of the benefits of being around Grandma. It also explains why Kayla would get so excited when she would see Grandma. One time I got back from water skiing and found Kayla chowing down on popcorn.

 I can't get enough of this little boy and his wide eyes!

 I had two favorite nights on our camping trip. The first favorite night was when it started pouring rain. We go to hang out in our trailer all night playing with the kids. After they went to bed Tyler and I stayed up ate junk food and talked for hours.

My other favorite night was the last night. We all sat around the campfire telling embarrassing stories. We were all laughing so hard that our stomachs hurt! My favorite stories were Meg's "cactus" story, and Darren's story when he had the flu. I won't embarrass them by telling what really happened to the few people who actually read my blog.

We did miss the conveniences of home. I missed running water, an actual bathroom and air conditioning. We had to improvise quite a bit on the trip. We had to have sponge baths...

 And showers outside of the trailer...

Here's a few more random pictures of the kids...

Caden likes to snuggle with his giraffe blankie

 Kayla and I like to read her books

 We had so much fun this year and I love being with my family for five whole days. I know we won't be able to do this trip every year, but I'm so glad everyone could make it this time. It was a lot of work getting ready for it, and some stress along the way, but once we were up there with our family, I didn't care. When I look back on this trip I hope I remember how much fun we had together. In the end, being together as a family is the only thing that matters.

How to...

How to keep a todd entertained:

Just sayin'.

July 4th... 2012 Style

Happy 4th of July! I love the 4th of July (maybe not as much as Karly, but close). This month has been pretty scary because of all the fires around Utah. It seems like every day on the news there is another fire that has erupted. We headed up to The Land the weekend before the 4th and I snapped this picture of the sun just before sundown. it is a cool picture, but pretty scary!

Despite the fires around the state we still managed to have a great 4th. Here's my two favorite boys! Caden seems pretty worried about the fire danger...

Miss Makayla doesn't seem to mind the fire danger. She's content with whatever we throw at her.

Saturday morning Tyler, Tracy, and I decided to run the Tabiona 5K. It was my first 5K and I was pretty nervous about it. I just didn't want to come in last place. We forgot the camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the event, but Tyler took 4th overall and 2nd in his division. Let's just say that I did not come in last place... but I was pretty close to it. I loved running the 5K and plan on running another race at the end of the summer.

After the race we got cleaned up and headed to the parade. We love the Tabiona parade. It is such a small town but everyone in town shows up for it. This was Makayla and Caden's first parade. Makayla looked pretty stylin in her 4th of July outfit thanks to Grandma Terry! P.S. Don't you just love her piggies? She actually kept them in for the whole parade.

Caden chilled in his stroller and slept the majority of the parade. His shirt says "I Love the USA"

Our family picture. Tyler and I are sporting our very fashionable and matching Tabiona 5K shirts.

The first float came by and threw out candy. Makayla was stoked to have free candy and didn't want to do anything else but enjoy her sucker.

Check out our stylin diva!

See how cute the floats in the parade are? They crack me up!

Makayla's favorite part about the parade were the horses. When we look at her Baby Einstein book at home she loves to point at the horse, so we thought she would love to see them in person.

After the parade (it only lasted about 15 minutes... perfect for little kids' short attention span) we went to the talent show. It was pretty entertaining. It was held in the church and the whole town was there. Makayla loved the cheerleaders. Their music started then abruptly stopped and Makayla yelled out "woah!". The whole audience laughed. Makayla also clapped after every performance... too cute!!

The rest of the time we spent doing some other fun things at the cabin. Tyler and I got to go on a 4 wheeler ride and take a lot of naps! We also learned a new game thanks to Jeremy.

The kids played on the swing set. Carson insisted on pushing Makayla. He is the best cousin to Makayla

Of course Tyler had to jump in on the fun.

We tried to take some pictures of the kids in their 4th of July outfits, but it didn't work out so well due to the 3 second attention span of our little tod.

So we enlisted the help of Grandma and Grandpa. But seriously, isn't this the cutest picture picture of all of them?

Later that night we sat around the fire singing songs. We did the Hokey Pokey and
Makayla got right in the middle of the action. Do you know what I love most about my in-laws? Every single one of them joined in on the dance and sang as loud as they could!

On the actual 4th of July we went to the Magna parade with Tammy, Karly, Rico, Ryan, Tracy, Jeremy, Carson and Colton. The parade was pretty cute, but long and hot and we ended up leaving early.

Here's my cute red, white, and blue family. You probably think we planned our outfits this way, but we honestly didn't.

 I think I have the cutest kids ever!

Later that night we went to dinner with my parents. It is getting harder and harder to go to nice places to eat with two kids. We wanted to try to go to fireworks that night, but Makayla was out by the time we got back to our house. Hopefully in a few years we'll be able to take both kids to the fireworks.

 Sometimes I feel like I never take any pictures of Caden, but he just sleeps all day. I figured there's only so many pictures of a sleeping baby that are cute. Here's a few pictures of our little man when he isn't sleeping. I love this picture of the two of them. Caden smiles every time Makayla comes around.

 Craig got Terry this huge bear for Mother's day. Caden didn't seem to enjoy having to pose by it. We took a few pictures of him crying before we consoled him. Good parenting, I know.

Happy 4th of July!