Love her...

and all of our crazy adventures together.

For those of you that don't know, this is Ginger. She is pretty awesome and over a year ago we almost instantly became friends at a [pre] girls camp retreat. After everyone had gone to bed, Ginger and I stayed up ALL night and talked (more like whispered) until 5 in the morning when I packed up and headed home. Since then, we've been great friends even after she up and moved to P-town.
She teaches me how to be a better person, how to laugh, cry and then laugh so hard I cry. I say everyone should have a "Ginger" as a friend.

Love ya, girl!

One of the reasons...

Why I hate it when school starts.

On 2 books. Lame.

Weekend review

This past weekend was pretty great. Here is what we did.

We had a yard sale with Amy and the Eberts. I love making money off some old junk and clearing up space.

Cleaned, rested up, and then went out for a very calm dinner at Texas Road House with Trent and Amy. We ended up going kid free (thanks to Larry and Holly) which is always a special treat.

And we did this to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. We didn't have any plans this year so when the idea came up to go out to celebrate, we were all over it.

Then Sunday rolled along, Oliver was wheezy and coughing all night, so we used that as a [poor] excuse to stay home from church where we re-watched this...

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. Very easy going and just how I like it.

My calling

This past weekend, I got to carry out my calling and the ward camp out took place. It went a lot smoother than I had thought and I even ended up having a good time. Sadly, since we were so busy taking care of things, this was the only picture that was taken...



Taking down the signs.


I'm so happy that people had such a good time (and quite surprised actually). We had a lot of very nice comments about how great the camp out was. I just hope we can live up to every ones expectations for next year.


Cheers!

A little late, but worth the wait.

Top 10 favorite things from this years annual Greys River camping trip...

10. Campfires. What is camping without a good campfire, s'mores, yelling at the kids to quick poking the fire with sticks, Tee pee and log house arrangements, Toasty feet, story telling that almost always leads to laughing, and Cade always being the last one on site.

9. Going down the river with the kids. All the adults took turns taking the kids down the river. Avery and Oliver missed out this year, but I'm sure next year will be the year they partake of this popular tradition.

8. Shooting stuff. Whether it was the 22's, bee bee's, sling shots or potato cannon, we had a good time just shooting stuff around camp.

7. Running. Every morning the girls (and Trent and Jake) would go out for a morning run. It's pretty amazing running up in the mountains where the air is so fresh and clear and you are surrounded by some pretty incredible views. Made me love running just a little bit more...except when I thought about the possibility of running into some wild animals.

6. The guys going down the river. Listening to these guys as they were being driven up to the drop off point made me realize that there is never a dull moment when these 4 are together.

5. Murphy Lake. A must when camping up here. This year, Trent found another rope swing and some of us we brave enough to swing in. We also enjoyed playing on the home made raft, canoeing, looking for fish, playing on the beach, playing in the rafts and swimming.

4. The girls going down the river. Becky, Emily, Amy and myself loaded up this time, left the husbands with the kids and floated the river. It was so much fun especially talking later on that night around the fire, about the events that took place when getting out of the river and nearly loosing a few precious items and people. My sis-in-laws are way too cool!

3. Stump lake. Also a favorite tradition. The best is eating our home made ice cream when we arrive at the lake. It really is such a good treat! This year we were surrounded by sheep, but scared them up the hill so we could play in the stream and lake.

2. Father and Sons going down the river. One of the most genuinely best pictures ever taken up at Greys.

1. Hanging out with the whole family for 5 incredible days.

And having family pictures taken.

All the cousins.

And of course taking a picture of everyone together as their true selves.

This year was probably one of the best years yet. We always highly anticipate this vacation with the Veigels (yes, I meant vacation). There is something about being with a family that you care deeply about that makes for a magical experience. I love my in-laws. They do so much for us and I thank them with all my heart. We already can't wait to do this all over again next year!

Here are our rope swing videos...

B is for Bat

Last Sunday, we had an unexpected guest come stay at our house for the day. It was a Bat.

We were leaving for church that morning. Luke had left the sliding door open as he was loading Oliver up in the car and I was grabbing our church bags. As I was about to walk out the back door, Something out the of corner of my eye stopped me. I looked up and there he was. Mr. Bat. I mentioned to Luke that there was a bat, Closed the door and went out the front door instead. I'm not too squeamish when it comes to rodents (as I'm sure most of you who read this blog know) and so we just let him sleep in peace. We figured if he was still there by morning, then I'd do something about it.

Right before we went to bed that night, we checked on Mr. Bat. He was moving around and it looked as though it was waking up. By morning, he was gone, which I was happy about. I didn't really want to deal with getting rid of the rodents on my own...again.

Our house really attracts some of the most awkward creatures. Hopefully our next guests are more along the lines of furry little puppies.

24th weekend

Every 24th of July we look forward to going to the Bountiful Handcart days. This year wasn't an exception. We like to go and hang out with family and to run into friends and neighbors. The kids always enjoy playing on the rides and going to the fishing pond. We usually skip out on the parade and instead go have dinner and play. Oliver didn't seem to mind...

He just enjoys sitting in his stroller gorging himself with all the fair food. As you can see he had Corn on the Cob, Snow cones, Scones (not pictured) and bumming some cotton candy off his cousin, Morgan.

Hanging out with a couple of my favorite boys, but apparently one doesn't know how to smile.. ahem...LUKE.

And I also ran in the Deseret News 10K on Saturday morning. Sadly, the only picture I can find of myself running, is in the back round of another woman's picture. Lame. On the flip side, I improved on my time by a couple of minutes finishing at 53:39.

That's all for now. I have loads of posts on the way. Stay tuned...