A Perfect Weekend

A few weeks ago we blessed Tyler and visited lots of family!  It really was a perfect weekend. Here are some more photos from that trip.  Sadly, I forgot to take photos of the great family party at Grandma Fern's home.  Grandma Fern and Carolyn and many others pitched in to make it absolutely wonderful. 

 

Grandma Fern, who will be 92 this year and

Tyler, 2 months old.  If I remember right, he is the 37th great grandchild.

We were finally able to have Ben's family come up to my parents home in the mountains.  It was a beautiful day!  My parents made us some yummy food (Dad's homemade Fried Rice) and our visit was short but sweet.

My mom, Marge and Ben's mom, Carolyn.

Here are the cousins watching Josh's soccer game (actually I think they were mostly just eating snacks the whole time). 

Water fun with the cousins!

These two are so stinkin' cute together!  They really enjoy each other.

See what I mean?

Mr. Bigstuff Camden, who doesn't know he is only 18 months old.  So cute!

Cute cousins.

The girly swirlies loving Baby Tyler.

On the way home we stopped at Shoshone Falls.  Quite impressive!  These are called 'The Niagra of the West'.  They drop 50 feet further than Niagra Falls.  Huh...and to think we have passed these amazing waterfalls so many times and never took the time to see them until now. 

Grandma Fern turns 90!!!!!

Grandma Fern is an amazing woman and she turns 90 this December! All of her family members decided to throw her a party early because we all know how crazy the month of December can be with the Christmas rush and crazy weather. Gma Fern still takes line dancing classes and does all her own gardening and canning.
Aunt Kris-Kris (that's what the kids call her) giving cart rides around the yard and garden.
Ben's family.
His sisters Kay and Beth and his mother, Carolyn flew out from Tennessee to attend the party. It was so fun to visit with them. Kristen lives with Gma Fern so we get to visit with her frequently and Ben's brother, Ron, was the only one not able to attend.
Another photo of the Purcells.
'Primpris Ashlynn' (that's how she says it) waiting for her carriage ride.
Ben had so much fun visiting with his sisters, mother and grandma. We all had a great weekend and the weather was unbelievable. What a fun weekend!!! We are sad it is over. Happy (early) Birthday to a wonderful woman and grandmother!!!!

Family Roadtrip

Last weekend we traveled 5 hours to visit my family and to attend the 90th birthday of Ben's Grandma Fern. Here is my sister, Jaime and her family. They are getting ready to welcome Baby #4! My kids and I stayed at Jaime's house and Ben stayed at his Grandma Fern's house so he would have more time to visit his family. It was a short and fast weekend.
Here are my parents and their dog, Minne at a park near my sister's home. It was a beautiful park with streams, ponds and glass windows to watch the trout and salmon swimming around in their natural habitant. We had a great time.
A rare family photo.
Here are one of the windows to watch the fish. Ashlynn only wanted to look over the top of the window. After watching all of these fish, I realized how much I missed fishing! I haven't been fishing in years!!! Luke and Ashlynn checking out the trout pond. This is only a 'look' and 'don't touch' pond. No fishing here!

We were able to attend one of cousin Josh's soccer games. Wow! He is really good. If I remember correctly, I think he scored almost every point for his team.
Way to go Josh! Such a handsome boy!

Luke enjoying some needed 'cousin time'. I later asked Luke what his favorite part of our trip was and he said..."I really liked riding my bike with my cousins and getting it stuck in the mud when we were suppose to be leaving to Grandma Fern's house."
UMMMM...for some reason I don't have the same 'fun' memory. I only remember being upset because he was dirty, the bike was dirty and now we were late.
Cousin Ryan enjoying time with Grandma Marge (my Mom).
Pool time with the cousins. Notice that Ashlynn is no where to be seen? She saw the pool and made sure to stay locked inside the house.

The Princesses: Ashlynn & Avery
Little girls really are sugar and spice and everything nice.
The Cousins. I am not sure why my children decided to 'POSE' for the photo. I guess they put their hands on their cousins shoulders to add extra 'closeness' and 'love'?! They did it for every photo. It was hilarious. Ashlynn started it and then Luke followed her lead. I think Avery was getting annoyed.

Antelope Island

A few weeks ago (yes, I am ALWAYS behind at blogging), the kids and I went to Antelope Island with my friend (& former roommate), Danielle. I haven't seen Danielle for 4 years! We had a lot to catch up on. We were actually only roommates for a few months, but we had a lot of fun together. I love hearing stories from her life...they always crack me up! We definitely need to get together again...SOON! Cuteness! I love this photo of Luke. He is trying on a farmers hat at the ranch at Antelope Island. The original homes and farm are still there as a museum for you to walk through.

Luke and Danielle's 2 cuties were trying to rope some steer (did I say that right?).

I was a dork this morning and left without 2 important things- my camera and gas in the car! So, these photos were taken courtesy of Danielle (thanks!). As for the empty tank of gas...we just drove around hoping the car didn't stall near a herd of Buffalo.

For those of you who do not know, Antelope Island is one of the islands on the Great Salt Lake. I don't know why, but this place amazes me. Here is a photo of the kids with the Great Salt Lake in the background. At the visitor's center, you can see a small aquarium full of brine shrimp that live in the lake water. You can also read how vital Antelope Island is to so many forms of life-especially migrating birds. It looks like a barren wasteland-but it is full of life and is so important to the environment.

Here is Danielle and I (and a scowling little Ashlynn) after 10 years of knowing each other. We had a lot of fun talking about roadtrips, boyfriends, our sweet babies, travel, family and etc. What a fun day!

(click here and here for more info about Antelope Island)