Utah or bust

Well we just got back from a fun family reunion trip to Utah where we saw lots of cousins and got to go camping again. A few highlights included visiting Auntie Johanna and her new baby Denten. 

Then we headed to Ogden to stay with Uncle Matt and Aunt Christy. They have a beautiful new remodeled kitchen! We got to go on a nice family bike ride and also go hiking to a waterfall. 

After a few days with them we got together with Celeste, Chrissy and Matt and their families for a BBQ and swim party at Nana and Grandpa Keith's. The next day we headed up to Heber Valley Camp where we visited with lots of people at the Seth Alta Wilson family reunion. The boys had a blast with bubbles, s'mores and dirt. 

Cannon was so happy to make a mound of dirt. It was funny. My Mister and I went on a hike, where we found a few fun things. 

This random truck was in the middle of nowhere.  And this is the view from the top. 

I particularly like Travis' facial expression. Travis and Carrie came up to camp with us on Friday night. It was funny when people asked how she was related to the Wilson's! 

When we asked Cannon what his favorite part was, he said it was the paddleboat. Thanks to Dad we were moving most of the time(-; what great adventures & memories. 

Reunion in Port Orchard

This week has been really fun. We were able to spend one last week in the town we "grew up" in at a old mobile home my parents recently sold. We had everyone there except Michelle and Dallin who sadly were in Michigan on an Engineering internship at Dow. Lisa and Ikaika came from Phoenix and Carrie and Travis came from Utah to join us. On Sunday we were able to go to our old ward and we had fun running into old friends. Monday we went to Mullenix Ridge Elementary School and we were able to hang out with Sarah Hill Serad and her kids.

Eli is so happy!

Cannon and Cole were instant friends just like their Mommy's were nearly 25 years ago. When did we get that old? At family home evening Monday night we enjoyed talents from Sterling, Hana, Lydia, George, Samuel and then Mom and Dad who announced in song form that they will be serving a part time local mission in the Tricities! 

Tuesday we went to Jackson Lund park and Jake and I were able to go bike riding on some awesome trails.

Then we spent the afternoon at Long Lake, the boys LOVED it!

Wednesday we went to Manchester State Park and enjoyed the low tide. Afterwards we went to the pier where we spotted lots of fish and jellyfish. The evening was spent around the campfire, much to Cannon's delight! 

Thursday we packed up and then headed to Bremerton's USS Turner Joy which we toured.

Next we boarded a Ferry to Seattle...

In Seattle we enjoyed the Aquarium before we headed home. 

All in all it has been wonderful! We love this family. 

Grandma, Grandpa and the grand kids. 

 

Note to mom

Cannon left this on the door for me, cutest love note I've ever seen, can you tell what it reads? 

Aiiiluuiveyou. 

Quiet house

Thank you Mom and Dad for keeping the kids for two days this week! Jake and I felt like newly weds again without kids tagging along. We went to the temple and to a delicious dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Shang Hi. Then we were able to get some projects done around the house, albeit some were more exciting than others. One thing I got Jake to help me with is to hang this gallery above the couch and I am so happy with how it turned out. Take a look....

While we were working on hanging I was on the couch and lost my balance. I stepped back off the couch and although I landed on my foot, I also landed on a hard plastic toy bridge which gave me a good gash. When my Mom (the surgical nurse) looked at it she promptly got steri strips to take care of it. Luckily, the cut is on the arch of my foot so I can hobble around pretty good. It just kinda stinks, I am hoping and praying that it heals by the time we are scheduled to do a 30 miler in the Enchantments in September!

Anyhow, to finish off our dates we got to go shopping for some hiking boots for Jake and then to the Orion cinema and do dinner and a movie. What fun! 

Mt Saint Helen's

Wow! What an amazing time we had last week with my brother David and his family. David is the ultimate camping/outdoors guru and it was just delightful to follow him and his family around hiking and exploring Lava canyon, Ape cave and Windy Ridge. It was my first time seeing Mt St Helen's eruption zone and it was simply amazing. 

Iron man teeth

Well, we did it. George has a new tooth and it is his Ironman tooth since it is silver. I am happy to say we made it through not eating breakfast, sedation meds, keeping our mouth busy so we didn't chew off our numb lip, not being able to walk because we had medicine and finally sleeping everything off. Luckily, he did not need a root canal which the dentist had warned us might happen. It was pretty painless...just tiring. I did get one thing on my to do list done today...I hung up the pictures I've been working on...ta da! 

Canning

Feeling accomplished today. Got my first batch of pinto beans canned with the help of Nikki and then hung the sign I re-painted! 

Hooray for getting projects done! 

Happy 4th

Eli loves watermelon!!!

Wacky words

#1George smells my freshly painted toenails and asks "why do your feet stink?" I don't know, I say. "Is it because you ate asparagus?"

#2 Quite seriously Cannon says. "Mom did you know that gluten people can eat the cone, I mean EAT the cone part of the ice cream cone". Poor deprived child.

#3 George is eating a plate of food at a family reunion, I watch as he eats a chocolate donut hole halfway through his meal...he looks at me and says "THAT was THE BEST meatball EVER!"  

#4 "someday I'm going to go on a roll-eee-coaster!"

#5 Cannon says to George "it's almost bedtime". George's reply "no it's not my dad says it's almost Christmas time!" (In early November)

#6 George is sitting next to Dad and Dad toots. George says "Dad say excuse me!" Dad says, "oh, sorry you're right. Excuse me. Besides George, it smells like flowers;)" without missing a beat George replies "yeah, dead ones." Lol!

#7 We learned about communication at FHE and during the prayer I say "We are thankful we could learn to communicate tonight. " The prayer then ends and immediately Cannon says "be in the cake? Why would we want to be in the cake?!?" Confusing "communicate" with "be in the cake!"

#8 George comes to me one day and says "my new nickname is not Georgie Porgie anymore, it's jor-hey!" 

#9 We are swimming in a lake at Yellowstone and Cannon wants to take off his shoes, I tell him that would be fine and he exclaims "what about the crabs and lobsters?!?!"

#10 Today while driving, George spotted a trailer full of fire wood and he says "that mans vocation is to get wood!" 

Summer fun

The boys have LOVED the "water slide" the last few days. 

Jake finished the roof on the clubhouse. Doesn't it look great!

While he was working on that I spent time (by time I mean hours) weeding the garden(-: finally they are all gone and I can be proud of our first little garden. We've got corn, tomatoes,  strawberries, carrots, pumpkins and sunflowers. It's not much, but it's a start. 

Home

We enjoyed our last day in Seattle yesterday. Got to go to the EMP museum and see the original Superman costume. 

Then we rode the monorail, and Cannon got to blow the horn! Next we were on to the Aquarium. After finding parking and walking we found out that it was closed for their annual fundraiser! Cannon was pretty disappointed until we went across the street to the arcade and then on to Ye Old Curiosity Shop. On the pier the boys couldn't resist climbing on this sculpture. 

We finished around 5, so instead of driving in traffic we went to Red Robin on the pier. They now serve gluten free buns...hooray! With Jake as the navigator we took the scenic route home. 

 

This morning Nana and Grandpa Keith headed back to Utah. What a lovely trip we had with them! They spoiled us all(-: 

Father's Day

I am SO thankful for the Dad's in my life. My Dad is an amazing example of righteous leadership and my dear husband who is such a wonderful Daddy to our three boys. I love you all. Thank you. 

Daddy doing "tricks" for the kiddos. What fun!

This was fun but my favorite was when he rode backwards! I'll have to figure out how to post the video. 

Swinging around

Every swing occupied on our new swing set. Didn't my Mister do an awesome job building it from scratch!

Here is my little flying superhero!

So happy!

A great evening spent with good friends. 

George's angry belly

This is George's "angry belly". Why is it angry, we ask? Because he wants grandma. 

Seattle day 2&3

We have had a blast the last two days. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather to enjoy the sights. We went to the science center and saw The Hubble IMAX. The kids all enjoyed the toddler area and the butterfly gardens.

Then we enjoyed lunch at the armory where I found an allergy friendly restaurant called Bean-sprouts. We watched the Taffy Pulling machine and bought some of Seattle's Best Salt Water Taffy. We then had a ride to the top of the Space Needle and what beautiful views! Great visibility with very few clouds in the sky. Little George was a bit confused about the "Space Needle" he took the name literally and thought we would be going into "space." 

This picture was especially fun for us, Cannon has become quite the photographer as he practices with my phone on almost a daily basis. At the bottom of the Space Needle I suggested we get a picture and he volunteered to take it so I could be in it! Not bad for a barely 5 year old! On our walk through the Seattle Center park the boys collected sticks and were sorely disappointed when I informed them that we couldn't bring all the sticks home with us! It's amazing to me how much fun a stick can be to a little boy with an imagination! 

Seattle day #1

Drove with Nana and Grandpa Keith from Yakima to Seattle. It has been a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. We did a little antiquing, pikes place, downtown argosy cruise and dinner at Elliot's. Fresh grilled salmon, so de-lish! What an awesome day!

Sunday afternoon

Found the boys all wet having fun with the hose...

Family Photo's

A week ago our family was able to go to Smith's Orchard where we buy our apples and pears for canning and get some family photo's. I was so excited to be able to finally get some good photo's of my boys because they are growing too fast! Plus, they are wiggly and shy and so it is hard to get them to smile at a lens BUT this incredible family in our ward does photography as a hobby... and our boys know them. So, we were able to get these shots and I Love, Love, Love them.