Flashback Fridays

Since yesterday was my birthday I thought I would go back a "few" years and reminisce! My how times flies. . . it seems like only yesterday I was in my early 30's. I love being how old I am - only getting better with age right?

My sister decorated most every cake in these pictures they were delicious. I loved that she did that for me I even talked her into making my wedding cake.

Family Home Evening

We have family home evening together with most of my siblings once a month and this time we had a special treat. . . My niece Krystyn is back home which is very exciting but we also got to see her new baby Chase which we were super excited about also. He is so dang cute. It was time for a nap for Chase, his mom put him to sleep and then I got to hold him while he was sound asleep. Ahh- the memories. Why is it they are so much cuter and snuggle when they are asleep? Anyhow as always I loved getting together with my family!

Madison and Chase - he was fascinated with her necklace

See how snuggly? I loved it even if it only lasted 20 minutes!

Some of the Fam roasting some marshmallows

Dave, Hollie and Krystyn and Chase

Great Grandma and Chase

My Birthday

For my birthday Madison and I treated ourselves to a relaxing day. We had pedicures and manicures it was wonderful to be pampered!!

Our cute little toes!!

- - NOT BITES - -

OK so I thought I had some rather large mosquito bites/Deer fly bites from camp on my back but oh no. . .I have Shingles. Yup - I am diseased (at least that is how I feel). I only went to the doctor because I could not touch my left side - and while I was there I thought i would have her look at my "bites" since they were not going down and they REALLY hurt, she took one look at my back and said "Oh, you have shingles" she said she didn't have to do a skin test to verify since it was obvious what I have. So here lies the problem other than I am diseased. . .none of my immediate family, kids and husband (or the in-laws) have ever had chicken pox and we are ALL going to Lake Powell together this weekend. HUM. . . See the dilemma? I have let them all know I am willing to stay home but they said I should go just not to touch them. The doctor says they come on from stress, like I have any stress in my life. I have no idea what would have upset my system so much, but apparently it is! I will not be posting any pictures, if I cant see my back and what it looks like nobody else will either :)

Newest member of our family

INTRODUCING. . . the newest member of our family. He goes by the name Cole, he says his world is much brighter now.

He can actually see whats going on around him now. I'm pretty sure he lost several pounds after his hair was cut there was so much hair on the floor. He looks like a completely different person (the attitude is still the same though!).
We are so glad Cole finally cut his hair it looks so much better!

Memory Lane

Lets take a stroll down memory lane. I took this from Tanya's blog. Please play along!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I, Brett, Cole or Madison had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Our Day at the Movies

Today we went to see some movies. . .the girls went to see a chick flick which we LOVED and wanted to get up and dance through . . . and the boys went with the masses to see the hit of the summer they both loved the movie and would not stop talking about it through dinner. All in all we saw great movies. I went to buy the soundtrack and they were all sold out - go figure. . .I love me some ABBA!!

Flashback Fridays

A friend of mine made a great suggestion for my blog so I am going to start a little something new. Thanks Marcia!!

"FLASHBACK FRIDAYS"

Since we are always doing our current events we tend to forget those things that happened in the past so I am going to set aside a blog a week (we'll see if it happens) for some memories of long ago. So my theme today is going to be my dad. . .My dad passed away in March of 2007 so still pretty new (one of the hardest days in my life). My dad was very involved with the state of Utah. He worked for the Forest Service, and the BLM. He was a Landscape Architect by profession his main title was a "Recreational planner" and his assignments were to design campgrounds in the state. He ended up designing MANY of the campgrounds that are in use in the state today, every time we would go camping he would mention he had designed this or that campground. He also said in those days they were not anticipating all the large motor homes and trailers out there today, in those days they were dealing with much shorter trailers! He was also involved with the Smokey the Bear program and was VERY involved with making the maps of our lovely state. I love to look at my dad's drawing, how neat and perfect they were and I especially love my dad's handwriting!

This is taken at our daddy/daughter date when I was 11. I still have the name tags we wore funny huh? I very much remember this activity.

I love this picture of Cole with my dad, you can see the love my dad has for him. It didn't matter Cole was the 17th grandchild they all felt the love no matter when they entered the family! Cole dug a huge hole out in my parents backyard years ago, my dad teased he was digging to China it was so deep it was taller than he was. My dad had to fill it many times and a couple of weeks ago when Cole stayed at my mom's to help her out he had to fill the hole in again it just keeps sinking!

Lovin' this picture of my dad and Madison. She has some experiences with my dad that are unforgettable! The picnic on my parents bed. . . if my mom knew she would be very upset, we were not allowed to sit on our bedspreads let alone have a picnic on it! My dad let Madison get away with anything. My dad played barbies with Madie something I never got to experience with my dad, he was busy making a living for our family so when he was home I'm sure the last thing he wanted to do was play barbies :) I got to spend time at our "barn" taking care of our rabbits, cats and chickens-very memorable times with him. Something I would never trade.

My dad hard at work. . .floating the Green River I think he was working for the Forest Service at the time.

(My dad is the one in the helmet)

My dad wanted to be a pilot, while serving in the ARMY my dad applied for pilot school and was accepted however he did not realize the additional years of service he would have and decided to fulfill his existing obligation to the ARMY and return to his life as a landscape architect.

I don't know that I had ever seen this picture before until I was going through my mom's pictures. My dad looks like he is older and his hair my be white already so we think he was working with the BLM at the time.

My dad was a phenomenal tap dancer. He and Madison could communicate in a language that seemed foreign to me. He loved watching Madison tap he was proud of her!

This was a picture of my dad and my siblings (I'm the little one) for the newspaper. My dad had done a sketch for the Home and Garden Festival in which my dad was very involved for many, many years.

This was the day we stood in the freezing cold to see the Olympic Torch come by. My dad is a true patriot and LOVES our country! I was reading his biography (a student did his thesis on my dad-thank goodness now we know more about him!) and found out in 1965 the state of Utah had their first serious notion to host the Olympic Games and wanted my dad to help design things since he had just got done with Alta and Brighton ski resorts helping them locate areas best suited for ski runs and chair lifts also designed their parking facilities and pedestrian routes for the increasing amount of people coming to the resorts. My dad was very quiet about his accomplishments, unfortunately I was not aware of all the things he did for this state but, it didn't matter I had the best DAD ever and I do remember all he had done for me and the example he has been to me and the rest doesn't matter he will always be my hero! The love my dad has for me is UNCONDITIONAL and I always knew that even when I was doing something wrong! I LOVE AND MISS YOU DAD!

Girls Camp

I am back from girls camp at Bear Lake and had a blast. I'm sad I had to come home early but after the bike ride yesterday I am grateful to be home and not having to do any more exercise! We were told the bike ride was around 7 miles or so. . .round trip I thought so we all geared up and off we went. We headed toward Cisco Beach, after awhile we saw a sign that said 5 miles to Cisco Beach. The girls asked me how much longer and I pointed out the sign to them although in my head I was thinking maybe that was "another beach" because "our destination" wasn't that far away. We had 1 very large hill to climb, and many little ones. I was very proud of myself for making it up the hill considering I can not remember the last time I was on a bike. We had to pass a scout camp which our girls were very excited about we had to quickly get them passed without any interference. We finally arrived at the beach, we were all sitting down to eat our lunch and they let us know we had just rode 9 miles which meant round trip would be a total of 18 miles that's when it hit me I still had to do 9 more. I thought I was going to be in trouble and not have the energy to make it which to my surprise was not a problem, my legs really didn't hurt but my butt sure did. I needed to have a much larger seat! Every single girl who started the bike ride finished we were so proud of all our girls! (I am also proud of myself I might add I thought 7 or so would be tough!)Madison's bike ended up getting her all dirty. Not sure if it was paint from the bike or grease. The girls put some of it under their eyes like war paint so they were all dirty!We had a great time out in the water. I always have a camera in my hand so I did not go out to far when the girls were playing in the water but, when we went in the boat I got some great pictures of them falling off the water weenie. The cold water was a shock to your body when you hit the water, it definitely takes your breath away but we all loved it! Last night we had the best devotional! Since our camp theme is "ARMY" A Righteous Mormon Youth we had the opportunity of retiring a flag. What an emotional experience! I volunteered to cut the flag and thought it was no big deal until all the patriotic music started to play and I thought about what our flag stands for, I was also thinking about the flag that laid across my dad's casket and what an honor that was to him. I have also been taught (like everyone) a flag does not touch the ground and should be treated with the up most respect and here I was cutting one into pieces with tears streaming down my face. A moment I will remember forever!

I was a little apprehensive about going to camp since I am the mother of one of our girls however, it was fun to be at camp with Madison! It is fun to watch her interact with all the girls and leaders. I love her so much and am grateful for the opportunity I had of being able to attend her first girls camp with her. I hope she feels the same way! I did see a little girl drama and as a mother I was upset but as a leader I would have never known. All is well because I have such a strong hearted daughter who never likes anyone to be upset. Sometimes it's hard to seperate mom/leader for both of us, I would choose mom over leader any day!!

Our weekend out of the city

The kids had been camping with their grandparents all week so Brett and I thought it would be great to get out of the city and go up with them and spend some time fishing. We headed up to the high Unitas. We love being in the mountains. Only one unfortunate thing happened . . .we forgot our fishing poles in our car, we rode up with our brother-in-law so our car was back in Bountiful. DUH- what were we thinking? Luckily our family has plenty of poles to help us brain dead folk!We stayed at Stateline reservoir in Mountain View WyomingOne of my favorite things is to be driving along a road looking at the trees and then all of a sudden you can see water through the trees. Madison was not interested in fishing she wanted to read "Twilight" she needs to hurry so Cole and I can talk about it!The fishing was a little slow so Cole decided to take a little nap. . . but not for long!The fish quickly started biting. . . only down at that end of us. Brett and I were not catching them at all. Cole felt bad for me and traded me places, no sooner did we switch and he had a fish on in the exact same spot I had just been. I did finally catch one but Brett was not so lucky at this lake.

We ended up with a stringer full Cole and Madison were the lucky ones to gut all of the fishUncle Brett was helping Kaitlyn learn how to cast. . . he is so much more patient and the girls love him! This is at Marsh Lake. . . isn't it beautiful!So on the way back to camp Brett decided to let Madison drive. . . What are you crazy? I sure thought he was! I thought I was going to die. I had a slight panic attack and had a headache instantly. After about 20 minutes of killing grandpa's truck (it's a stick shift) she somewhat had the hang of it. I have now decided Brett is the best candidate for the job of driving instructor he was so patient with her!The boys are getting ready for the Archery Elk hunt next month they were busy shooting their bows when we had time at camp.I am going to preface these next few pictures with this one. . . Madison driving her dad around she is doing really well at this driving thing!Cole driving his mother crazy OH- I mean around camp. . .it really wasn't that bad I only freaked out once on him :)Brett and Jane in their "unknown" fishing hats. . .really we just don't want Brett's head and my ears fried! Brett looks very intense here
Oh- look it pays off he finally caught a fish :)Everyone loves BARBIE pole . . .it seems to be one of the luckiest poles! Even grandpa likes fishing with it!