time out for women

i was able to attend the time out for women in salt lake this last november with my good friend natasha (if she looks familiar, you may have seen her on ksl recently. her sweet little guy isaac has been struggling with a serious case of pneumonia for the last month and a half; and he's back in the hospital 

:( keep them in your prayers!!)

it was awesome! i've been to time out twice before (ogden & richfield) but this was by far my favorite event. the entire program was outstanding. hearing from sheri dew (one of my favorites!), ann romney, hilary weeks, s. michael wilcox, and sandra turley (just to name a few!!) was just what i needed. plus, spending it with natasha was the icing on the cake. she is one of hilary weeks' biggest fans so it was a treat to sit next to her and hear hilary live.

plus, bonus!! i won a $150 gift certificate to sweet salt clothing (i honestly couldn't believe it when i won!) so i definitely scored the jackpot. this was right after our house flood so it was especially nice to be the recipient of such an awesome gift!

thanks for inviting me natasha!!

fish lake {year three!}

the weekend before halloween we were able to head down to fish lake for some much needed rest & relaxation. this is the third year that we've gone down to sam's cabin and even though so much effort goes into coordinating schedules, meals, etc...i am so glad that we've been able to make it work. i hope it's a tradition for the next 20 years!! ;)

we ate so much good food, had a corn hole tournament on the back deck (the boys had multiple late into the night...they are a bit obsessed!), stayed up way too late playing games (spot it!!) & talking, and spent time in the great outdoors (this year the weather was the nicest it's ever been). 

how grateful we are for such awesome, fun friends!!

we love you guys.

// this year two additional couples joined us but they were only able to stay for a day & we didn't get a group shot with everyone. the amount of children has definitely increased since we started coming. this year with everyone there was a total of seven!! //

and mostly because i can't believe how small avery was when we started coming, here are links to the past two years for your viewing pleasure: 

// year two //

// year one //

weber state wildcats

this last weekend we made the trek up to boise, idaho to watch uncle aaron play in a soccer tournament with weber state. he had a total of three games, so those, along with visiting with family (danny's grandma & aunt, uncle, and cousins live there), and watching the boise state football game kept us mighty busy.

max kept his brand new soccer cleats on the entire time (except when we were at church...) and danny was great to take the kids out on the field during half-time to do lots of drills & running :)

// apparently, danny didn't want to say goodbye to aaron... //

i didn't get many pictures, but thanks to mom & dad for putting on such a great weekend and for inviting us along for the ride! and thanks to uncle aaron for being such a great soccer player & role model to our little ones :) and lastly, thanks to aunt missy for helping the kids constantly in the car, until magically putting them to sleep!!!

st. george getaway

we have got a pretty amazing group of friends who live two hours from us (and some even further!) since there are a bunch of us, a lot of time usually passes between when we can all get together. but, we've made it a point the last few years to get together at least once during the year and this year it worked out that we could all make it to st. george for a weekend getaway!

we left thursday afternoon and we could not wait! 

// "selfies" in the car! :) //

// love this handsome fellow so very much //

the weekend pretty much consisted of staying up wayyyyyy too late, eating lots of good food, swimming all day long, playing scum, ticket to ride, and new this year: corn hole. (it is all the rage, in case you didn't know.)

swimming was especially awesome for two reasons. 1) it was within walking distance (like, a two minute walk!) and 2) danny bought the kids goggles!! kids in goggles=the cutest thing. EVER. 

// cafe rio in between swimming sessions. so yummm //

// our sleeping beauty at the pool //

// love me some kids in goggles!!! //

// avery mistook this corn hole as a different kind of hole...if you know what i mean! oops! //

// max took the above two pictures :) he is turning into quite the budding photographer! //

// swimming and playing all day long can wear you out! the three oldest kids zoned out in front of elmo for a bit while we snuck a few more games in! //

friday night we all went out to dinner (all sixteen of us!!!) to anasazi. the presentation was really neat (they bring you partially cooked meat & a 700 degree "rock" to finish cooking it on)...but it's not the most child friendly place :)

and then, after dinner, danny & i snuck away to see mary poppins at the tuacahn amphitheater for our 5th anniversary!!! (our friends kindly put our kids to bed. thanks again!) it was AMAZING. the backdrop is incredible. the singing was wonderful. the entire thing! ahh. not to mention, i'd forgotten how great the story mary poppins is! i loved it.

// i stole this pic from lauren's instagram. thanks lauren! //

saturday night while the guys were out playing corn hole (until 3 am!) the girls were home chatting and at about 1:30 we decided it would be awesome to pull a prank on the guys. we tried to think of everything (it's been so long since i've thought about pranking!) and what we eventually came up with totally backfired, but we loved it. it felt like girl's camp all over again :)

// the idea was that they would have to come through the front door, since all other doors would be locked. we checked the garage door multiple times, but somehow half of them got in since it wasn't totally shut! the half who didn't make it in, went around to the front and were faced with shaving cream on the handle, a failed attempt at saran wrapping the door (that is hard to do!), and tons of cups, bowls, and pie tins filled with water. we piled up trees and furniture behind the water making it "impossible" to come in...but the guys easily jumped through.

lame.

oh well, we all had a good laugh (it was 3 am after all!) 

the next day, we cleaned up, said our good-byes, and were off.  thanks so much to dave & sarah for hooking us up with a place to stay! and everyone else who made it happen. we love you all!!

on our way home, the kids were antsy to get out and run around so we decided to stop at cove fort to stretch our legs. the sweetest lady missionary tracked us down and promised to give us a short "10 minute" tour (which turned into a 35-40 minute tour!) but it was actually really neat. the inside of the cove where they actually lived was beautiful (i wanted to move in!)

whew! and that is how we spent the weekend before school started!!

 can't believe summer flew by so quickly!

we heart boating.

just because the fourth of july festivities were over, didn't mean we had to stop partying!

the party continued the next day, july 5th, at pineview reservoir where we played in the water, sand, and boated the day away (until it got too cloudy/rainy!) 

// max is getting pretty confident on a boat... //

// ...but cautious papa is always on the look-out :) //

danny stole aaron's much bigger tank top...and thought he was so cool ;)

// all tuckered out after boating //

danny's grandma, aunt & uncle, and cousins were all in town too so we stayed up for the weekend and had a wonderful time. that night, greg & natalie came over with the kids and brought some of their fun toys with them.

hill air force base

it feels like i took a ten second break from blogging...and all of a sudden it's been almost a month since i've posted?! 

summer is zipping by.

a few weeks ago we went up to idaho for our george family reunion! the visit itself was short and sweet (saturday to monday) but we packed a lot of activities into one short weekend. 

before heading up to good ole' rigby & rexburg, we stopped by layton to visit danny's family. while eating dinner friday night, we mentioned that we wanted to take the kids to the HAFB museum. we invited danny's dad (who happens to be a pilot!) to which he replied, "i've been waiting my whole life for someone to invite me to go with them!" (he's lived 15 minutes away from that museum for years and he's never been!) so we were thrilled to have papa frank & graunna debbie join us!

// this little girl and her rocks! she is a collector, that's for sure. //

 

we had a great time and even learned a few things while we were at it ;) after a quick lunch, our little family hit the road. the kids were thrilled about the drive!

we made it to rexburg in time for the farewell dinner (two of my cousins left on missions at the same time!) and that night i went with a bunch of my family to see my cousin spencer in "deadwood dick" at the old romance theater. spencer was one of the main characters so that was fun. (the 3+ hour performance...could have been a tiny bit shorter though :) danny was a trooper and kept the kids entertained so i could go. max found his favorite costume ever (a pilot!) so i don't think he was sad about missing the play!

and the rest of our trip consisted of lots of good food (my uncle lyle makes the BEST chicken. ever!) farewell talks, games, and quality family time. i think i have one of the best families around!