Laughter~

I couldn't resist posting this picture. It makes me laugh every time I see it....
Grannie and Gramps at Disneyland! I love how Gramps is thrown' a gangster peace sign...
Hilarious!!!!

Gratitude~

These past couple of days I think that I have been so blessed. I have had several prayers answered quickly. As many of you know that doesn't happen too often. For this I am grateful. I have been worried about ALL of the kids coming back and finding my busy routine again. Kids to school, kids to preschool, two newborns, kids from school, kids from preschool and so on...Summer has been so fun and really quite relaxing. I have been so blessed with wonderful families that have really blessed our lives. I am so grateful for their loyalty. I have been praying for guidance on a couple of things and within days my prayers have been answered and answered completely. I have been overwhelmed with the feelings of gratitude for my Heavenly Father and the trust and love that he has for me. These lumps in my gut feelings make me cry so needless to say I have been doing that a lot too. Not to mention that my baby boy started 1st grade today. :( I missed him so much.....To often I think that I forget when prayers are not answered in the timely fashion that I would like, I forget that they can be answered quickly and then it reminds me that he does hear my prayers and that he loves me. For this I am truly grateful.....

Family Fun~

Whoa! Where do I begin... We had such a fun vacation we didn't want to come home. I thought after two weeks that I would be dying to get home and back into "our" routine. But I was wrong! This might be a boring travelog but I have to share all of the memories on this trip or I will forget them.
First, Campfire Lodge in Montana, we love it here. Our family has been going there for 17 years and this year was just as good. We had cabin 12 which is the best cabin ever. It is right by the Madison River and I would do the dishes and think I could do dishes all day if I had this view.

We had a great time with Grannie, Grandpa, Uncle Scott, Ronnie, & Robert. We just relaxed and then did some more relaxing. Dylan got to try kayaking in Uncle Scott's kayak. He thought he was pretty cool and I have to say he was pretty much a pro. One night on the deck of the cabin we had swooping bats join us. Jesse took cover so fast. Too funny! The kids loved finding rocks and sticks in fact we brought home a box full of "special" rocks. My favorite part of campfire this year was hobo dinners and s'mores. We all gathered around the campfire and just enjoyed each other. It was quite chilly so huddled around the campfire was perfect.


Next we were off to Yellowstone to meet Grandma and Grandpa from Arizona and the rest of the Whitney Clan. We stayed at Fishing Bridge in Grandpa's BIG trailer or as Dylan calls it the Party Trailer. We met up with Jesse's two Uncles and Aunts and several cousins.
Coolest things at Yellowstone:
1: Grizzly Bear! We saw this bear on the way back from Tower Falls. It was the number one highlight ever!!! You don't see Grizzly bears much so this was very cool. The kids must have felt our excitement because the rest of the trip they played Grizzly Bears. The picture is fuzzy but you can still see her.

2: Renting a boat and exploring Yellowstone Lake. It was so pretty and huge. Dylan even fished off the side of the boat. He didn't catch anything but it was sure fun trying.
3: The mud pots. Dylan was dry heaving the entire time. It was so funny and yet I was a little scared that he might lose it. He plugged his nose the whole time. Sophie and I got caught in a Geyser exploding and we got wet with stinky water. Good times!
4: Mr. Buffalo walking down the middle of the street. So cool and a tad scary.

5: Upper and Lower falls. So amazingly beautiful!

6: Sophie eating Moose Poop ice cream. She throughly enjoy this ice cream. So cute!

7: Old Faithful. A classic but still fun. My dad loves the Old Faithful Inn. He loves the leather chairs, the fireplace and just the history of it all. So I had to go in this hotel just for his sake (every year!). We ended up eating lunch there on the balcony, it was a great afternoon.

We has such a great time in Yellowstone. I love seeing all of the sites and really taking the whole park in. I love the wildlife and just the beauty of open land. Sometimes we forget that there is still wide open places and Yellowstone is one of the best.
Now on to Glacier National Park. This was a long drive from Yellowstone to Glacier. The kids were great. There were a couple of breakdowns but being in a car for 10 hours there is bound to be some crying. We made it though in one piece! We stayed at the KOA in St. Mary, Montana. It was a very nice campground, they even have pizza delivery to your campsite. Funny uh! We have never been to Glacier and found in truly an amazing place. The beauty was endless. We loved it, but we wish that it was about 10 hours closer to Utah.
Coolest things in Glacier:
1: The mountains. They were so beautiful and green. Glacier is called the Alps of the West and rightfully so. There are waterfalls at every turn and wildflowers everywhere. So Pretty!

2: The wildlife: Jesse had to move off the trail because a family of Mountain goats were coming down the trail. The baby mountain goat is too cute.


3: Many Glacier: This is on East side of Glacier and one of my favorites. There is a beautiful lodge on the banks of a lake. The water is the most beautiful color. Jesse and I rented a rowboat and we went around the lake. So romantic and relaxing. I felt like a princess with my prince rowing me around the lake. Cheesy I know!

4: Going to the sun road: The road literally is carved out of a mountain. So neat and exciting. The view is amazing. They were doing construction on the road while we were there so it was down to one lane in several places and that was a good thing. We could get out of the car and take pictures. They even restricted the length of vehicles that can travel on the road.

5: Dylan collecting rocks constantly:

Glacier is such a beautiful place we saw Black Bears, Mountain Goats, Big Horn Sheep, Deer, and much more. We are looking forward to return there soon. So pretty!

Now on to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. The border wasn't to far from were we camped and Waterton is a sister park to Glacier. The day we went to Canada was very cold and foggy. We are all a little disappointed but we had a great time anyway. We took a boat ride around Waterton Lake and is was so pretty. We saw a bald eagle, so neat. There is a famous hotel there called the Prince of Whales hotel. Really neat hotel. In keeping with the spirit of things we ate in the dining room and we all had fish and chips. It was a nice afternoon. We took a wrong turn going back to customs and came across a huge herd of Elk. There were two males on their hind legs fighting with their antlers. It was amazing.



All and all it was a fabulous time. We were so glad to spend time with both grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. We had so much fun playing games at night and just being together. Dylan said that he wants to go on vacation with grandparents all the time and I agree. Wew!

Sophie Talking

She really does talk....
I know you don't here her much but, here she is!!!

My Dill~

I have never met a child that lives more in the moment than Dylan. He is always thinking, making up new inventions, how to improve things, and creating new companies. I would love to have his motivation and energy! Some examples: JW and I were looking under the hood of the van and no sooner here comes Dill with his Big-O-Tire shirt and hat (thanks to Jackie who works there) his tire gauge and clipboard with a drawing of the van and what things he was going to check for us. Then the other day we had a man come and give us a bid for a fence and here comes Dylan with his clipboard, tape measure, and calculator ready to help the guy out. The man started to chuckle and said, "I better watch out he might take my job". Everyday I have to go to his bank, post office, or Paperworks City and every time I have to fill out these forms that he has made with my name, "money number", items that I want to buy, and I always have to sign it. The other day I had to FED-EX something and I grabbed a couple of extra mailing slips, he was so excited. We got home and Sophie's buggie was now his FED-EX truck and I had to fill out the slip and I had to ship something. We had to make a special trip to the "real" bank the other day (small town, it's down the street) to get more deposit slips because he was out. He is also building a road outside. He has used PVC pipe, and landscaping pipe that he has put underneath the dirt for water and gas lines. He uses little orange cones to direct the other kids off of his road until it is finished. He is too much and the imagination is endless, and I love it!!! And that was just this week!! I never know what he is going to come up with next. I heart Dylan!!!
~here is a photo of the Big-O-Tire checklist.~

Fourth full of Fun~

We had a fun weekend this past fourth of July. We went to see Ice Age 3, with my backpack full of popcorn and licorice, (not honest I know!) we enjoyed it a lot. We all laughed hard. Then our neighborhood got together for fireworks and goodies. It made me think of my old neighborhood growing up. We used to all bring our fireworks and sit on the corner of our lawn and watch fireworks. Good times! It was much of the same with my neighborhood, we had sparklers, glow sticks, fountains, cupcakes, cookies and Gatorade! It's fun to let the kids run and enjoy each others company.

Then we headed to the pool. The Payson Pool is the big deal around here. It is the "big" water park that is close by. It has two water slides, a lazy river, and a fun playground with a bucket that dumps on you. Needless to say it is a fun place. We had a great day, the kids had a blast, and I could stay at a pool for days.
The following pictures are how we all felt after this fun weekend....

Choo Choo~

I knew I forgot something to share about our last camping trip. The kids were VERY tired so we decided to take a drive through Tremonton and I kept seeing signs for the Golden Spike National site. So I said to JW let's go check that out. It was raining but the kids were asleep in no time and it was a very pretty drive out in the country. We got there and it happened to be free that day (score) and Dylan popped right up when he saw the steam train. We braved the rain and cold (I didn't even bring the kids a jacket) It turned out to be a very exciting and educational place. The kids loved it. The steam train was super cool and very beautiful. We even watched the museums movie about the history of the East meets West and I remember looking at the kids and they were totally into the movie. Which was quite shocking!