Pioneer days...

At the end of the month everyone made their way back up the mountain to come celebrate pioneer days with my parents stake. All the grand-kids dressed up for the little parade.

Then we took the opportunity to snap a few pictures seeing as it isn't very often we are able to be all together.

 I am not to sure Laine could have hacked it as a pioneer. She does look awful cute though.

One of the booths at the Pioneer Days Celebration was a dunk tank. All the bishops and Stake President took some time in the wet seat. A few of the grand-kids and 3, who shall remain unnamed, siblings took a few throws to try and dunk Grandpa. We were all unsuccessful.

Big Lake...

One Saturday morning we all hopped in the car to see Big Lake. In my mind I had this picture of ash, burnt trees, and pure desolation. It was so nice to drive up there and see the damage the fire had done with my own eyes. Truthfully, there were some bad, bad areas but over all I was so happy to see that is isn't all gone. I was happy to see that even though the fire destroyed so much we can still see the beauty and use the land.

This was a spot that was hit pretty hard. It is right across the road from the camp area we liked to go to. I say liked because the camp spot is nearly all burned down.

One place that I think everyone was happy to see standing is the Big Lake store.

The kids were so hoping we would hop in one of those boats and row away.

Lucky for them they were with grandpa and instead of going on a boat, they got ice cream.

It is a tradition to stop at the store and get a bit of ice cream. 

It may have only been like 9 in the morning  but it was still good.

Cousins...

cousins and more cousins.

During our time in Pinetop we were able to play with all the cousins.

The kids were in heaven. They played and played, and fought a bit.

Over all they loved it.

Summer Happinings...

I am not quite sure how it is possible to celebrate the 4th of July in a place where temperatures hover between 105-115 degrees. I know it is possible and we will probably do it one day. For now we escape the hot, hot desert and travel up to the mountains.

Me at 24 weeks. Oh the beginnings of a nice full pregnant face.

Despite the look on Bode's face. He was so excited for the parade to start so he could get some candy. The parade didn't disappoint at all. All the cousins got a huge bag of candy.

Luckly little Laine Jo had her own personal umbrella holder.

Jeremiah and Laine have a special daddy daughter bond. I am very interested in what another little daughter will do to the mix. Laine has a good dad and I am excited that we will have two little girls with such a good daddy.

Man, like I said, these kids got tons of candy, frozen otter-pops (that melted all over the bags of candy), one float was making root beer floats and another was grilling hot dogs and handing them out. Not pictured here is my nephew Mike. He is quite the character. Either by accident or by plan he got the most candy. He would stand off to the side of all the kids and look sad. People would walk by and see him all alone and toss handfuls of candy at his feet. Later in the day we were just letting the kids eat all the candy. I walked outside to pick up lunch plates and he looks up at me so sweetly and says "Aunt Heidi, you like those red hot candies right?" I said "yes they are my favorite". He got all happy and handed me one and said "here I saved this one just for you." I took is and was pleasantly surprised to see that yes it was a red cinnamon candy but it had already been sucked on for awhile. He is such a funny kid.

Laine liked the parade. Mostly just the candy though. Every so often a loud float would come by and she would stick her fingers in her ears and tell them that there where too loud!

You may have noticed that there are a shortage of Bode pictures. Only because the kid was having so much fun playing with cousins the whole week to slow down enough to get a decent picture. Oh well. He was there and he had fun! Laine however stops for a picture every time.

 

After the parade is was on to a barbecue and more cousin fun waiting for the fireworks. Around 2 o'clock Lee read that the firework show was cancelled. Bummer. So we improvised with the kids and made a big scavenger hunt that went all over my Mom's house and then clear to the park. The kids had fun. Then we finished off the night with a movie outside. The plan was to have the movie so they could lay on the trampoline but it rained. So we improvised and set it up on the carport.

Bode and Laine had fun playing with dad on the trampoline.

 

Watching the movie.

Climbing fences in your scivies.

Bode even got a pedicure on the porch by grandma. Don't worry he chose a very manly blue to go on his toes.

After all the fun was over the only thing left to do was crash.

Happy 4th of July!!



Happy Father's day...

“Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth,” said President Ezra Taft Benson. “It is a matter of desire, diligence, and determination to see one’s family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters”

Happy Father's Day to the Fathers in my life. 

I will be forever grateful to have grown up in a home where my Dad was present and active in my life. 

I love you Dad!

I am also very lucky to have found a man to marry who understands the value of a father in the home.

I love you Jeremiah!

Escape...

This last week we packed up the car and headed up to Pinetop. We got up there Monday afternoon and got to see my brother's family before they headed home. Love these kids. They have such a blast when they play together, even if it is just for an afternoon, they have fun.

We spent the week having fun, making messes, and most importantly playing outside.

Growing up I spent my summers outside. We had such a fun neighborhood and all us kids would play from sun up to sun down. We have made good friends down in the valley and have plenty of friends to play with. But I always feel like my kids are getting a little jipped in their summer experiences. Summers are for climbing trees, making forts and riding bikes. Not in the good old valley of the sun. Summers for for 100*+ weather, being couped up in the AC and short sweaty outside excursions.  I am so grateful we are able to escape the heat and drive up to my parents house so the kids can play. And play they did! They jumped on the trampoline, rode bikes, helping in the garden and ate outside. It was wonderful. Bode didn't want to come home.

 But all good things come to an end and we were missing our dad. So we packed up and headed out on Friday morning. The kids were exhausted from all the playing. Please notice Bode's dirty feet from all the outside playing. Bode even slept in the car for a bit, something he never does. Now back the heat. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us come up and play! p.s. I am really starting to look like my Dad.

Big Brother...

Bode was very sweet to Laine while we were camping.

I think he will be protective of her.

He asked me the first night we were there if Laine needed his fishy blanky to stay warm

Fishy blanky is his one and only blanky, but he was willing to give it up to keep her warm :)

Big Lake...

What would any camping trip be with out fishing?

The boys took the kids 2 times and one evening we all went to the lake to fish.

This little girl was just dying to touch the water. But she didn't want to just touch it, she wanted to go for a full on swim in it. It made her really mad that I wouldn't let her in the water.

Finally she got to touch the water and that made her happy. But only for a second... after she touched the water she only wanted it more. That is when she started to cry. Wait, not just cry but throw a full on screaming fit. Having a screaming baby really takes the calm, serene feeling of the lake.

While Laine was screaming everyone else was fishing. My dad even caught one.

After a long walk and Laine fighting tooth and nail she finally gave in and took a little nap in my lap.

The lake was so beautiful and is was nice to sit and enjoy nature.

Once Laine woke up all she wanted was her daddy.

I love her little arm wrapped around his leg.

Mike...

This is my brothers son Micheal. He is a hoot! I just love him.

What he lacks in height he makes up for in personality.

He talks really, really well and always has funny things to say.

This picture is great. I had just gotten back from taking Laine on a ride and I stopped over by the trailer.

I pulled up to see Mike like this.

I looked at him and asked him what he was doing, he lifted his head opened his eyes and said,

"I am playing dead"

then he laid his head back down and continued to play dead.

He got way into playing dead. Eyes closed... tongue out.

Mike also remind me a bit of Bode. Bode has always used his big head in a fight. He gets forehead to forehead and just pushes his big head at his opponent. Well Mike to was also blessed with a big head. He fights just the same way. This particular fight was over the Pepsi in Bode's hand.

Dirt...

The main reason for our trip to Pinetop was to go camping. Jer said that Disneyland was my vacation and camping was his. I may not choose camping as my first vacation choice but I do really love to go. It just takes so much work to get there. We were going to sleep on the first night and Jer asked me if I wanted to go home tomorrow (he was just teasing me) I said heck no! It took all day setting up, you have to to for at least 2 nights to make it all worth it. We were up camping from Tuesday-Friday morning. I think I really could have stayed longer... if I could have taken a shower :)

The kids took full advantage of roaming free.

We went on many quad rides. Every time someone started up a quad all the kids would come running. Bode got good enough to steer and push the gas while he and Jer went on rides.

Paisley and Laine were having a rough go at their little cousin relationship. They are in the "mine" phase of life. Everything was a fight that resulted in tears, until the trailer. They played and played on the trailer and there was never a fight. I guess they decided to be friends :)Oh how I love the White Mountains of Arizona!

It was fun to spend so much time with my sister before she moved. She will be missed!

Camping isn't the same as when I was little. I remember just playing in the dirt all day and never having a care. Now that I have the kids it is a bit stressful. Trying to keep them semi clean, cooking, cleaning all the stuff that goes along with camping isn't the same when you are the one in charge. This trip was nice and relaxing though. Bode and Laine slept great and played hard. They got super dirty and I decided not to care. That made things much more fun. But by the 4 day I think we were all very ready to take a bath.

Here are my parents. They are the ones who had the great idea to go camping. We went camping all the time growing up. The first time I went I was about 2 weeks old... crazy. I am glad they would go though. It is a fun thing to do, especially as families. Here they are with all the grand-kids that came.

Laine loved the quads. At one point I took her off to give other kids a ride and she screamed and cried running after me. She loved them so much she took a nap on one ride.

Jeremiah made a little fort for the cousins to play in. It was a hit.

Laine Jo will color on anything she can reach. That included a log.

  

After the men were done fishing they had some left over worms. The worms quickly became pets for the little kids. I over hear Abbey telling Bode they needed to name all their worm babies. 

Dirt. Need I say more?

This is Boo. She is my Mom and Dad's dog. She is a labradoodle, a mix between a lab and a poodle. I think I really should just call he my mom's dog because she loves her. Anytime my mom goes anywhere Boo just sits and waits for her. If my mom was in the trailer, there was Boo waiting at the door. She is such a good dog except she gets a wild hair and just takes off running. My brother brought his dogs too. They have Molly and Oscar. Oscar is a little Yorkie but at heart he is a cow dog. Where we were camping there were a ton of cattle. The cows feed on the land and then get rounded up in the fall. We happened to camp right in their area. There were cows constantly walking really close to our camp. But they never got to close because Oscar the cow dog herded them away.

 

We had fun! Can't wait to do it all again next year.