Cousins are the best!

 July 21- 26 we went back to Ashton to spend some time with cousins.  My brother and sister-in-law were lucky enough to go on a cruise and three of their kids came to Grandma and Grandpa's house while they were gone. 

We had so much fun!  Here are all the younger cousins ready for church. 
(Brent, Lily, Brinn, Ainsley, and Porter)

 One day Mom and I took the 5 little kiddos to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls.  We took a few little hikes, climbed some rocks and trees.  You know, exploring. 

 And they happened to come across a huckleberry patch right by the picnic table.  Score!  We all had purple fingers and tongues.

 Lily found this shell and we didn't think anything was inside, but the next thing we know the shell was on the move.  It was actually pretty fascinating watching how it moved. 

 A summertime trip to Ashton would just not be complete without a trip or two to Sand Creek.  We were lucky to have Madison and Logan with us for a few days.  They always make things fun.

 I had to post this picture as proof that Grandpa actually does know how to do dishes, even though it doesn't happen very often.  No more claiming ignorance! 

 Logan's birthday is July 21st and he got a lot of awesome new Lego sets.  He was so good and let the kids play with him.  They had so much fun that after we got back Brinnley used some of her Tooth Fairy and saved birthday money to buy a set of her own. 

 Thank you Logan!

 This was a rare moment when the kids were not playing Legos or outside in the playhouse playing restaurant.  Truly they were outside most of the time.  I was pretty impressed with the patience Ainsley and Brent had to set up all those dominoes. 

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a great visit!

She's 6!

 Ainsley girl turned 6 on July 17.  I still can't wrap my head around that.  In my mind Brinnley is 6 and Ainsley is 5. 

For her birthday she got a Barbie vet center and a new animal to work her magic on.  He is a hampster named Nibbles or Hammy.  As soon as she opened it the kids were upstairs setting up their room as a vet's office.  They had a waiting room and they even made a sign for the door.  It said "Brinnley and Ainsley's Vet Office.  When your pets are hurt we are here."  SO cute!

 Instead of a cake, I attempted to make microphone cupcakes.  I was supposed to use mini ice cream cones, but I couldn't find them anywhere.  So we had to use two donut holes instead of one.  But it still worked out and Ainsley really liked them.

 Pictures with the birthday girl before having cake.  Teran and I just got back from exercising, so I look awesome!

 Love this face!  She was seriously excited about these cupcakes.

I think they were a success.  Happy birthday sweet girl!  I love you so much! 

Smile, it's picture time!

 Before leaving camp Sunday we got all the different groups together and took pictures. 

My nephew Brock came up Saturday and spent the day and night.  I am so glad he came.  It's when you are on your own and have to make an effort to come, that you realize it is up to you if you want to stay connected to your family.  I am so grateful Brock made that effort and that we were able to see him and his sweet sons, Braxton and Chandler.

 All the boys:  Chandler, Brock, Logan, Dalton, Lance, Luke, Easton, Gavin

 The little kids:  Braxton, Ainsley, Brinnley, Porter, Chandler, Lily, Brent

 The big girls:  McKenzie, Maddie, Lacey

 The Grown-Ups:  Kasey, Tracy, Dad, Mom, me, Chant, Brock, Kirk, and Christi

 Girl Power!

 Boy Power!

The dynamic duo Maddie and Luke.

I love my family and being all together.  Thank you for a wonderful weekend of making memories!

Downata Hot Springs

This year we had our annual Whitmore Water Wars at Downata Hot Springs July 6-8.  It was a great place.  They had a kiddie pool and slide that was perfect for Porter.  Ainsley swam all over with her little life vest on, and Brinnley was her usual fish self all over the place.  We had so much fun with all the cousins together.  That was the best part, being together.

Lily, Brinnley, Brent, and Ainsley didn't need the pool, they were having fun splashing around in the water run-off.

Chant and Kasey were the camp cooks, for this meal anyway.

Brent and Tracy.

Grandpa.

Maddie and Logan.  Can you tell she just woke up?

Kasey and I each brought a bag of props for putting on skits.  We divided up into 4 groups and then got together to make a plan for a skit and figure out how to use those props.  The kids were all about the costumes. 

Brinnley, Maddie
Logan, and Porter.

Ainsley kept picking on Easton.  Was Dalton a little jealous that Ainsley was picking on him?

I don't know what he's doing, but I love this picture of Porter.

After a fun day of swimming we put on the skits and sang a few camp songs.  I had no idea that my mom was such an actress.  She won most dramatic roll of the evening.  And she earned it!

Tracy had all the little kids in her group for the skit, and she did a great job with them.  It was such a cute skit!  Brent was a wizard and Lily was the princess.

Grandpa pulled off a pretty good George Bush and Maddie made a mighty fine Baby Gaga.

These kids had so much fun!  I think that sitting around the campfire talking and doing skits was the best part.

 Our first cousin on Chant's side was born May 30 to Kristy and Mike.  When we went to the hospital to see Will for the first time, the kids couldn't because he was in NICU.  And we left town the next day and were gone for a few weeks.  So the first time the kids got to meet Will wasn't until June 24th.  We had a get together to celebrate the three June birthdays, Porter, Mike, and Margi. 

 William is so cute!  The kids had fun loving on him.  But I was lucky and got to steal him the longest.

 I love this picture!  Mike and Ainsley were deep in conversation. 

 Jen's guys did it again!  They made another awesome sign for Porter.  Love it!  He was so excited because now he has one like Brinnley.  (Brinnley Blvd.)

Happy birthday boys!

Acknowledgements

One of the things I always do before starting a new book is go to the acknowledgements page.  Recently I have seen authors mentioning other authors.  I've been thinking about writing a lot lately, all the different types of writing avenues there are and how a person goes about actually writing something.  How cool would it be to call up a published author and ask for advice, on a peer level.  To be friends in a way that would warrant an acknowledgement.  My mind cannot even comprehend how amazing it would be to have these types of people as friends.  I think it would be beyond awesome to go to some sort of book convention and listen to writers talk, to be able to see what they are like as a person.  When I am reading a book I always kind of have this image in my head as to what that author is like.  Is Morgan Matson really as all around amazing  as I picture her being?  Cynthia Hand and I would have a lot to talk about I think since she seems to be so familiar with my neck of the woods (Jackson Hole, Idaho Falls).  If I ever got a chance to talk to Lindsey Leavitt, I can picture the conversation being filled with laughter.  And lots of gushing from me.  About Sean Griswold's head.  Lisa Schroeder, I don't even know if I'd be able to say much.  I'd just sit there in awe with my mouth hanging open I'm sure.  Anyone who can write four amazing books all in verse has to be pretty creative and brilliant.

I was recently reading a blog post (http://familyvolley.blogspot.com/2012/07/day-i-got-my-groove-back.html) about finding your groove again.  I admit it.  I think I've lost mine.  While I was reading this blog post all about the journey she took to help her find her groove again, I was feeling both sad and hopeful.  I am sad that somewhere along the way I lost me.  Don't get me wrong, I love my life.  I love my husband and my children.  I love my role as a wife and mother.  But sometimes I feel like I'm missing something.  I'm so much different that I was when I graduated high school or when I first got married.  And that's okay.  But I miss some of the things I have left behind.  Recently I was reading a book called Pilgrimage by Annie Leibovitz.  This book was so moving to me.  I don't even know how to describe how I felt when I was reading it.  She has mixed photography and history and made it into something beautiful.  She photographed homes or personal things of authors, presidents, and other  influential individuals and told their story through these photographs.  One of the photos was of one of Marian Anderson’s dresses from the mid-forties.  It was a beautiful dress and I could feel it telling a story, one I didn't know, but wanted to.  So I Googled Marian Anderson and I came across a video clip of her singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.  It was beautiful and moving and it led me to do more research about her, finding out that the reason she was singing on the steps is because as an African American she was not allowed to sing inside Constitution Hall.  I got so excited about all these things I was learning that I had to call my mom and share it all with her.  I went on an on.  I'm sure I was boring her, but she listened anyway.  But I felt something inside me spark.  It reminded me of how I felt my freshman year of college sitting among my friends, Margaret and Marshall, discussing themes for our American history final.  Oh we had some great debates!  I felt a passion for what I was talking about and I loved hearing their ideas just as much.  I loved my history classes!  I loved writing those essays.  Even the final exam that took me over 4 hours to take because it was all essays.  I felt proud of what I had written.  I felt conviction and passion about the words on those pages.

Maybe that's what I miss most, the gaining of  knowledge and sharing and discussing it with others.  Although running through mud (see about mentioned blog post) certainly wouldn't help me get my groove back, I do feel hope that someday I will get there.  Who knows, maybe all I need to do is look up the next blogging conference in the SLC area.  Bloggers as well as authors and photographers all share their ideas and feelings.  They all make me think and feel.  And apparently they make me want to write my own really long and rambling blog posts.  And maybe one day I will be writing my own acknowledgement page telling these authors whose books I devour thank you for helping me find my own voice and for providing me with friends on the page who felt just as real to me as any living person.  Maybe I'll be saying thank you to the photographs who helped me learn to look deeper and see more than what is one the surface.  And maybe, long shot, but maybe I might finally know if Morgan really is as cool as I think she is or if Lindsey really is that funny.

P.S.
This just so happens to be my 400th blog post.