Camping at Smith & Morehouse!

We snuck in a last minute camping trip right before the kids all went back to school. The week before school started we camped from Tuesday until Thursday. We went with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barb. We had to stop at Grandpa's favorite diner on the way there for lunch. Can't miss a good burger when you are with Grandpa! We got there and set up camp and then headed to the lake. Grandpa brought his pontoon boat and we took turns taking it out on the lake. Chris and the kids did a little fishing and actually caught some! We don't always have great luck fishing, so this was pretty exciting. We slept that night and woke up to rain, rain and more rain. It was cold and wet! 

Unfortunately, Grandma's knee locked up and she could barely walk. They decided they had better pack up and go home. Kylee went with them because she had to get back for a Dental Hygiene Orientation at WSU. Some of us wanted to stay the extra night, and some of us wanted to go home. It rained all day long. We decided to stay and we were glad in the end that we did. We played a lot of card games in the tent trailer and managed to make a dutch oven dinner over the fire. Later that night it finally stopped raining! Thank goodness! We decided to go back to the lake and try our luck at fishing again. Brinley was the only one who had not caught a fish yet. It took some time and patience, but she finally got one! Her first catch!! We are hoping for some more camping next summer with a little better weather!

Kylee's 21st Birthday!

Wow! 21 years old!! How did that happen? Happy Birthday to Kylee. She gets to share her Birthday party most years with Mason! That keeps things fun. We end up with 2 pans of favorite desserts to go with dinner. This year she helped hold his HUGE present as he unwrapped it.

Kylee is kind, hard working, motivated, super smart, beautiful and always so happy! We love that she is still here in our home with us. She definitely keeps us smiling!

Happy Birthday Kylee!

We love you!!

A week with KateLeigh and Maisley!

Liz Bunce was nice enough to let Quincy and Brinley stay with them while we were in Guatemala, so we did a trade and had her girls while they went to Oregon. It was a busy week! Adding 2 more to a family of 7 definitely makes a difference! One day the 3 girls spend hours in the garage making a road and parking stalls for the plazma cars. Sometimes you have to get creative!! 

Stitches!

Em's poor chin met with the gym floor during a dive at Volleyball! We had to take a quick trip to the Dr.'s office and get a few stitches. OUCH!

Sleepover!

A sleepover sometime during the summer was promised to Maddie and Brinley. They reminded us about it EVERY Sunday. Finally in August before school started, we made it happen. They were busy busy busy! They definitely made the most of their time together.

Summer adventures on Dad's day off!

We needed something fun to do together on Dad's day off one Summer day, so we headed to Salt Lake City. We ended up at the LDS Humanitarian Center and the Sweets Candy Co! It was actually really awesome! We had a tour of the Humanitarian Center by a couple really cute Sister Missionaries and watched a wonderful movie at the end of the tour. Then we went to the Candy shop. We also had a tour there and watched a live camera feed as they were making the candy in the warehouse. We got to sample candy and of course bought some to take home. Brinley won a contest and got to pick a free bag of candy. We were missing Kylee and Kade. They were both at work, but we brought them home some yummy candy!

Great activity for a day off!

Hike to White Pine Lake

This was the BEST hike ever!! On Dad's day off we headed to Tony's Grove and decided we wanted to hike a little. We told the kids we would just go a part of the way and then turn around. We lied...but accidentally!! It was so beautiful and the perfect weather for hiking. Most of us loved it so much that we wanted to go all the way to the lake. Quincy and Brinley were a little angry that we weren't doing what we originally said we would do. It was a LONG hike for us. We are not very seasoned hikers! It was 8 miles round trip but it was so gorgeous and the seeing the lake at the end was worth every step. There were lots of rest stops and even a few tears, but we made it there and back. Good job my little hikers!!

All things Harry Potter!!

A few members of this family are still OBSESSED with Harry Potter!! It's not enough that they've read the books all 13 times, and watched all the movies...we now have an entire Harry Potter room in our basement and an Etsy wand business!! I think they might be crazy! Kylee and Emilee spent an entire Summer planning, making and decorating a Harry Potter room. It is in 1/3 of the unfinished new part of our basement. I have to say myself, the attention to detail is amazing and the room is incredible. Anyone who sees it walks away speechless. It's pretty impressive. They had so so so much fun creating it together. That was the best part to watch for me!

Then...they decided to make wands and open up an Etsy shop! Em is the creator of the wands and Kylee is her wonderful assistant. The wands are hand crafted from wooden dowels and hot glue. They paint, stain and spray them and then ship them all over the world! They haven't exactly made it big yet, but time will tell. They sell a few every month. They've also tried their hand at making key chains to sell. 

I am pretty impressed with these two. They are sisters and best friends...what more could a Mom want! They are not afraid to try anything and they are usually pretty successful at just about anything they do try! I'm pretty proud of them! Ok, enough bragging!!

Just remember your parents when you make it big in the wand business!!

Honoring President Packer!

On July 10th we had the opportunity to show our love and respect for President Packer. This was the day of his funeral. Through emails sent to our Stake Leaders and then passed down through the wards, we were made aware of what I thought was a great opportunity. We were encouraged to line the streets between the Brigham City Temple and Tabernacle to show our love and support to President Packer and his family as they brought him from temple square in SLC after his funeral to the Brigham City cemetery where he would be buried. We were there with hundreds of others and waved small american flags as they drove by. His cute family waved and smiled.

We love you President Packer and were grateful to welcome you back to Brigham City!!

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Jazz Game!

We took Quincy and Brinley to a Summer League Jazz game. Dad was super happy of course, and they were pretty happy as well...probably more so about the cute notebooks they got than the game! But still happy!!