Into the woods

second family reunion of the summer was with the Christensen side of the family. They go camping for a couple days every summer. It's been awhile since we've been to one of these reunions. In fact, the last one I went without Dan and I drove to Colorado with my sister-in-law Nanci (who was also husbandless). Since Dan wasn't working for the first two days of this reunion we decided to go up. But since they were camping I made an executive decision that we weren't going to stay. We were just going to go for the day and have a good time. So we drive up Ephraim Canyon and get everyone out of the car. Dan turns to me and says, "Oh, let's stay!" Sigh. Fine. Mind you, no one is dressed for camping...Milee is only wearing a onsie, I don't have a tent or anything, but Dan calls his brother and catches him before he leaves and has him bring up a tent and some sleeping bags for us. But stay we did, and it was fun. Well, not the sleeping part, because there wasn't a lot of that going on, but the other parts were fun. Actually, after getting up with Milee for the upteenth time (I think she was freezing), I had Dan get her. He took her out of the tent and it must have woken up his mom (actually, it probably woke up the whole camp...baby crying...great sound) and she offered to take Milee. So she drove around with her till she fell asleep and then stayed in the car with her so she could stay sleeping. Thanks Carol Lee! You rock!
See, Milee in Kembers jacket and a onsie. Very camperish don't you think?The kids sure had a lot of fun with their cousins though. They have a few cousins their age on all sides of the family and they love to hang out with them. I love that the older cousins will play with them too.
Cole played ladder golf and was actually quite good at it.
So here is Kember at dinner time. Now look at the next picture.
Here is everyone else at dinner time. I have no idea why Kember was sitting alone...She just wanted to. So that is where she and I sat. Good times...good times.I just think he's cute.
Ah....bug spray. Don't leave home without it!
This picture makes me happy. Caden loved playing in the tent. Well, Grandma and Grandpa's tent anyway.
The kids found their own space and called it their secret hideout. I love watching them play together.
We took a couple walks around a lake and it was fun to watch them look at bugs and plants and stuff. The most exciting thing for them was the dead fish we saw floating in the water. Good times...good times.

Tis the season

For family reunions, that is. The Linford reunion was held at Duck Creek this year and it was awesome as always! I didn't take too many pictures, relying on my siblings for that, but then realized that I won't get their picts. until December...shoot. Well, I don't have proof, but the reunion was fun. It started out with me getting rear-ended. Sounds like something that would happen to me, doesn't it. I think the kids are terrified to drive with me now. They freak out when it's raining (and let's be honest, I do too) because of my accident last...August? And now if they see someone behind me they say, "I hope they don't run into us". Me too kiddo's...me too. Oh, no one was hurt (in my car anyway...the guy that did it wasn't the most friendly person ever...so I didn't try to talk to him much). But for being very minor the ambulance came, the fire truck came, and then we waited for over an hour for the police to come. Good times....good times. My brother-in-law who is a cop said that everyone who came was volunteer (except the cop), so even though there were no injuries they all came out anyway. They were super nice and helpful. Did I mention that I was driving alone (I mean, not counting my four kids)? Dan was working and unable to come this year. Luckily I was following my lovely sister and she stuck around with me and called the family and then mom and dad came out too. Cause let's make it a family affair when Tarah gets into stupid situations! :) It was a family reunion after all. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, the car will get fixed starting tomorrow. Everybody pray nothing happens to the rental car they give me. Needless to say my confidence in driving long distances is a little shaken.

So...Here are my picture highlights.

Cole loved loved loved the bugs. He played with this little guy for awhile. I think it even crawled in his shirt till Grandma came to the rescue.

And this is random, I don't have a picture of it but didn't want to forget a highlight for me, but Michelle found a horny toad (which I guess isn't really a toad but a lizard...is that right?) and brought it back to the cabin for all the kids to see. I thought it was awesome! Can't wait to see those pictures!


The kids played in a really cold lake while Cameron, Andrea, my dad and I went running. Yes, you read that correctly. I went running. Okay...that might be a slight exaggeration. More walking was involved, but we started and ended running...with a little in between. It was fun in a I hate running, why am I doing this, sort of way. And the kids really really liked the lake. I was sad I missed watching them play in it, but very grateful for those who stayed behind to watch my kiddos. Thanks all!

We played horseshoes. I haven't played this game for ages...and while I'm no good at it at all, it was fun to play it. The kids liked it too.

Caden and I played Volleyball with the Linford cousins. I may stink at the game but when you are playing with your 4 year old there is noooo pressure. So that was a lot of fun....even if Caden did get frustrated that he couldn't hit it over the net. I thought he was doing great just hitting it.

Fireworks were a no no, so we just lit those snakey growy things. The kids all loved this activity. I have to admit, it was kind of fun to see how some of them grew together in funny shapes. And yes, I know my clothes don't match and I look funny. My 12 year old niece made sure I knew that I looked funny. These we the things I ran in...I wasn't planning on running, and this was the best I could come up with. I'm on vacation...comfort should count for something...although even when I'm not on vacation I dress like this :)

I really like this picture. Both Rorie and Milee just chillin'. Did I mention Rorie is pregnant with twins? Super excited for her.
We ate smore's and got all sticky. It was ooey-gooey fun!

And this picture says it all. A good time was had by all!

Gifts

My kids are sweet. Occasionally they like to give me things. Cole told me that he picked flowers for me....okay, but where were they? They he started to pull handfuls out of his pockets. Good thing they didn't go through the wash like they normally would have. It was too cute. Thanks buddy for the flowers.

Mud Wars

We were trying to get our backyard cleaned up so it would look nicer for potential buyers (that isn't going well...if you know of anyone who needs a house in St George send them our way) and we created a muddy river instead. But no worries, the kids had a blast. Well, Kember and Cole did anyway. Caden wanted nothing to do with it once I told him that he couldn't get other people muddy if he didn't want them getting him muddy. So Kember and Cole threw mud at each other for a while. They loved every bit of it until I got to clean them off with the hose. Apparently the water was really cold...but I thought it was fun to squirt them off!And just for the record Cameron, (I know you don't read my blog but someone in the family can tell you) Kember is wearing the shirt you gave her and yes, it is muddy, but no I didn't tell her to change into it to be a mud play shirt. She was wearing it to start with and I just didn't stop her or tell her to change...and yes, all the mud came out and she still wears the shirt everywhere...as do the boys.

Duck Face

Have you ever seen the duck face on Cole? I was just looking through my pictures and came across these and had to laugh. He does the duck face when he is getting angry, and it probably doesn't help that I laugh at him...but come on...it's funny looking! These pictures aren't actually of the duck face, but they are close enough to give you an idea of what it looks like. He actually has a hurt lip in these pictures. I don't know how he got it, you'd have to ask grandpa. This first picture is accurate in how he is normally feeling at the time of the duck face: angry.The next picture is accurate in the pouty/duck face. Just put the two of them together...without a swollen lip.And just randomly because I can....Cole isn't feeling 100% and so he wakes up at night, but not really wakes up. Normally a drink of water will calm him down, but tonight he was not awake all the way and obviously distressed. I asked if he wanted water and he screamed yes, and since I didn't want him to wake up Caden I asked if he wanted to come with me to get it. He screamed yes again. So I get him a drink in the kitchen but he doesn't want to drink it in the kitchen, so I take him back to bed and try to give it to him and he's crying about something. Finally I figure out that he just wanted the cup to be on the floor. He never did take a sip of the water, but once I put it on the floor he just laid down and pulled the blanket over himself. What a funny kid.

And again, just because I can...the other night at the hotel Dan and I were watching TV or something and the kids were sleeping. Kember bolts up right and starts lecturing Caden in her sleep. It was the funniest thing ever. I asked Dan if I talked in my sleep and he said no, but then I got to thinking...how would he know? He'd sleep right through it. So I wonder if it's hereditary, or if she was just really really frustrated with Caden in her dreams.

Look Who's Crawling

Well, you can't really tell from the video because she's distracted by the camera, but she really is crawling and surprisingly enough it isn't a gimpy crawl like all the others have had. Sometimes she will try to use her feet like walking with her hands down, but obviously that doesn't get her very far. No, for serious movement she goes all out, and it is too cute. She started crawling/moving about three weeks ago and I thought I should probably blog her progress, since she is mentioned very little on the blog (although, since I don't blog often, everyone is mentioned very little!). Hopefully I can get the video to work because then you'd get to see her sweet smile and hear her laugh. Really, she's a cutie. It's actually really funny to watch her try to crawl on our wood floor with pants on. She slips a lot but keeps trying to go forward. She also loves (and I do mean LOVES to stand. She pulls herself up on anything she can reach and just is so proud of herself. And then if you hold her hands and walk a bit she just giggles and laughs. She's a cutie alright. Oh, have I already mentioned that in this post? Well, she is.

48 Hours

I was told by my old roommate, Becky, that I had 48 hours to blog this picture she took of Milee. So, Becky, here you go. It is well within the 48 hours (and within minutes of opening the e-mail :) ). She even got Milee kind smiling! Still not as big as it is in person, but I'll take it, especially since I can't get to her smile when I take pictures of her.
It was a great weekend though. No one took any pictures, but we had a lot of fun. All the guys (minus Dan...he was on call and couldn't leave) went to Vegas to see my brother-in-law, Nate, race in a car he built. So, all the girls (minus my sister-in-law Michelle...she got stuck at home with the kiddos) came to St George to have a good time. All the kids played really well together, and the girls did some shopping, said Happy Birthday to all of us (three of the four girls had birthdays in April)...baked some cookies, and just relaxed. I'll admit to getting addicted to Angry Birds. It's a stupid game, but very addicting. I'm seriously considering getting an iPad just so I can play the game. But then I tell myself the game probably isn't worth the $600-$800 dollars it would take to get the iPad. Ah well. Good times were had by all, and I was super sad to see everyone go home. Thanks for coming everything.