Happy Birthday Taite

What do you say when your grandson asks "Granny, will you make me a big cupcake cake for my birthday this year?"  Of course you tell him yes!!  The look on Taites face is priceless!  I tried to talk him into orange colored frosting since it's October, but he insisted on blue...which is his favorite color.  TaNeal had invited a bunch of people over for his party and we knew that one big cupcake wasn't going to feed everyone, so with the help of Holly, we decorated some small cupcakes to go with it.  YUMMY!!!!!  Taite turned 6 this year and loves kindergarten and playing on the farm with grandpa.  Happy Birthday Taite...Granny and grandpa love you!

Happy Birthday Jonas

Today begins a month full of birthdays...infact...5 of our 11 grandchildren were born in October!  So that means that this Granny is pretty busy traveling from one birthday celebration to another and loving every minute of it!  This is our youngest grandchild, Jonas and this was a magical birthday year for him.  He turned 4 on October 4th.  When I asked Jonas where he wanted to go for a birthday eve lunch I knew where we were headed...Sizzler!!!  That is his favorite place to eat!  Jonas is such a little sweetheart and says the funniest things!!  He loves the color pink and right now is in love with Angry Birds...which is why we bought him the movie Rio.  Happy Birthday my sweet little Jonas...Granny and grandpa love you!!!

Going Buggy

One thing I'll say for Kenzie is that when she has something to do, she puts her whole heart and soul into it!!  With school just beginning, one of her first big assignments was to collect a bunch of bugs, then mount them and identify them.  The whole family was involved in the search.  They found quite a few while we were up on the mountain and I even picked her up from school one day at lunch in search of the "walking stick".  Sadly it was the one bug that would have brought her score up to 100.  She labeled each species and made sure proper credit was given to the person who found the bug. Who do you think the #1 contributor was...her little brother Taite.



Our Labor Day Campout

This weekend was our annual camp out with our family up Fairview Canyon.  The past two years we had a secluded spot (that we drove the trailers up to a week before Labor Day weekend just so we could save the spot) but this year someone beat us to it!  So we went to option #2 - C canyon ridge.  As the weekend went on we remembered why we love this spot and why we had camped there for so many years while our kids were growing up.  Our names were on almost every tree in this little spot.  These pictures below were of our family names carved in this tree back in 1987 and Jason and Krystens back in 2003.

This year we invited my nephew Steven, his wife Katy and their little boy Steller to join us.  There is plenty of room up there on those mountains.  We had tons of fun sitting around the campfire, going fishing, hiking and cooking our meals in the dutch ovens.  Aaron and Holly did make it up Sunday afternoon for dinner but we still haven't been able to talk Brandi and her family to join us.  Maybe next year :-)

Here are just a few of the pictures of our fun weekend...

Jason and Wyatt in "Ray"

Gavin just enjoying the shade

Fishing on the rocks

Logan, Haylee and Tia

Steven and Steller

This picture pretty much sums up how many fish Steven caught

 

Katy and Steller...and Randy in the back pumping gas

Steven teaching Taite how to chop wood

Dominic just kicking back with Tia

This is the "hut" the boys worked on together

Jason giving the crew a break on their beaver pond hike

Hanging out around the campfire

The beaver pond

The yummy raspberry cobbler Jason and Krysten made in the dutch oven

For a minute I thought Kenzie was praying...then I realized she

was just bored!!

I love this picture of Kenzie!!  It looks like she is just leaning in space.

Actually, she is leaning on a shovel.

So...as you can see...we had an awesome time.  Being with the ones you love...out in the beautiful mountains that God created for us to enjoy...what more could you ask!

Spring City Canyon

Tonight Randy and I decided to take a little drive up Spring City canyon.  The youth were going on a hike to the tunnel and I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going...so up the mountain we went.  This waterfall was on the first little hike we took looking for the infamous tunnel.  As we traveled along the roads we talked about how lucky we are to have these beautiful mountains within minutes of our house.  When our kids were little we use to load them all in the truck and drive up on the mountain to roast hot dogs and marshmallows and just spend time together as a family.  Now they are all grown up and it's just the two of us.  While we didn't roast any hog dogs, we did enjoy the peace and beauty these mountains bring.  Following are some shots from the mountain...and our little "mud boggin" adventure.

Raised in the Hood

This my friends, is my sweet son Jason...who is not only good looking and very talented, but has a personality that is AWESOME!!!  He is not afraid to be his own person...and I am so thankful he found our Krysten, who loves him for who he is.  Brandi took this picture while we were at Bear Lake and then posted it on her Facebook page. When I saw it, I couldn't quit laughing!!  Then all the comments that went back and forth between our family were priceless.  He tried to blame his quirky attire on his four sisters, but in the end I came to see how much he loves them and they love him.  So here is to being "raised in the hood" with four sisters!!  Did I mention how much I love my kids?!?!?!

Jason and our sweet Krysten at Bear Lake

Bear Lake 2011

Last week was our yearly family gathering at Bear Lake.  It's a time of year that I truly look forward to because I have the chance to spend time with my children, my grandchildren, my mom, brother, sister and all my nieces and nephews.  I've been coming to the lake since I was just a young child with my grandparents and it is filled with memories that I treasure.  It makes me sad to think that this time at the cabin will end in 2017 when the place will be turned over to Aunt Dodes grandchildren, but how blessed we have been all these years to have the chance to spend time together at such a beautiful place.  As we were cleaning up and getting ready to leave, Damon asked me  "Granny, so why are you giving up this motel in 5 years?"  Oh how I wish that wasn't going to happen.  But we will cherish the few years we have left and make memories for my children and grandchildren to remember.

This year...as always...we had tons of fun and lots of different projects to keep us busy.  Here are just a few of the pictures of Bear Lake 2011

Fun times on the Seadoo

The kids ready to play in the water

My five beautiful children at the Raspberry Days parade

Poker games in the boat house

Just sitting in front of the boat house watching the kids play in the lake

Tie-dying shirts - you will notice all the colorful creations in our family picture

Decorating cookies

Watching the Raspberry Days parade on main street in Garden City

Yummy treats made by my neices

A family picture including my mom



So here is to the family tradition started a long, long time ago of spending precious time together at that cabin on Bear Lake and creating memories that will last long after our time there has ended.  Bless you Aunt Dode and Uncle Fred for sharing this beautiful place with us for so many years.