A few pics from England/Scotland

Here are a few (well a lot) of pictures from our whirlwind 9 day tour of England.  Devin and I had a blast!!!  We had 9 days of cathedrals, castles, countryside and adventure.  It was a dream come true.

Channeling Martha

I have been canning like a maniac! My salsa worked this year, so I am feeling on top of the world. Also, made 8 jars of peach freezer jam this morning and it tastes great. My garden is keeping me very, very busy. I'll post pics of my amazing trip to England and Scotland tomorrow.

Eight days and counting!

I am so excited to FINALLY go to London that I can hardly sleep (well, I do suffer from insomnia but I am going to blame England on this latest attack). Can't wait to go to Westminster, Tower of London, Picadilly Square, cliffs of Dover... it goes on and on.

Better Late Than Never

I never posted any pics of our trip to Greece and Venice in October 2010, so here they are. This was such a fun trip with Devin's sisters and mom and their spouses. What an amazing adventure.

Also, 10 days and counting until Devin and I are on our way to England!!!! I have been waiting for this trip for 25 years. Can't believe I am almost there.

This is where the official Olympics began and this is the original starting line that was used for all of the races, so the guys couldn't resist a race of their own.

Hunter turns 8!

Well, it's official. Hunter turned eight on July 22. Despite all of my protests, and trying to convince him that moms can cancel birthdays, my baby turned 8. Here are a few of the pics I took for his baptism.

1 day/ 2 weddings

August 13th was the official wedding day for our family.

We had two weddings just hours apart and Devin and I managed to make it to both.
First it was Christopher and Emily's beautiful wedding.

Her most amazing dress. We are so excited she is now officially part of our clan.

The obligatory aunt photo, that we take at all weddings, except for Macy on the far right, she's just a cousin that snuck into the shot.

And then later that day, Chase and Meg were married. Here is the bride in her amazing dress.

Chase and Meg on their happy day.

And no wedding is complete without the silly pic. Chase can you believe that THESE guys are your closest blood relatives? Yes, you are stuck with them FOREVER!!!

I grow!!!

My garden got a late start this summer because it wouldn't stop raining the entire month of June. These are the first tomatoes from the garden. I picked them last week and we had them in a yummy bean and corn and red pepper salad. I think Katie and I ate most of the bowl. Luckily, I have 13 tomato plants this year!!

Look at how pretty and weed free these babies are!! I have stayed on top of the garden this year. Hope I get enough tomatoes to can 4-5 dozen jars.

The squash looks great too. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few days...

Still can't believe how great my tomatoes look.

Jalapeno peppers for the amazing salsa I will be creating this summer. If you think it, it will happen. Last year my salsa wasn't very good, so I have been planning this next batch for almost 10 months. I have a college degree, I will not let salsa get the best of me.

Peach trees also look great. The kids can't wait for the fresh peaches. Even the neighbor kids have been asking when we will have our yummy peaches.

An up close look at our peaches. Grow little guys, grow.

Park City: One Adult, Six Kids...

My sister asked me to watch her kids for 5 LONG days and I had a brilliant idea to take them to Park City for most of those 5 LONG days.

Don't let their cuteness fool you. There was a lot of whinning, some full on brawls, much complaining... so I guess I'm telling you that they were acting like siblings from day one.

I didn't take any pictures of us at the pool because I was too busy with the kids and frankly, I was just too tired and didn't want to look for my camera.

This is the bed that I TRIED to sleep in. One night I had a child on either side of me and one crying in the other room.

This is the room that Cari stayed in for one night until she got deathly ill and escaped Park City in 3.8 seconds, Skyler was counting.

And this is the table where most of the activity took place. These kids ate like piranahs!! No joke. It was amazing to watch.

Looking back on the week, we did have a lot of fun and we were worn out every night. But it was a lot of work and I have to say I am very happy with my THREE children because I know now that I would not be a very good mother of SIX!

Success!

Last weekend turned out to be a huge success. I brought plenty of yummy food, tin foil dinners, smores, lots of snacks...
But somehow Devin was able to trump me by bringing the guns.
Spencer did a great job with the shotgun, he shot a lot of clay pigeons.

Devin and Spencer took turns managing the clay pigeon shooter thing and shooting.

Hunter enjoyed the fire. I think he went through 3 boxes of matches all by himself. This brought back so many childhood memories.

Drum roll please... Yes, this is Spencer and yes he is driving a four wheeler ALL BY HIMSELF. He did a great job on the trails with the whole family. This year we had to buy another four wheeler because the kids are getting too big and Spencer got to drive one for the first time. There were a couple of very rocky and tricky areas that we went through and he did a great job. So proud of him, because he is not adventurous and I know that inside it was scary, but he did it!!!

Katie even rode around all by herself. She was able to let go of some of her hatred of getting diry and ride around with the boys for most of the day on Saturday. But as soon as she got off back at camp, she went straight for the anti-bacterial wipes.

And then there is Hunter. What can I say, except he is an animal. He listened to about 12 seconds of instructions from Devin on how to shift gears and where the break was and then he was off. He is a natural. I am always amazed that Spencer and Hunter share the same DNA because they couldn't be more different from each other.

There goes Katie. What you don't see is that Hunter has sped way in front of her and she is trying to catch up.

This pic cracks me up because Hunter's foot can't even touch the floor board, but don't tell him that. He found a way to make everything work just fine, and I have to admit he was a great driver.

The only thing I would have changed about the weekend was the night we spent in the tent FREEZING TO DEATH!!! It was SO cold. Katie and I huddled next to each other literally shivering while the boys snored away on the other side of us. I don't know how they stayed warm because I haven't been that cold in a long time, maybe never.

Love the pic. Look at Hunter with his glasses on and folding his arms like he is the man. It is fun watching my kids grow up and experiencing the beauty of the Utah mountains. I feel like I am carrying on a tradition and it makes me feel good.

Where is the mom?

Who knew camping was SO much work. It has taken me most of the day to get ready for a one and a half day camping trip. My mom made it look so easy. All we did as kids was show up and then go have a blast playing in the fire, making our own little fires (all very safe, thank you dad).

Now that I am the mom, I have a great appreciation for my own amazing mother, because she just did it and never complained and my parents made it a fun weekend, even though they had no money and a camping weekend was all they could afford. As a kid, I had no idea that was why we always got to go camping. I thought we had the greatest vacations ever!

So while preparing for this fun weekend in a tent and next to a firepit, I have made a special effort and I have been the epitomy of happiness and excitement! I am so proud of myself, because deep inside I am wondering "Where is the mom?"

I'll have pics up on Sunday of our adventure in the High Uintah mountains, hopefully they will contain pure child happiness and lots of fun. And me looking like I know what I am doing and enjoy it, just like my mom did...