Vacation 2009 - It's a Doozy!

Wow! What a trip! We had so much fun on this vacation. These first two pictures are Hoover Dam. The first being a look at the beautiful canyon and the second one of the new bridge they are building. Notice how high it is!

Here's Mom and Dad's house where we all stayed. It was great! The kids were able to run around and they had a great time together. I love how they just meld together so quickly and thoroughly. I know my kids were not ready to leave when the time came.

So, the big boy's project (one of them) was to finish the shed. They worked really hard and got a lot done and I think they enjoyed it as well. Here's how it looked when we left, waiting for sideing and touch ups.

What project would be complete without a mishap? Daniel ran into the house asking for a hot glue gun one morning. We were a bit confused about that, wondering what good a hot glue gun would be on the shed. Emily and I decided to be nosy. Turns out, Andy cut his leg and needed a first aid kit and super glue (which worked pretty well for keeping the would closed). Then we decided a big crowd around the invalid would be just the thing :)

Bekah had a ball with Rachel, who is just short of ten months old. She was pretty shy with the adults but loved Bekah.

The girls were so cute collecting rocks...from the driveway! In fact, Em's family arrived while the others were at church and we had just got back from church. Alexis and Bekah proceeded to find a bucketful of rocks for Grandpa. When Andy's van arrived, their first question was "Where is Grandpa?" Below Bekah and Ellie show off their rock collection, which was later sorted into rocks to keep and rocks to give to Grandpa. Thankfully, they all stayed there!

We did go to the pool one day. But it was crowded and not as much fun as we had hoped. The kids enjoyed it though...until some started getting cuts and scrapes on their toes. We were definitly ready to leave when the time came.

Chipmunks were everywhere at the house. Catching them turned into a favorite pastime. No chipmunks were harmed in the process.

They had a bucket rigged up to a string, food under the bucket and the chipmunks could not resist. They just kept coming back for more.

One day we drove up to Lamoille Canyon. It was beautiful. The kids had a great time walking the trails, even walking up high enough to find snow. Dad said Bekah just wanted to keep on going and going.

I love this picture of Dan and Paul.

Here's Dad taking the girls up to the snow.

Great picture of Thanny throwing rocks into the stream. And the sexy legs behind him, of course!

Ben, Tim, Audrey and Megan.

Another precious picture of Bekah and Rachel.

Mom and Dad and all their grandchildren.

Roasting marshmallows! We had a great big bonfire in James' firepit. Great fun and good eatin!

James and Ellie

I like this picture of Mom and Dana.

Dad playing with Thanny.

Paul, Dan and Audrey at the firepit just before we left.

Okay, these crazy girls decided they wanted to get up early to go on a hike. They set the alarm for 5:30 am (but didn't go to sleep until 10:00pm). They actually woke up at 4! They did have their early morning hike and then set out later in the morning to have a picnic before we left. Needless to say, Bekah slept a lot in the car that day.

Family photo which Mom and Dana managed to not be in.

Waving goodbye.

Tired kids!

So, we had sooooooooo much fun. Thanks Emily for bring the Twilight books and Phase 10 Dice. I now have two new addictions. :) Thanks to all the cousins for the awesome time playing and exploring. Especially great for Paul and Bekah because we live in town and don't have the ability to that too much. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us invade your house...hope it's still standing :). And let me just say, when we got home at 12:30 am Monday morning and it was still 95 degrees outside, we were wishing we had stayed a little longer!