The Last Blast of Summer!

 

We have had a summer full of fun memories, and I think we were able to top off all of the fun activities in a spectacular way by taking another memorable trip to Moab with a couple of Clint's sisters Laura and Cherie and their families.

Not only is it warm and beautiful there, but the condo we get to stay at is beautiful, the kids all have a ball playing with their cousins, and we get to relax and catch up with each other...what a fun family we get to be in!!! Thanks Laura and Kevin for all of the memories...you guys are the BEST! :)

 

Kambriella is sporting her "Blue Gatorade" mustache...cooling down in the shade on a little hike.

The boys loved hiking and exploring and finding all kinds of little places to crawl through ;)...

 

...And I'm not really sure what the name of this rock is called...Kevin called it "the Crack."

It was basically a straight up vertical climb that had a few logs wedged into it to help with the footholds.

I am always up for a challenge, and this was fun and also a little challenging for me because I am deathly afraid of heights! When we all made it to the top, I stayed VERY low to the ground and found only enough courage to barely peek my eyes and nose over the edge... It's progress! :)

(Susette, Clint, Kierra, and Carew...Kevin behind us trying to scare me;)

 

Here is the whole gang (Kevin taking the picture) after a picnic lunch and our crazy Jeep rides in...

We are just getting to leave on our hike...the weather was perfect and it was so fun to see all these little ones so excited for their adventure! Especially the youngest one of all...Sawyer Gailey ~ 2 months old! Good job Blake and Cherie! He was a trooper! ;)

Here we are in the Cave of Carens...

Everywhere you go hiking, you can find these "carens" stacked up to let you know you are going the right way. In this cool little cave, each of the visitors have added a new "caren" to the collection. Carew and Dallin had fun climbing to one of the highest points to leave their caren. :)

Here we are entering some of the narrow slot canyons on our hike. It was so fun to be in there where the wind carried a slight breeze through the cracks that felt so nice and cool...a great break from the hot sun...

Cute little monkeys Carew and Dallin

Here is Clint "squeezing" through! It's a good thing we were all pretty small people or we might not have all made it through! Glad we did! (Even if some of us had to go through pigeon toed;)

...Kind of a blurry picture, but a fun one nonetheless!

Our whole family posing for a picture in the slot climbing the walls like Spider Man!

 

And I would not be very grateful if I did not dedicate a great big "Thank You" to our crazy tour guide Kevin! Talk about a barrel of laughs!!! This is one funny guy, one fun brother-in-law, and quite a dare devil to say the least!

Kevin and Laura,

Thanks so much for being such wonderful people and for loving our family! You guys are so lucky to be related to some pretty amazing people!!;)

 J/K! (That was what Clint would have wanted me to say...;)

But no really...Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for another fun adventure in Moab!

Can't wait for the next one! Happy Summer!!!!

 



Organizing turned Decorating...Super Fun!!!

I went shopping with Kierra for her new "teenage" bedroom decor....and look what I found?!!!!:)

I immediately fell in love with this 2 tiered white shelf that was an absolute PERFECT fit for the little corner in my kitchen! No, there was nothing wrong with the older shelf I had revamped myself ~ other than I felt like the space was a bit cramped to open the fridge... But now I LOVE it!

 I love to find a way to make a space beautiful AND functional! Here, I have the perfect spot for my buckets of potatoes, drawers of spices, flour, rice, and sugar, AND the sweet treat snack bins for the kids and their friends to help themselves whenever they want! :)

 

 

 

Also, Kierra had a brilliant idea to "trade" rooms with Kambriella.

At first I thought she was crazy to want to give up the big "tree" room for a smaller bedroom, but I quickly understood her point of view when she said that she wanted her room to feel like a "teenager" room and not a "little girl" room.

So, after a few days of gutting, cleaning, re-organizing, and decorating,

we have successfully "traded" rooms!

 They were both lovely rooms to begin with, but I really think that this idea was a "Win~Win" for both of these sweet sisters! Now we have 2 happy campers AND 2 beautiful bedrooms!!!

 

Kambriella's new room:

 

 

 

 

...And Kambriella's play room off the back of her bedroom...(where she now spends hours everyday :) You can't see it very well from the photo, but both sides of the room are lined with well organized "play areas" with her dolls, toys, dress~up, coloring desk, baby beds and strollers, and her little "hair salon"... loads of fun!!! :)

 

 

...And here is Kierra's "Teenage Room" ~ completely coordinated by items of HER choice! (She DID get her mother's taste for color!;) I love it Kierra! :) Great idea girl!!!

 

 

 

I just love making a "house" a "home" by the feel that you give it with your own personal touch!

~ And I especially love when my kids say that their favorite place to be...is home!!! :) I like our home to be neat, organized, AND beautiful...but the FEELING there is what is the most important to me.

 I try to put a picture of the temple or the Savior in every room in the house...and I always try to play beautiful music or have laughter and uplifting conversations. This is obviously something that we are constantly working at in a family of 7 where everyone is trying hard to learn to "get along and be peacemakers" ;) But I do love being Home... the windows of heaven truly have poured us out blessings more than we have room enough to receive...in every way!



My Man...One Good Daddy...

I was in the kitchen doing the lunch dishes after church on Sunday when I heard the familiar sound of Kambriella and Clint reading stories together and giggling on the couch.

I stopped what I was doing and peeked around the corner to try and spy on their fun and was just in love with what I saw...

a Daddy that truly loves his children...

and just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter...

Ooo you're a good man.

Oooo I love you so much.

Then he calls for me to come join them...

Oooo I am one lucky mama!

One Tiny Puddle...

I simply couldn't resist the recording of the pitter patter

 of these little feet on my heart last week...

It was about 7:30 in the morning, and I had just returned from my morning run...I had decided to stay out in the yard after kissing Clint goodbye as he left for work...when this sweet little baby girl came running over to me and said,

"Mommy!!! Come see my little baby footprints!!!"

There was only one tiny little puddle of water left in the driveway from where we had received a little rain earlier that morning, but it was all she needed to leave another impression on my heart.

I followed her over to where she had discovered the water

 and sat down in front of her with the biggest smile on my face as I watched her jump and splash around with"Whino and Puppy Child"...

She laughed and smiled as she danced around and then ran around the puddle leaving her little footprints everywhere.

She helped make time stand still for just a moment as I looked on admiringly...

This precious little girl is a daily reminder to me of where to find joy in life...In the small and simple things all around us everyday.

 One thing is for sure...

If ever I forget where to find my focus, all I need to do is remember to look at life through the innocent eyes of a child and then remember to follow in their "footprints"...

Our Summer Vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota

A few weeks ago Clint and I took the family on a road trip vacation and explored a part of the world that we had never seen... This was a different kind of vacation ~ no long lines or too many crowds ~ and LOTS of time to talk, relax, and just enjoy being together. I loved it!!! (And I got to stare at this cute driver for hours on end! ;)

We stayed in a little town called Lead in South Dakota ~ where we rented a cabin for the week up on Terry Mountain ~ and the minute we started driving up the mountain , we rolled down our windows and took in the fresh mountain air...I thought it was hilarious that just as I started thinking about how good it smelled, Kierra shouted out, "It smells like Christmas!!!" It's true! The fresh smell of pine was everywhere...I loved it!!!

One of the fun things that we got to do was go on a few cave tours which our family has always loved... But we find the more caves we go and see, the more we HAVEN'T seen! Each cave we went in seemed to get only bigger and better than the last one we had seen!

We went through Wind Cave and then had a picnic lunch at one of the picnic areas and then headed on to Jewel Cave which was the largest of all of the caves we have been to so far...

One of the coolest parts of Jewel Cave is the fact that there are certain areas that you can go in where the opening is only 7 1/2" tall and 24" wide... so they have this cement cube that you can crawl in just outside the visitor's center to see if you would "fit" through the tour... as you can see, we did fit, BUT you couldn't PAY me to go through that part of the cave!!! Just this little block made me feel claustrophobic!!!

~After our fun filled day of exploration, we headed home just as it started raining and we encountered THE most beautiful double rainbow that stretched across the ENTIRE sky!!! It was as if Heavenly Father was saying, "Here you go...here's one more beautiful sight for you to see!"

We also went to see the famous Mt. Rushmore which to me almost felt like we were walking on sacred ground. There was such a feeling of gratitude and patriotism that I felt and I was reminded how lucky I am to be an American and live in freedom in this great nation...

You can see how "Puppy Child" had to go with us everywhere we went! ;)

After we enjoyed the view of Mt. Rushmore, we HAD to take a ride on the President's Slide...where my suspicions were correct...my "competitive" children HAD to see who could make it down the mountain the fastest...I KNOW they get it from their dad! (And I think Kambriella has it the worst!;)

We also went to see the Crazy Horse Monument which is another amazing thing to see! It is SOOOO big that all of Mt. Rushmore's Presidents could fit in the head of the Indian "Crazy Horse..."

They have been working on the mountain for about 60 years, and estimate they will probably be completed with the project in another 40-60 years...maybe one day my children will get to see it completed...

This white statue is what the mountain will look like when it is all completed...

We also got to go through some neat mines and see how they used to mine for gold...we even got to do a little gold panning ourselves! Clint seemed to be the "Pro" at finding the gold...

Despite all of the fun places we went and all of the neat things that we got to see, I still think that some of my most favorite memories of this vacation will be the fun that we had as we would

"wind down" at the end of the day back at the cabin...

The kids each had a room they could relax in and call their own, there was even quiet time where Clint and I cuddled up on the bed and read a book out loud to each other...

We had fun playing darts and air hockey together...

but the best part of the night was...

The Hot Tub!!! 

At the end of each day, we would all get our swim suits on and go relax in the hot tub!

 We would all go around the circle and let each person tell what their favorite part of the day was...

Little Gavin would always say, "all of it!" ~every night his answer was the same!!!!

Also, Kambriella's response was the same each night...her favorite part..."the hot tub!!!"

We would turn off the lights in the hot tub and look at the big sky FULL of stars...even LOTS of shooting stars!!! We would also take turns sharing scary stories...Kambriella's was again the same each night, always about scary "spiders and snakes and bears..."

I have said it before and I will say it again, it doesn't really matter what we are doing with our family, but creating these memories together is one of my very favorite things. Time with these loved ones is so precious to me, and I only hope that these loving memories will be a firm foundation for a "bank" full of love that each of them will take with them when they head out into the world on their own one day. I am so blessed...I am so happy...I am the luckiest girl alive...