It's way past time for an update!

I have good intentions of keeping up with this blog but time seems to move rather quickly and I keep putting it off. It is an easy way to journal however, so I need to do better. So here I go.....Christmas Eve is one of our great family traditions. We always get together with Kevins family. The family is getting so big that we had it at the church this year. (You just can't get 75 people in a family room!) Grandpa Lloyd had been ill for a couple of weeks and was staying at the rehab facility during the holidays. Kevin, Kyle and Jason brought him home for the afternoon and to the party that night. It did him good to be around the family and enjoy Christmas eve. He is home and feeling much better. He will celebrate his 89th birthday in April. What a blessing to have both grandpa and grandma still with us.

We always play fun games after we eat. These guys were great sports to play.

Derrek and Kayla at the party. She got the hat for her white elephant exchange.

The traditional picture of the kids in their new pajamas in front of the tree--I just have to do it every year! I love these four kids sooooooooooooo much!

October and November 2012

Tori and Titan finally got to use the snowmen kits we gave them. What some cool dudes!

For Thanksgiving this year we went to a resort that my sister in law is managing. The house was very nice and we had plenty of room. The weather was great and the kids enjoyed playing outside. Pictured: Krew, Kamden, Isaac, Hayley, Tori, Gracie, Strider, Ryan, Titan and Ben. Lincoln is not in the picture and Kayla was not with us this year. What a cute group!

We had another great deer and elk hunt this year. During the deer hunt the wind blew really hard one night and morning. Two of our trailers ended up with broken windows--one of course was ours! The door blew out of someone's hand and the handle smashed into the window.

What a great family tradition it is to be with the family up in the mountains. The kids have fun playing together, the women enjoy visiting and playing games and the guys enjoy hunting and telling the same stories over and over around the campfire. Brady got a nice deer--his biggest yet. He was thrilled about it.

August 2012

In August we had a family reunion for Kevin's side of the family. The "old" siblings went up to the campspot on Friday and enjoyed being together riding Rhinos and four wheelers. It was a lot of fun. Saturday morning everyone else came up and stayed until Sunday about noon. What a great time we had! The family is growing as you can see and all the kids had fun playing with each other.

Aunt Tana planned many fun activities for the kids. The boys activities were all about cowboys and the girls did princess things. When they were finished they paired up and paraded in front of their parents. They all had such a great time that afternoon. This is Titan and Kayla as they began their walk. Just too cute I think! Can't wait until the reunion next year.

May thru June 2012

We were asked to put a float in the parade for our town celebration. We threw candy as we went. The kids had fun (don't know about the adults) but they were good sports to join in.

More May & June

Titan played T-ball this year. He had fun. His team was called the Hooks. Jason helped coach (that's a lesson in patience!) The team has both boys and girls. Titan can hit quite well when Jason pitches to him.

Titan makes a good catch.

Titan celebrated his seventh birthday the end of June. He had a fun party. Don't you love his summer mohawk? It has since been cut.

Titan with his "angry bird" cupcake cake. So cute.

Strider enjoying his cupcake---and Jazzer waiting for him to drop a piece--

May thru June continued

The mountain above our town caught fire July 1st. Someone was shooting a gun and fire was the result. Helicopters were there for a couple of days making sure it didn't get out of control. Luckily only about a hundred acres were burned. It was great seeing all the family and friends that stopped by to watch that evening!

My mother in law celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday on June 30th. Tana decoratd her front lawn with heart shapes and balloons. It was very festive and she really enjoyed it. Happy birthday Beth--we love you!!

Kevin and I kept Kayla and Strider for a weekend while the others went and played. We rode up to Tony Grove lake where Kayla found enough snow to make the last snowman of the season. Pretty cute, wouldn't you agree?

While Titan was playing a spring soccer game, Strider had fun going down the slide. I love this picture.

Spring catch-up

As usual I am playing catch-up on my blog. Kevin and I decided to take a quick weekend run up to the park. We never go this early in the spring but to be honest, Kevin just couldn't wait another six weeks! The park opened on Friday, April 20th and we got there Saturday morning. We were surprised at how many people were there--I guess they couldn't wait either! We had a great time. We saw two grizzlies and quite a few wolves. We saw two wolf packs that had each taken down an elk. Both were very close to the road. Sometimes the life cycle of nature seems cruel but it is fascinating. We usually don't see wolves close-up when we go to the park so this trip was interesting.