Happy birthday Eric!

So I didn't get a post up on Eric's birthday. I have been a slacker like that lately. Andrea and JoAnn's post were sweet and sentimental... which were very enjoyable... BUT that means I can skip over that and post 3 things...

1. Happy Birthday Eeek!

2. That I am going to miss going to this with him...

                                

3. and this.....

                                

I guess we'll have some catching up to do... until then we hope all the best for him as he continues to serve the Lord in Athens!

Boating at PineView

The Bradshaw family reunion included a day at the lake. Ryan and I both come from boating families and enjoy being out on the water. It makes me feel like a kid every time I get on tube. My sister Janelle (and the rest of the sibs as they got older) and cousins would ride on the tube on the lakes around Loveland many summers. The best memories though are of Lake Powell. We would ride until we just couldn't hang on anymore or someone was bloody, whatever came first! This trip wasn't quite like that and Pappy (drove the boat) knew my kids would cry if I got hurt. Oh wait... they still cried, make that screamed when I let go after being to tired to hold anymore. 

The lake was too choppy by the time we got to the lake so dad just did a little knee board action. He still looks tough =)

The Mamas with the babies for a leisure ride on the tube.

The second ride wasn't quite as slow as the first... they are catching on fast!

My sweet baby James

And Kooka Kaylie being Kookie.

The Bradshaw Gang. 

My Family in the sand

Sneakin' some treats!

Just cute

Davis County Fair 2008

I am finally getting around to posting the pictures of Grandma Jo & Pappy's visit last week! Once again they aren't in order of the how they happened. The fair visit was actually on saturday near the end of the visit. 

Kaylie riding Charlie the Horse

James riding Goldie

James loved the pig and went back multiple times to pet him.

The Goat

Where is Kaylie you ask?... Outside the fence of course! Most of you know she pretty much terrified of animals, even the pony ride is a stretch. In her opinion the zoo is the only place for animals. 

So no pictures of Grandma or Pappy but they were there along with Andrea and Karston... check their blogs for more pictures.  

Geocaching

This post is long over due but I am still catching up on all of the adventures big and small that we have had. This was a smaller adventure but with the little effort that it took it sure was fun!

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. For simpler geocaching like the one we did you can use google maps. 

We took a short walk near our home (about 10 minutes) 

but still ran into poison ivy along the way.

The cache is large and not hard to find so the kids where able to help find it. 

They each brought a small toy to swap. 

They both had to inspect each toy before making a choice.

They did finally make a choice, we signed the finder log 

and returned the cache to its hiding spot. 

Showing off their loot!

You can go to www.geocaching.com and make a free account after which you can enter the zip code you wish to hunt in and begin your first real live treasure hunt!

Note: We have since swiped Eric's GPS (with his permission of course) to check out some caches that you really do need the GPS so hopefully we will have another success story to share.

Baby Elizabeth

My Sister Janelle celebrated her 1st wedding anniversary on the 9th of this month and then on the 12th had her first baby. Janelle did a great job with the labor and delivery and both are doing well. This is my first niece and my only niece/nephew on my side of the family. I am so happy that we were able to be there for it. For more of the story and more pictures check out my sister's new blog. 

P.s. For Austen lovers.... How romantic of name can you get??? 

Olympic Junkies

Note: For our Shoreline family we are finally home now. Our stay was extended a couple of days due to a stubborn baby but I will post more about that happy news later. Sorry for the things that I flaked out on (especially play group) I'll make it up to you for sure!

My dad and his family are huge olympics lovers and consequently I and all of my siblings and now my children are olympic crazies. We watch at all hours as much as we possibly can. 

You might be an olympics fanatic if...

4. Your 4 year old knows that if she says that she needs to see Michael Phelps swim for a gold medal her mother will let her stay up longer.

3. Your 2 year old tries to butterfly stroke in the swimming pool. 

2. Your 4 year old races to get her pajamas on and proudly returns to ask what medal she gets.

1. You are in labor and pushing out your first born child with the olympics on the television.  

For olympic lovers and non-olympic lovers everywhere you have to watch this video I got from my grandmother (watch it twice it is even funnier the second time):

Camping in the Uintas

Yep, we have another last minute adventure. Aaron and Andrea decided they wanted to take a stab at camping with their little man. We thought we'd help them out and invited ourselves to join in on the fun. We had a great time despite a rough start. 

The kids and I started up later after the Ryan and the Skidmores. I had directions, but not being a native of the area wasn't exactly sure where I was going. It was dark and that didn't help either. After about 2 hours of driving what should have been a little more than an hour worth of driving we did make it to camp at about 11 p.m. I have to admit I was a little freaked out driving in the middle of nowhere. At one point the suburban that was in front of us at the time hit a deer that ripped off the bumper and took out its front lights. (Yeah I almost went home after that incident.)  

Kaylie was our saving grace. Sitting in the back of the car she said, "Mom should I say a prayer?" Yes, hunny I think that would be a good idea. She said a short and simple prayer. We made it to camp sometime later. The real eye opener to me was when we were on our way home a couple of days later. When Ryan drove home we weren't even on the same road that I had been on to get there! At the time Kaylie said her prayer I think that I believed that I was right enough that I just needed a little help. To know now that I was not where I should have been and still made it is humbling and I am so thankful for a little girl's faith.

One of the few pictures of Kaylie with no nose plugs.

The Skidmores on a hike around Trial Lake.

Tossing rocks in the lake was the favorite activity of the kids (especially James).

We did another short (but steep) hike up to Cliff Lake. 

It wasn't always easy...

but the kids really did do a good job

and finished the hike with smiles.

 

Camp life was fun and relaxing