What FANTASTIC KIDS!!!! A smile a minute!!

What fun parts of life!!!!

Lake Trips are the #1 Summer fun in the Arizona HEAT!!!

Boating is one of my favorite things on the entire earth to do. My Mom and Dad had a boat before any of us kids were born. They had a boat throughout my entire life and for me to get a boat for my own family was a HUGE life step. So, a few years ago, Jaime and I made that step and what a glorious addition it has been to our family. I kind of think of my boat as a son of mine, but really it just makes great memories for us. Kaden started to ski at age 7. Emma got it at 6. Our sweet Gracyn got it this year at Lake Powell at age 4!!! She screamed and cried and I got it all on video, but no still pictures. Bummer!! I do have Kaden and Emma for starters and will get Gracyn up here as soon as I get some pics.

WAY TO GO KIDS!!!!

Summer and Fall FUN!!!!!!!!!

The last month has been a ton of fun. Granted, I have to write about the months before that, but I will start here. We have had some great family fun. This entry starts with our Ward Family campout up near Payson, Arizona. Tons of fun and as you can see from the pictures, quite dirty and dusty. We had a fun campfire night with songs and treats and of course S'mores! The kids just love being away and in the mountains.

Back At It!!!!

Taitum and Emma, Fairview, Utah 2009
This picture snuck into this post and I don't know how to delete it. It is from 2007. :)

What good Kids!! 2009

Fairview, Utah July 2009

July 2009 Temple Open House

So it is way early on a Saturday morning and instead of being on my way to the Lake with the Scouts, I am here with some extra time to add to my blog. The Scouts had half as many kids show up as they thought. I was the 2nd Boat to go, so I got the release to come back home. No worries! I have enough to do here around the house.

But before I do that, it is smarter of me to catch up a bit since I have let the entire summer go by and haven't written at all. What a summer we have had! Jaime and the kids spent 3 weeks up in Utah visiting all the cousins and Grandma's and Grandpa's and did they ever have a blast! I was lucky enough to go up on the weekends and be there for Family reunions and all the fun!

Nothing beats a good day 4 wheelin!!

Our family has a few things that we just really love...

One of those things is going to the lake and playing around on the boat.

Another one of those things is going on a SWEET 4 wheeler ride into the desert state

of Arizona!!! What a blast it is to be out there cruising around with the kids.

They all love it so much and Kaden has become a great little rider. This last trip he even had

to save himself from a roll while coming down a hill and he did it just like a professional. I am sure it is all that great training from his MOM!! :)

We also can't forget that on this particular trip, we had a special guest... Flat Stanley. For those of you who don't know who Flat Stanley is let me tell you. Flat Stanley is a man made from paper that usually your Niece or Nephew will send to you in an envelope and then you are supposed to take him on great and glorious adventures and then ship him back home with a story and some pictures. This time, our Niece, Taitum, sent him to us and we were happy to show him a great time!! Thanks Tator-tot!!

Oh how I love the GRAND CANYON!!!! May 2009

So as you can see from the first picture, 40 miles in one day in the Grand Canyon can make you CRAZY!!! However, if you do 19 like my wife did, you come out of the Canyon looking as pretty and cute as ever! I need to learn a lesson.

Yep, I attempted Rim to Rim to Rim again. For those of you who don't know about this wild and crazy trek, let me explain. You start at about 2AM and take off hiking. Down into the canyon from the south side and back up the north side 24 miles later. Then, sit for an hour, eat lunch, and take back off from the north and head back to the south. Another 24 miles. This all needs to take place within 24 hours to make it count. That at least, is the rule that my friend Tim Raymond gave me and the others that attempted. He has done it a number of times, but this was my 2nd attempt and I missed it again..... BY just 8 stinkin miles!!!! DANG!!!! Even when I think about it now, it makes me angry that I didn't push just a bit harder. I listened to my body and it said enough is enough. This attempt was with Tim and Amy Raymond and John Brown(Amy's brother). John was the only one to make it all 48 miles. He is my hero! Jaime hiked in the canyon herself (9 miles to the bottom) and waited for me at Phantom Ranch. She too, is my hero. There at Phantom she waited 3 or 4 hours for me and then we hiked out the last 9 miles together. The fun part about hiking out together was talking about how no other person in mine or Jaime's families have ever seen the canyon from within. We send out that challenge!!! Especially to all my Brothers!

Anyway, what a great trip!! I am just glad I finally got to tell the story. If you want another great story, just ask Tim and Amy how they got back out of the canyon from the North rim to the South..... That is a classic!!!

Great Times!!!!!!!!!
PS, I just looked at that first picture again and I look HORRIBLE!! Just remember that was 40 miles of hiking in about 20 hours or so in the Biggest hole in the world. Thanks :)

Belated Birthday cont.

Kaden had his birthday this month and turned 9!!!! Now that is just as crazy as seeing a dog with 3 legs! :) So where do I start with my boy..... Kaden Everest, what a great son you are and oh how I wish I had 5 more just like you! I could then live on a ranch and have my boys and girls around me working side by side. What a great life that would be. Kaden has brought so much happiness and joy into all of his family members lives. He too makes us laugh all the time and feel just happy to be around him. He is extremely polite to all those other folks around him and he does his best to make the little kids around him feel loved and special. He has a gift for many things and he uses his talents to bless others. He is a great example to his sisters even if he does tease them all the time!! They usually get him back by tag teaming and wrestling him to the ground! What a great family night that is!!

Belated Birthday blog!

So Gracyn had a birthday within the last few months and I didn't post anything about her. I'm not the best father in the world, but it's never too late to change!!

Gracyn turned 4 this month. What a fantastic little girl we have in our family. She might be the caboose for now, but with that title she brings all the stubbornness, feistyness(sp?), and excitement that I can handle! On the other hand, she is the sweetness, most musical little singer on the planet. She has a song for everything. Whether it's about a dog named Duke and a cat named Diamond who like to play together and go on hikes with Gracyn, or maybe a princess that saves a goat just so she can ride him in a parade! She can go non stop. I don't know how she does it, but I do know that I love every minute of it! She brings so much light to my life and happiness to our family. She makes us laugh all the time and we love her for it. Gracyn, you are the most wonderful little girl and you are sooooooo loved!

Brother Jed gets Eagle Award during our trip to Utah

What a great day!! Jed, the final of the 6 boys, receives his Eagle award while we are visiting Utah to see family. What a fun night it was to have all of us boys, except Troy(who was in Hawaii), to sit in the Eagle's nest and welcome Jed in. My Dad was very proud to now have all 6 complete. It was fantastic, my parents had a real Bald Eagle there to be shown and the Handler gave a great talk about life and the flight of the Eagle.

CONGRATULATIONS JED!!!! Well done!

Our two little baseball stars! Kaden is playing Rookie and it is kid pitch and machine pitch combined. Emma is playing T-ball and loving being the only girl on the team and one of the only girls in the League. We love to watch them on the field. They do such a great job and Kaden is already making great plays and getting outs as well as hitting like a champ! Emma is learning that the ball comes at you pretty fast and that it is fun to chase the ball no matter where it goes on the field. :) I just love being the assistant coach for Kaden and a crazy fan for Emma!! The best part is just having fun and watching them have such a great time.

Need I say more!! What a kid!!

So this is my sweet Gracyn!! She is the light of our family and brings such joy and happiness to our little world. She can be the most fun and exciting kid ever to be around...
THEN...
You get this side of her and you can't help but laugh and smile. She knows exactly when you have annoyed her too much and she lets you know how she feels. PRICELESS!!

Arizona Winters make for the best Summers!!

We love the lake!!!!! Puts a smile on my face every time I see these four!!

Wow! I thought that I was so up to date with my blog and as I read and look at other blogs, I wonder if my life will ever be as exciting...

It seems like people go ALL out to make sure that their blog is so fantastic, that they lose track of real life. I know that in our family, we have lots of great times, but we have a lot of not so fun times too. Some of the best times of life come after the trials.

Anyway, life is good. I found out today that my little Emma has Pneumonia. What a tough trial. She has struggled with the idea that her body is that sick and the reactions to the medication aren't that fun. I feel for her sweet soul and know that in a week or so, she will be lighting up our home with her funny jokes and big smile.

Luckily, Kaden and Gracyn have yet to get any of it and we hope they won't. They are both doing great and Gracyn takes the cake right now for the funny things she says and the funny things she does. She really is on fire with making up songs about whatever she is doing. For example, a song about putting on her clothes. A song about eating dinner or picking up her toys. A song about playing in the dirt while at Kaden's baseball game. She can go on and on and it is so fantastic!! I could listen to it all day long and Jaime just laughs because she does listen to it all day long and wishes sometimes it would stop. :)

Jaime seems to take it all in stride. She is a great Mom and does such a fabulous job at keeping the house up, the kids in school, homework done, scouts and dance attended, and a million other great things to make life easy and fun for all of us. She even still manages to beat the kids at GO FISH every once in a while too!! Way to go Jaime!! You are the BEST!!!

These are some wonderful pictures from New Year's week up in Utah. What a great time we all had with Cousins and Grandparents!! Emma and Taitum on the sled.

This is our little family with a bunch of warm clothes! Even this Arizona family had a good time with all the right gear to keep the feet and hands warm.

Our sweet Emma! She is an animal in the snow!

Jaime, Kaden, and Gracyn up at Tibblefork Reservoir.

Love my Columbia coat from 1991!!

Still fits me like a glove, but I let Jaime wear it for the day.

The family on the frozen Tibblefork Reservoir with the beautiful Wasatch Mountains in the background. This is up American Fork Canyon. Utah

Here is the great horse and cow train. All the kids loved it!!