Kane Lake

These are pictures of when the men decided to have some "MAN" time.  They hiked up to Kane Lake and spent the night next to this gorgeous mountain lake.  Dennis was the photographer and took some incredible photos.  Way to go Dennis!

 

 

2012 Camping Continued

Ah, the story goes on.  Who puts their babies on a picnic table?  And then uses one of them as a headrest for Collin.   I think Collin is enjoying it, but I am not sure about Kylee - although she does have a smile on her face.

 The men in deep discussion about the In's and Out's of 4-wheelers and how they are going to make it go.

 Dakota - our wonderful, energetic teenager that kept the younger kids entertained for hours - Thank you Dakota!

 The green umbrella table - what a great idea - Thanks for bringing it Tracy! It worked great for all the kids.

 Maddie - the best eater in camp - I think we should name her two-handed eating ritual - she has it down to a science

 .Ah, Steven in totally relaxation - I hope that he at least finished one book while we were camping.

  Grant - the lover of food - it didn't matter if it came in a box, on a plate on in this case a plastic zip-lock baggie.

Abby enjoying the same meal as Grant, but preferred the plate option.

 Blake discovering the joys of laying in a hammock - what a novel concept - relaxation while camping.

 Our family photo - we should have taken it the first day when we didn't look so rough.

 Aftyn, Kaylee and Abby posing while the sheep came thundering down the road with their sheep dog!

 Nicole to the rescue with her rock painting - I was amazed at how creative they were in coloring and designing their rocks.

Travis and Ryann in a rare shot of togetherness - eating without holding or feeding a baby or child - oh, wait Maddie is next to them.

 Steve and Nicole and Jack as a family - just gotta love that shirt. I'm glad that they came. Jack just fit right in with the rest of the cousins.

 I just know that Collin has something really important to say - I just can't make out the words yet.

 Aftyn was proud of her pictures, rocks and story with stickers

 .Hunter's face tells it all - I don't know what he had been doing, but he must have been enjoying it by the look on his face.

 Yes, we love to hold our "Grand babies"!

 

2012 Camping Trip to Parkcreek Campground

Family camping this year was held from August 4-9 at Park Creek Campground which is about 20 miles from Sun Valley, Idaho.  We basically had the campground to just our family for the major portion of the time that we were there.  It started out with us packing not only the truck this year, but also travis's utility trailer.  So much for going light!  Tracy, Jaxon and Abby rode over with us and then Tyler joined us on Wednesday.  Tanner and Chelsey followed in their car.

 

Troy, Laura, Steve and Nicole left the day before from Seattle and got there about the same time as us. Tyler and Dakota came up on Saturday nd stayed until Tuesday evening. Travis and Ryann came up on Sunday and Tenille and Grant's family came up on Monday evening. 

 

 It was wonderful having everyone at camp with us this year.  We did not plan a lot of activities except for the men going on an overnighter to Kane Lake.  We did a lot of day hikes, riding bikes, wading in the creek, EATING food morning, noon, night and just enjoying each other's company.  The first day was a little scary with Abby getting locked in the bathroom, but that's all it took and no one else tried it again. 

 

We had perfect weather - no rain, wind or bugs.  We did have some smoke from all of the wildfires that were burning around us.  The only other incident that we had was Tyler hurting his leg while coming back from the hike, but Tanner took him into Sun Valley were he got about 10 stitches in the front of his leg.  It looked like it really hurt.  Next year we will bring some coban and lots of gauze bandages.  Thanks to Grant who took all of the right first aid stuff.  This year was a challenge with having 5 babies under the age of 1 year, but we seemed to manage.  Everyone knew that it was expected that you would always be holding someone's baby and sometimes 2 babies depending on who was getting feed at any given time.  If you weren't holding a baby than you were cooking a meal or doing clean-up.

 

Overall it was a wonderful camping experience - I have tried to share some of my favorite photos.  I will post more later.

 

The twins the day we left - they were so clean!

 

 Travis's loaded utility trailer.

 Dennis's loaded Truck.

 Abby and Jack playing with ropes that they found.  They tied each other to the tree.  I know that a couple of parents had thought of the idea, but it was much better that the 4 years do it on their own.

 Collin just loved the exercisers that Chelsey brought for them to play in.

 Jaxon was the mechanic of the camp.  I think he wrapped that change around the post at least 10 times.

 Like I said, everyone always had a baby including Alyssa, holding Kylee.

 This was everyone crossing the creek to go on one of our day hikes.

 This deer would frequent our campsite almost daily.  I actually thought this was a pretty good photo.

 This was the oldest and the youngest of my children discussing college education funds??

 Jaxon was bound and determined to get a drink, no matter how wet he got.

 Yes, we can't go camping without a little of this going on.

 Oh, Lizzie loves kisses from Momma!

 Dakota and Tyler kept the kids busy for hours on the 4-wheelers.  They were actually a lot of fun.  However, Dennis did convince me to ride on one up the road with him, which was a lot of fun until he almost tipped it over.

Ah, this is my favorite photo with all three babies laying down and getting a little extra luv'in from their cousins!  It doesn't get any better than this.

Seattle - Troy's Graduation

The three little munchkins, Collin, Kylee and Cooper at Troy and Laura's house in June for Troy's graduation.  Look at those eyes - I think that I must have terrified them all with my camera.

 Tracy with Abby and Jaxon waiting outside of a restaurant that we decided the wait was too long and went somewhere else.  Doesn't Tracy look happy!

 Tracy, Abby, Jaxon and Aftyn sitting on a chimp - this was one of our good moments - you will have to ask Tracy for the details of the rest of the visit at the zoo.

 I swear this eagle was holding still just for me.  The Eagle was absolutely breathtaking.  I didn't realize that they were such a large bird.

 Dennis with Aftyn and Abby - this should have been a picture with Tyler B who is always sticking his tongue out.  Maybe Dennis is taking lessons from Tyler.

 Since Tracy's man was not around, here was the next best substitute (just kidding)

 Our 3 little angels, but see what happened next when we put Jaxon in the crib with them.

 I think he was tired of laying around doing nothing.  I wish this photo wasn't so blurry, but it is still my favorite with Jaxon stepping over the twins and Collin to get out of the crib.  (He was trying to be so careful).

 Troy in his graduation gown with Laura's family - Is Laura happy or what!!!!

 I loved this watermelon idea that Nicole Adams had a Jack's birthday party and then she brought it over for Troy's graduation party.

 Chelsey with the twins and Abby - I believe she had her hands full.

 Dennis with Collin - I am thinking he wasn't too happy.

 Perhaps this was the reason he wasn't so happy - I love this picture of Collin!

 Aftyn was definitely our best helper.  She was always willing to hold a baby or play with Abby and Jaxon.

 This was at the Com'on Inn in Missoula, MT.  It was a great place to stay and the kids had a blast in the pool - including the babies.

 This was the lobby area of the hotel.

 This picture is actually out of order, but was taken at the zoo - I just thought it looked so real.

This is Abby and Jaxon getting ready for bed and posing for Grandma!