One Last Day of Summer

Some of our cousins came to visit us, so we decided to head over to the splash park for one last afternoon before the weather gets too cold. The kids had such a fun time with their cousins for the few days they were here - we wish they lived closer!

Tylor

Jaymon

T.J.

Dyllon

Taylie

Coleton

Jaymon and T.J.

Janna and Grant

Air Show

A couple of weeks ago, we went out to the Air Show at the Air Force Base. The kids love to get to see the airplanes up close as well as watching some doing tricks in the sky.

Here is our crazy bunch looking so cool on the wheels of a plane.

Tylor got lessons on how to fly the airplane - but I don't think he learned
how to read all those dials in the 5-minute tutorial!

This is what it would look like if I was the pilot - there would be lots of helpers in the cockpit!

One of our favorite parts was seeing the Thunderbirds perform.
The kids wanted to check out the planes after they landed.

We had to end the day with snowcones!

T.J. the Soccer Star

T.J. is playing soccer for the first time this fall, and he is about the cutest thing ever to watch! These are some pictures from his first game, in which he scored 5 goals! My favorite part of it all, though, was when he came running up to me and said, "Mom, which way?" :) T.J. really tries to do his best, and I love to see his effort and determination. Yep, T.J. is AWESOME!

Picking Corn

Taylor has some extended family that owns a farm and lets us come and pick corn every year. It is some of the best corn you will ever taste (we ate some right out in the field), and we are so blessed to be able to freeze a bunch of it so we can enjoy it all year. This was also a fun activity for the kids to do. They loved going deep into the rows where they couldn't be seen so they could find the biggest and best corn. When we left, the kids were all asking when we could go pick corn again - maybe we should have been farmers! Thanks, Zeyers!

T.J.'s Birthday

Our little T.J. (with the BIG personality) turned 4 years old August 31st. We had 2 of his friends (and their families) over to celebrate. It was a pretty simple event, but it served the purpose. We had pizza, played Pin-the-Tail on the Donkey, did a pinata, and had a Cars cake that I made for him. The other little boy with T.J. is his good buddy, Grayson. Maybe I am biased, but T.J. is a very cute boy!

First Day of School

We sent 3 nervous and excited kids off to school and just prayed that all would go well for them. It just makes everything so much easier if they actually enjoy school. Coleton went to first grade and it was quite a change to have him gone all day. I miss him, but I don't miss the fighting with T.J. all day long! Taylie went to third grade, and Tylor went to fifth grade. Next year Tylor will be in middle school, which I am still in denial about. So far, the kids are all enjoying their classes and seem to have great teachers. It looks like it should be a good year!

Summer 2008

This has been a great summer for our family, full of lots of time with family and trips all over. There were many lazy days spent at home just playing in the backyard, too - which sometimes is even better than going somewhere! Here is an overview of how we spent the last few months...


Aliyah's Baptism in Utah Our first trip of the summer was just a couple of days after school got out. We went to Utah to see our niece, Aliyah, get baptized. This is Coleton, T.J., Avari, Tylor, Aliyah, and Taylie. It is so much fun for the kids to have cousins!

Red Fish Lake Also in June, we went to Red Fish Lake with Mike and Sicily and Natalie and Jake and their families. It is such a beautiful place!


Taylor and Natalie off for some mountain biking! Jaymon and Taylor throwing rocks in the lake






Jake, Natalie (Taylor's sister),
and their kids (Ellie, Avari, and
Maggie)











Ace and T.J. playing in the sand


Mike (Taylor's brother), Sicily, and their kids (Karis, Crew, and Ace)


Crew, Coleton, Tylor, and Avari trying to catch minnows

T.J. catching a "big one"!


Out on the paddleboat (T.J., Jannie, Crew, and Coleton)




Coleton, Tylor, and Crew by the campfire













"Girl Power" - Taylie, Avari, and Karis

Taylie's Birthday

Taylie turned 8 years old June 19th, so she had a pajama party with her friends to celebrate. I made her a rainbow-butterfly cake, they played Pin-the-Cloud on the Rainbow (a game Taylie invented), decorated pillowcases, ate pizza and popcorn, and watched a movie. It was a lot of fun to do a "girly" party!

Fathers and Sons Campout

Taylor took the boys camping one night and they all had a blast!
Tylor helped put the tent up

T.J. and his friend, Grayson, eating lots of junk
Coleton and T.J. ready for bed - don't forget the blankie!
Taylie's Baptism

Taylie was baptized the beginning of July. We were able to have Taylor's parents and two of his brothers (Mike and Ryan) there with their families. She was also able to be baptized with her best friend (Madeline), so that made the day even more special.
Our beautiful little angel!


Dad, Taylie, and Mom - so proud of our little girl!


Madeline and Taylie

Grammie (Coleen), Taylie, and Teri (Taylor's aunt)

Coleton, Taylie, and T.J. (The boys love their sister!)



Swimming Lessons

As we do every summer, the kids took swimming lessons again. Tylor and Jaymon were the exceptions because Jaymon wasn't old enough and Tylor has done enough lessons so he can swim really well now. The kids did great this year and made some good progress.


Coleton jumping in.


T.J. did well this summer.



Cool Jaymon

T.J. was so brave jumping off the diving board.



We discovered that Taylie is a beautiful diver!

Jaymon's Version of Helping with the Laundry

One of Jaymon's favorite places to play lately is in the dryer.

All About You Dental BBQ

Taylor likes to throw a big Customer Appreciation Event for his dental patients every year. This was the BBQ we had at a local park.
The patients were given the opportunity to throw cream pies at Taylor and the other dentist that works with him. Taylor ended up far worse than the other guy!
















Mike and his family as well as Taylor's Uncle Reed and his family came by.










T.J. loved his snowcone.













Jaymon loved his watermelon!

















Poor Taylor!



























Hayden Vacation

Every year, we try to get up to Hayden at least once to visit my two brothers, Ryon and J.R. They live in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and there is tons to do there. It always makes for a fun summer get-away!

What a group!
Bottom - Grant
Middle - Tylor, Dyllon, T.J., and Coleton
Top - Janna and Taylie
These cousins just love being together!


Tylor loved riding the little motorcycle with training wheels, but it was a little too much for Coleton (who crashed on it).



Coleton on the little 4-wheeler.






Dyllon and Taylor on the jetski















Out picking huckleberries (Tylor, Janna, Nichole - Ryon's wife, Grant, Dyllon)













Playing on the big pile of sand brought in for the volleyball court.
Why do boys like dirt so much?
(Grant, Tylor, Dyllon, and Coleton)













This is the pond in their front yard where the kids enjoyed the paddleboat and swimming







It is so fun to just walk out the door of the house and have a campfire! (J.R., Taylor, Tylor, Jaymon, Taylie, and Ryon)











My cute little T.J.!




















Catching big fish in a small pond! The boys had fun fishing off the dock. (T.J., Grant, Ryon, Dyllon, and Tylor)







Going on the 4-wheeler is a great way to get Jaymon to fall asleep! (Jaymon, Taylor, and Tylor)





Dog-Pile!
Jaymon, Coleton, Grant, and T.J. decided to gang-up on Uncle J.R. - good thing he doesn't mind being an uncle to all these kids because they sure love him!







My brothers are the best, and I love visiting them! This is Ryon, me, Jaymon, and J.R.


Lagoon Weekend - Utah

Every year, my husband's family gets together in August. We usually stay at a condo up in Eden, Utah, and play at Pine View Reservoir, go to Lagoon, and just hang out. This year we also had a special birthday party for Taylor's grandpa's 90th birthday with all of the extended family as well as a surprise birthday party for Taylor's mom. In case that wasn't celebrating enough birthdays, I also had my birthday while we were there!

Karis, Ace, Mike, and Grace going on the jetski.

10 crazy cousins on a log! (Ellie, Karis, Grace, Avari, T.J., Coleton, Jayden, Tylor, Jaymon, and Crew) Jaymon was loving his Grammie!

Fun on the water-trampoline
(Coleton, Karis, Crew, Jayce, and Misty)
Coleen with the birthday cake I made for her.






Coleen and some of my beautiful sister-in-laws (Cassidy, Paige, Julianne, Sicily, and Misty) and me!

















Jaymon was fascinated with the balloons at Coleen's party out at the pool.









Coleen and JayDee took the kids over to a park for awhile one day to play games. This was where they try to eat a donut that is hanging on a string.



























This is the kids climbing a tree at the park. (Taylie, Avari, Crew, Karis, Jayden, Tylor, Ellie, and Coleton)










Coleen has a tradition that her mother started called the "Grammie Basket". It is full of fun stuff that the kids get to pick from.















T.J., Coleen, Crew, Tylor, Avari, Taylie, Karis, and Ellie out at the park in Eden.















Another game the kids played with Grammie and Grandpa was an egg toss. Jayden and JayDee did pretty well.





This is our family with Taylor's grandpa (Cliff) at his 90th birthday party.

This big group is the result of Taylor's parents!
Here is just our family.
(Tylor, Jaymon, Coleton, Taylor, Taylie, Jannie, and T.J.)
Like father, like son! (Taylor and his dad)


For my birthday, we all rode the tram up to the top of Snow Basin Ski Resort and had lunch. It was so beautiful - I loved it! This is my little boys (Jaymon and T.J.) and me.















All the kids helped? with my birthday cake and did a cute song and dance their Uncle Jon and Aunt Cassidy taught them. It was great!

Taylie made a special birthday card for her great-grandpa Cliff that she gave him at Lagoon.
Taylie, Grace, Jayce, Tylor, Avari, and Coleton ready to go have some fun at Lagoon! It is so nice for JayDee and Cliff to let us join in on their company's day at Lagoon.
Taylie loves the wild and crazy roller-coasters the best, but she was a good sport about going on the little kid rides with her cousins too. This is her and Ellie.
T.J. and Ellie had a lot of fun together on the rides.








Ellie, Jayce, and T.J.













Jaymon wasn't so sure about his first ride, but with the protection of Tylor and Jayden he enjoyed it.















Jayden, Coleton, Aliyah, Tylor, Avari, and Taylie











Coleton driving - scary!










Jaymon had had enough before the rest of the kids were done, so he took a little snooze in the stroller.











So anyway, I guess that covers most of the summer highlights. We have been all over the place (as you can see), and we have had a blast! Now it is on to school and sports for the fall!