Week Three of Three

So the third week was back at my moms and we just took it easy and we went on a walk through fish creek park and we were at the lake and stuff. We hung out with cousins and the scariest thing of all happened - my sister Kimberly got her license. I went with her and got to be there for the big event. I guess she just needed my special touch to pass ;)

I'm not sure what dance Kienna is doing here, but I thought it was really funny.

My mom and Kaia skipping down the road.

Kaia thought this tree was so beautiful that I would want to take a picture of her beside it.

Jack and Saryn on the ramp that entertained them for about a hour.

A random statue down by "The Ranch" in the park. The kids played on this for so long

Jack and Travis on our return trip. Jarett took the older 3 kids through a secret passage way home. They thought it was the best....

After our long walk through fish creek - I was a little exhausted, as was Saryn.

The celebration dance!! Congrats Kimmy!!

Week Two of Three

So, week two was a week with Jarett's family at Flathead Lake. We were tenting it (very fun at 6 months gestation), but it was GREAT!! We had great food (along with cheesecake, bundt cake and tarts left over from the reception) and a lot of great weather. It was a blast. Here's some pictures of the week at the lake.

Week One of Three

My first week of vacation was wonderful....but busy. We had a few days to get ready for my Grandparents anniversary, we had a birthday party for Travis (my nephew) which we did a Dora scavenger hunt for and we went to Lethbridge and celebrated the 60 years my Grandparents have been together. So here are the pictures from that first week.....

The invitation to my Grandparents Anniversary Party... thanks Alysha, they looked great.

Travis being silly while opening his presents. I can't believe it was 4 years ago that Alanna had him so early. He doesn't look like he was born at 29 weeks, does he?

Saryn loved this book that my Mom gave Travis.....he was very good at sharing.

Some quick family pictures that we shot before the reception on my Uncle's land in Lethbridge.

Me and My Sisters

Magrath Days
I had never been before, but it was great. Here are the pictures from the Petting Zoo and races. All of the kids got to participate. It was super fun. They loved the face painting and, thanks to Aunts who spoil us, they loved the Sno Cones and the Cotton Candy.

Kienna started to get her nerves on end when a horse neighed right behind her, so she went out of the corral.

Apparently we have found one thing that Kaia is less scared of than Jarom...

Baby bunnies can be very scary!

Jack running his first race (I'm pretty sure)

Travis gearing up to go.

Kienna was dead last in the race but was so sure that she had won that we dared not tell her otherwise... She was first for enthusiasm in my books.

Jarom was a little bit more into the competition than Kaia.

As if this isn't the classic kids race picture.....I loved it.

Kaia and Jarom getting ready for their first 3 legged race ever.....

It kinda showed in their performance, but I was super proud of them for trying....

Now, one may think that this is just a still shot of the wheel barrow race that Alanna and Travis went on, but this could also be the video, Travis must've thought it was an assisted handstand competition....

The Face Painting

Mom and Dad enjoying the weather....

Hayley and Jarom with a Sno Cone. This was as happy as Jarom would look for the camera.

Travis also enjoyed his Sno Cone....his moms pants didn't so much....


At the Williams House after Magrath Day Celebrations:
Brother Williams drove our kids around for a while and then let my Mom and Hayley take turns driving. The kids had a blast, it was so much fun for them....especially when they'd get a spray from the sprinkler. We had a great lunch here too. The Williams are wonderful people.

Of course, everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. Brooklyn wasn't faking too much for this picture......they were all out pretty good when we got home. What a week!!

For the Longest Time...

It has been such a busy month that time has just flown by. I haven't had access to a computer for a while now either and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. I have had almost 3 weeks of vacation now. It's been wonderful. My first week was in Calgary with my mom. My sister was in from Seattle with her 3 boys and it is so much fun to have our kids play together. My girls and her boys all have a corresponding cousin that is no more than 3 months different in age. So they all have a blast. The first week we were at Gran's house (My mom) and we were getting things ready for my Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary party in Lethbridge. My sister, Brittany also came up from Utah, so it was all six of us girls here in Calgary for a few days. It was so great to all be together. On Thursday night, Jarett came to Calgary and joined us and the next morning we headed down to Lethbridge. It was awesome.

Growing up, I was very close to my cousins. They were closer to what most peoples relationship with their siblings is. So to see all of my cousins again was so much fun. We were so sad that the cousins from Utah weren't able to make it, but we had 12/17 of the Grandchildren there and 19/21 of the Great Grandkids. We had a luncheon at my Aunt and Uncles house followed by a little program for my grandparents. The Great Grandkids sang to the tune of Book of Mormon stories. My mom had re-written the lyrics to tell the story of Gran and Grampa dating and getting married etc. Then the Grandkids sang about all the things Gran and Grampa do for us and in general that makes them so awesome to the tune of Beautiful Dreamer. This is an old song that Grampa played on the piano all the time. It's a song that I've been determined to learn so I could always hear it, so I had the opportunity for this. When my Grandparents heard these songs, they both started to cry and it was such an amazing experience. My Grampa turned to us and told us all "today I am the richest man in the world". It was so profound to me. It was a great reminder that the most important thing in the world is family. Nothing gives us more happiness or more joy than being around those that we love. My goal is to be like my grandparents one day and be able to look at my grandchildren and see them all happy and making the most of their lives. See them all married in the temple or working towards that and all doing good things. Can there be anything better in this life? Anyway, after this, Jarett closed the little program by singing "Always" by Irving Berlin. This was a song that was sung at my Grandparents wedding , but it was completely impromptu. The congregation stood up and sang it without any planning. It seems right out of the movies in my mind. This has become a special song in our family (obviously) and it was sung at my mom's wedding and at both my sister's and my wedding too.

Anyway, after going to church in their ward in Lethbridge, we took off to go camping for a week. We went down to Montana and tented (just a reminder that I'm in my last trimester) next to Flathead Lake. It was as relaxing as could be with 12 kids under 12. One day all the kids were watching a show and the moms (except me) were all gone shopping and I just layed down in a dingy on the beach and read a book for about an hour. It was heavenly. Anyway we had a whole lot of fun and it's always great to let the cousins play while the adults talk, right? The only problem was just how quickly the week went by. Anyway, now I'm back in Calgary and we're actually in the process of deciding when exactly I'm going to be back in Edmonton. It could be another week with the Mullen cousins or they might take off back to Seattle and then we'd come right home. Anyway, we shall see....

I'll post pictures later. I took over 500 and my computer is being retarded and so I haven't been able to take them off of the memory card yet. Thank heaven for sisters computers.....