Vacation 2010

So it begins.....Our vacation took us to 3 states, what felt like 1000 miles of driving and to lots of cool places. Our first stop was Crater Lake in Oregon. It is the deepest natural lake, it is the middle of an old volcano. It is the bluest natural water in a lake. It is beautiful!! This is my Father in law Trent at the beach. I think this is a cool picture!!

Taelor was getting very mad because everytime she would put a marshmellow on the stick it would fall in the sand. You can see her anger!!

Trying not to get swept out from the waves. Taelor was not so lucky and got and ear full of sand plus sand in places no one wants sand!!!

It is not everyday you see a road sign with a unique name like Dawson!!

This was on a bridge going to a trail to see Redwood trees. I told them all to stop and lean out.....not sure why Shane and Trent are holding hands. Hmmmm?

Dawson was tired of seeing 'dumb trees' because he wanted to go back to the beach!! The other two were showing their excitement for the trees!

One of the nice days!!

One huge TREE!! Be a tree hugger!!

Dawson and Taelor's feet in the sand

We hiked up so many many rocks and found a million starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and we even saw whales way out in the distance!! Awesome!!

My boys!!

Dawson loved loved looking for washed up jellyfish. Everyone was afraid to touch them thinking they would get stung. Well I was not afraid and I knew (from watching an episode of Friends) that if I did get stung someone would have to pee on my hand. So I touched one and alas no sting!!

My three musketeers

One of the days we were on the beach a seagull 'happened' to drop a bottle holding a treasure map and we followed it only to find a treasure box full of goodies!!

Being adorable as always when a camera is out!!Dawson and Braedon found lots of little animals and were catching them hoping to bring them home.

This is the house we rented on the beach. It was in California but 50 feet from the Oregon border.

This was a GIANT ( like 60-70feet) statue of Paul Bunyon and his blue ox Babe. He talked to you when you would go up to the gift shop. He said Hi to Taelor and scared her half to death. It was really funny!!

All my kids like slugs since they are a novelty around home. So when we saw this big yellow banana slug we picked it up.....but

it left Dawson a present!

After many more hours of driving we made it to San Francisco. It was fun and freezing!!! Apparently October is the time to go there as it is warm!! July is the coldest.......now they tell us!!
More driving led us to..... a house called the Winchester house. It is an incredibly odd house. The woman who owned it was married to the man who was the President of the Winchester Rifle Company. Well when he died a psychic told her to move out west and buy a house and build and build and never stop, otherwise everyone that the rifles ever killed would come back and haunt her. So she did just that. She bought a house and started adding to it, making doors that open to walls, stairs that only go to the ceiling, windows in the middle of the hallway. All sorts of crazy things. It was 24/7 365 construction for 32 years!!! It is on 6 acres and has 160 rooms!!Shane's mom and his niece Larissa also were on vacation with us. It was alot of fun.

Next year I am hoping for a warm vacation though!!!

My #6

I forgot to say in the post below that Braedon did an incedible job pitching. A few umpires cam up and told Shane he was very lucky to have that pitcher on their team. He got us out of quite a few problems. Each time he was brought in for pitcher relief the bases were loaded and he would stike the next people out so the didn't score anymore on us. It was hard for him because the field was 50 feet shorter than the one we are used to playing on and so there was alot of homeruns. I am proud of him though, they wouldn't have been able to hit a homerun if the pitch wasn't so good!! I love you Buddy!!

What a Season!!

Aren't they so cute!!! This is two of Braedon's best friends on his team. Kaden and Mikey. It has been so much fun to have these boys together again. They played on the same team in Mustang and Mikey has been on Braedon's city team from the beginning of Mustang. We love both families and the boys!! I love this picture. The funny thing is they lined themseleves up by numbers not knowing that there pants are also in a pattern. Cute!!

Being introduced on the Chukars field!! So much energy when this was happening.

There he is my #6!!

The boys and coaches with the state banner.

Even though we didn't win it was alot of fun and some really great memories. It has been alot of fun for both the kids and the parents. It was a great oppotunity!!

Summer fun

Whew!! A lot can happen in a couple of weeks. I have posted some pics of our summer so far. There is a lot so get ready!! Braedon made the all-star baseball team for the city and has had a tournament every weekend, with this coming weekend being the State tourny in IF. GOOD LUCK boys!!

Taelor with her trophy from teeball. We had a great team this year!! If they were all that cute all the time I would coach again next year in Tiger Ball.

We had our annual 4th of July party at our house with friends and family. We went 4 wheeling during the day!!

Our friends little baby Preston!! He is so freaking adorable I had to put his picture on here!!!

Braedon and his cousin Zack on the go kart when we were wheeling.

Taelor in her retro helmet that says 'I love dirt' on the back!! True to form....she does!!

A friend in our ward was having a little dance class for 5 weeks during the summer and Taelor loved loved it!!! Thank you Kaci!!

The pool is up now that summer decided to come!! YIPPEE!!

We also went to Utah for the weekend and saw my Aunt's new Bunny...Peanut!

Then off to Sugar House to feed the ducks and pshyco seagulls!!

We have had plenty of water time, between swimming, water balloons and spraying the hose while jumping on the tramp my kids should be prunes by now!

Don't forget the broken window of my Tahoe on my birthday!!! Too bad it was my fault! Stupid weedeater just had to throw a rock!!

Taelor doing what she does in teeball!

Atta girl sis!!

Kids.......always gotta have one the gives the cheesy smile!!

Dawson and Taelor playing on the tramp, I love this picture!

Water balloon mania!

Even more!

What summer would be complete without smores!! YUM! In a couple of weeks we are going to Oregon and California!! Let the good times roll!! Happy Summer everyone!

Two Champions!!

On Saturday Braedon's team played in the Championship game for the Cal Ripken Majors division and they WON!!! They did awesome!! They had a great season and finished 3rd in the league. Then came the playoffs and the went through UNDEFEATED!! They really stepped up their game the last couple of weeks. I am so proud of them all. They never played like they deserved it only like they wanted it!! It was a great day!! Braedon high tailing it to third!! RUN!!

Dad giving him his medal. He was a great coach to all those kids and when Braedon listened to his dad ;0) things went wonderful!!

My two Champions. Shane is a great dad and husband and I am happy those two could have this memory together. To top it all off it was Father's Day weekend!!

ON ANOTHER NOTE:
Dawson's shoes ripped the other day at a baseball game and Shane and I had ordered these shoes for fun off the Internet. It just so happened that Dawson now needed new shoes.....so we let him wear these around. He got the funniest looks from people and some even asked if his feet really fit in them?!?! REALLY!? They are a size 20!! It was fun to see peoples reactions!!

Graduation time!!

Taelor graduated from kindergarten on May 25th. She was sooo nervous and sad all at the same time. She was nervous about her program and sad because she won't see her friends or teachers during the summer. She told me she was never going to 1st grade because then she would be away from me for too long and because Mrs. Haber wasn't going to be her teacher. It is so hard for kids ( at least my kids) when school gets out each year. Dawson has always had a great teacher who he is so sad about leaving. Braedon had a couple that we threw a small "yahoo! party because he survived the teacher!!" But I think Taelor will be like Dawson and be sad every year because she gets so involved with her teachers. I can't believe my baby is out of kindergarten. Life goes by way way way too fast!! Getting her scrapbook after her program

Daddy and Omah brought her flowers and she was beyond thrilled!!

Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl!! I love you sis and I am proud of you!!

Finally DONE!!!

Since we finished the downstairs we have been working on the rooms upstairs. Dawson got our old room and Braedon stayed in his room with a lot of tweaks here and there. I really wish that I had before and after pictures to show but there are none!! So you just have to trust me that they are TOTALLY different than what they were. Dawson wanted Red with stripes across the room. Shane gave him a little 80's vibe with flicks of colors in the stripe. It looks really cool. Now he wants a desk to complete the look. Quote above the window and the stripe.

Braedon had to have LeBron James room. It is Cavs colors and it looks awesome. His was the hardest one to do. Lots of wallpaper ripping and then a whole new finish on the walls to get it to this point. Whew!! Shane sis alot of work and it looks really cool. Now we just hope LeBron doesn't trade teams because mama is done painting!! (Until I do the living room and hall!! ;0)

Quote by the man: Michael Jordan!!

It is no shock that we all love MJ in our house. He is really cute and a fantastic ball player. So a little ode to him for inspiring LeBron and Braedon.