Summer Vacation?

I need to put a date on this title since I am way behind but don't want to skip anything since this blog is my only journaling source at the moment. (because I am Lazy!)

This post is for AUGUST 2010.

madison in samanthas hat at the campfire.

Nana singing "the princess pat" at the campfire.

 I question if you can call anything a vacation once you have kids! We left the house at  flew to Utah on our direct 5hour flight with a three year old (who was an angel) and our 8month old (not such an angel)! To then get in a car and drive 4 hours to Ashton Idaho (which was beautiful by the way!) arriving at 11pm MST meaning 1am our time. Needless to say we struggled the last few miles of that drive. The welcome we got was nice, if not a little daunting. When all you want to do is sleep you have mixed feelings when you drive up to the house and 20 family members you haven't see in a while are all standing there waiting to greet you! Luckily they were kind enough to keep the greetings short so we could go right to bed. However a mere 6 hours later our, not so angel like girls decided to wake up with the sun! When you are a parent you really just take your normal daily routine where ever you go and just ad in less sleep for the kids and a new environment. So I ask Vacation... what's that?



The rest of the Family Reunion was really wonderful we did get to sleep in here and there, with a little help from the other moms and grandparents. The Place we stayed was great and our days were full of activities and night were great for hanging out and games. Some of the family was up later than others at night (pinochle is the drug of choice for most of my family!) Here are some highlights from the week.

Big Judd's ! Saffron, Tyler, Jen, Travis, Craig, Erin, Elly's head.

Ellis and Wood Family at Big Judds

Big Judd's! Home of the giant Hamburger Challenge!

 

Joe eating the 1lb burger!

Moosen! They were actually Elk and a lot of them too! We were staying on my brother-in-laws parents ranch  which was 20 miles of land on which they raise elk so we got to see our fair share.

On the look out for Elk!

A few notes on the elk if you use a tree branch you can use some awesome stealth to sneak up on them to get some close ups, just ask Saffron. Also if you spend 20 min sneaking up on an Elk to take its picture make sure your lens cap is already off just ask Papa!

Papa chauffeur and tour guide!

Do you see any Elk behind us?

Elk

 

And lastly watch out for the poop! There was lots of it and it was Madison favorite activity while Elk spotting to point out and spot all of the Elk poop and yell "Poop, y! The Elk were Papa's favorite activity I think, next to the fishing and of course picking up cotton balls with his nose covered in Vaseline!

Just chillin with the care bears!

My Dad took Madison and Mya fishing and they were so cute when they got home Madison told me all about it and how big the fish was "it was this huge" spreading out her arms, and how papa caught it with his hands and how it "splashed all around"! 

Nana Capson was a pretty good shot too!

The first and only time I shot the shot gun!

Phil was quite the expert at the skeet shooting! No surprise there!

The Sand pit was a hit with the kiddos!

Erin with the girls after their trip down the river, during which Madison took a nap!

Getting the guns ready for paintball

Freezing and Hungry after the river trip! YAY so Fun!

Horseshoes was one of my highlights, I know that sounds lame but its a pretty fun and rather challenging game if you have never done it before.
  Some of the other activities were paintball, shooting guns and skeet shooting, river rafting (very cold river rafting)!

I guess the smores were a hit with the adults too.

Amanda, Madison, Aubrey

 The campfire and songs was a hit with most in attendance! you can never go wrong with smores and kids so that was a fun night too.

Dex showing off at the fire pit!

Again this may seem lame to be considered a highlight but I also got to run with my sister one day and my sister-in-law one day. I always enjoy some good girl time on the road, definitely a highlight!

Emily, Elly, Erin

We also had a chance to do some family pictures, that surprisingly didn't turn out too bad considering our track record for family picture in the past.

Family Picture

Family Picture attempt #2

Nana and Papa with all the grand kids.

 Our concluding activity was the minute to win it contest we had the very last night that was more than entertaining! I think the pictures speak for themselves... or maybe they don't? :)

Witnessing the games!

Kings Peak
 
I also question weather this was a vacation or not because after a very fun week with my family we decided it would be a good idea to hike Kings Peak. The highest peak in Utah. Its part of a goal that Phil and I have to climb the highest peak in each state. Who does that for a vacation I mean come on... I guess I need to redefine my meaning of a vacation. We didn't have our kids with us so I guess it was a vacation in that sense! :) Thank you to the wonderful family that helped us out with that!

This is how we felt about 20 minutes into the hike! Its been too long!

We did make it to the top here is our proof!

This is at the top too but you can't really tell!

Phil Emily Sharlyn Nate

almost at the top

the very steep gravel mass we came down to get off the Summit.

It really was a great hike we got to set out with some good friends of ours and met up with some of my family the second day so that we could summit together and share dinner and a campsite that night. It was an intense hike, most of us got sunburned, we got rained on a bit, I had blisters on all of my toes, my dad nearly took off his own thumb with his pocket knife, our water pump broke on us the last day, it took almost as long to get down as it did to get up the summit and I really hate peeing in the woods! But all in all it was fun and I look forward to the next peak!

Logan, Provo, and Bountiful!

Visit with Grandma Stewart and the Monks

While in Utah we also go to spend some time with my grandparents on both sides, one of my aunt and uncles, two of Phils brothers, some awesome friends from Logan and some more of my family that live in Utah, oh and we got to put a swing set together that was fun too :)

Love the Plug!

Madison fishing in the logan river.

At the Logan River.

No picture to show but we also got to eat at my favorite Italian restaurant, Le None, and its still delicious as ever! If you are ever in Logan UT I highly recommend it!

Plenty of highlights plenty of activities and lots of work but it was still a really great Summer Vacation Trip!