Wyoming in a blur

We have been in Wyo for..... last part of June and most of July. It was fun to spend time and be with the family. I can't believe how fast the summer has gone!! The pics are in no particular order, of course.

The girls and their fireworks. One of the only times I have a pic of all four looking in the same direction :) .....with no blur!

Oh, and I can't find the pics, but Blynn lost her first and second teeth!!! Finally! The permanent ones had already come through behind. She made quite the hall on those two teeth!!! :) The girls spent endless hours jumping on the tramp, swinging (whoever would push them!), swimming, and other activities! (Little side note about the swinging. A while back I was making a list of all the things I needed to get ready for a trip. Blynn saw my list and she has been a list maker ever since. So fast forward to this trip, and we find a paper on the kitchen table of Blynns. Its a list. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it had all the girls' names and activities she wanted to do. Then at the bottom was grandpa's name......pushing them on the swings :) I thought that was pretty cute. She had to nominate someone.

Blynn floating at Horseshoe Bend. :) Gotta love the brown water!

Smores one night at Bob's pit. (HAD to put this one one for Tyler's sake! Kari, please show him my awesome shot of him :) Thanks!)



The Pinata (however you spell it!!) at Eli's family reunion. It was great to see most all of his family again!!

Bob's Haka Dance he performed in the Follies. :) awesome skirt and paintings huh Bob!! :)

OH!! I almost forgot!! I came home for a doc's app mid all of this and found out what number 3 is!!! Yup....... it's another GIRL :) The girls couldn't be happier!! and we are excited too;)

Grandpa

We have been in Wyoming off and on for the last two weeks. The girls got to stay with grandma and aunt Fonda. They had a blast. I flew back on Monday with Eli. Monday also happened to be the day that Grandpa Wardell was having knee replacement surgery. The surgery went very well and in record time! The doctor loved his teeny knees :) The next time I spoke with my mom she said he was having trouble waking up. He did wake up and spoke to the nurse and grandma for a brief moment and that was the last time.

Grandpa passed this morning around 4 am. I was greatful that we were here. He was on several treatments including a respirator. We were told that as soon as that was gone he would pass pretty quickly. So we drove up and said our last goodbyes.

~Grandpa was a pretty amazing guy in my book. I have a lot of great memories with him and grandma. I loved spending time with him growing up.

~He taught a lot of us grandkids how to drive.....a stick :) The patience he had with me was amazing. I would try my hardest, because I never wanted to disappoint him. But, that was one thing that took a while to grasp the hang of it.

~Whenever we would spend the night, he would read bedtime stories out of this old book. His favorite was the fables. He always found a way to teach. Always.

~Every meal with grandpa always consisted of having the container of Tang. You couldn't set the table without it!

~His work ethic was amazing. He was always up early and coming in late. He taught that to my mom and she passed it to us. The importance of work is crucial. I loved being in the shop with him. (it smelled really good! :) )

~He was a very wise person.

~Double Bubble was very popular :) I also remember the Doublemint, Juicyfruit, and the kind of gum (I forgot the name of it, maybe Beechnut or something like that!) He always had some.

~A very early memory I have of him was hanging me upside down in the shower! It always made me laugh.

~One day he stopped by the house on his way through town. He was in a humerous mood. He was crackin jokes about food that was marked for "reduced for quick sale". I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. (Sorry grma!)

~Fossil hunting and weeny roasts. Need I say more?

~The room "checks". :) He would always casually walk back to the rooms and check their condition. Made me want to always have a clean room :)

There are many other memories I have of my grandpa. I loved him very much and always looked forward to their visits and the time spent with them. The last couple of years it has been harder living so far away, but I will always treasure these moments and memories.

Grandpa we will miss you so much and look forward to seeing you again. Till we meet again

What I've been doing......

While I'm waiting for laundry to get done, I decided to edit and post some new pics I did tonight! Here is Travis and Tara, and they looked great!! :) Again, you guys are awesome to work with!! It was fun! Enjoy! Hopefully more to come soon.....

Some more happenings....

A couple weeks ago we went up north to see Eli's dad for his b-day. He is helping his uncle make some new roads. We had fun. It is gorgeous up there! Tick country, but still really pretty! We saw Obern and his family too. We ended up taking the girls to the Planetarium at the Gateway. We watched a movie about Saturn, the girls were amazed at the theater, but no go on the show :) It was still a good experience though!!! Now they can say they have watched a movie in the dome theater.One of those moments her legs don't work :)

This is what my girls do when I get the camera out. Nice.

Eli and the b-day boy!

We found a field of flowers on the way back. Decided that it was a good as time as ever to blow some more stink off!! :)

Lake Powell!

This last week we went to Lake Powell with our friends, the Barnes! It was great fun!! We went on the house boat and ate tons of great food. (it was hard coming home to my seriously lame cooking :) ) We played horseshoes, card games, waverunner rides, mini rave :), fishing and enjoyed the sun! We had some pretty funny entertainment, probably shouldn't write it down. :)This is what it looks like with 5 kids waving their glow sticks dancing to music :) The weather was awesome.

The cool slide the boys made. Eli trying it out with his cool fred flintstone outfit :)
(sorry the pics are backwards.....)

Eli working hard

Playin some horseshoes

Taking the waverunners for another spin!

What blynn did 23 hours of the day... :) She got the tan that all of us only dream about, even with tons of sunscreen!

Elle gettin abother "motorboat" ride. She loved it!!

The sneak peek!!

I had so much fun doing these guys' pics for them. They did awesome! I am going to hire her to do my ideas. She had so many of them, it made my job so easy!!! (And I still messed up my part!! :)) Anyhow, thanks Travis and Tara! You guys are hot! :) ....So here are a couple of my favs!! Enjoy! oh and please comment to let me know what you think! thanks :) ps. I'll have your family pics up soon, just couldn't wait. :)

Elle's "gad-giation"

Last night Elle graduated from preschool. She was pretty excited, all she kept talking about is when her "gad-giation". Its been awhile since I've gotten the camera out so my pics were pretty poopy. Plus my mind was going crazy because I had my first engagements last night!! She had an extra treat becuase Grama and Grampa Mayes was here visiting! Its been fun to hang out and visit. We are getting them into the groove of becoming frequent flyers!

We've been busy with Expo's and traveling around. Last week we went to Page for Eli to start working. And as soon as we got back, we left for Salt Lake! Blynn finishes school this next week with her graduation! Our pool just opened and we haven't heard the last of the "CAN WE GO SWIMMING??!!!" :) I think its going to be a long summer.....and it really hasn't started yet! :)

Thanks Grama and Grampa for everything!! Its been great having you guys here and hope its not too long before you come back!! :) We love you!!!

(I'm hurrying to get the pics done!! I'm excited!!) Check back!