Family Camp -Utah

I finally got some pictures scanned, so I thought I would post about family camp. I am still waiting on a picture disk from my dad to post about the ocean, so hopefully I will get that soon.

We had a great time at family camp. After a 16 hr. drive on Thursday, we arrived in Smithfield around 12:30 am. We left for camp around ten or so on Friday morning and arrived around noon at camp. Camp is located in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. It is very beautiful, rugged terrain that spans the Utah-Idaho border. The land consists of many, large green valleys surrounded by Aspen groves and other trees and cut through with streams and lakes. The are large cliffs and rock out croppings that rise from the ground making for a very pleasing and diverse scene.  The forest service has set up lots of trails for ATVs and even more trails that are for hiking or horseback riding (no motor vehicles). Janalyn's family is into both horses and ATVs which is really fun for me. I get to feed my enjoyment of speed as well as enjoying the peace and quiet of the land. I have to say that there is nothing like enjoying the quiet and beauty of the land from the back of a horse. 

 There was quite a crowd there, but not quite as big as the first time we went. Janalyn's parents, Lynn and Jean, her brother Kenny and his wife Cathy, their kids Zack, Jackson and Stockton, her sister Kymm and her daughter Danielle and son-in-law Patrick, and Janalyn's other brother Scott were all there. Lynn's son Jeff and his wife Bonita were also there. 

We spent three days hanging out by the campsite, riding horses and ATVs and just having a good time. Kenny, Jackson, Danielle, Patrick, Makenna and I took an ATV ride to a little lake where we saw a moose. Unfortunately all we had was Patrick's camera phone, which later got ran over, so there are no pictures. Makenna was sure it was going to attack us though. 

The highlight of the weekend for the kids was Uncle Scott's toy the amphibian, or as Jackson called it: "Aunt Vivian." You can see pictures of it. The kids loved it. (Although I am not sure whether Scott was totally sold on his new role as entertainment director.) 

 All in all a good time was had by all, and the kids loved bonding with the Utahns. Until next year when there will be 5 kids 2 or under to chase around.

 

Home..

Back from vacation. Much more to follow. Very tired after 16 hrs. on the road.

La Push

Well we are back from vacation (for a short while) and a good time was had by all. Unfortunately I broke our digital camera, so pictures will have to wait until my relatives email or send me copies of photos. Our cabin was nice and cozy, but just perfect for the five of us. We spend a lot of time on the beach even though the weather was only fair. We had two really good days and only one bad day, but no rain. We saw a seal beach itself on our beach, surfers changing on the beach (girls for a change!), and spend lots of time with family. Rhoan and Mary Kate got along very well and enjoyed screaming at each other. The kids had lots of fun swimming (the ocean was 10 degrees warmer than it usually is) and playing war on the beach. 

Lake Oswego

We just returned from Oregon, where M had a soccer tournament. Unfortunately the Cosmos were 0-2-1 on the tournament, but they got the opportunity to face some top-flight opponents. M played midfield and defense, solidly.  We are back on the road tomorrow to visit beautiful La Push, Washington. The forecast is not great but we are holding our breath that the weather people will be wrong. 

I wanna be sedated!

Still in the process of unpacking. We took some time off to participate in some whiffle ball with the neighbors; it was a lot of fun. We also went to see Transformers. Not bad for that kind of movie and Optimus Prime is still the baddest robot ever. I was kinda creeped out at the end when the two main human characters were making out on the hood of one of the Autobots. That car is alive; he doesn't want you doing that. Lily is on tranqs because she is trying to walk on her bad legs too much, but other than that she is doing fine. 

Belles on the Beach

M is at Hawaiian culture camp all this week! She was very excited and has already sent us a couple of pics. Here they are:

Lily and the Jack of Hearts

I know it has been a while since I posted, but the move normal (crazy). We decided to move the last week of school. I went to the Advanced Placement Institute in Bellevue for four days in the middle as well. It was very disorganized and now it is going to take us twice as long to unpack as it should. We had to cancel a vacation because we are so far behind, and it is a good thing that we did because last night our puppy, Lily (a tiny Jack Russell mix), fell off our new deck and broke both of her front legs. Very sad. She is a trooper though and hardly cried at all. She is sleeping in our room as we speak and has been moving around better than I expected. We had to take her to the Animal Emergency in Tacoma, which is kind of scary at 10:30 at night. There was even a gun shot victim brought in! But we are moving forward with every thing and expect to be finnished with the move in no time! Keep Lily in your thoughts, but I am sure she will be fine.