To my Man

He's my...

High flying, Life saving,
River running,

mountain climing,

wake jumping,

outdoorsman,

daredevil,

Family man,

caring, smart,active,


travel companion, fun to look at, man of my dreams!
Happy Birthday! You are loved by two little boys and a wife who love what you are and love what you do!

Another trip to the cabin

We made it to Hebgan Lake for another fun time at my family's cabin. We have been going to the cabin my whole life, my dad's whole life really. My grandpa started taking the family there when he was nine years old, I think. It is one of my favorite places to go, because it is so beautiful and you can make it as peaceful or adventurous as you want. You can sit on the beach or in the cabin and read books, play games, and hang out. Or, if you are feeling more hard core water ski, wake board, hike, bike (both road and mountain), there has been white water kayaking, canoeing on the lake, fishing or you can go into Yellowstone Park, it's just the perfect place. Did I mention it's beautiful!

This time we were lucky enough to have my whole family there, (though not all at the same time.) We have are hard time getting everyone together these days due to work and school schedules, not to mentions we are scattered all over the west. Here are a few pictures from the week.

ANOTHER BEAR! actually there were two, I only got a picture of one. They were hanging out behind the cabins. For those of you keeping count that makes 5 this summer.
I just love this one of Jackson. He wanted to surf so bad. He kept standing on the knee board and saying, surfs up ho daddy, ho daddy. He says this move is called "tripabunga." My favorite was when he told Ryder he would give him the board, he was just waiting for a wave. He was waiting a very long time. Papa's boat was a big hit. The boys climbed around the tower pretending it was a pirate ship. (Jordan has those pictures)
Lila, so cute!
All six Child children. This is a rare moment, see they are all holding still.
There were so many pictures I just I couldn't use them all, and I didn't get a lot of the good ones that my sister and sister-in-law took. I may have to post them when I get them for my sake.



I will mention the only negative, only because they were so much a part of the trip; Mosquitoes! they sure know how to ruin a good time. Poor Ryder had his eyes almost swell shut and the other kids looked like they all had chicken pox. It was too hard to keep then inside when there is so much to do outside. Bug spray only worked for about a minute and I think we went through about 10 cans before the trip was over.
Now for the good; We had adventures at Frog island catching frogs and fishing, hours of fun with minnows, a trip to find a pirate island and dig for buried treasure. The three big kids did a little knee boarding off the boom on Papa's boat. Blake built a ramp off the dock and he, Mitch, Matt, and McCade all went off it, crazy fools! The food was good. We trained for triathlons with some running, Jordan (a little more hard core) swam the lake, Blake, Dad and Jordan went for a bike ride to Quake Lake. I taught Laura how to knit and Jordan how to bead. Jordan lead us in Pilates now that she is an instructor. The boys ( Garrett & Connor) played tetris (that got a little old, you came to the cabin to do this.) And we stayed up late every night solving the problems of the world or laughing at something that only the Child family finds funny.
To sum up; A good time was had by all.

Update

Hey there, I am still here. We have just been away for awhile. I will have a some fun stuff to blog about soon.

A quick update; I finished Breaking Dawn and, well, I guess I liked it. But I am still not a huge fan. I read all four books looking for the reason for the phenomenon, and I have to say, I still don't get it. She takes way to long to get to the point, and the books are about a girl who wants to become a vampire. I mean seriously! But they are page turners, and Ms. Meyers did have a unique spin on the genera, so I'll give her that. I just can't believe anyone ever compared her to J.K Rowling, the are on a completely different playing field. All that being said, I know if Stephenie Meyers comes out with more books I will defiantly read them, I liked The Host. Maybe it's just the whole vampire thing that throws me?

My Grandma Ruth had a birthday on 08.08.08 and I my family thought it would be fun to write 8 things we love about our Grandma for a day that is all eights. I thought I would post mine so her we go.

8 Things I love about Grandma Ruth

1. She is funny! I love Grandma’s sense of humor. She is always good for a laugh
2. She loves her family. I always knew that grandma loved us and that made me feel important, especially when I was a little girl.
3. She loves Grandpa Fred. He was the greatest man and held the love and respect of the greatest woman. It was truly a romance of legends
4. She is smart and she raised smart children who raised smart children. No duds in this bunch!
5. She passed on the legacy of faith given to her by her mother to my mother, who passed it on to me. I truly value the women who have gone before me, as well as their testimonies and their influence on my testimony.
6. She’s a good looking woman! And I must say, your children, your children’s children and so on, are very grateful for that.
7. She has honorably served at the temple. I admire that service and feel that it has greatly blessed her life.

8. She is my Grandma Ruth. That may seem overly simplistic, but that is the best thing I love about her. She is just who she is. There is no one else in the world like her and we are all better people because she is here!

Breaking me

I am halfway through this book and here are a few preliminary comments:

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Get to the point already! Too many words!

But I can't put it down so what does that say about me? I am going to need a good Jane Austen after this one.

Glacier :: Day 1

We just returned from a family reunion with the Parrish family. It was so cool this year because we convinced them to come up here and see our glorious state particularly Glacier National Park. We have been telling people since we moved here that they need to come up here. It is just to beautiful too miss. I am stealing an idea from my sister-in-law and doing my blog entries by days, so I can be a little more organized.

We all spent the first night at our house where we finished preparations for the days ahead. I am happy to say that my house was able to accommodate the whole lot of them! On Thursday morning we headed up to Glacier where we got a beautiful campsite at Rising Sun campground. Then we took the group for a little initiation hike up from Logan pass to Hidden Lake. It was a little shocking to find there were still snow fields to hike through. It was a little difficult to hike especially with all the little ones in tow. But we make it and it was totally worth it. What a View!

This picture cracks me up because he is looking through the binoculars for animals and there they are behind him!

The view of Hidden Lake

I recognize that this picture is a little cheesy, however this is one of my favorite parts of the hike. To get the boys down we started playing having them jump down the stairs. They were laughing so hard they had a hard time keeping their feet under them, by the end we were almost dragging them they were having so much fun. And if you haven't, you really should hear those boys laugh!

This was crazy! There were over a dozen big horn sheep just hanging our in the parking lot. Yes, that's our Asher & our van that close to the Ram.

We drove just 10 minuets over the pass to get this amazing view! This is such a cool place.

Galcier :: Day 2

The second day of our little adventure was filled with more beautiful views, boats, hiking and mosquito's! We drove up to Many Glaciers and took the Swiftcurrent boat tour. The first boat took us around Swiftcurrnet lake to a dock on the other side. From there we did a short hike to Lake Josephine. We took another boat across Lake Josephine then got out and took a 2 mile round trip hike to Grinnell Lake. It was so beautiful words can't describe, not even pictures capture how beautiful it is up there. (In case I didn't mention it before, you all should have come to visit us, then you too could have seen the glory of Glacier.) Look at that face!

hiking to Lake Josephine

Grinnell Lake
Asher wanted to swim but only got his toes wet

My man, lucky me!
The boat ride back

Glacier :: Day 3

Day three started with taking down camp. It was a little crazy with all of the kids running around so Grandma took a group of the little ones for a walk.

Then we were off. We hadn't done the Going to the Sun road yet so we decieded to take the road from St. Mary's Lake to Lake McDonald where we had a picnic. The boys wanted to swim, Asher didn't do much more than wade but Jackson jumped right in, that boy is a fish!

We drove back from the lake with a stop at a beautiful section of the river. It's an amazing spot with deep blue pools and big rocks to climb around on. Mitch and McKay did some cliff jumping and due to peer pressure were able to get Myles and Micah to do the same. Jackson also jumped in and swam in the river, but it was much colder and didn't last long.

It was here that we had one of my favorite Jackson moments: There were some people there with their dog. My boys love dogs so they asked if they could pet him. The dog was wimpering because he wanted to swim, so Jackson asked the man (who is wearing a bandana and earings) "Why is your dog sad? Is it because he thinks you are a pirate?" I love that kid.

We drove the Going to the Sun road back to St. Mary's lake where we stopped for a little snack and to let the kids run around a little before we drove home. Even the drive from Glacier is gorgeous. I feel so lucky to live where I do.

The sunset as we drove home from Glacier