Mackay 2010

Mom and Dad's cabin. One by one we all trickled in to the great reunion.

Kyle Grandpa Great Natalie Erica Mom Me Mindi Dad Amber Madalayne Grandma Great

Always something going down in the kitchen.



Nicole lovin on Luke
Gma Erica Natalie

Avery Bree Nicole

Luke and Sawyer

First Night Eats

Gma and Bree

Jer and Luke

Jeff built a Zip Line across the river.

It was icy cold and a few bottoms hit bottom, but definitely worth the adventure.

Jake and Soren

Mad Em and Amb

Nat and Nicole

Mindi me and Dee

G-pa spained his ankle pretty bad during a basketball game. Luke wouldn't leave his side and nursed G-pas ankle all night.

Davin Kyle Zach Troy

Bree asked grandpa to paint her a horse for her birthday. Excited doesn't even describe how she felt when she opened this!

Jer and Bree

Me and Avers

We hit Craters of the Moon and did some treacherous hiking through some amazing caves.
If only we would have brought water (thanks to the kind people all along the trail who reminded us we would be needing some). Got so thirsty I told Jake it would be okay if he took the bottle of water we found in the abandoned baby stroller. He put me right in my place for that.

We stayed up waaay too late doing lots of this and laughing our heads off.

The Kid Cave. Grandpa's garage has never been so loved. Or saturated with soda pop.

Then Jeff and Jer made some surf boards for the river.

Took a ride to the tree farm and the fair that wasn't.

Luke and Jer floatin the icy cold.

Nat Devany Steve Mom Ere

Zach and Kyle are going to be Freshman at BYUI next year.

Panning for Gold near Challis on the way up to Redfish Lake.

Love this guy! All unpacked and time to relax at the Redfish Lake Lodge.

Can you believe this water? And those are the Sawtooth Mtns in the background. Stunning.

Breezy spent hours playing on the dock in the background.

She has such a great imagination.

So sinking!

These girls gave the canoe a whirl. But trouble loomed when they went to dock it. Mindi got out nice and easy. Then Nat reached for the dock, securing her Pepsi safely there, and in doing so did not realize the canoe was drifting from the dock. As the canoe pulled away, she just couldn't decide if she should let go of the dock or the canoe and as a result, she was soon neck high in lake water. It was the most hysterical part of the trip. Mindi and Mom did not stay dry either, but it wasn't because of the lake water.

Shoulders and knees girl, that's the way to do it.

Quite possibly my favorite pic.

Floating on a log Jake found.

Grandma and Jeff got everything ready for the kids to make marshmallow shooters.

Then came the rain.

And as I snapped this picture, another camp full of kids with the same shooters came and attacked. We were in trouble because we were nearly out of ammo, but Troy took care of that and hijacked the enemy's. Yes Troy is 16 and they were about 10 but hey all 's fair in war, right? It was crazy fun.

All 5 of us: Deidre Me Mindi Natalie and Erica

I just can't even say how much I miss these guys already. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family and incredible parents who gave us a relaxing, fun vacation at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was heaven. Can't wait til next time!

Rachel!

So glad we got to squeeze in a little Rachel time this trip! I was so excited that Erica, my sister from Georgia was able to come to dinner with us and meet her. Could not have foreseen though that Erica would open up a discussion on how she has a single friend who looks just like Jer and Rachel should meet him because well, just look at Jer, isn't he so cute Rachel? Isn't he? We made Ere pay for dinner after that and banned her from being in the pics. (kidding she pulled a fast one when the bill came and then insisted on being taker of all pics - that Ere!).
Thanks for putting up with our crazy family Rachel! Breanna LOVES her new locket and can't get enough of seeing you!!! We love you!!!
Oh and about the kid in the crack above. We had some leftover pizza that got boxed up and so we were pulling out of the parking garage there was a homeless man standing at the stop sign. Erica said to Jer, "Hey, see if that guy wants our pizza". So Jer rolls down the window and says to the guy, "Hey, do you want some food?" And Luke in a panic starts chirping, "I want food, I want food!" And as Jer handed the box to the guy, Luke said, "AWWWWWWW!". VERY disappointed. Why did dad have to do that?

9 Years Ago Today...

I was sitting at Grandma and Grandpa J's house with Jer waiting for the phone to ring. Boy I don't know if time has ever passed so slowly. Lots of family and good friends were there to wait it out with us thankfully. And FINALLY the phone did ring with life changing news. Bree was born! 3 days later (did I mention time passing slow?), she came home and became ours forever! (If my scanner was in working order I'd give you a little peek at what that amazing day was like....maybe next year:) So, today we celebrated! Jake bought her 2 shirts that she's been eyeing for weeks now.

And of course, Grandma and Grandpa came through big time.

And this year's birthday card only skimmed the surface of how we feel about this little chicky.

Then she wanted to go soak up some sun, but the sun wasn't out today (unusual indeed). It was chilly (ok, by my standards) and rainy.

The Woods, Sheppards and Mumfords were all there too, so it was especially sad to get rained out.

Jake took about 50 pics of Carson. Such a cutie pie.

So we grabbed Erika, and Jer took the kids to do a little rock climbing while Luke napped and I cleaned.

Then we came home and the kids played, and we ate pizza and wings Palauan style, and Breezy blew out the candle on her ice cream cone.

Breanna, I can't tell you enough how much happiness you bring to me personally and to our family. You have no idea how many times you have made me stop and just think 'wow' at the way you have handled tough situations with just an easy going, happy go lucky attitude. You are outgoing, helpful, happy, confident, positve, smart, talented in so many ways and determined like no other. I love watching you grow up and I can't even say how much I love being your mom!

We love you Breezy Girl!!!

Happy Birthday!

A Nice Breezy Evening

Jake had some scout stuff to work on, so we headed over to BC to getter done.
Did a few laps, a few cartwheels and of course found the sandbox.
Looks like track and field might be our kind of fun:)

Hit it again

Went with the Fisheys this time.

Even got to ride of few with Jer thanks to CD.

Taught them some of my sneaky tricks and we all had a ball.

Supposed to Hit 115 Today

So of course we came here.
And it was hot indeed.
Jamie's maybe wishing there was something else in that water bottle.

Luke & Grady lovin the black crackers Jamie brought in...not bad for a rookie.

Dax you're the man!

Jake sharing (let's be honest, reluctantly sharing) the treasure he reaped from the bottom of the Cactus Cooler. Seems Captain Jack Sparrow left some cash down at the bottom of the river and Jake found it. (Love how everything's just a little more magical when Jamie's around.) Then Jake lucked out again when he came up short to buy this treat and the lady at the store made up the difference. Now if only he could find some lunch at the bottom of the lazy river....

Wish I had some pics of Bree, but once the Watsons showed up, she became MIA. According to Jake, she was off on a date with Dylan and therefore unavailable for pics. Aiyaiyai!

14 of em together!

Celebrated 14 years of bliss today! We actually went on a little get-away last month for our anniversary, so we went low key tonight and hit Mimi's Cafe for dinner. It was an interesting dining experience. They were out of everything (including the ice cream in front of us - we're still trying to figure that one out), so we had to pick through the menu, getting turned down at way too many requests (truck delivers on Tues ya know?). Finally our food arrived only to have this very LOUD man stand up and demand everyone's attention. He was from some dog group/ kennel club or what not and they were holding a meeting in the middle of the restaurant. Everyone was told to stand and introduce themselves ("I'm Suzi, proud owner of 2 Boxers, etc.) I think there were 35 people there. It made for an extremely romantic anniversary dinner seeing how much Jer and I love dogs. But we did get invited back for free appetizers and dessert to compensate for our trouble and you know how we feel about free stuff so yipee yahooey!
After the dog fest (shoulda seen the cars and license plates in the parking lot as we left oh my!) we found D&B's. Jer smoked me on every game.

We came up short on tickets for the prize I wanted most - you guessed it - a D&B deck of cards. So Jer worked his anniversary magic with the prize lady and voila! This deck of cards is officially mine (I mean ours). We took many pics with these cards but I am unable to post one in particular because this church boy of mine was not being very churchy in it.

Jer, thanks for the best 14 years! We've climbed mountains and lived to tell about it and I know I would not be around if it weren't for you. You are patient, calm, loyal (had to throw that one in for our dog night but it's really true), a studly athlete, game for just about anything, easy going, smart, and an amazing dad and hubby. Nothing ruffles your feathers. Your ability to clarify my special order at any restaurant is unmatched. You tolerate my grumpiness like no other. You are perfect for me in every way. I have no idea how I got so lucky.

I LOVE YOU!

Happy Anniversary!

Celebrating a Few Birthdays

We celebrated Bree's birthday early. She invited a few friends to the movie "Despicable Me". Georgia Whitney Bella Bree Sydney
Then McDonalds for lunch! She got the best presents ever!

These girls were so sweet and good. Can we freeze them at age 9?

Bree, I will post again on your real bday, so for now, I'll just say that I am so lucky to be your mom! You are a dream girl! I love you!!!

Then we celebrated Chad DeMar's bday. Talk about an amazing neighbor and friend! Jer and I had never been to PF Chang's so he introduced us to the place. Then Amber and I introduced him to a place he'd never been before: Ulta. Such a good sport. Never seen two guys more out of place.

Topped it off with Dairy Queen and an indepth discussion on the virtues of Sonic vs DQ. Deep stuff. Games back at my house were won by the bday boy and his wife. Love these guys and so glad they are our neighbors for at least a few more weeks anyway!

Oh and one more pic from the 4th! Aren't they the cutest?

The 3rd of July!

Luke watching the roof open up for fireworks.

No, we were not gifted enough to get on the jumbo tron but Jer wanted me to post a pic of the final score.

Dub fam.

So glad we got to hang out with these guys for our pseudo 4th, they are serious fans who pack in the fun including the nacho cheese offer that Jake couldn't refuse, the Hale wave that went over my head, Jer's outta control behavior every time his team scored, Patrick's uncompromising modesty, sweaty bums, itchy bums, a/c just 3 sections over, Patrick's 4 minute on the money call, Luke's poo, Dyl's boog, and the highest scoring game I've ever been to. But the BEST part of the night by far was clubbing on the plaza after. Check out these moves: