Monson Family Reunion

While Anthony was helping with the Pocatello fire clean up, I met my family at Jensen Grove in Blackfoot for some family reunion fun! The kids had a blast playing in the water and along the beach!

Julia for some reason thought she had to hold up the shorts of her swimming suit! Not quite sure what that's about!

Jacob chilling with Grandma and hoping to score some down time on the grass!

I decided to have a little fun as well!

Matthew discovered some yummy looking seaweed!

Andrew loving some wave action!

Peter with his awesome sand castle!

The whole Monson gang!

The dessert table was a kid favorite! 

Homemade Whoopie pies made by Aunt Sharon!

Julia warming up with Grandma!

A little cousin fun! 

And then came the rain!

It came up at of nowhere and it poured hard and fast! 

Look at the lake bubble!

My brother, Shaun, was the lone brother left and ended getting drenched helping loaded the tables and other supplies! I got soaked to the skin when I made a dash to my van with my four kids in tow! 

More bubbling lake action! 

Won't you know that by the time we got everything packed up, it had stopped!

My cousin, Patrick, won the Gentleman award, when he scooped up our Grandma and carried her across the gigantic puddle in the parking lot!

After getting home and drying out, we had another mini birthday party for Kaylie and Julia, whose birthdays are one year and four days apart! 

They are best of friends!

Julia totally loved the dress that Grandma and Grandpa got for her!

Too bad, Mommy wasn't quite ready with the camera!

Pocatello Fire Clean Up

This summer a large fire broke out in the Pocatello area. Our bishop called for volunteers to go down and help with the clean up. Anthony willingly signed up and headed down to spend the better part of Saturday helping clean out the debris. 

He got to wear one of the Mormon Helping Hands jersery and get great photos like these when he was done. (I'm hoping he took these while he was stopped and not while driving!)

He was a little on the sunburned side and a little sotty! 

You can see where his gloves began and ended. 

The kids and I were at my parents because of a family reunion and my brother, Glen's, farewell. 

Julia 2nd Birthday

Its hard to believe that Julia is already two years old! It really has gone by fast! I'm so thankful that God sent this little girl to our family. She has filled with everything feminine from wearing to pink to wearing bows and mostly recently drama! She has such a caring nature! Always wanting to help anyone that she thinks is in need. We sure do love her! 

She definitely had the present thing down this year! Needed no help what so ever!

We so many birthdays close together in the summer, cake grows a little old. 

I decided to try out a new cobbler recipe (can't remember if it was a keeper or not!)

My favorite thing about these two pictures is Peter covering Matthew's mouth in the corner. This gave Julia an advantage to being able to blow out her own candles!

Our Salt Lake Trip--Part 4..Hill Air Force Base Museum

Our last stop on the way home! 

This whole trip was kind of nostalgic for me. 

I can remember going to Hogle Zoo with my parents and grandparents,

 as well as the ZCMI mall.

My grandpa also stop here once with me and I can remember getting to go inside one of the cargo planes. 

I wanted my kids to have some of those same memories!

We thought this would be a fun stop! It would give the kids a chance to run and we could see all the cool things and learn a little history all in one!

All of the really big fighter and cargo planes were outside. They were really cool to see and to learn about. 

You then move inside to see a whole lot more!!!

We kind of laughed at the hi-tech machinery that was once involved in the running of the base. 

This held special interest to Anthony and me (what historian won't find this fascinating!).  Anthony's great- great-great- great grandfather's was Navajo. They had an amazing exhibit all about the Navajo speakers and how they used their language to pass codes because it was ...well... unbreakable! 

This made me think of Superman and Clark Kent! 

All my super people!

As you can see, Matthew refused to wear any shoes. Julia soon followed suit! 

The wheels of one of the cargo planes! 

I never understood just how big these were! 

These two are best friends and I love it! I'm so glad that they have each other!

Poor Matthew sometimes gets left out but they do good to include him! The 3 Musketeers!

I'm not sure why he is crying in this photo. 

Our attempt to get a photo with me and the kids. Doesn't happen often.

To help keep the kids busy in the car, I made each of them a fun travel bag with puzzles and other activites. Matthew got to have a roll of masking tape! Keeps him busy un-doing and and pulling out tape! 

We decided to get some freeze-dried ice cream in honor of the space program! It was pretty good!