The Cabin

As you will notice with my new picture of the week, the cabin truly is my favorite place on earth.

This cabin was built by my grandpa's bare hands when my mom was a little girl. She always tells us stories of how he would let her help hammer in the nails and he was so particular about building every inch correctly. My grandpa was an architect and as a child I remember thinking he could build or fix anything with a hammer and nails. When I was really little my parents had to move a lot but no matter where we lived, every summer we would drive out and spend a couple weeks at the cabin. It is high up in the Uinta mountains in Utah, you have to drive up a ten mile dirt road to get there, and the water is from the river so you can't drink it. It is a little rustic, but the most beautiful place on earth. I have so many memories as a child of wandering around our property and the woods surrounding it and coming face to face with deer and moose. I loved fishing in the ponds, tubing down the river, and picking wild flower bouquets for my mom. But most of all I just loved being there surrounded by the beauties of the earth and feeling close to my Father in Heaven who created it all for me. Something about this amazing place just makes me feel like Heaven is so close. I am so grateful that now I get to bring my children to this wonderful place each summer and watch as they experience the wonders of discovering it for themselves. I took the kids there last week and had a blast. It is run-off right now (when the snow all melts from the mountains and comes down the rivers) so the river is raging. That made me very nervous with Carter around since there is a river that goes right in front of the cabin and one that goes right in back. I have never seen the river as wide or as deep as this year. So of course Carter has no fear and his favorite activity was to throw rocks in the river from the little bridge in front. Every time he would throw a rock into the river he would say Booyah! (he was taught this little phrase by his father in case you were wondering) This made me so nervous because he would find the biggest rocks his little hands could carry and jump as he threw them off the bridge. So one morning around 8am, I took Carter outside and was sitting on the porch with my mom when he fell into the raging river. It was freezing so he started to scream immediately. I jumped in the river at the bottom of the bridge because I was worried he would be dragged under the bridge and get stuck there. My mom ran to the top of the bridge where he had fallen in and all she saw was these tiny white fingers holding on for dear life. So she grabbed in the river and got him out before he could lose his grip and fall under the bridge. We both nearly had heart attacks, but we were so grateful he was alive. All my mom kept saying was, "this baby is so strong!!", "you are so lucky he is so strong!" I reached into the river just to see how strong the current was and I was amazed that he had held on as long as he did. So that was a little traumatic, but the rest of the week was spent spotting wildlife, making mud pies by the pond, having snacks in the tree house that Nana built, and roasting marshmallows by the fire pit. Daddy helped chop down some trees and we all helped cut fire wood and haul it to the wood shed. Rylynn loved this part and praised us for our Teamwork! Another amazing thing about the cabin is the stars at night. You can see the entire milky way and the stars are just endless. Another great story from the week was when Carter was taking a nap, we spotted a huge mother moose and her tiny new baby cross right in front of our property and we followed them around to the back river. We were so nervous that the little baby wouldn't make it across, but they both made it safely to the other side. We just love this place and feel so lucky to have it!


Here I am teaching Rylynn the traditional art of mudpie making!

Daddy and Carter scouting out rocks to throw in the river

Rylynn working very hard on her mudpie

A family snack in the tree house

Carter precariously close to the edge!

Did I mention that we get dirty at the cabin?

The back white river rapids

Nana working hard with the chainsaw!

Fun at Nana and Papa's house!

We have been having one adventure after the other this summer and unfortunately, because of that I have been neglecting my blog! So here is the update. Rylynn and Carter have been having a blast visiting all the people they love and doing all the fun activities at each house they visit. First we stayed at Nana and Papa's pool house in St. George. The kids call it that because they have a pool in their backyard that they get to swim in everyday. Some other things they have loved doing at Nana and Papa's house are playing in the playroom with the awesome play kitchen that used to be mine when I was a little girl, playing with the beautiful dress ups, and riding around in the Jeep power wheel. All I can say is stay off the sidewalks, because Rylynn is a crazy driver!! Carter doesn't seem to mind though, he is always along for the ride. There are some really cool parks in St. George too that they have loved playing at. The new park in the center of town has this huge river type of thing with waterfalls, and steps to walk through the river. It is all chlorinated, so it is basically a swimming pool. There are tons of kids there and it is lots of fun. There is also one of those fountains that squirt out of the ground that the kids can run through. Every time we go, they each get a little braver about the fountains.




Rylynn loved wearing the fancy dresses and kept saying she was a princess. The funny thing is that half the dress-ups were my old fancy Easter dresses and Halloween costumes, so it was fun for me to reminisce about my childhood as my daughter played dress-up. Carter's idea of playing dress-ups is diving in the dress-ups bin and making a mess!


When I first showed Rylynn the jeep she was so scared of it because it kind of makes a loud sound. Then after a couple days she decided she wasn't scared of it anymore and she and Carter hopped in and drove around the neighborhood for hours. Carter never got sick of being the passenger even though Rylynn often drove up on curbs and onto lawns. He just sat there smiling as she drove him around.

Another fun activity was building block cities with Papa in the garage and then knocking them down, clearly a man's game! My parent's saved all of the wooden blocks from when we were growing up, the nice ones that are natural wood. So my Dad made up a game where you build a tall tower and then chuck blocks at it until it falls down. Rylynn thought it was so much fun and Carter really enjoyed the destruction part. Anytime he gets to throw something he is happy.

Floral Design and weddings

So as I mentioned earlier, while we were in St. George my cousin got married and we got to go to her sealing and receptions. I didn't get to post pictures before so here they are. Also I wanted to brag for my amazing mother for a moment. She has been doing wedding flowers for my cousins and for my sister in law for about a year now. She just picked it up as a hobby and she is totally amazing as with everything she decides to try. So for my cousin's wedding my mom did all her flowers as a wedding present. I got to help her since I was there and it was so much fun. My mother's list of talents never seems to end and she is inspiring to me because she doesn't shy away from trying anything. It was a lot of fun to help her and learn a new little craft.


This is the bridal bouquet. Her colors were turquoise, black and white.

This is the boutonniere for the groom.

These were the bridesmaid bouquets.


These were the corsages for the mothers and grandmothers.

I love this picture of Rylynn and my cousin's kids with their faces pressed up against the glass doors of the temple looking for Emily and Michael. They could hardly wait for them to come out. Rylynn even tried to sneak in through the baptism door when a couple teenagers were going in.

This is a picture of Rylynn hugging Emily. She was so excited!!

They are such a cute couple!

I'm so glad we got to be there. I just love weddings!

Mexico pics... finally!

Here is the belated tribute to our annual trip to Mexico.  PS this is a really long post!

We arrived at the Puerto Vallarta airport to much fanfare. A mob of locals was awaiting our arrival offering to carry our bags, show us to our vehicle and otherwise pamper us in every conceivable way. They were all very excited to see us and it made us feel like celebrities. This excitement ceased when we choose two Senors to carry our bags, which left out the others. They were obviously disappointed, but I think deep down inside they were happy that we considered them. The two Senors parted the mob for us and took us to our van. We gave them what turned out to be a somewhat meager tip, which turned them against us as well. So, we arrived to fanfare and left to dirty looks. Such is the life of a celebrity - one minute they love you, the next minute they curse you.

Anyway, we got in the van and we were on our way to The Grand Mayan.  The rest of the week was a lot of swimming, virgin Pina Colatas, and sun!  Oh and I can't forget also a lot of Wii!  My Mom and Dad bought a wii for the trip and we played it everyday.  Then when the kids went to bed at night we would play American Idol wii and sing karaoke.  It was so much fun and also very entertaining:)     

The shuttle ride from the airport.  The cousin bonding begins!

This is the entrance as you walk into the resort.  We stayed in this room for awhile.  There are these amazing huge Mayan warrior statues that line the room.  They were probably 50-60 feet tall.  It was quite a breathtaking entrance.  The kids loved it!

My mom brought a lot of water toys this trip so this is one of the water fights at one of the pools.  There were probably 20 pools plus the main pool which is the length of three football fields.  Needless to say we never got bored at the pool!

Another afternoon activity.  The girls had a little game of restaurant they liked to play with any adult willing to play the server.  This day it was Nana who got the job.  When Garrett did it he wrote out a whole menu and had them sign a bill and everything.  They never got tired of it.

One day we took a boat ride around the resort.  There is also a train you can take around the resort which the kids also loved.  Nathan was so excited to get on the boat that he stepped a little too early and landed in the river.   Luckily he is the oldest grandson and he can swim so it wasn't a big deal.

This is Nathan and Marianne on the boat ride.  Nathan had to sit on her lap because he was wet from falling in the river.

Taking in the sights from the boat.

Each day we take a turn being in charge of afternoon activities for the kids.  This is the first activity that Aunt Danielle was in charge of.  The kids each got a sand pail and shovel and they got to decorate their pails with the foamy stick ons.  They loved it.

This year we started the tradition of a girls' day and a boys' day.  For girls' day we went into a little town called Bucaria and shopped and had lunch right on the ocean.  The food was so amazing and so was the view.  Then we came back and went to the spa and pampered ourselves with facials and massages.  The boys' day was all about golf and food.  I love this new tradition!

This is the view from our table at the restaurant in Bucaria.

Me and the kids by the waterfall, you can tell Carter was really happy to stop swimming to take the picture.

The fam on the waterfall.

The view of the beach from our balcony.  Each room has it's own balcony with a little wading pool on it.  The kids loved it, but it made it stressful for the parents.  We couldn't ever leave the doors open with the little kids around.

A day at the beach.

Rylynn got pretty brave with the ocean this trip.  She even let Daddy take her way out and jump the waves!

Carter preferred watching the ocean from the sand.

We had a sand castle building contest and this is Uncle Jordan, Danielle, and Thais's castle.  We all got prizes!

Rylynn and my triangular sand castle!

A friendly game of stick pull between cousins.  Good job Rylynn and Thais!

Thanks Nana and Papa for an awesome trip!!  We can't wait for next year!