Lake Tahoe

We are having such a great time on our Family Vacation!!! We arrived here at the south end of Lake Tahoe Saturday night, after a 9 hour drive. The Kids did amazing in the car and have been getting along great since we arrived, what a miracle!!! If they keep it up we just might want to do the whole family trip thing again in the future! Thought we would share some of our fun pictures from our last few days adventure.

It is so beautiful here! I have never seen anything quite like it. Mountains, pine trees, the lake that has some of the most amazing colors of blue, and then the clear blue sky!

The kids jumped off the boat in Emerald Bay! The water is a little cold!

Riding on the boat! Mark had a great time driving, he was pretty great at it too!

My amazing kids!

They had such a great time on the boat. I am glad they got the love of water from their Dad!

Since swimming lessons, Kaden has become very brave in the water. After watching Tyler and Madison jump off the boat, he wanted to also. He didn't even hesitate. When he came up he had the look of terror on his face. I don't know if it was the cold or if it was because he went down pretty far before he came up, but either way he was so anxious to get back on the boat. Jacob wouldn't jump in because it was too cold. He is definitely my son!

Mark and Tyler decided to do something a little out of the ordinary and try parasailing. Tyler was a little nervous, but Mark was so... excited! Mark captured this great picture of Tyler up at about 1200 feet. They both loved it and thought Madison and I should try it. Maybe next time!

Going out on the boat to Parasail!

Having a great time at the beach! The paddle boat was fun, just a little exhausting. Maybe we are not in the best of shape. Our favorite part of the paddle boats was when we had two 11 year old boys ask us to race. We think they just thought Madison was cute, because when we ended up in a tie they both made sure to give Madison a high five! I think this is just the beginning.

The kids worked on this volcano for a good hour!

We love the place we are staying, it is so family friendly!

Family Reunions!!!

I thought it would be a great idea to blog about our family reunions, but since I forgot the camera at both reunions (at least I am consistent, right!?) this will be a picture free blog. According to Madison blogs without pictures are no fun. So with that being said, I will make this short so to not bore my readers, especially my daughter!

The Forbush reunion was in early June and took place in Heber City at this amazing cabin that my brother and sister-in-law found. It was gigantic, or at least it seemed like it to all of us. It had 8 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, a big kitchen with everything we needed, a basement full of fun things including a pool table, pinball, ping pong, a big t.v., etc. Despite it being rainy and very muddy, we had an amazing time! It was so nice to just relax, play games, talk and eat with everyone. Nate and Sarah, who were in charge did a great job planning fun things for us to do. We had a great time doing unusual Olympic games, sharing our talents and just hanging out together. One of the very best parts of the reunion was the fact that there was absolutely no fighting between the kids, which meant no tattling! Thanks for all your hard work Nate and Sarah!!! It is our turn next year, wonder where and what we will be doing.☺

The Murdock reunion was in late June and held in Colorado Springs. Three of Marks siblings live there and so only 2 of us had to travel the long 10-12 hours. It was so great to be there and see each other again. We don't get to see Mark's family very often, so it is so great to see the cousins reunite and have a great time together. I personally love to see Mark and his brothers revert back to their childhood and tease and compete with each other. They are all pretty hilarious. Monica and Jared were the lucky ones to be in charge and they to did a fabulous job. We had a great time sharing funny talents, playing volleyball (of coarse not me on this one, I was afraid I might fall into the net again, and there is no need to do that since I already got the guy!) playing croquet, going to the park and playing games. The kids had a great time on the water slide and getting wet! Despite the long.... drive, Mark's Parents not being there (they are serving their 2nd mission in Mexico), and Marks bicycle injury (that really needed stitches), we had a super great time!

Thank you for all the great memories!!!

Box Elder Camp Ground Pictures

The week before Father's day we went to Mantua with Jacob for Pack Meeting. While there at the Box Elder Campground I saw this amazing field of Poppies. It was so beautiful that I had to take my kids, camera and sisters back with me to take some pictures. The idea was to give them to the "Dads" for Father's Day. Well, I think my sisters did do that, but I guess I am lame because it was my BIG idea and I never did get them developed and framed. I did however download them onto my computer so I thought I would put them on my blog. So here you go honey, HAPPY FATHER'S Day two weeks late!!! (Just in case any of you were wondering, I did do something for him on Father's Day)

Our cute kids!

Melanie and Juliette

Heather and Christian

Christian was a little concerned about being in all this tall grass and flowers!

Tyler, My Terrific Teenager!

Madison the Model!

Jacob, when will all your permanent teeth come in?

Kaden loves to have his picture taken!