I love these guys

This was taken on the day J was ordained a deacon. I always tease Ben about his 'cheesy' camera smile, in this picture I think it's pretty obvious where that big grin comes from--and who has inherited it!

Having a great time. Really

We're falling in love with Wolf Creek Resort, having stayed up there three times this year--two retreats and one Cook reunion. Of course, we could never afford to buy anything up there, but we've enjoyed it anyway. This retreat our family had our own condo in the Moose Hollow area. The kids spent time canoeing with Dad and doing crafts at the awesome daycare facilities


Well, everybody except No, who will probably scream for the rest of his life any time he sees a green tent.

As for me, I laid around on the couch a lot and took massive amounts of NSAIDs until my knee stopped hurting. This is what I get for going hiking now that I'm an official old lady.

Three cranky Boys

The Slade reunion was up in the Uinta mountains at Carter Creek Camp. It made me realize how much I love camping and being away from traffic, noise, and phones. Seriously, why does my phone ring so much? I think it's time to unplug that puppy for the rest of the summer.

One of our goals was to get a picture of the five grandkids born last year--our fire pigs! Of course, it was nearly impossible to get a good picture of that many babies, but there are some cute ones. Also, amusing video of all the aunts, uncles, and grandma trying to get the babies to smile. I think Jake has a future as a model with those beautiful big eyes of his.

Thanksgiving Point

With a largish family, there are many things we can only afford to do on special occasions or whatnot. The connect pass let us do a ton of 'touristy' things in the Salt Lake area for a price we could live with. One of our favorite places was Thanksgiving Point, where we roamed the gardens and played at the dinosaur museum. No loved digging, whether or not he 'found' any fossils. Also, I'm tired of always needing to edit my kids red devil eyes out of any picture taken with flash. I suppose I need to refocus on being grateful that we live in the digital age where I can edit them out instead of having albums full of devil-eyed kids.

I'd like all two of you who read this to know that the magnetic cord on a Mac laptop is pure genius. Genius, I tell you!

Test Driving

My inlaws are looking to unload their Mac and brought it over for me to test drive it. Every time Ben does anything on it I can see the neurons dedicated to engineer geekiness ecstasy firing away. Of course, he maintains that since I have wanted a Mac for forever, a purchase of this marvel of engineering would be for me.

Now, the only question left is which kid to sell so I can afford this beauty?

So, then this thing happened

I'm not sure where July went. Last thing I remember we were getting ready for the Cook Reunion in June and now it's almost August. That's just weird. Since we did a ton of fun things in July I suppose I should write more about how much fun, etc, etc. Instead I'll post the picture of the Cooks and the Haymonds on top of a mountain. I'm sure Ben H. knows what mountain it is, I just know we rode the Snowbird tram to get to the top. That connect pass was a total blast, and unfortunately the kids want to do most of the stuff we did again. Can't afford that!

In other ramblings, I hate looking at myself in pictures because I always look dangerously lopsided like I'm about to fall over. Must train self to stand uncrooked.