Birthday Fun!

Good food, fun company, and exciting gifts are all part of having a special birthday experience.

 Laura blowing out a candle on her favorite cookie!

 Birthday dinner with the family.

 What better gift than a beach cruiser for your birthday!

 Jarrett celebrating his birthday at Grandma Mills house.

Easter and then off to San Diego!

Here we are Easter Morning with many yummy treats and gifts that the Easter Bunny left us!



While camping in San Diego we enjoyed playing many board games in our campsite. ..



Embarked on many hikes...

Visited the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center...

Panned for gold...









Ate delicious food..











And had many amazing days boogie boarding, surfing, and sand castle digging at the beach!

Jenna's Junior Miss

Congratulations Jenna on becoming Ceres Junior Miss! It was a tough competition and we are so proud of you.

Here is Jenna and the other contestants. It was a fun night filled with many talented girls.

Connor at Scout Camp 2010

The bugle just sounded and Connor is still asleep. Life at Scout Camp is Good.

Here Connor is standing in line for breakfast. Connor tells me that there are lots of lines at Scout Camp. Keith is the leader standing in the far right making sure everyone stays in line.

To Jump or not to Jump, that is the question?

Here is Connor at camp Mensinger.
This is the stick that decorates the entrance of Troop 116 camp.

Here is Connor hanging out with his friends. Next to Connor is Levi Brook who is one of "The Brothers." Since Connor's brothers are in college, this was the first chance that Connor was able to hang out with Levi in a long time.

Connor also took the canoeing merit badge and spent the afternoon on the river paddling around. Here he is doing solo.

Connor Sailing

This past summer, Connor and Keith went to Scout Camp together. For Connor, it was a big sacrifice being away from his older brothers that were home for the summer, but he did his best to have a good time and came away with four Merit Badges in the process.

Sailing was probably his favorite merit badge. Every morning he would travel to a nearby reservoir and sail until lunch time. He tells me that is was great to get away from camp and all the chores, dirt and drills.

This picture was taken by Keith looking toward Connor's boat. Keith also loved the sailing and tells me that he is going to volunteer as a leader again next year. He has always secretly wished to be a pirate and this might be as close as he gets to his wish.

Keith also took this class and enjoyed watching Connor from afar. Connor told me that the only part of the class he didn't like was when they had to flip the boat and then right it again.
The reservoir was so beautiful and the water so cool. It was a great place to be on a hot morning.

Here is Connor getting his boat ready for sailing. The wind was blowing hard that day and they were able to get the boats up to top speed which was very exciting.
Below is a video of Connor steering the ship slowly into the dock.

Working at Cold Stone

Haley has been working at Cold Stone for almost a year now. Our family loves the ice cream she brings home every night. Connor's favorite is "Cotton Candy" with gummi bears. Keith loves "Vanilla Bean" with black cherries and my favorite is Haley's specialty, "Rocky Road" with almonds.

Grandma Barber decided to try out a flavor or two with Mom and Dad. After all the tastes we wanted, the the girls choose "Sweet Cream" with raspberries, and Dad went with the "Chocolate and Almonds." It was really tasty and extra fun to have Haley serving us.

It's a hard choice with so many good flavors. Grandma was so much fun to have around. I think that she really enjoyed her first visit to Cold Stone. Haley loved the big tip and didn't even have to sing for it.

Haley is the official Waffle Girl here at Cold Stone. No one makes waffles like Haley. She has it down to a science; crust golden brown, waffle perfectly symmetrical. We love it when Haley comes home after a day of waffle making, she smells like "Ode De Waffle." Unfortunately, she hates the smell and runs to the shower to be rid of it. It would be a great new scent at Bath and Body Works.

Fun and Games with Family

Keith took that Kids on a Father and Family activity to Boomers where they played golf, rode in go-carts, bumper boats and even did the climbing wall. Here is Jenna getting ready to practice her driving skills.

Connor tells us that his sport is "Miniature Golf."In this picture you can see his great form; Tiger Woods better watch out. We had a number of "Holes in One" in this game so if must be in the genes.
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Here is Haley getting ready for her putt. Riley and Jenna are also in the picture. The day was beautiful , but extremely hot!

Jenna is Driving! I have to say that she does a great job. My knuckles are no longer white and I can breath easily as she drives me around town. Her behind the wheel test will be this Dec 17th. Good Luck Jenna! As you can see, her braces are also off and her teeth are ready for those Hollywood close ups.

This summer the boys put together a make believe paper game for Connor that they would play nearly every evening. Jarret or Riley would be narrator and they would even have back ground music playing on the lap top to add texture to the game. Connor loved it as you can see by his face in this picture.

Connor has been "blanketed" by his brothers. It doesn't look like he is to worried about it.
He seems to like the torture and abuse that they put him through.

Here Shaun and Riley are with their captive, guarded by a pistol Riley brought home from his mission. It looks totally like the real thing, I don't know how he got it back into the country.
I hope that my sheets and blankets survive this latest hostage taking.

This summer the family was addicted to the "Bean Game" and we played it nearly every night. Amazingly enough, Connor was usually the winner even though he gave his cards away with no thought of repayment. Somehow this strategy worked for him.

Here we are at the "Club" enjoying the pool and again Connor is being tortured. We had a tradition of going to the club nearly everyday this summer. Riley, Keith and Jarrett would do p-90 together. While Jenna and Haley worked out in the weight room, I would walk around the golf course or swim with Connor. Connor would sometimes do p-90, play raquet ball or shoot some hoops while waiting for his brothers. Then everyone would jump in the pool to cool down before going back home for dinner.

Shaun came out to be with us nearly every weekend. It is great to have the entire family together again after so many years. Shaun was six years old when he first started swimming in this pool. The SOS club has really changed over the years. When the kids were little is was full of families. Then they took out the diving boards, kids fountain and brought in the swim team that took over the pool. Now we are usually the only family swimming on the weekends. We are not complaining since it is fun to have the pool and barbecues to ourselves.