Pioneer Day

I miss Pioneer Day at church. I remember when we were young that mom would dress us up if we would allow her and we'd go to the church and churn butter and make wax candles and eat deer meat and look at Indian arrows that were on display. Then we'd listen to tales of the Mormon pioneers and the sacrifices they made to make the trip to Utah. Inspiring, wish I'd listened better. But this year was the first year the girls have been able to go because Kylia and BB took them to Hosford to participate in their festivities. And let me tell ya, the Hosford ward knows how to honor the pioneer spirit!!! My girls out on their boots and our most pioneer chic dresses and did everything from pull sticks to rope tug of war to shooting and they had a blast doing it!!! So glad they were able to go!!!


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Pics on the beach...

So, we took some pics with Stacey Vowell this summer on the beach while we stayed in Panama City in August. I've decided that I like the beach a little bit more, so much so, in fact, that I also, with Kylia's help, drove my kids to Jacksonville in November to have my Christmas pictures done. But that's for another blog post, even though it's nearly December and I'm still posting about the summer. Anywhoooo...we had some crying pics and we had some laughing pics and we had some not listening pics and also some silly pics at the beach but it's amazing how all those components can actually make a great picture if you can click the camera quick enough! Thankfully, Stacey was patient and the kids weren't too irritable so we did get a few precious shots.














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Shipwrecked...

At the beginning of the summer, we took a short beach jaunt to St. George Island. So, it was only fitting that we end the summer at the beach as well. Enter my good friend Kari Copeland Smith and her mom Caroline Copeland and family to help us make that happen. Once again, we packed up what beach belongings we had (which are meager but seem to be multiplying nonetheless) and headed for 3 days of sand, sun and surf. This time the beach of choice was the home of the world's most beautiful beaches,Panama City beach. We stayed in a high floor beach condo, which the girls loved and we hung out at the pool during the evening and went hunting for crabs on the beach at night. The girls still talk about that! From there, we went to Shell Island at St. Andrews state park and were basically at our own private beach. Hunt finally tested the waters there, hopefully he had a good time, he seemed really interested tasting the salty sand and water at least. That was his last day because I had Joe pick him up at the condo (thankfully he was working in PC that day) so that the next day I could go with Kari and take the girls to Shipwreck Island water park. Needless to say, this was the highlight for them, they'd never been there or to any other water park before so they lived it up!!! I made sure to coat them in sunscreen but apparently forgot to apply it to myself. Oh well, the burn eventually peeled off. Anyway, we had a great time spending our last few "days of gold" with good friends and lots sunshine. Can't wait to do it again!!!



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Random summer sillies...

Not all pictures from summertime have to show bathing suits and swimming pools. We were so busy this summer that we really didn't get to do too much of those things. So, we settled for silly pictures of babies smooching their reflections in the mirror, kids with homemade tiara scarves and playtime at the park (when Mommy could tolerate the intolerable heat). We had a good time and were able to make memories along the way. I can't ask for more.























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