Cabin 2013 (with 2 random pictures from May thrown in)

These next 2 pictures were taken at MacConnell's wedding barbecue/reception.  I just happened upon them recently. 

 

Timon?

 

 

Very pretty picture of Larcy and Lydia

 

 

All of the rest of the pictures were taken at our recent mini family reunion down in the middle of nowhere Utah.   I apparently think Samuel and Lydia are kinda cute, since I missed opportunities to take pictures of Aunt Lisa and my Mom (and Me).

 

Lydia and Uncle Byron.

 

 

She's not quite sure, but she's going with it.

 

 

Michael and Lydia

 

 

Samuel and Kate

 

 

 

I like to title the next 4 pictures the "GET OUT!" pictures, because that is what Samuel is telling me to do.  They get so sassy when they start to talk don't they?

 

 



 

 

 

 

Miss Lydia and her two teeth.

 

 

 

Samuel sharking me at pool.

 

 

Beautiful Kate

 

 

Contemplative?  Brooding?  Menacing?  Justin

 

 

 

Aww....Uncle Byron

 

Too cute for words MacConnell and Jaclyn

 

Random Family Shots - 2 of my favorite boys

On January 16th, the cutest little brother ever, came home from serving a two year mission in Mexico. I am so proud of him. Having served a mission, I know that it is not easy. But if you serve with love in your heart, there is nothing else you will ever experience like giving over your whole life in the service of your fellow man.

Needless to say we were super excited to see him after two years, but we aren't really a poster making family. When we got to the airport though, we saw that there were plenty of families who ARE the poster making kind. We thought it would be funny to make a sign out of the tiniest peice of paper we could find. There is Kate holding our special sign.

Sweet picture of Dad and son reuniting.

He is so happy his eyes are leaking a little.

MacConnell and some dude....just kidding...I think it was another Elder from his mission who was also in his M.T.C. district.


And now for second favorite boy in this post. Samuel.




No, not this guy....that is an otter. A cheeky one at that.

We took Samuel to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, and he loved it.

Here Samuel is melodramatically letting me know that he disapproves of the music on the radio. Look at the expression on his face, and he actually plugged his ears. Geez.

We went to feed the ducks at the pond behind my house, which Samuel loved. But I was afraid for our lives at one point. Just kidding, but there were ALOT of ducks converging on us.

Here he is playing with some shells. I put that necklace on him, it amused me. He gave me what for shortly after I took this picture, so I had to take it off.

Otter Creek

Hi Friends and Family (if there are any of you out there that even check this Blog anymore).

I know I am a slacker blogger.

But here are some lovely pics of our recent family reunion last weekend.

View from the upper deck of the cabin. Yes the cabin had an upper deck, and 5 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms, and a big screen TV with satellite, and a pool table...

This is a view towards the fire pit, which we failed to use (bummer), and also the path to the "phone booth". The phone booth was a stool roughly hewn from the stump of a log and the only place within 30 miles where you could get cell coverage.

There were a lot of dead animals on the walls of the cabin. Our little dog Nikki was not fond of them, she would stand and stare at them and whimper and shake. I wasn't sure if they scared her or if she wanted to bite them. Considering her normal sassy attitude, probably the latter.

We even brought MacConnell with us. If you are getting a sense of the Executive office from this picture that is because MacConnell's face has been taped to a George Bush 43 cutout.

Awww....

Uncle Byron and Aunt Lisa with George... I mean MacConnell.

I like this picture a lot, mostly because the look on Samuel's face is like "these people are really starting to annoy me".

Family

Cuteness!

Judging by the sheer number of pictures I took of Samuel one would have to conclude that he was the most popular member of the family. Which is kinda true. I have about 50 other pictures of Samuel, just be grateful I didn't post them all.

Cute Boy

We took MacConnell to the M.T.C. last week to start his two year mission for the L.D.S. Church. It always makes me feel a little nostalgic to go to the M.T.C. and I must admit I was a little teary eyed. Mostly because I am happy for him. I think this opportunity to serve will be a wonderful experience for him. I know it was for me.

Plus he is going to Guadalajara Mexico, so not only does he get to learn Spanish but if he wants to he can also eat tacos every day. Lucky! Tacos were the one thing I missed the most when I was on my Mission.

Aww, so cute. What a sharp looking missionary.

A brief history...

So...I don't blog so much anymore. Has anyone noticed? Probably not. Truthfully, you probably should be grateful that I don't blog as much anymore, because mostly I just want to whine about how stressful my job is and seriously who needs to hear that. Lately though I have felt the narcissistic stirrings to once again put my pictures on the web and maybe if you are lucky I will post some political pontifications at some point as well. Just kidding of course (the part about you being lucky).

And while it is true that I mostly just work these days, I have had the opportunity for some extra curricular activities as well.

Here are a few pics from June, July, and August to catch you up.

In June my dear friend Alethea came to Utah and we had alot of fun visiting English Tea Shops, and going to movies, and barbeques, and temples, and hiking.

Here are some pictures of our hike to Timpanogas Cave. (which by the way almost killed me, I beg to differ with the site that calls this a moderate hike. Moderate, my aching foot)

The heart of Timpanogas. As a side note, Timpanogas Cave is one of the only National Monuments in the National Park service to have a red light. I guess a few years ago they made a nation wide standard to only have white lights in national monuments and parks, but people were so upset about missing the red light in the Timpanogos Cave that they found a way to grandfather it in somehow. At one point in the tour they turn on a red light behind the heart formation and it makes it glow red. Cheesy? Maybe, but I liked it.

One of my favorite cave growths - Cave Bacon.

Alethea and I - after the hike.

After hiking to the cave I went to Thanksgiving Point to meet up with my cousins who were visiting from Reno. It was really great to see them. Here is a piciture of their three cute kids outside the Mayan. The Mayan is the place with the divers for those of you who have been there with me before.

Elizabeth - Keegan - Shannon

Shortly after my Sister's wedding, I went with my Grandma and Mom to Dallas Texas. We were tasked with going through the storage containers that my Grandma had been storing for the past 26 years in a Bekins warehouse, luckily for me they weren't ready for us the first day, so we just had to go site seeing. First on my list was the 6th Floor Museum.



This is the spot on the road where John F. Kennedy was shot.

Cute, cute, Jenny. Jenny who now lives in Dallas was able to come and join us at the museum, I was so happy to see her. Doesn't she look fabulous? I would like to mention that it was a VERY humid day, and I do not do well with humidity and neither does my hair.

After the museum we went to the cemetery where my Grandpa John is buried. He died when I was 10 and I was always sad that I didn't get to go to the funeral, so to visit his gravesite was fulfillment of a 29 year old dream. As a side note, and not to be morbid, but the funeral home director told me that alot of famous people are buried in this cemetery. Mickey Mantle, Tom Landry, Greer Garson (I think), and others. They were also responsible for arranging the funerals of Bonny and Clyde (who are not buried in Dallas).

We also went on a drive by of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which is ginormous.

The National Boy Scout headquarters, where my Grandpa worked.

And the Dallas Temple.

All in all the Dallas trip was a success.

In July, Kate and I went hiking to Silver Lake. I know I always post pictures of Silver Lake, but it is really quite pretty, so please indulge me.

And finally, Kate, Justin, MacConnell and I recently went to a Real Soccer game in the new stadium. It was alot of fun. And the Real beat Chivas USA 4 to 0. Not too shabby.

We had really good seats, like third row sidelines. But I think we were in the drunk tank section. This guy was so loud and obnoxious all through the beginning. He suddenly got silent; Kate thinks he heard me making fun of him. Oopsie. I should remember to use my whisper voice.

At one point in the game, the drunk guy behind me yelled "hair club for men" really loud to the referee who was a little follicly challenged. This was really funny to me for some reason, and I accidentally spit pop corn residue on the shirt of the guy in front of me. Sorry bout that blue shirt guy.

Here is the aforementioned drunk guy photo bombing my picture with MacConnell. You know the peace signs over people's heads just never go out of style I guess.

So that's about it for now, I will try to be more prompt with my postings in the future. Although I can't make any promises as I am scheduled to be in Riverside, California from September 8 - October 2nd for work.

XOXOXO