a visit. and a reunion.

Man, I stink at blogging lately.

So, like 3 weeks ago, my sister Wendy, her husband Andy, and their 7 cooL kids {Natalie 12, Brian 11, Zachary 9, Landon 7, Sam 5, Ammon 3, and Ellie 3 1/2 months!} came to play with us. Wendy was THE BOMB and cooked us dinner every night because we were still trying to move in. She and my Mom both helped us move a bunch of our junk from the big house to this house we're in now. Thanks ladies!

Pizza break on the 7 hour car ride from their house to ours: (and a very humongous thanks to Mary Sue (me mumsy) for riding with me in my 'burb...you kept us all sane and entertained! :))

(Landon, Sam, Spencer, Brian, Katelyn, Ezra, Zac and Ammon)

We traded Kate for Landon for a stretch. Mom drove and I played with the kids. Okay, I totally thought that Spencer was sooo Andelin. But check this out:

He and Landon look close to twins. They both have fair skin, darling freckles, dark blond hair, exact same color blue eyes, and thin lips. They even have a common talent:

When we got back to the ranch, we did things like play in creek, (oh yes, move - kind of a big one), grab the stick:

(Brian)........................(Natalie)

ride bikes:

(Sam, Kate, Carrie, Wendy)

drive up the mountain to the high valley part of the ranch (where it was like 15 degrees cooler) for a little picnic, hiking, and beaver-dam-checking:

(Spencer, Natalie, Kate, Zac, Sam, Ellie, Brian, Ezra)

(Andy, Zac, Ammon at one of the beaver dams)

(Weston, Kate, Jumping Ezra)......(Weston, Itchy-Eyed Kate)

(Carrie, Ezra with Kate's shoes on)

(Zac, Sam, Brian, Spencer).............(Ezra, Brian)

Wendy and I walked back a lot of the way. It was so nice walking through the forest, talking with my sister, smelling the pine, watching the aspens quake, gathering wildflowers....

....and all the while having your posse in 2 suburbans right on your back.

When a couple of horned mama cows came strutting our way, Wendy made the call to hitch, she on her 'burban, me on mine. I assured her we were fine, that they were afraid of us. But, just to make her feel better, I consented. Who knew that a cow would charge a large vehicle? It totally went straight for the kids who were riding in the back with the window open. Good call Sis. And nice fast window-closing reflexes, Natalie.

It was fun to ride like that. Liberating even. That's Wendy in that picture, but I was doing the same thing on our car, while taking that picture. And these pictures don't do the valley justice, by the way. It was gorgeous up there that day. Tons of flowers, and just overall beautiful!

Back at the gate at the main (dirt) road, there were a million and seven frogs. The kids caught a bunch and we took them back to the house.

(Ammon)

(Andy photo-ing Zac and a wittle fwoggy)

Good times!

And, what the heck, let's put this in the same post.....

This year, the Weston's Dad's Side's Family Reunion was at Cascade Lake in Cascade, Idaho. It was beautiful. And the water wasn't too cold. There were millions of mosquitoes (no exaggeration), but luckily we had a mosquito eater ("skeeto muh-eater" as my kids call them) in our cabin. It was planned really well and we did some really fun things. Like (ready for this again?)

play at the lake canoeing, running on the beach, swimming, wading, sanding:

(Tippy Canoe Spencer, Kate)..........(Sunshine Girl Kate)

(Daron, Olivia, Brigham, Jamee, Carter)....(Sandster Spencer)

(Olivia, Kate, Carter, Spencer)......(Chariots of Fire Ezra)

(Weston's bro Tyson kicking it undersand..actually he was being a good sport and letting all the kids bury him)

(Carter, Ezra)

running, walking, hiking:

(Feeling Free Kate...remember doing that? running barefoot in your swimsuit and feeling comfortable with it?)

motorcycling (yeah, not me):

(Weston's Uncle Brian and his wife Elaine...these two are the parents of 13 amazing kids!)

hanging out in the mess hall, playing games, eating, singing, and being down right silly (the rest of the photos are courtesy of Spencer):

(Tia and Mark...holding the pose while Spencer tries to find the right button)

(Weston and Carrie)

(Jamee and Daron)

(Olivia with her Uncle Ammon and Aunt Leslie)

And then Spencer takes the camera outside...

(Brigham, Olivia, Carter...Daron and Jamee's kids)

(the Brig-meister)

(Brigham, Ezra)