Yellowstone Trip Summer '08

Katelyn and Ashlyn at the falls.

Joshua at falls.

Jordan and Jared.

So pretty!

More Yellowstone....

We saw a deer just chillin out and here are Mikaela and Mariah with the deer.

A buffalo...we saw hundreds!

Mikaela Mariah and Jared at the falls. So pretty!

Yellowstone Trip

This first photo is of our 7 kids with Jenny and Mike Madsen's kids in front of their house in Rexburg, ID. We had fun spending the night at their house. It was so fun to visit them.
This is a photo of our kids at Grandma Gleason's gravesite in Preston.
This is Joshua at a geyser in Yellowstone. Stinky!
Old Faithful.

The End Of Summer Is Here.....

I cannot believe that the summer is over! Bingham High School Starts tomorrow for my 10th grader, Katelyn. Joshua (7th), Jordan(5th), Mikaela(2nd), and Mariah(K) start on Tuesday. Ashlyn(9th) does not start until September 2nd. I will have kids at three different schools! We've been shopping and shopping to make sure we're all ready and the girls are excited, the boys are ho hum.

It's been a great summer, even if it hasn't been relaxing. We've camped, we've done sports, the kids have had all sorts of adventures and the Highlight of the summer was going to Yellowstone National Park. Despite the rigors of 7 kids, it was a blast. If I can figure this blogging thing out, I will post pictures.

So, here I am becoming a modern mother. My cousin Laura turned me onto the idea of having a place to brag about my kids, and who doesn't want to do that. My kids are certainly the very center of my universe.

Yesterday we celebrated my mother's 60th birthday. All the locals, Heather & McKay with Bella and Lizzy, Abbey & Lorien, and Cory & I with our 7 were blessed to have Erica from Arizona, Zack from Houston, and Jessica & Danny with Wasel and Hyrum from California. We had a picnic complete with a wild game of football (or was it just a game of pile on Zack) and a crazy game of volleyball under a huge white canopy at Timpanogas Park up Provo Canyon. Then, in the evening we had a galla affair complete with white linen napkins and a 6 layer tiered cake. It was beautiful, thanks to Heather and her prowess with flowers, balloons and a banner. My contribution was the Italian dinner. We had a great program. My girls, Katelyn(14) & Ashlyn(13) played Pachabel Canon in D on their violins, Erica presented a painting made specifically for Mom, Jessica played a piano piece that she wrote, Heather sang "Time to Say Goodbye" (an Italian opera) and Zack presented a fabulous slide show of Mom's life and her kids. It was our tribute to a wonderful mother and friend. Holy Cow am I glad it is over!! I've been working my guts out on it for days and I am so glad to get back to normal.