Aspen Grove

Whoop whoop!

Summer vacation is the HIGHLIGHT of my year.

I didn't have to do much planning because my parents took us

to Aspen Grove, round 2!

Round 1 was when I was a senior in high school,

 and boy did that trip not go as planned.

Condensed version:

 My parents scraped together what little money they

had to get us a tiny A-framed cabin up at Aspen Grove for our family of 8.

My moms dream vacation.

 She ended up needing

emergency surgery in the middle of the week.

She had a tumor growing on an ovary that decided

to give her pain worse than birthing 15 pound triplets naturally.

They removed it and little did they know she was pregnant with Craig at the time.

My poor dad ended up bouncing around the hospital

and taking care of us kids for the duration.

Not to mention dropping me off at the airport to fly home to beauty school.

Pack up and drive the rest of the family home.

Fly back up to discharge my mom from the hospital.

Then drive my mom home.

She wanted redemption at that dream vacation!

 After her 7'th and final baby graduated high school

and before turning in his mission papers, she got it.

18 years later on the same week, with a much LARGER family and

in a much LARGER cabin, she got to go back to Aspen Grove!

Our pit stop in St. George.

 Don't mind Casey's scary faces.

Lay off me, I'm starving. 

Here is the cabin we all stayed in!
Each family had their own room and bathroom.
The boys slept in a room with 2 sets
 of bunks with Collin and Weston.
Lindi and Olive got bunk bed in the loft.

Gathering before our eventful church meeting.
It was raining, so they had to squish everyone in the conference room.
Squish, meaning over maximum occupancy. 

During the Sacrament, the fire alarm went off.

Nobody seemed alarmed.

Church kept going like normal. 

Then we started smelling smoke.

It kept going like normal. Lol!

Finally a member of the Bishopric got up and said

that there was indeed a fire. 

Church was over. A for effort.

Best part about Aspen Grove, not cooking and no dishes!!

Buffet all the way.
It was fun trying to guess what each meal was going to be.
They were all pretty tasty!

Della had outgrown pack n plays, but was still in a crib.

 I found the best thing on Amazon.

It was a blow up bed with a higher edge so she couldn't roll off. 

The next day was the start of the week of age group classes!

It was nice to be able to send all the kids off to be entertained by counselors. 

Kind of like family EFY.

You would send them in the morning, then pick them up for lunch. Then send them back in the afternoon. It was great! They had nursery's for newborn babies and clear on up to young adult groups.
They swam, hiked, played games in the game, room, crafts in the craft house, rock wall climbing, basketball, 9 square. So much to do! They had speakers come and give classes to the adults if you wanted to attend while kids were off  in their groups.

This BYU professor gave a lecture on what the world was like when Christ was on the earth.

Adult racquetball during our free time:)

After dinner they had family game night.
It was a competition to see which families got the total fastest time.

We thought we were killing it!

Nope, didn't even place. Ha!

Cheers to all the free juice!

Family skit night.

Yep. We sure did perform our Christmas dance in July.

The rest of the week was full of age groups and hanging out!

We walked by to see the littles enjoying all of their swinging needs being met.
They got more attention that week than they ever do at home!

The combined groups one day for a magic trick show!

Rusty, Weston, and Collins group.

I felt bad Lane didn't have a buddy in his group. 

He quickly made friends and it was good for him

 to branch out and learn how to put himself out there.

 A good Jr. High trial run:)

I don't know how many times we crossed this bridge.

To think this was a new addition not that long ago!

Ropes course

Many rounds of BUM at night while kiddos slept.

Loser got to hunch over while everyone got a turn to whack a tennis ball at your bum. 

Carnival night.

"Everyone gets a snow cone!"

There was a day when kids stayed in their groups for 6 hours straight. 

We took advantage and went mountain biking at Sun Dance. 

I originally wasn't going to bike, just go along for the ride.

Stephanie wanted to try it and all the guys said it would be easy.

Umm, is was the SCARIEST thing I have ever done.

I went down once and said no more!!

Stephanie was thinking the same thing.

 To get our moneys worth, we rode our bikes on the street, UP the canyon.

I have a new appreciation for those bikers you see 

riding the twisty roads to the lake. 

I think my heart was going to pound out of me chest.

We gladly returned our gear and met up with my mom, Abbey and Marcie for lunch:)

Before I knew what I was getting myself into.

Somehow non of the guys flew off the mountain.

We ran into some people that were also from Aspen Grove.

 They had a bad feeling when they 

were on the ski lift going up for the first time, and seeing Stephanie underneath flying

down on the bike screaming "IM GOING TO DIE!!!"

Those girls also only lasted 1 run, ha!

First weeks of Summer

She is something else.

My parents were decluttering their house for a big remodel. 

Text after text my mom was sending of treasures she was finding.
Wondering if anybody wanted the items, or she would toss or give away.

Mostly I didn't want anything.
Until Marcie's old rollerblades were involved:)

I have been wanting some, mainly for exercising.

Casey was on foot pushing the stroller and I was on the blades.
They weren't super smooth, but I knew they were old.
The longer we were out, I was starting to think that I was the old one!
It was a lot harder than I remembered to rollerblade!
I was bushed and getting farther behind.
 I stopped to take a break when I looked down and noticed something funny with the wheels.
Huh. The rubber had disintegrated!!
 Made me feel a little better about my endurance level.
The last stretch home was sure interesting as I basically had to walk the rest of the way!

MHS summer basketball camp!
Actually, this was a big year of camps for Lane.
I dropped him off at 7:30 am for baseball.
When it was over he walked over to the gym for basketball.
His friends would grab free lunch in the cafeteria, then he ended the day with weight training.
It was awesome!

Rusty only had basketball.
The older boys were waiting for their turn. 

We would pick up Rusty and head to the cafeteria ourselves for some legit free lunch!

They had trays spilling over the edges with food. Not a bad gig. 

I look forward to our annual SunSplash trip just as much as the kids do:)

Probably my favorite mutual activity to date.

Golf cart drivers Ed.

We set up cones and obstacles, just like you would have to do if getting your license. 

Photo bombers or peeping toms?

 A trip to AZ Mills for Father's Day shopping. 

What is a mall trip without some pretzels and cheese?

Rusty finished his Faith in God!

His written testimony will come in handy when he, and only himself will read this. 

I guess when you don't roll in your sleep you can use the extra pillow as storage space. 

I thought for sure we could get this jigsaw puzzle finished in a day.
2 tops.
Noooooope.
In fact, they helped a mere 2 hours.

Weeks later, at 2 am, I finished it. Where is my trophy?

I had a hankering for Chinese food.
Nobody in my family likes Chinese, unless it's Panda Express.

I didn't say where we were going to lunch.
 When they were stuck at the table with no choice, they had to be fine with it.
Letting them order Sprite helped, too.
You got complementary soup with the lunch special. 

They were all a bit hesitant.

(her pursed lips, I die)

Hey Mikey, he likes it!!

Twinning has become a passion for these 2. 

This night was such a blast!
Our date night group was bit large and we didn't want to split into 2 cars.

Solution, we piled into our friends motor home last minute! 

It was as if we were living on the edge, being so spontaneous. 

They even had a left over ice chest full of cold soda from the weekend prior, score!

We couldn't end the night after dinner.

Party at the Duce! 

I think my face hurt from smiling so much.

It was such a fun night. 

 Did I mention she is something else?

Little Caesars can thank us for keeping them in business over the Summer.
I'm going to tally up how many I think we bought some time.

Last hangout before Konner moved to UT.

The Holidays lived in my parents ward. 

So it was fun to have different connections with them. 

I may have a sunglasses problem.

I love that these kids are so dang clever in keeping themselves busy. 

The tv is hardly on. It's a parents dream.

Living like the good old days with the hose as the form of entertainment. 

Soda and popcorn break.

My Bachelor/Bachelorette gals.

We started this group many years ago.

They have all continued to be some of my best friends.

Many, many late night talks with these wonderful ladies. 

Amber made us matching shirts to wear for the finale.