Summer 2017

Summer of 2017 has been the BEST! The other night, we went around as a family and said the fun things we got to do this summer:

• DISNEYLAND/CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE with the Leasure's and Grandpa Steve/Grandma Dana
• Seeing TONS of family we don't get to see every year: Alex, Jason and Nixon, Aunt Betty, Uncle Bob, Aunt Gloria, Aunt Sally, Aunt Caroline, Aunt Kelly, Cousin Kemp, Uncle Reid's family, our Bickmore aunts and uncles and cousins!!! 
• We slept at lots of houses: Grandpa Steve's, Great Grandparents Bickmore, Grandma Garrett, Grandma Lisa, Aunt Lana, Aunt Sophie, Trish, Uncle Kent's, The Orme Cabin, and Jeff's mansion 
• Sold our condo and bought a new house in Missouri!
• Saw Cars 3, Spiderman Homecoming, and Despicable Me 3 in the movie theater. NOT the Emoji movie.
• visited Great Grandpa and Grandma Orme in Payson
• Went on a hike with Grandma Garrett, Ava and Lauren
• I went on another hike with my mom and sisters
• Went to the Ogden Raptors baseball game
• Stayed in a mansion and swam in a gigantic pool for the Garrett family reunion
• Saw our cousin Kemp right before he got set apart as a missionary 
• Snuggled Lana's new baby Weston and went to his baby blessing. I'll never forget when Van circled the CTR ring in Nellie's picture and she yelled, "You've ruined my life!" right before the  blessing. I did my best to console her during the prayer. So funny!
• Went to church with cousins
• Went swimming at Natalie and Ian's pool and played with baby Ian
• Stayed at the Orme cabin in Island Park. Isaac helped the boys build bows and arrows.
• Went to Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful
• Went to Cowabunga Bay with the Leasure's, Grandma Lisa and Papa John. This was the summer I fell in love with the lazy river. Whenever someone asks William what fun thing he did this summer his first response is, "I went to Cowabunga Bay!"
• Swam all day in Uncle Kent's pool for the Bickmore family reunion and ate delicious snacks and food. Isaac had strep throat the first day and stayed in bed. Poor guy! I loved watching Harbor and Duran do their tricks off the diving board. I especially loved all of the family singing "How Beautiful is the Green Earth" for Grandma and Grandpa Bickmore. The newlywed game was fun too.
• I got to do FOUR high fitness classes that Sophie teaches. One of them was one she led all the cousins in at the reunion. She is such a good instructor!!
• Isaac stayed with Dr. Stauffer for two weeks to get ahead on his dissertation. He got a lot accomplished!
• Isaac and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. Wha???? 14 years???

Overheard at our house:

One day, I accidentally called Van, "Will". Shocked, Van said, "I can't believe you don't know who I am! You made me here!"

When we were at Grandma and Grandpa Bickmore's house, Grandma informed Will that Grandpa was putting drops in his eyes. Confused William asked, "Why is Grandpa putting rocks in his eyes?" Grandma giggled and clarified, "Drops, not rocks."

Baby Weston! This was the perfect age to meet him.

Craig has put in countless hours into their backyard. It's all coming together and the kids had so much fun swinging and throwing the frisbee.

The Ogden Raptors Game! It was so exciting at the end---the kind of game where they came back at the bottom of the ninth and won! There was a fireworks show afterward for the 4th of July.

We took the Front Runner train down to South Jordan to swim at Natalie's. 

We hung out with the Lewis kids one weekend. They had fun rolling down the hill behind them.   Will introduced the iPad game Teraria to Garrett. 

Sleep over with the Lewis family!

We reunited with our high school friend Becky Cole! We hung out all the time in high school and haven't seen each other in years. She does cross fit with Sara, my sister-in-law. 

This boy has my heart! It's Ian, Natalie's son. He was 8 months old in this picture--my favorite age! He is such a happy baby and so much fun to play with.

The Garrett family at Weston's blessing.

Weston on his blessing day.

Here we are with Great Grandpa and Grandma Orme during Grandpa's physical therapy. They are both so inspiring and have been champs this year with Grandpa's recovery. I'm also impressed with how supportive Lisa and her siblings have been. 

Here's the therapy dog, Jackson, at Grandpa Orme's Veterans home.

We were so glad to be in Utah for Uncle Terry's customer appreciation night! The good news is that Lana and Trish are also clients so we got to be together again.

We love to hope that these two will get married someday so we're taking pictures for their future wedding video. Ha ha!

Trace, Ryan and Sara's son, was so cute with his cousins Will and Van. They snuggled right up together the first night at the Garrett Reunion. 

Trying out the hover boards 

This is my adorable sister Kelly! She's such a ball of fun!

There's Kemp and Trace giving the hover board a go

It is rare that all four of us daughters and mother can get together so this was a special photo! We took it at the top of our hike in Ogden Canyon on the Indian Trail. 

Reid and Darci stopped by for a few hours on their way to California. It's been a while since I've seen the younger kids. They're so tall now! We went to the film Spiderman Homecoming. LOVED it!

Here we are with the Reid Garrett gang--Brooklin, Austin, Cameron, Us, Reid, Darci, Caitlin

We can't stay in Roy without a morning at Russ and Lucy Payne's house for waffles! Tara is on the left holding Weston. She was the first to see Kemp in the mission field last week in her ward! Awesome!

We were able to go to the Orme cabin in Island Park this year. We didn't get to go last year and really missed being there. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. Isaac helped the boys make bows and arrows out of sticks. 

Here we are at Mack's Inn Playhouse for Andrew Durrant's play. The kids loved it and Andrew, the owner, treated us all to dinner!

I love this Gwennie girl! She loves her treats and loves to sing in an opera voice.  So funny and cute!

Naomi. We like to call her Nomes. She loves being with the big kids and such a happy girl.

There's Andrew next to Isaac. Yes, that is his costume.

We drove in to Yellowstone. I love that place so much! We stopped here at this pretty look out. Van is pretending to fall in the waterfall.

Look how clear the water is! We stopped and ate a picnic lunch along the river.

This was taken in the Old Faithful Lodge. Van loves to pose for pictures!

Old Faithful

We took these cuties on the trails to see the other mini geysers.

When we came home from the cabin, we drove to St. George for the Bickmore reunion.  Here's Will with his  Great Grandparents Bickmore. Grandpa noted that they have both outlived their parents! They're still going strong! We will miss seeing them on our way to Utah when we traveled from Arizona. 

High Fitness Class with Sophia! If you live in the Salt Lake area you need to attend her class! I wish I could go every week..she's amazing! The Bickmore cousins did it together in the basement. So fun!

The boys slept on the bean bag and at one point Will had his legs wrapped around Van's head. Ha ha!

Here we are together on a warm summer day, watching old family videos on my phone.



I love being with family and friends! We got to see so much family this summer and it made my YEAR. We love you all!