24th of July

Who knew that Pioneer Day equaled fireworks? I don't think we have ever really celebrated pioneer day. Josh doesn't have work off so it has always just been like any other day. But this year I thought we could do some fireworks. I got only small ones that Abby says are better then the big scary ones! We all sat out side and watched the show that Josh put on for us. It was fun!

Josh cleaning up the mess. Poor guy has to work then come home and put on a show for us and then clean it up! He even burnt a hole in his work shirt from one of the fireworks! Maybe next time he can sit and enjoy the show while I do all the work....I did say maybe!

A VERY EXCITING MOMENT IN LIFE!

Tuesday morning bright and early Elizabeth got her braces off. She has been so excited for this moment for a while now. I remember when she was getting them on she was so excited now though she says she is FREE! She came home from the cabin early JUST FOR THIS! She will get her new retainer Friday. This orthodontist is SO nice. They gave her a bag of all the candy and gum that she wasn't supposed to eat with braces on. Elizabeth the sweet girl that she is set aside her dad's favorite candy and set aside some to share with Abby! I love this kid and am so very happy for her.

Done with the first phase...no more braces until all of her adult teeth come in and we will see if she needs them on for the second phase!

The Gathering Of The Tippetts!

Instead of going up to Oregon this year to Grandpa Ford's farm we all gathered just outside Cedar City and invaded Noelle's parent's cabin! Josh, Elizabeth and I only could go for less then 24 hours (From Friday night to Saturday late evening, but it was worth the drive. Josh and I had some obligations that we couldn't get out of and Trudy said that we could leave the girls there with them until they came back up on Tuesday. Elizabeth had her BIG orthodontist appointment to get her braces off on Tuesday morning. I told her I would change her appointment to another day so that she could stay, but she looked at me VERY SERIOUS and stated that this was a VERY EXCITING time in her life and she couldn't put it off! So we gave Abby the choice to stay and she said she was going to be a big girl and stay. We all kept asking her over and over if she was going to stay, because this kid can't even be out of my sight if her sister isn't with her, but she insisted that she would be fine! So she stayed! I am happy that she got to stay but let me tell you Elizabeth was SO very sad she was alone. That by Tuesday she was telling me that she was glad that I had two kids and that she wishes Abby came home with us! And by Tuesday I was so very glad I had two kids because Elizabeth was driving me CRAZY (to put it nicely)!
We left Orem at 4:30pm on Friday and had planned on being at the cabin by around 7:30pm not much later then that (factoring in bathroom brakes and all) Jason gave Josh directions and Josh also printed some directions out from google. Now to put it nicely, Josh has absolutely NO directional skills at all. And to make matters worse they had just changed the street signs that morning to the cabin and changed some of the names so.....translations we were lost on top of a mountain (literally) for a few hours. Our first of many mistakes was taking directions from a guy holding a can of Bud Lite and it probably wasn't his first one either! Then our second mistake, once again of many was taking a "road" that wasn't made for any car to drive on let alone Josh's truck! We ended up on a four wheeler road up a mountain that made all of us want to close our eyes while seeing how close we were to the edge of the mountain. Finally around 10pm or so and down from the top of the mountain Josh was getting tired the girls were half asleep and Josh made a comment that he was going to start running stop signs and maybe a cop would pull him over so we could find out where we were. (Oh did I mention there was no cell service so we couldn't call for help) By the second sign run through our prayers were answered and a cop pulled us over. He came up to the truck and said, "So you going to stop at the next sign right?" And all we could say was Yes if you tell us where we are!!! He kind of laughed and we told our whole story and he took pitty on us and knew exactly where we needed to go. With no ticket and new directions we found our way there! The funny thing is we were SO close to the cabin if they hadn't changed the names of the streets we could of made it there! But we got there and pretty much went right to sleep we were SO tired!!!
The next morning we had breakfast and were off to see the caves! I took so many pictures and these are just a few of them....

A few people brought up four wheelers and they were one of the highlights for the kids!

Curly would always stop and pose for a picture for me. I must have about a dozen pictures of just this kid!

On the way to the caves most all of  the kids and a few of the big kids jumped in the back of the truck to drive over. They sang songs at the top of their lungs and gave cheers to every passer by that we came across. I think that they had a lot of fun back there. I can't imagine that it was comfortable though!

So there were these caves that you had to climb in underground. Everyone had their own flashlight and we all went into the first cave, except for Mark, Grandpa, Dave and Denise (I think everyone else went). I thought of I can just walk though a cave, maybe with a little help from Josh no problem....well at first it was easy no big deal, then the cave got slippery and wet and MUDDY! My foot slipped into the mud my shoe got caught and my foot came out and landed right in the mud. So for the rest of the way I walked in the cold mud with one shoe on and one shoe off. Then the cave started getting smaller and smaller. We all had mud from head to toe! And yes Josh, Elizabeth and I had only this one outfit and no others to change into because we were going home. At one point I didn't think I was going to be able to fit through a spot and my rang of movement isn't what it used to be, but with a little push from someone behind me, (thank you by the way) I got through and then it was Trudy's turn and she was saying she wasn't going to make it through, but I said if I got through it she could do it too.  It was a lot of fun. After that cave though I was done and sat while the others went into a few more caves!

I made all of the couples come out to this beautiful overlook to take pictures. Some of the brothers were more willing then others!

 Then we got Caleigh to take a picture of all of us, we are sad that we are missing Jeremy and Laura they didn't get up there until that evening!

And yes this shot was one of the boys ideas I think. And man I didn't think my butt was that big, I really have to do something about that!

Us all muddy and happy!

When we got back to the cabin the boys took some of the kids for rides around the cabin! 

After lunch we all went out again and this time we went to what was called the swinging trees. I really don't know how healthy this is for the trees but it was fun for all the kids and also some of the big kids too!

By the time we got back from the swinging trees Jeremy and Laura arrived.  

Uncle Sally had the kids all chanting this cheer together! Needless to say the kids LOVED it!

We made the kids get together and take a picture. These are ALL the Tippetts grandkids!

Then of course we had to take one of everyone! 

Soon after Josh, Elizabeth and I left for home. Abby stayed and she says she had the best time. I guess there was one melt down about shoes being dirty but other then that she was good without us. I am hoping to get some of the pictures from those few days while we weren't there. Even though our time was short there we had so much fun and are so thankful for Dave and Denise for letting us invade their space for a while!

Who is the BEST?

We were driving in the car yesterday and Abby says, "Mom, you know those necklaces that have the two necklaces that say best and the other one says friend ?"
Me: "Yes"
Abby: "Well, I would have the one that says BEST....because....well, I'm the BEST!" (And she says this with her little Abby attitude)
All I could say was...ok...this kid has NO self esteem problems what so ever!!!

Catching Up...

I've been a little per-occupied to update on some of the things we've done and had these pictures so I am just going to give a real quick recap! A while ago Josh was putting together the lights for the new garden (I will update on that later) and we were all "helping". Yes we sat and watched him do all the work, but the girls had fun playing in the boxes! I don't understand it they have lots of toys and things to play with but they get more excited about an empty box then any toy! Abby fell in and all you could see was her feet hanging out...it was funny as she was yelling "help"!

A while ago my mom asked me to help her with a young woman's activity and I made these very cute (yes from pinterest) handouts to go with the book marks that I taught the girls how to make.  They were so simple to make!

Heather's birthday was June27th and we of course made her a sign and made her stand in front of it with all the kids to document! We LOVE Heather and hope she had the best day!!!

One thing about summer I LOVE is the saved ice stands EVERYWHERE!!!!  We found this one that is the BEST!!! Can you believe how BIG they are!!!

Conrad's birthday was also the 27th of June and I helped Cory host an ALL boy swim party for CAL and his friends!! Being a girl mom it was kind of fun to see what a ALL boy party is like. I have to say boys have no fear which made me about die while watching them jump off the diving board into the pool! But no one amazingly got hurt so all is well!

Projects & Fireworks...Happy 4th of July

I saw on Pinterest these really cute and REALLY easy shirts to make for the girls for the 4th of July. So I made them. They were super easy all I needed was the ribbon and white shirts and I ironed the ribbons on the shirts. I did end up sewing the bows on but that too didn't take too much time!

 Also on Pinterest was this cute star hair do and I just used the extra ribbon from the shirts for hair bows!

Abby for some reason didn't want a star in her hair so I just let it go and let her have her usual do! She was happy!
We, and I use the word "we" very loosely-because me and some of the lazier kids didn't do as much as everyone else, worked in the yard for most of the day. It was so hot out side that Josh started not to feel well, but I sort of guilt him into going to the movies with all of us anyway, I should of just let him stay home and rest- he really doesn't like going to the movies. But I told him I would buy him popcorn and a big drink and he would be with the family. We went to see Despicable Me 2. It was a really funny movie. But by the end Josh was so sick that I rushed him home. He did not make it outside for the fireworks that him and I picked up that morning.  We all said that we would do them another night but he insisted that we don't ruin the 4th for the kids. So the fireworks carried on! If you notice in the pictures Abby is sitting with the rest of us at the beginning but by the end she was so far back that she was practically in the backyard! She is kind of scared of fireworks and doesn't find the same joy in them that the other kids see.

You can see Abby starts to inch her way back....

This one sort of scared us all because at the end it jumped out towards us and Abby was no longer thinking this was fun, that she finally moved ALL the way back!

We ended with some sparklers and I couldn't get Abby to come and hold one! We did buy some extra long ones and she held that one for a while...but I don't think she likes the idea of something sparkling in her hands! Everyone else on the other hand LOVED the idea and couldn't get enough. The kids danced all around the street with sparklers in hand!

The kids had lots of fun and they were SO tired that they went right to bed, even with fireworks going off ALL around the house from other neighbors until very late into the night!

My Birthday Weekend!

Josh surprised me with a whole planned weekend get away for my birthday. We took the kids early Saturday morning up to Star Valley. We roamed around Star Valley for a few hours seeing all the old places that Josh remembered hanging out at, lived, went to school or ever entered! It was a lot of fun. The girls even looked up away from their TV's to see a few of the places! We only stayed in Star Valley for a few hours then headed off to Jackson Hole. Josh had made reservations for the Bar J dinner and show. After checking into our hotel we headed off to the show. 

We were there by 5:30pm but dinner wasn't until 7pm so the girls were getting pretty tired of waiting. They had already seen everything and were ready for some grub!

I only saw parts of the show, Abby wasn't feeling well and I kept having to take her out to the bathroom. She was tired and wanted nothing more then to leave. Elizabeth enjoyed the singing and I think she liked the whole thing.
The next morning we walked around Jackson Hole for a while and went in and around all the shops and the town square.

After we were shopped out we headed up to the Alpine Slides. The girls were REALLY excited to go down them. Elizabeth wanted to go FAST and Abby wanted to go SLOW. So I raced with Abs and Elizabeth raced with Josh. 

Both the girls ended up going pretty slow down the hill. And even though Abby was scared she really liked it after it was done, and wanted to go again! After the slides we were off to Idaho. We got into Rexburg, Idaho around lunch time. Since it was Sunday and not too much was open we checked into the hotel and drove around the city. Man how 14 years can change a place. I haven't been back there since I graduated in 1999! I can't believe ALL the changes. It is almost like a different place. The next day we walked all around the campus and bored the girls to death with our need to go into EVERY building that we remember ever taking a class in! It was kind of sad, it wasn't the same school I remember going to! The campus is beautiful though, but it is defiantly NOT the same college that I was dropped off at with tears in my eyes because it was in the middle of NOWHERE!
We bored the girls long enough and headed off to BEAR WORLD.Yes BEAR WORLD! It is just a few miles South of Rexburg. We got to see LOTS of bears, deer, buffalo, a moose, and a few other little animals. Josh was such a good sport to pose for ALL the pictures I wanted!

We got to feed the deer, which got a little friendly with Josh! Elizabeth was in Heaven, she LOVES animals and wanted to take home just about everyone of them! We finished off Bear World with some fun rides!

After Bear World we drove down to Idaho Falls. We drove by the falls with the temple in the background.

The trip was LOTS of fun. Even with the girls bickering for MOST of the trip. And if you know my girls you know that they don't fight that much. They are best friends but for some reason they were driving me crazy with the, "don't touch me", "Mom, she touched me!", "I'm bored" and so on! I was starting to wonder why we invited them in the first place. And then poor Josh was sick the whole trip, even though he tried REALLY hard to hide it from me. It was a quick 3 day trip and even though Josh was sick and the girls were a bit grumpy and I had to take heavy duty pain pills to even move we had a lot of fun! And really isn't that what a family trip is suppose to be like?!