State Fair

Jera and I decided to take the kids to the State Fair on opening day because tickets were only 2 dollars for adults on opening day, and the kids were free!! There's nothing like cheap entertainment! The kids loved looking at the animals, and they did so good walking around all day. They did a hands on exhibit where they were farmers... it was really fun for them. They had to feed cows, then milk the cows; They got to plant seeds and harvest them; comb a sheep; pick up the hay; gather the eggs; take their produce to market; and at the end they got to buy a treat with the money they made taking their produce to the market. They had a lot of fun! We also got to see a 14 foot alligator, tigers, a huge robot, clowns, and a lot of other cool things. We let them go on one carnival ride- it was 3 dollars a kid! Good thing I only have 2 kids!! We were there for a bout four hours, and by the time we were done the kids were tired, and mad at us because we forgot were we parked! So here's Jera and I walking around Rose Park with 6 tired, grumpy kids! Kip and Makade were so mad at us, and Makade knew the whole time we were going the wrong way, maybe parents don't always know best!

Kayden's 8!!

Happy Birthday Kayden!! I can't believe that you are already 8 years old. What a great age to be....old enough to get Baptised, mow the lawn, be in second grade, become a cub scout, get your four wheeler licence. Just a few things about Kayden that I love....He lets me call him Jose....He loves Sier and gives him piggy-back rides everywhere....he has beautiful eyes....he is the oldest nephew I have. Happy birthday Kayden, we love you!!

It's FUN to be ONE

This is Alex's little sister Brooklyn. She is one of the happiest babies I have ever known!!! You can take her anywhere and she's fine to sit in her stroller. Whenever you walk into a room where she is a huge smile comes across her face- it's hard not to be happy when she's with you. I have to admit, sometimes I forget when she's around because she is so good!! I love you Brooklyn, one day soon you're going to be saying my name. I LOVE YOU BROOKIE

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Today is my niece Alex's 3rd birthday! There are so many reasons why I love her!

She wakes up with her shoes ON.

She can paint her own toe nails.

She's the only person who LOVES my car!

She opens my car door for me everytime I'm going to leave her house.

She loves the color pink.

When she's in trouble, she pretends like she's asleep.

She is very shy, but once she lets you in she is your best friend.

She loves to get her hair done.

She's the youngest girl I know who's had extensions. (okay, only 3 of them because they were pink.)

Happy Birthday Alex- We love you.

Skate Park

Braxton & Nicole
Braxton Giles
Braxton Bearden
Kip
Makade
Sier
Rhyen & Sier
Sier, Addie, Faith, Alex, Rhyen
Braxton Giles
Brooklynn & Presley
When we were little the cool thing was the Riverton Pool, and Marv Jensen. Now we have splash parks and skate parks.
My kids LOVE the skate park. Yesterday Beckie, Jera, Cami and I decided to take the kids there. I had Braxton, Rhyen & Presley with me, so thanks to everybody who helped with them. It was a lot of fun to watch all the amazing things that the older kids can do....I don't know what I'll do when I see my kids trying some of those things- ahhh!
Next time it's off to the skate park in Park City...It looks amazing, and Kip talks about it everyday. Thank the Lord for Helmets!

Yuba

When I look back on the fun times that I've had in my life, most of them involve a boat and a lake. My little family has such a fun time when we put the both of those together.....the kids love to play in the sand and on the tubes, and Mark and I love to just be there with them. Kip and Sier are so great because they are always up for a boat ride and don't complain when we've been on it for hours on end! Sier just usually climbs underneith the drivers chair and falls asleep, and Kip could sit in the bow of the boat all day long if you let him.
Mark has great parents who took us out for the day. We weren't the only ones who got to go though....Joni & Kary with their kids were there, Kurt & Jesse got there pretty late in the afternoon, Steven came to hang out, and our friends Ashley & Dave came with us too.
Ashley and I were able to keep Sier on the tube...which he really wasn't sure about, but I'm pretty sure he liked it. Their daughter Rhyen got on the tube as well. I think the kids had a hard time getting on the tube because they saw Mark give Ashley and me a really good ride, and that probably scared them just a LITTLE bit. Kip skied again, and that gave our nephew Kayden motivation he needed to finally give it a try. He did great, he can get the ski's on by himself, get started by himself, and get back to the boat by himself. Kayden did awesome!!! Dave got up on one ski too!!! He was pretty excited, and so were we. Ashley gave my ski a good try.....next time I know she'll beable to get up!
The fun ended on the last run of the night, which we didn't know would be the last run! A HUGE wind storm came in! I'm not talking about the usual Yuba wind, it was AMAZING. There were canopies and tarps breaking, tubes and boogie boards flying away in the wind, a beached boat was half way sunk. Kip was terrified! He hates wind and storms and when we got back to the beach he was on the brink of a complete meltdown, so I got him in the truck, out of the wind. He did save Marks favorite hat from blowing away! What an adventure- the waves were just like the ocean....and 30 minutes before I was yelling at Mark to take me out because the water was soo smooth! We had to waite to load the boat until the water died down a little bit, wich was quite a while. When they were finally able too, Mark got the truck stuck up to his axels-Way to go Mark!
Thanks Phisters for letting us enjoy your boat, and inviting us to go with you. We have made so many fun memories because of you willingness to share your boat with us!! I'm sure glad you got it.

Let Freedom Ring

The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the sun, the fun, the late nights, the friends and family....everything. This year the Phisters had a big family reunion, so we were with them a lot this 4th.
The celebration started with the parade.Luckily Marks Parents live right on the parade route, and have some of the best shade in town. While we were at the parade Mark had his Softball Tournament. They ended up only playing 3 games, better luck next year! After the parade was over we went to the park to watch "The Bee Movie." The kids had a lot of fun. On the Fourth we went to watch Kayden & Ethan get pulled behind the four wheelers by their dad and Grandpa. They did really good, and got really dirty. The fourth was just the usual family, friends, and BBQ. It was a great day, ending in some fun Fireworks down at the park. We found out the price you pay for laying right under the fireworks is that ash falls all over you. Oh well....a small price to pay for some good firework watchin!
The next day we were off to 7 Peaks with everybody. It was soooo much fun to take the kids. They love water slides.Kip was able to go on everything, and he almost did....his favorite was the boomerang, which most adults won't even go on. Sier loved the Kid pool and the kid slides, but he also loved the tube slides with us. If you ask Kip what his favorite place on earth is he will tell you 7 Peaks, not Disneyland!
I hope my kids learned that the 4th of July isn't just a fun time of year, but it's a day we celebrate our founding Fathers, and our freedom. Thank you to all the men and women who went before us to give us this beautiful land, and our wonderful heritage. Thank you to everybody who has given their lives to make all of the celebrations possible. God Bless America!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Kaylee Jo Gilham

Meet Kaylee Jo! She was born on June 30 at about 5:30 in the evening. She was 7lbs 8 ozs, and just over 20 inches long. And of course, she is absolutely beautiful. Her mom is my younger sister Cami, and her dad is Steve. Kaily looks totally different than her older sister, Adylen. Kaily has lots of dark hair, and Adylen had no hair when she was born...it did eventually grow in to be red and curly. Congratulations Cami & Steve- you both are really good parents who will teach your children well, and love them more than anything. Welcome to the world Kaily- We love you already. Love, your favorite Aunt Lara :)

Sier Loves Babies! He was soo excited to go see baby "Daily"

Addie when she was a baby -CUTE-

Herriman Days

I know, we don't even live in Herriman, but we still have fun at their Town Days. Craig and Jera live right on the parade route, so over the past couple of years it has kind of become a tradition that we watch the parade there. It was a great parade, TONZ of candy for the kids, not too long for the adults.
After the parade we cooled down at Craig and Jera's....went to the carnival....the kids broke a Karate Board (they think they're soooo tough) & we got our Texas Twister drinks (one of my favorites). Later that night we met for a BBQ and played a mean game of Wiffle Ball- thank you Eric for letting us use your yard, it took some convincing, but we finally managed to play a couple games. Cami couldn't waite to run the bases to help get her baby out, I do have to say Jori was way faster than you....but she has a few months left, not a few days. We ended the night by watching fireworks from the backyard.....I love fireworks! Thank you Jera & Craig for all of your hard work and letting us have such a fun day with you guys.

Did you hear?

Wicked!!! (Kips FAVORITE word)
Crashing isn't' all that bad is it?
This is as close as it gets for Sier on the tube
Kip, Jamie, Lauren, Conner Lauren, one of the cutest girls on the planet!
Lauren & her mom Kim....She's Prego:)
Kim's husband JR
Steve falling on his butt!
Mark clearing the wake
50 years, and can still ski
Mark on the Ski
Jamie on our ski!
Shelly thought she would blow out a knee, but pulled it off
Steve & Mark anchoring down the boat
Peyton & his HUGE muscles carrying the rock to anchor the boat
Peyton burying his girlfriend Annie- she is so fun!
Everybody playing Hale Mary
Me and my Ho (that's the name of my water ski)
Mark and me!
Kip learning how to drive the boat
Chip lips

Kip is a Water-Skiing Fool!!! We were finally able to go boating this year- and my gosh it was fun. Summertime is officially here, we have boating fever again. I don't think there's any family activity that I enjoy more than sitting on a boat at a lake.

We went down to Yuba with a bunch of people for the weekend, and Steve and Jamie brought their boat...THANKS GUYS!!!! I love Jamie and Steven....and their boat, I'm just glad they know that I'm a serious boating buddy and will go anytime, day or night, all they have to do is call.

The big accomplishment came from Kip this weekend. He learned how to ski, and he had fun while he was doing it! We've had ski's for him for a few years, but he has never dared. We went to the Boat Show a few months ago and Kip found a wakeboard that he wanted really bad, so we made a deal. The deal is if he can ski and crash without any help, then we will buy him a wakeboard. That's all it took, and he is a skier now. Mark had to help him into the ski's, but when he was done he was able to swim to the boat by himself, so he's halfway there! He also enjoyed the tube this trip also, I think it helped having other boys there to encourage him on. We still can't talk Sier into tubing, or skiing. He is usually so fearless of things, but there is something about the water that just gets to my boys, they LOVE being on a boat, and rafting down the river, but actually getting in just terrifies them. One day we will get Sier out there!

Mark was awesome on the wakeboard, he us getting better about landing almost anything he does. He also got the good old slalom ski out and road that for a little while, the ski isn't anything special, so he wasn't on it for long. Of course I was on the water with my Ho. (that's the name of my ski) The water was good, but there were big roller waves and they kill my legs, so there was nothing special buy me on the ski. But I did wakeboard and learned how to jump, if you count six inches as a jump. The kids were amazed that I knew how to wakeboard, they've just seen me ski, so they were funny talking to me about it when I was done. Jamie did good on our wakeboard ;) and on our ski :). Steven had one goal for the summer, to land a 180 and he accomplished it already. I wonder what he will do next?

I absolutely love the lake. Yuba is so great because there is actual beach that the kids can play at, and the water is pretty clean. Thanks to everybody who went and tried to ski, Terri & Christa you kicked butt buy getting up so stinkin fast on your first tries!! You are both naturals. I hope I can be like Mike and Shelly and get my butt up on a ski when I'm in my 50's!!! Way to go guys, you really are my health hero's! I can't wait for next time when we get to go, hopefully the water will be glass so I can really ski, once you ski on perfect water you become a spoiled brat. That's me, deal with it. Welcome back Summertime!

Talk Derby To Me!!

On Saturday night the boys and I went to the Riverton Derby. Mark had to work, so we missed him...but we had fun. Before we went to the Demolition Derby we went to eat at Kips favorite resteraunt.....Golden Tree......he loves their ham fried rice and egg roles. After that it was off to the Demolition Derby were we met up with my brother Craig & his family. Craig has boys that are the same ages as my kids...plus a few more!! His oldest, Makade, was having his birthday that day, six years old! I can't believe it, man time flies by fast. All of the boys LOVED the Derby- All of the old beat up cars, smoke, flat tire, long hair, big belly's...they loved everything about it. The sad thing is I think all of the adults got just as much enjoyment out of it as the kids.