Welcome Home Elder Talbot!

My little brother got back from his mission a couple weeks ago and we went to the airport to welcome him back. We were so excited to see him! We had all these fun signs and everything.

But my favorite sign was "Wait till you see what we did to your room!" (it's now the grandkids' play room!)

There were some tears shed when we finally saw him coming down those escalators and running to hug my mom (my brothers are definitely mama boys ;)).

Jaxon tries to "cheer up" Mamie

 

It was such a fun, thrilling, spiritual experience for us. It was so fun to all be together again. :) We love you Brigham, welcome home!

Panguitch Lake

My family decided (somewhat spontaneously) to have a mini-reunion down in Panguitch this weekend. We were only able to stay for an overnighter because Travis was in charge of a stake activity Saturday morning, but we're so glad that we went for what we did. We decided to make it a quick camping trip. The weather was cool and there were so many trees to give us plenty of shade.

Travis's hammock was a big hit with the kids.

Even the littlest of us had so much fun! (This baby camping chair has been a great investment, we've already used it several times this summer.)

It started to rain after dinner so we quickly covered up everything and headed into our tent for a good game of uno. We're so glad Jasmine and Nate joined us for a couple hours that evening, the kids love playing with them. Once the rain stopped we cooked smores and Jasmine and Nate took the kids exploring around the area.

The next morning we made cinnamon rolls on a stick for breakfast. It started out a little shaky, but Travis really got the hang of it after a couple of my failed attempts. They were actually very delicious. I will leave it to him from now on. :)

After breakfast we packed up and went down to the lake to go kayaking. Although I visited Panguitch very frequently as a kid (there will always be a special place in my heart for Panguitch), I've never actually been to the lake! We had a great time. The water was cold, so not ideal for swimming, but luckily the temperature doesn't matter much when you have kayaks! ;) I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of us at the lake, but we had a great time (even though Jaxon lost a sandal somewhere in the lake bottom). We'll have to come back soon!

First Half of an AMAZING Summer

I can't believe the summer is more than half-way over! We've been trying to soak it up. I could make a bunch of smaller posts from this, but this is just how I'd like to remember everything from this summer (aside from what's already been posted). Here are some things we've been doing:

Jaxon loves going to his Lego Club at the library. Yes, those are all doors and windows. Very abstract! ;)

Matching summer "nighties".

Jaxon's taking swimming lessons again this summer and has made such great progress. We love his teacher.

Free slurpees at 7-11. Practically the only time we ever get slurpees. They were ecstatic.

The library has a special "construction" exhibit going on this summer. The kids love it, even Ginger. We've gone a few times.

Walking the mall with cousins. Happened to stop by the Disney store and Violet and Laykin got very distracted with the princess dresses.

We love the splash pad and Provo Farmer's Market.

Jaxon has gotten REALLY into the hymns this summer. He'd always want to listen to them on my phone, so I finally recorded them onto blank cassettes with Travis' old tape recorder. Jaxon already loved the tape recorder, so hymns on it was just a double treat. At the Fourth of July barbecue, my sister suddenly announced to everyone, "Hey, did anybody else notice Jaxon is singing 'Israel Israel God is Calling'?" What a funny kid.

Not an uncommon sight in our house.

Bowling at BYU with Mamie and cousins.

We said goodbye to Yuridia at her mission farewell. She was our favorite sitter (and my former YW and primary pianist! I'm back to using my phone. :(  ). The kids adored her. We'll really miss her.

Violet has taken an interest in the violin. It's weird, I think I've only explained it once to her a while ago and now she keeps mimicking it with everything from sticks to Cheetos (now THAT was hilarious). We'll see if she's still interested in a couple years.

And Ginger's just as cute as ever.

 

Here's to the second half of summer!

Fourth of July

This year for the Fourth of July, we got the kids up early and took them to see all the hot air balloons take off. They really enjoyed it. Jaxon especially liked seeing the pilots turn on the flames. We met up later with Grammy and Pappy and we enjoyed some doughnuts while watching the balloons in the sky.

We took it easy the rest of the day and everyone enjoyed a good nap that afternoon, which was great because it was going to be a late night! We went to Mamie and Pappa's for a barbecue and fireworks with cousins.

The kids enjoyed catching parachutes.

Jaxon just randomly grabbed Violet's hand here. I love it.