Deco and Kera

This is an official invite to EVERYONE who know Deco and/or Kera and would like to join us on Saturday to help celebrate their marriage. If you'd like to come you can just leave a comment on this post to R.S.V.P.

Colorado- take two

After the weekend of fun with my family in Colorado we (my parents, Jeremy and I) decided we'd better go back and do a little maintainance on the cabin. So this weekend we went back and fixed a plumbing leak and treated the logs- way overdue for that. We let Camryn bring her friend Ryann and Carter brought his friend Trek. They played in the mud, built forts and had a war, rode horses and fourwheelers, played pool, roasted marshmellows and had a good time while the adults worked. It was a fun weekend again.

This is the result of Cam and Ryann's swimming- they were super cold and really hated that I made them go back to the creek and get cleaned off.

Carter and Trek made forts and had wars, we were really happy they both made it home in one peice.There was a recently killed bear at Ivins' Cabin, the kids were a little freaked out by it.

Carter and Trek were nice to let Logan tag along.Makin' Smores'

Logan, once again, just wanted to ride the "Soweeowoas" all dayI finally got Carter to ride Panda with me, for almost thirty seconds and then he was done.Trek was a regular cowboy, he loved riding the horse and wasn't afraid at all even though it was his first horseback ride ever.

A week with the Fam

Last week was a fun week spent with my family. On Wednesday and Thursday me, Marilyn, Heather, Noelle, and my mom did some food storage- we dry packed, we canned and then we spent an afternoon with my Grandma Black making her famous homemade donuts- all of these things made me realize how amazing my mom and grandma are, I was so exhausted at the end of those two days and I did a fraction of what they do every year for all their kids/grandkids, I will not use a bottle of taco sauce again without realizing how much time went into it.

Then on Friday we all headed out to the cabin in Colorado, in my opinion there isn't a prettier place on earth- OK maybe seven mile beach in Grand Cayman but the ranch in Colorado is definitely the prettiest place that I can drive to.

We all had such a good time, we rode four-wheelers, Logan's personal favorite.

We rode horses, Me and Cam's personal favorite.

Carter played a lot of computer, for a change, he also enjoyed playing outside and even started his own "Carving" club. We only let him use a plastic knife so his carving was severly limited but he still had fun.

The kids had fun boating on the fishing pond, except the boat kept "accidentally" tipping over. One night several of us went fishing while others went looking for bears, both were very unsuccesful. Below is a picture of Cam and Jeremy sitting watching for the bears.

Sunday was a rainy day, which bummed out the kids, but for me it wouldn't be a trip to Colorado if there wasn't at least one rainy day. Some people, I won't mention names, read books- BOARRRRRING!!

While others of us played a rousing game of SCUM- FUN!!!

All in all it was a fun weekend. My whole family was there, well Deco and Kera left their two dogs home but other than that there were 15 adults, 11 1/2 kids and 8 dogs, yeah that's right 8 dogs- probably 7 too many but they brought lots of entertainment too. Oreo and Halle (who are brother and sister) would have wrestling matches and the kids would each cheer for their favorites. It was a super fun week and I hope we can all do it next year, and the next, and the next. . . . . .

Explanation

So I know I've been absent in the blogging scene for a while but my camera won't load the pictures onto the computer for a while so that's why I haven't been posting. I decided to go ahead and add the posts that I have been meaning to and that I would add the pictures when I figured out how to. So you don't have to see the "memories" post anymore and I don't have to be reminded that only a few people have memories of me. So watch for the pictures to be added.

Home- FINALLY

For the past week and a half I've been out of town. My mom and I went to Payson on the tenth and I just came home last night. I had a great time but I am really glad to be home- except for the pile of laundry that is waiting for me :( We went up to tend Marilyn's kids while she was at girl's camp, get new school clothes, go to Maxon's Birthday party, celebrate Deco and Kera's marriage (long story- I'll explain later) and buy some horses. I wasn't sure we would get it all done in the time we had because my mom had to come home last Thursday so the kids would be there for the first day of school but we managed to do it all.

On Monday my mom surprised me with the news that Deco and Kera had "eloped" that morning. We are all really excited to welcome Kera into our family, although we've all considered her a part of our family for years, she was even in the family picture that we had taken two years ago. I personally think that it was the right decision given all the circumstances and I am super excited for them both- Congrats guys!

We also went to Noelle's house that night for Maxon's party and had some very tasty bbq. Maxon is soooo cute (even with a mohawk) and it was a great party.

Tuesday Noelle and I took some of the kids to seven peaks. We had to leave Logan with Grandma because he had had diarrhea (you're welcome to all those who swam there that day).

Wednesday my mom and I drove to Avon, which is up near Logan to pick up a horse. I got to see some beautiful areas of Utah that I had never been to and have a good time with my mom. We only got lost once- luckily we ran into a nice man right before we headed up a wrong road that may have been disasterous. We also bought a horse from a guy in Spanish fork that day, my mom now has two awesome horses that we are all (even Jeremy) excited to start riding.

Logan on Panda

Camryn on Panda, Jensen on Cody

Thursday my mom left me and took my kids home so they wouldn't miss their first day of school the next day. She took my three kids and Jensen and pulled a four horse trailor with two horses in it all by herself. I was super nervous cause I know I wouldn't be able to do that but my mom can do anything so she was fine.

Jeremy came up Friday night and we spent the weekend kidless. It was a nice break, it's been a while since the two of us just hanging out. We went to the demolition derby in Spanish Fork on Saturday with Stacy, Taylor, Dallin and Leslie, Nicole and a bunch of her friends. I've never been to one before but it was seriously fun. Sunday we went to church with Stacy and Taylor. Monday we went to the Jack Johnson concert with Jeremy and Heather and Nicole and a friend. It was a really good concert and we had a blast.

The Jack Johnson concert.

Then yesterday we loaded our car full (and I mean full to the brim) of food storage, picked up a trailor for my dad and headed home. It was a long fun week and a half but I was really glad to get back home and back to real life.

August 6th - 9th

The county fair was two weeks ago. Camryn and Carter both raised lambs this year to show and sell there. They did really good, and sold them for a pretty nice profit- thanks to very generous people. They had tons of fun slides and a rock wall for them to play on there and they had a great time.

During the fair we got bad news about the plane crash that took the lives of three wonderful men. We are hurting for and praying for their families. They were all great people and will be missed by many.

Mihlberger family reunion

July 24th - 27th we went to Zions park for the second annual Mihlberger family reunion with some of our cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandma Boo and Grandpa Dan. It was alot of fun. We rode four-wheelers, swam in the amazing pools, rode horses, hiked, ate a lot of good food, paint ball warred, and just had an all-around good time. This is pretty much the only time every year that we see this side of the family so it is great to get to know them better each year and it is something that after the great time our kids had last year they could not wait for this year. On Friday we sent the kids (minus Bear since he's not old enough) to kids camp which they had a blast at, and all of the Redd kids (and spouses) went hiking in Zions. It was a really hard hike, called Angel's landing. Last year just JB and Mike did it, this year they talked the rest of us into it saying it "wasn't that hard" and it was "all in the shade" - ALL LIES. Anyways, we all survived and had a good time. If anyone is looking for a great place for a family reunion/vacation I recomend this place, it's called Zion Ponderosa and you can find it online. Thanks again Grandma Boo for a great time, we can't wait for next year.

The long hike.

Bams riding "nibbles" on our horse ride, the highlight of her trip!!Bear and Bailey- best buddies.

Kids camp: all the kids had such a blast- even if you can't tell by Bams' face.

Hangin out on the deck. The cabin we stayed in was amazing.