Summer Travel ... 1800 Miles

From our house in Hyrum, to a night in Idaho Falls, to the ranch in southwest Saskatchewan, to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Cardston, Alberta, to a family reunion on Flathead Lake near Glacier Park in Montana, back to Hyrum is 1800 miles. Our kids are excellent, well-trained travelers. Even Carly did great. We did have to stop a couple extra times to feed her, but she was a great traveler.

Nunn family photo

We had a really fun time. We went swimming in Cardston at the river and at the Cardston swimming pool. We had a tea party with Grandma and rode the pony and the horses. My kids loved hanging out with their cousins. They love to play in the horse trailer and on the haystack.

Taylor, Jill, Kaela, Hanna, Julia posing on the haystack

Lucy riding Grandpa Buck's pony, Blaze

The family reunion was so fun. It is a Gwilliam Family Reunion of descendants of Martha's grandparents. When we first got there, it seemed like the gathering is getting too big (122 people and like 32 kids under the age of 5), and then it poured rain for half of the first night which doesn't make for pleasant sleep in a tent. But by the end of the 3 days, we had laughed and cried and had a great time. It is truly a quality family. The place where we had the reunion was awesome, lots of room, they cooked & cleaned up all of the food, there was a really fun place to play in the lake, no mosquitoes, beautiful view, etc.

Grandpa Buck defended his Wrangler Water Skiing Champion title. He had water skied in wranglers at a family reunion 18 years ago. He made a new buckle out of a pie plate and then water skied in his Wranglers again. He rocks. What a cool grandpa.

Grandpa Buck water skiing in his Wranglers.
(modified water skiing since there were no skis)

There was a really fun blown up tube called a blob. The first person would jump onto it and crawl to the end. The next person would jump off and it would shoot the person at the other end off into the water. My 11-year-old niece blobbed me, so I didn't go very high in the air before going into the water. But it was a fun time.

Austin jumping off the tower onto the blob

Kaylynn jumping off the tower onto the blob

Summer Photo Shoot

I decided to try to be the photographer and take pictures of my girls to put up on the wall in some matching picture frames I found on clearance. We took some quality pictures in a park in Logan and at Spring Hollow Campground up Logan Canyon. Trying to take pictures of 4 girls is an adventure. Carly was either asleep or not happy to be getting her picture taken, plus she had a blowout. Lucy had to go to the bathroom many times. Lucy's shirt was torn into two pieces by the time we got home. Then as we were coming out of the canyon when my cell phone got service again, Austin called and his car had died and was sitting in it waiting for us to come and get him.
But to look on the bright side, I did get some pretty cute pictures.

Hanna

Jill

Lucy

Summer Time

Jill giving Carly her first ride on Buck.
We have been celebrating summer for almost 3 weeks. Here are some fun things we have done:

* Jill and Hanna cleaned all of the lockers at Austin's school, and I (along with another lady) changed all of the locker combinations. We do it for the money$$$$

*Jill and Hanna went to the Jr. Mustang Basketball Camp at Mountain Crest. Jill won the Hustle Award for 3rd grade girls.

Lucy riding our pony, Sparky

* Austin rides horses somewhere/somehow almost every day. Jill has become his shoot help since I have become the mother of a newborn. Lucy even went with Austin by herself the other day and rode our pony by herself while Austin roped. I even rode a horse again and loped on Cookie for the first time since about October. Pregnant ladies and riding horses doesn't mix. Jill and Hanna are becoming really good horse riders. Austin and the girls have also gone to Paradise to chase or doctor cows several times.

*We went swimming at Mountain Crest High School's indoor pool last week. We were going to go to the outdoor pool, but it was only about 60 degrees with a breeze. Not ideal swimming weather, especially with a newborn. Carly did swim for about 20 minutes and then fell asleep and had a nice nap in the stroller while we swam. Hanna and Lucy start swimming lessons at the outdoor pool next week.


*Jill went to 4-H Horse Camp on Monday. The first year of camp you just go for one day, called First Step. Next year she will get to stay at camp for 3 days. She took Les & Hollis' horse, Cookie, and had a really fun day. She said she learned alot. They had a performance at the end of the day for the parents. Her group had the best routine and the best riders. There were some runaway horses and scared/inexperienced riders at horse camp. It was quite entertaining to watch.

Jill at Horse Camp. Her group's superhero was James Bond, so as they left the arena, they were pretending to shoot their guns.

Waite Family Fun Day

We met this year for Waite Family Fun Day at a cabin near Sundance. Matt and Jeanette traded advertising in their magazine for the use of the cabin for two nights. It was quite the cabin/lodge. It had 9 bathrooms and I think 9 bedrooms. The owner is selling 8 shares of the cabin for $400,000 each if anyone is interested.

We had lots of great food. We took turns for the meals and Rachelle brought 18 pounds of candy for the treats. The kids played the Wii for hours. We had a talent show. Austin and Jill sang a song about what they learned in school this year. Austin had lots of quality things, like watch out for the down syndrome girl walking behind you or she might grab your bum, or if you drop a note in the hall that says you are going to meet in the library to make out, Mr. Nunn will meet you there.

Then we also had a girls only baby shower for Sharon, my youngest sister, who is having her first baby in August. She got lots of great pink stuff.

On Saturday morning after breakfast, we walked down to Sundance and then most of us rode the ski lift up and down the mountain.

It was a great time and no one even touched poison ivy this year.

Carly's Baby Blessing

Today we blessed Carly Jo Nunn. All of my family was there because we had Waite Family Fun Days this weekend. Austin's parents, Buck & Martha, also drove down from Cardston to be here.

Austin conducted Sacrament Meeting because it is his month, so he also got to bear his testimony. He did a great job. I also bore my testimony. Carly was very good and quiet all through church. We laughed at the end of the meeting when Austin announced the closing hymn, he said we were going to sing "Have I Done Enough Work?" But the real name of the song is "I Have Work Enough to Do." His Mom couldn't stop laughing all the way through the song.

We had a brunch at our house after the blessing. We had crepes and ham. It is a lot of pressure to plan and prepare a meal for 30 people, but I think it tasted pretty good and everyone got enough to eat.

Carly is 3 weeks old

Today is Carly's 3-week birthday. We have loved having her in our family. Jill, Hanna and Lucy still love to hold her. They do a great job keeping her happy, although sometimes they want to pick her up when she is asleep or in her happy place so I try to get them to just leave her alone for a few minutes. The other day I put Carly down to change the laundry and she was screaming. When I came back she wasn't crying anymore and Lucy was sitting next to her holding her hand.

So many people have been so kind and generous since Carly was born. We have been given 10 blankets, 17 outfits, 4 burp cloths, and a towel. We have also had 8 meals brought in plus 3 desserts. I love any meal I don't have to cook.

Carly is a pretty happy baby. She only wakes up once in the night, which is really good for a newborn. She does like to be held alot of the day but she is also happy in her swing.
I guess we will keep her.

We will bless her on June 1.

Lucy and Carly hanging out in the boppy.

Jill, Rodeo Queen

Although we swore our girls weren't going to be rodeo queens, Jill tried out for the Lewiston Rodeo queen contest. Our friends (the Bodilys) run it and convinced Jill to come. She had to ride her horse in the pattern and answer a few questions from the judges. She was the first princess to go and was very nervous about that. Even though her hat fell off before her first circle, she did a great job in the pattern, dodging the mud puddles in the middle of the arena.

There were four girls who tried out in her age group, and she was awarded first attendant. She got a bracelet and a halter and lead rope. She gets to ride in the grand entry at the Lewiston rodeo on July 3 & 4, chase the steers and calves during the rodeo, and ride in the parade. She was the only contestant not in glitter, but she still got chosen. She was very excited.