Cabin 2011 minus the cabin

I'm a die hard when it comes to traditions. I LOVE them. I rely on them. My calendar revolves around those yearly rituals and breaks down 365 days into manageable increments. So you can imagine how it would rock my world to have a tradition fall apart.

Our yearly cabin family reunion was in major jeopardy due to the crazy amounts of water this year. For the first time in my 34 years of life the river completely flooded our campground. I'm talking knee deep water!

So PLAN B went into action. And while most family members bailed a handful of us stayed strong! We packed up our trailers and headed for the mountains for true blue camping! I'm not going to lie...I missed the cabin. I missed unlimited water, flushing toilets, picnic tables and a cabin to put our stuff in. But we made the best of it and had a blast. And if the sign of a good time is an incredibly dirty face, well then, mission accomplished.
Watching a movie... RV of course.

My favorite picture of the trip. So cute.

At the cabin water is never a problem. In the middle of the mountains water is a precious commodity. It was SOOOOO hot that we finally had to head into town to buy a pool for the kiddos. We filled it up by emptying all the water from our coolers. Can you say "REDNECK"?

Caymbree and Becca having a little quiet time.

I'm pretty sure those four wheelers never turned off. Someone was ALWAYS on them. We took beautiful scenic rides to the top of the mountains and enjoyed the quiet serenity on top of the world.

The younger girls were constantly wandering off to gather flowers down the mountainside. On one particular ride the girls wandered so far off that the adults on top decided it would be easier just to ride down to them to pick them up. They slowly started their way down the mountain. The girls heard the machines turn on and looked up to see the four wheelers starting down the mountain. Poor girls thought they had been forgotten and in sheer terror started running down the hillside at full speed. You can only imagine the scene.... all three girls ended up tripping and rolling down the mountain. Once the drama of it all cooled off we got quite the laugh!

Back to school 2011

Hope: 1st Grade

Mr. Barr

Hallee 4th Grade

Ms. PugsleySeriously. Whoever is doing the scheduling over at Midas Creek obviously does not have kids and realize the importance of the back-to-school outfit. They really threw a wrench in our plans when they had 1st graders start a day later then everyone else and 2nd - when they start off the first day of school with a color of the day that the students are suppose to wear. HELLO PEOPLE! DO YOU NOT KNOW THE DECISIONS AND PLANNING THAT GOES INTO THE ALL IMPORTANT BACK TO SCHOOL OUTFIT????
So the results are that Hallee got two days worth of "back to school" first day pictures and Hope is still patiently waiting to wear her back to school outfit. Don't worry. We'll be sure to get a picture of it when it happens. Hope is thrilled because Grandma Smith bought her and cousin Adi matching outfits. Stay tuned...

Awe....they missed each other. After all it was THREE whole weeks!

Crazy. Funny. Cool

Hope's been at it again. Cracking us up with her spunky ideas and comments. Seriously puts a smile on our faces daily. There's only one problem. She has recently become very shy about her funny ways and HATES when I share them. She says it embarrasses her. Dang. What a dilemma. So here's the deal. I'll tell you- for record keeping purposes but you have to promise not to say anything to her about it. Deal? (Some day soon she will thank me as she laughs with us remembering all the fun things she said and did right?)

First up...TODAY'S THE DAY!

It was Hope's first day of 1st grade. I was doing her hair. And very matter of fact she says, "SO, Today's the day huh?"
Me: Yep. Big day today. Are you excited for your first day?"
Hope: (Totally disgusted) "MOM!" I am NOT talking about that! I'm talking about the grocery store. You ARE going today right!?"

Holy crud.
(A little background information: The pantry's been a little low lately and I have been trying to limit the number of times I go to the grocery store and just use up what we have. I had been telling the girls I would probably go once they were back in school...)

On another note...DARE ME TO PRAY

While out on a bike ride the other day Hope was telling us some story about something that happened at school. Troy and I listened carefully but must have cracked a smile at the end because she said, " I"m NOT lying! I'm telling you the truth. If you dare me to pray the gospel will tell you I'm not lying!" He he.

And last but not least... CRUSHING ON ME.

During our dinner conversation Hope tells us about this boy at school who is "totally crushing on me!"

Troy: "How do you know he is "crushing" on you?"
Hope: "Just they way he is always looking at me. OH YA. and he did mouth language to me and said "I LOVE YOU."
Troy and I: "He what?"
Hope: "He mouth languaged me. You know when you just say the words but nothing comes out."

Oh boy. We are in TROUBLE!

Thanks for always bringing the laughter to our home Hopers! We luv ya!