Utah....The Ranch.....The Blessing....The Fourth

Ahhh, lazy Utah summer days. There really are no rules in Utah, apparently you can ride in the street without a helmut, have couches in the front yard, ride out of your car seat, eat whatever you want etc.....I know it's not really true, but I am convinced my kids think it is. Whenever we are in Utah it's pretty much anything goes!

THE RANCH

We spent four days and five night this year at the ranch. Oh what an amazing place! I am so grateful that we get to go here every summer, I just hope it will contintue for many years to come. My kids are finally reaching ages where they will have memories and I want one of the strong ones to be going to the ranch every summer. It's every kids dream, we are the only ones there so they really can run wild. There is no end to the activities and they take full advantage of everything. I can't imagine a better vacation spot for our loud and large family. The lodge is settled at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains contatining a large gathering area, 17 motel like rooms, a comercial kitchen and two large bonus rooms. Where else would we fit 16 adults, two couples of married grandchildren, and 30 kids? They have a pool, tennis court, golf put, lake, stream, river, endless hiking, volleyball net, the fun truly never ends. The kids wake up early to go fishing and drop dead in bed around 11:00 at night. It is truly the most amazing vacation!


These four were never seen apart the whole time we were at the ranch. They fished, caught frogs and snakes, did the paddle boats, swam, went shooting, rock jumping, they even slept together. If you saw one you saw them all.

Natalie's first time in the pool!

Everyone loves jumping into the river from this jumping rock. The water is freezing but I think I need to try it next year!

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Brett took the boys fishing every morning and sometimes again in the afternoon. They loved fishing this year, along with playing in the boats and catching snakes at the lake.

The Cousin Olympics! My brothers split the cousins into three equal teams, each led by an older cousin. They had to make up a skit, eat fear factor food (ex. chip with mustard, marshmallow cream and an olive), do a team building activity where the whole team must cross the stream holding onto each other, build and hold a human pyramid, run relays, and a swim/run relay at the lake. It went pretty well and all the kids were having fun until the human pyramid. The poor younger kids on top were scared to fall because there older cousins and parents were yelling the whole time to hold the pyramid. I don't think we are a competitive bunch until we hold cousin Olympics. We all laughed at ourselves at one point because we were all screaming at our kids to hold it at all costs!

Sammy and his Nana

Paddle boats on the lake

Natalie had plenty of little babysitters


Dinner is the one time during the day that everyone gets together in the same place. There is so much to do everyone is running in ten directions at once all day long, but at night we all sit down and eat together.

Jacob and Carter shooting

Natalie and my sister's baby Mason were born exactly one month apart. We know they will be best friends for life!

We were able to bless Natalie at my mom's house while in Utah. It was nice to be able to have so much of our family there for this special occasion.

Sam was a stinker the whole evening, not much of a surprise. He even tried to squeeze his way into the circle during the blessing with his cousins Luke and Adam. It was hilarious to watch Eric kick them away with his legs while standing in the circle.

My sisters minus Stephanie who had to head back to California before the blessing day.

Nana showing Natalie's shoes that were given to Brett's mom for her baby girl who never was. Brett's mom had five boys, I am glad someone got to use these shoes!

My mom's husband Wayne is the king of overindulgence. If my mom asks him to buy candy for the kids, he'll buy out the store, she put him in charge of getting fireworks for the kids and he went crazy. I am glad he did because the kids had a blast doing fireworks. I forget how late it stays light on Utah summer night, the fireworks didn't start until 10:00. In North Salt Lake where my mom lives they do fireworks on July 3rd, so we got to do the blessing and fireworks all on the same night. I have never seen a better fireworks show in my life. My mom lives right on the golf course and they were shooting the fireworks off right below her back yard, it was amazing!

Fourth of July