After Ross Graduates

Ross should be graduating at the end of this upcoming Spring Semester. It has me so excited! He's worked so hard at his Aviation Degree and with getting all his flight hours. I'm really proud of him.
On a more selfish note...
As much as I love Cache Valley, I'm ready to get out of here. I have no more opportunities of the color guard sort in this valley. I went to the BBI marching band competition on Saturday, and I just feel so much passion for the artistic sport! It's my dream and the hardest thing in the world was getting it taken away from me. I don't think I'd have so much passion for color guard if I wasn't meant to do it. And thus I am very excited for Ross to graduate and to move wherever he gets a job and find a marching band to be a part of.
On a similar note, I still write guard shows in my head when I listen to music. And I always find new music that I want to make a show to. I've pretty much got the next 50 years planned out. Not really, but I do have a playlist on my iTunes that is currently 55 songs long. I know music will change over the years, but it is important to have a variety of music to find something that will fit will with whatever group I'm working with.
It sure is exciting to be coming to the end of this part of our lives, and I can't wait to move on to bigger and better things!

A Day at the Park

Yesterday Nigel and I went to the park with our friends Aimee and Eliza. Eliza is just a few months younger than Nigel and they get along really well. Aimee and I thought they were both just so cute, so we took a couple pictures of them. And I thought I would share them here!

The two kiddos were hitting the bench together. It was quite musical.

Hiding out in a tube tunnel. They were so fun to watch interacting with each other!

Lava Hot Springs

Over Labor Day weekend my family got to go up to Lava Hot Springs. Nigel and I went up Friday and Ross joined us on Sunday. It was fun to be there with my parents and siblings as well as the Fassmann family and the Roberts family. It was quite the party! Here's a whole bunch of pictures from the fun weekend!

Riding up in my parent's car. Nigel had fun next to his Aunt Leslie!

One of Nigel's favorite things about camping is the air mattresses. They are apparently very fun to jump and wrestle on.

Nigel has begun to use things as 'swords.' Here is one of his first times doing so with a plastic butter knife.

We had to go to the pool and Nigel had so much fun at the kids' splash area.

My son sure does love to splash, so this was perfect for him.

Nigel with his Grandma Bredthauer. I have such a good mom.

Hey, Rachel, you should take a nap, you silly niece of mine! Looking good, Sarah.

Sarah, Leslie, and Daniel. Such great siblings I have.

Hello, Rachel, baby! She is such a precious little girl. 

Do you like the water, Nigel?

Don't be sad, Rachel!

Nigel discovered Cheese Balls on this trip and was obsessed with them. Here he was able to fit two of them into his mouth at once.

It's a good thing Nigel's grandma has such a fun app on her phone!

Hanging out in the car with Grandpa. That boy sure loves his grandpa!

Nigel found a stick and began swinging it around and shouting. I think he was fighting off invisible orcs.

The Fassmann folks playing a vigorous board game.

Sarah Roberts, my mom, Leslie, and Hannah Fassmann. Hanging out on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Rachel  and Sarah! It was so fun to hang out with them. I have missed them as they live in Washington.

It's a good thing we all had our phones. Daniel is demonstrating how the camping went for most of us.

Ross made it! I was so happy to have my husband here with us.

Nigel feeding some Cheese Balls to his Uncle Matt.

Matt and Daniel. We went for a Sunday drive and found some cool rocks to explore.

Nigel was so darn happy to be with his Dad.

Sarah, Rachel, Leslie, Mom, and Dad. They didn't come climb the rocks with us.

Daniel, Ross, and Nigel.

Matt and Daniel climbed as high as they could go.

Nigel had gotten really hot this day, so we took off his pants. He loved just having on a diaper.

Checking out Soda Spring. It was pretty uneventful as we missed the geyser by 5 minutes.

That Grandpa sure is a fun one! Rachel loved being up do high.

Drum sticks! Excellent! Go Nigel!

Ross really missed Nigel, too. I sure do love those boys.

Nigel and Rachel playing at the park! My sister and I sure are fantastic at making babies. They are both so adorable!

Camp Loll

On the morning of Saturday, the 10th of August, Ross and I left with Nigel to Camp Loll. My youngest brother Daniel works at this Boy Scout camp during the summer. It took us a long time to get up there, and although Nigel was fussy occasionally, he did really well in the car ride. It is always fun to drive by the Grand Tetons. They are such beautiful mountains!

This boy is so precious when he is asleep!

Tetons!

On Saturday evening we were able to try out archery. This is something I have always wanted to do, and it was really great to try it. It was super fun, but the arm guard only covered my forearm and the bowstring hit my elbow a few times. I got a pretty sweet bruise from it. 

Daniel, Nigel, and Ross in front of the tent Daniel has lived in all summer.

Hey, it's the Lake of the Woods! (Yes, that is what it is called.)

Nigel loves to ride on Ross's shoulders.

Let's use the Puma camp! Looks good to Nigel!

Are you dirty enough, Nigel?

Nigel was so cute following Ross all over in the lodge. He had fun walking as much as he could.

I'm like Legolas! But not quite as talented...

My boys! I sure love those guys!

Sunday morning we had Sacrament Meeting, which was beautiful in the middle of the forest. That afternoon Ross and I passed our swim test so that we could to out on a canoe. It was super fun. Daniel and Ross did the rowing and I did the Nigel wrestling. That boy did not like having to sit still in the canoe. He was really wiggly and fussy. Crazy kid. Later in the evening, Daniel and Ross went kayaking and Nigel and I hung out on the shore of the lake. It was really beautiful.

Good morning, Nigel! Time for breakfast!

We thought it was cool they had a keyboard there.

Nigel all dirty again.

That boy is such an explorer!

Hanging out.

Nigel loved to give Uncle Daniel rocks and sticks that he found.

Daniel in the canoe!

Nigel wasn't thrilled to be in his life jacket. Ross was rowing in the back and I was just having fun soaking in the wilderness.

The water was pretty choppy because of the wind, but off yonder are the cliffs the scouts call the Cliffs of Insanity.

Such a cute boy! Too bad he didn't have fun.

Ross on the left and Daniel on the right heading off to kayak.

There were these darn roots poking up all over the place to trip Nigel. He got pretty good at climbing over them by the end of the trip.

In the evening, the lake was so smooth and beautiful. 

Nigel discovered how much fun it is to throw rocks and dirt into the lake. It was fun to watch him making discoveries.

This is the chart to tell who has what boats out. Nigel loved the little hooks on it.

I put Nigel up there and he had so much fun drumming on the bottom of the canoes!

Monday morning we had breakfast then packed up and left. It was a really great weekend and Nigel had so much fun with his Uncle Daniel. Nigel did so good camping, too. He loved to play in the dirt and get all dusty. Crazy kid. 

I just love this picture of Ross and Nigel walking down the path.

"Hey, you! We're going home!"