Sam's Birthday Party 8/09

OK, so his actual birthday is the end of July!

But we are always in AZ for his birthday and he really wanted to have a party with his Fernley friends. He has wanted to do this for years and I finally gave in.

Actually I think I just finally came up with a fun idea.

It was a campfire Circle and Night Games theme in our Back Yard.

Sam and Luke and my masterpiece of a cake. ;)
Friends
James Knight, Jack Jones, Ian Jorgansen, Sam, Spencer Knight, Nate (Claussen), Matt Knight, Katie Bake, Seth Bake, Luke
Trying to light the candles in the breeze.

Madisyn and Luke roasting marshmallows.

Jake reading "ghost" stories. Roger and Sam.

Some of the other fun things were roasting hot dogs, jumping on the tramp, and playing Kick the Can and No Bears are out Tonight and the ever fun Glow Sticks.

I think everyone had a really fun time!

One last Hoorah 8/18/09

My friend Jenny Jones had posted on facebook some fun photos of her family going out to Pyramid Lake. I told her we would like to go with her sometime. So we all went the Wednesday before school started for a fun day of chill'n. I say we all but it was mostly just us gals and kids, the husbands and Jake and her oldest Kyle didn't go.

I thought this was a pretty view of the "Pyramid" or at least one of them.
Their family has found this wonderful beach. We have only been to Pyramid Lake a few times because we had never found any nice beaches. Now that she has introduced us to this one we might get up there a lot more often.

The water was gorgeous! It was so clear and the beach was a nice sand which extended way out into the water. The bigger kids had a great time on the tubes Jenny had brought.

Sam by his "well" that he and Jack had dug.

The Group.

I was fascinated by the geology out there. I want to find a book that explains how these awesome rock clusters were formed. They are so cool!

Thanks for taking us with you Jenny.

Haines Reunion 09

We had a wonderful Haines Reunion the last weekend of July at Lyman Lake, AZ. The Haines family line is from my mothers mother. My Grandma is the last living of her siblings. It is amazing how time moves on. This is only the 2nd "reunion" of this family line in my lifetime and it was exciting that we were able to have at least one representative from each of the four children of George and Mae Haines.

The fun banner the kids made. What artists!
We had a fun birthday celebration for Sam while we were there. He is lucky, he gets to spend every birthday with his AZ cousins. Jerryne's daughter Lexy and Madisyn.

Karston, Sam and Ren

My night for dinner. Thank heavens for Travis's grill! When we get together with the Sherwood's we always take turns cooking. Mine was my famous grilled mesquite chicken with spinach salad, garlic bread and pasta salad.

The RV lined up in the "compound". Lyman has a nice set up for groups. A large building with evap. cooler, bathrooms and electricity. As well as a nice private beach, boat dock and of course RV spaces with full hook ups.

One of the wonderful AZ sunsets.

Camping @ Greens Peak 7/09

Ahhhh... Sweet Summer! Are there many better things than allowing your children to relive some of your favorite summer memories? I don't think so!

Every Summer I take the kids down to AZ, usually for the 24th of July Pioneer Day Celebration in St.Johns, to visit the Sherwood side of the family. This year was different though. Since we had a special Haines Reunion to attend the weekend after the 24th I decided to skip the 24th celebration and go down the following week. As Rashelle and I were doing our planning we decided we should go camping at Greens Peak just like we used to do for the Heap Reunion when we were growing up. The Heap Reunion camping trips were probably one of the highlights of my growing up years. I was so excited to take the kids up and enjoy the beautiful White Mountains of AZ. Somehow the trip went from Rashelle and I too all of the women and kids, and of course Grandpa. We were up on the mountain for about 4 days before having to go back to St. Johns and prepare for the Haines Reunion at Lyman Lake. -Aaron would come up in the evenings after work. Claryce and Karson were back East picking up a steel building, Travis was working and Brian was in Canada working. Roger and Jake had stayed in NV. What is camping with out the camp fire???

Karston, Maddie and Luke, Melody, Tracy and Aaron Trent reading scriptures before bed. Cyle giving him light.

Grandma with Claryce's Reese and Grant

Brock and his "grandaddy" horny toad.

Karston, Maddie and Luke, Melody

Such a classic camping picture of Sam. Oh, how dirty they all got!

It was a little different in that it did not rain every day while we were up there. S it was quite dusty and VERY dirty for the kids. In fact the whole 10 days we were in AZ it only sprinkled once! Rather odd for that monsoon time of year.

Luke having some of Papa's eggs for breakfast. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us mom's sleep in and making breakfast for our kids every morning!

Cutie

Papa made all the little boys "axes" out of forked branches and sharp stones. Don't worry they didn't actually get it chopped down!

Cyle was great about taking the kids for rides on the Ranger when they all got bored. I think he really wished Jake would have gone.

The last day before we left we did the traditional "Run down Greens Peak".

-Literally driving to the top of the highest mountain peak and running down through the trees to the bottom of the mountain. THIS IS NOT A HILL KIND OF MOUNTAIN EITHER!! It was so great! A lot of work but worth it. The only ones in the picture that didn't run down were Grant, Luke, Kyson and Ren. Great job everyone!

The pretty drive home as we came down off the mountain. Sadly the camera didn't do a very good job of picking out all of the amazing red mesa's I could see from there to St.Johns.

Jake at EFY 6/09 NAU Campus Flagstaff AZ

OK. so one of the cool/scary things about the Internet is that I can swipe other people's photos to use as I please. Jake didn't take a camera to EFY but he made friends with lots of kids that did. When he got home he became Facebook Friends with those kids and his mamma being one of his FB friends visited his FB page and collected a bunch of awesome photo's from EFY. Moral of the story is that those friends need to go set up their privacy settings!

-now that I have what I need that is!

His Group
The Guys

Jake, Ryker, Justin, , Couslor Lolo, , Brad, Tyson, Counslor Nick Hilton, Dustin , Sam

Brad, Jake Ryker, Sam Justin, Tyson

Jake and new freind Brad

Dustin, Braelynn, Jake, Justin, Kaylee, Nicole, , Ryker

His C.O.W. Braelynn

So I think I hate this term more than anything! It stands for Crush of the Week! An EFY thing I guess. She is a way cute girl though! Too bad he didn't get any of her info and she is not on FB!!!! Gonna have to teach that boys some things.

4 th of July 09

Our most fun for the 4th was going camping to Fort Churchill on the Carson River but I forgot to take my camera! We came back Friday night so we could take Jake to the church at 6am to leave for Scout Camp on Saturday the 4th. Hence no pictures of him...
I had to include this cute picture of Luke because I made this outfit about 12 years ago for my nephew Eric. Jake had a similar one but the shirt has gotten lost somewhere over the years. I can't believe how bright the colors still are. I wish they would make all fabric the colorfast!

After having a VERY leisurely morning we went to check out the festivities at the park. We have lived here for 9 years and never been to the city's shebang. It was about what we expected.

After the park we went to Steve's Homemade Ice Cream Shop (the first time we have taken the kids) for a cool summer treat.

Sam thoroughly enjoyed his!

Funny story!

I had seen some "fireworks" in Wal-mart all month. So on the way home from ice cream we stopped to pick some up for when it got dark. Well, there were only two boxes left so I didn't really read what they were I just picked one and left. When it got dark Roger went out to set them off and had a terrible time getting them to light. After a few unsuccessful tries someone noticed that they were not fireworks but poppers!!! We were pretty bummed but still had fun shooting them off at each other. Just wish we had done it in the daylight so we could have seen the streamers go flying everywhere.

Oh, well we were able to see it in the morning when we had to clean up the mess!

Sam "shooting" mom while she was "shooting him.

Ya, these are my PJ's, it was a long day and I was ready for bed as soon as the fireworks show was over!!!!

Visitors!

We live so far from all of our family that we are so EXCITED when we get visitors.

Grandma Madge and Aunt Elaine came up the first part of June, Elaine could only stay for about a week, but Grandma was able to stay about 3. YEA!!!

They are both lovers of dirt and greenery like myself (could that be where I got it from ;) )so while they were here we did lots of fun stuff with the yard. My pots still look beautiful.
Sam and Luke enjoying a picnic outside after playing the the water.

Me and my Grandma the day she left. I was so sad to see her go.

Some of the Great Grandkids. They are going to miss her too.