Family Fun!

In December we hopped on a plane to visit my sister and her family in Washington. For two nights of our visit, my sister had rented a cabin Mt. Hood so we could play in the snow and go snowboarding. We were VERY excited to get up there and on the mountain! Not so exciting was hauling all of our winter gear and snowboards through the airport but we somehow managed and it worked out great. We had a blast while we were up there and here are a few of the many photographs we took!

Tyson was SO excited to ride on an airplane. He almost couldn't contain the excitement. Mental note: Next time, put more kid friendly movies on the ipod for entertainment.
Much to the dismay of his father, Tyson found these princess heels in my niece Kailee's room and came prancing out in them. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't capture this moment?!
On the day we went boarding, we spent a couple of hours tubing at Skibowl's tubing resort. It was a great time and although he wasn't too sure about it at first, Tyson eventually decided he might like it after all.

Not such a fan of the tube here.

Kailee being her usual silly self!

Love these kiddos!

Don't be fooled by the smile on my face. I was clinging to the pole of the ski chair for dear life. The seat was tiny and the chairs swayed so much I thought at any moment I would catapult off!

The lift operator was so cool and laid back! After my sister and Kacee both consecutively crashed off the lift, he came out to make sure they were ok. Then (while the lift's still running) he offers to take a bunch of photos of us. You don't find these guys in Utah!

My absolute favorite waterfall - Multnomah Falls just outside of Portland, OR. We had been to the falls before in the summer when it is green but never in the winter when the water freezes. It's so beautiful here! Cold, but awesome.

Black and white shot of the Falls.
My sister's family: Stephanie, Kacee, Kailee and Tracy
Waiting at the airport for our delayed flight. We were sad to go because we had such a fun trip. I think it will have to become an annual event!

Finally!

Every year we have a fabulous photographer take our family photo. She does amazing work and is always ready and willing to try a cool shot or a new location. This year was no exception. If you ever need a great photographer (ahem, aside from ME of course!), I recommend Lindsey Hale. Here are just a few of the wonderful photos we were able to get at Saltair.

We Survived!

We recently purchased ourselves a new toy. It's a brand-spankin' new tent trailer (even smells new, mmmm!) and this past weekend we took it on its maiden voyage. It was definitely a learning experience considering my Mom and I towed it up there alone. I had set it up and taken it down several times and felt comfortable with that aspect of the trailer, but when it came to the filling of the water tanks and lighting of the furnace, I was clueless. One might naturally say "Why didn't you consult your manual for proper instructions?" which is a valid question. However the dealership had supposedly ordered one and we had not received it yet.

Here is the beauty in all her splendor. For the record, if you ever want to fill the tank of a trailer, your best bet is to put it in the proper place and not hook it up to what seasoned campers call the "city water hookup". You will most likely end up with a half inch of water on your floor followed by many expletives. I'm just saying. This was our spectacular view of Mount Timpanogas.
This should have been a warning of things to come.
Some sort of unique thistle plant with a bug on it.

Believe it or not that is a smile, not because Doug is squeezing him too hard. Tyson only smiles when you tell him to "show us your teeth". Thus the cheesy grin. I'll take what I can get.

This trip was for our Wright Family Reunion so we had a few family members camping with us. We knew we were in for it when the clouds rolled in and the rain started coming down hard. Fortunately we had a pavilion to take cover under and a huge fire pit to hang out by.

I even busted out my new Snuggie to help keep warm. I of course thought of good ol' Kristina and her Snuggie obsession. It was SO cold!

My cute angel baby!

My Grandpa Wright with great-grandson Ethan.

The cloudy mist rolled in and hid Timpanogas.

Tyson enjoyed playing with his cousins.

The annual dutch oven cookoff was a hit! We participated for the first time this year (my beans and chicken pot pie are at the bottom of the photo). We didn't win this year but made a good showing and are already making plans for next year's dishes!

My Aunt Ruth, cousin Jennifer from Colorado and my Dad catching up.

Aside from the cold and the rain, the trip was a success and we got to visit with lots of family members that we don't see very often. Tyson was a huge hit of course and keeps asking when we are going camping again. "With dirt?" he of course asks. Of course there will be dirt.

Welcome to our summer...

Is it July already? Obviously I've been a tad preoccupied, so let me play catch up and share a little bit of what our summer has consisted of... this may be a series of posts so here is the first... more to come when I have a few spare minutes.

In our family, softball is a part of life. And when I say our family, I mean it is a FAMILY affair. Our team is called "It's All Relative" because at any given time we have most of Doug's family playing. All of his brothers play (although not necessarily at the same time) and so does his sister. It's how Doug and I met.

From April until October our weeks are planned according to whose game is when and we do our best to coordinate schedules. We've had to cut back since having Tyson - each of us playing on three teams turned out to be WAY too much.

This year we have been playing in a little more competitive league at THE Cottonwood fields (some of the nicest fields out there) and aren't dominating like we normally do. It's OK though, because I think we could all learn a few things from the games we have lost.

I like to try out different positions but first base is my favorite!

Doug's brother, DJ, playing third base.

Patty making an amazing catch from second base. I think we all held our breath to see if she'd hang onto it!
My handsome honey coaching third base.

This is last year's photo so there are a couple of people missing but it's more or less the same team.

Front row: Doug's brother Allen, Brad, brother DJ, Doug, Jon, brother Todd

Back row: Teresa, Jamie, me, Kami, Patty

Missing from the photo is Doug's Dad, sister Lisa and brother Jeff. If they'd had 4 more girls they'd have had a whole team of just Farnsworths!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (almost)

Over Easter weekend, we packed up the whole fam damily and traveled to Phoenix (some of us by car, others by plane) to celebrate my Grandma's 90th Birthday. It was a fast but awesome trip. Like most families, we're made up of a multitude of personalities and opinions but we managed (for the most part) to get along pretty well considering the conditions (i.e. 12 hours in a car!). In my typical fashion, I took a TON of photos, so here are just a few that highlight our trip.

First stop after arriving: Cousin Rick's house and nieces Kacee and Kailee insisted on swimming. Keep in mind it's 7 pm and the air temperature had dropped to about 65-70, which made the water a bit chilly. They didn't care. I think they're part fish anyway. Kacee is an awesome big sister, but as this photo proves, she has the typical big sister torture thing going for her. Wonder where she gets that from. Ahem, Tracy?

Rick had invited us over to his house to have cake and ice cream. Grandma was a little embarrassed at the attention but was a good sport. She has issues with her memory, so even though we had been talking about this for over a year, she was still surprised and tickled that we had all come down for her birthday. She is honestly the sweetest person I know.


Tracy catching up with Grandma while we wait for the cake to be cut. It had been about 2 years since they had seen each other. Lots to discuss!

I think Rick was trying to get rid of all the cake. Kailee was the first to get a piece and it was a seriously big piece for a 4 year old. No matter. She polished it off in style. We dealt with the sugar rush about 30 minutes later!
Me and Grandma at her big Birthday bash on Saturday night. She was so excited to wear her new pant suit that was given to her by Rick for her birthday.

Blowing out the candles - sadly, there were only 2. I was kinda hoping for 90!
During an attempted photo of Grandma and her sister Doris, Rick took the opportunity to run up and say "Oh look, a rose between two thorns!" We all busted up but I think Aunt Doris thought he was serious!!

Tyson paused long enough for me to snap a picture of him with one of his favorite toys - a balloon! He had a blast running around the yard (even though it was SO windy and even a little cold. I know, who'd have thought Phoenix would be COLD?!

Meet Uncle Jim.

The funniest damn old guy you'd ever meet in your life. Seriously one of my favorite people on this earth, he has a wicked sense of humor and will always tell it to you like it is. I always look forward to visiting him when we're down there. You honestly never know what will come out of the man's mouth.

While we were all together, I had the brilliant idea that we should take the kids to get a portrait done. After discussing it with Tracy, we thought we should do a western themed photo. The girls are cowgirls, after all with horses and everything. So I gathered up a stick horse, cowboy hat, shirt and chaps for the occasion. Tyson, however, had other ideas and after two trips to the studio, we gave up most of the props and just settled for what we could get. The results were pretty good, given his attitude towards the whole thing. They are a cute set of cousins, that's for sure! They could be siblings!

We managed to torture the kid while we were at the hotel. He hated swimming! Auntie Tracy tried her hardest to help him enjoy it though!

We went to a park to do some family photos and when I was walking up from the car, I saw the kids sitting smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk, just looking at the park. I scrambled for the camera to capture this cute shot.

The Cook family - Mom, Kacee, Kailee, my brother Randy, Dad, Grandma, Tracy, my brother Paul, Tyson, Doug and me.

This pretty much summarizes how we all felt on the way home. Tired as hell and anxious to get back to normal life! We had a great time and it was so good to see our family. Can't wait to do it all again soon!!