Ontiveros Family Renuion

First of all, I need to start this entry off by saying, I have the best in-laws in the world. I hear horror stories (ok, perhaps not quite horror stories.., but not-so-nice stories) of in-laws gone crazy and I'm so lucky that they are not mine! Dan's brother, Dave, invited the 6 Utah siblings up to Burley, Idaho to enjoy some small town living, boating and family time. I'll admit.., I was a bit nervous about having 7 families under one roof. Yes.., you read right.., 7 families..., 23 folks.., 12 of which were kidlets. My worries were just that..., worries and nothing more. We had a blast! Mason loved being with his cousins and his nick name of "baby Mason" continues. I wondered what everyone will call him when the next baby comes? We made it every day to the Snake River to boat. Mason actually gets better and better on the boat. He made it close to 3 hours on the boat on Saturday which is an all time record for him.

Dave's new boat. It rocked!
Quin, Me, Mason and JT
Reggie and Ramsey speed past on the Seadoo.
Ramsey, Ruth and Courtney brave the tube. Dan did his best to toss them, but they held on tight!One part of the river was filled with seagulls. The picture doesn't really do it justice. You would plow through the mass of birds and then they would settle right back in their spots with in minutes. I loved driving the Seadoos though this part of the river. Am I evil?
Kathyrn and Mason watch the birds.
Boating was only the start of it all. Dave's 4 wheelers were put to good use as well.
And then there was the concert to end all concerts.., the Ontiveros brothers playing Rock Band. They cracked me up! Look at Dan in his concentrating state! Rock on!
And what family reunion wouldn't be complete without the brothers doing a lil' shootin'. Apparently, in Idaho you can shoot in your back yard! Yikes! They had fun though. Can you hear the banjos playing when you look at this photo?

Thanks again Dave and DeeAnn for your hospitality! We look forward to the 2009 reunion and mini "O"-lympics!

We're excited to annouce..., we'll be a family of four!

Breaking Dawn

Why did I just waste 4 days of my time?!?!?! I've been so excited to read book #4. With a 1 year old, working full time and having little free time.., I purposely waited for our trip to Idaho (more pictures to come of that) to read this little jem only to be let down. It was by far the worst book of the Twilight series. Predictable..., slow..., and LAME!. I was very disappointed. Stephanie.., you started off so strong and now you've let me down.

Boating

We spent 3 days up at Jordanelle camping and boating. Since it was mid-week there was hardly any one on the lake and we pretty much hard it to our selves. Dan's brother was so awesome to volunteer his boat for us to use.

Mason loved being on the boat. He truly is a water kid. However, he hated his life jacket and tried to rip it off any chance he got.

Rachel, Ethan and Aaron. Uncle Dan did his best to toss the kids off the tube and they loved it.

Mason and Mommy on their short and slow trip. He actually really like it. This kid is going to love adventure.
Aaron makes every thing looks so easy!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Mason and Dan celebrated their special days together. Mason was one on July 25th, 2008 and Dan was.., well.., he was a bit older on July 27th, 2008. We had Dan's siblings as well as mine come over for a BBQ and birthday festivities. Dan got some new golf clubs as well as a killer card that played his favorite Hannah Montana song. Go Millie! He was a lucky birthday boy!Mason had some fun treats as well for his birthday! He was SO done with opening presents after only one or two. Poor kid! He's had a hard week with all the traveling and family around.
The first birthday is such a special one. I felt the pressure to come up with a cute cake for Mason. I finally found this monkey head and was pretty proud of the results. Dan chose German Chocolate for his birthday cake. I branch out a little and made it 4 layers.Mason wasn't sure what he thought of the cake. I had envisioned him tearing in to and devouring it. It was nothing like that. Dan had to help him to actually touch the cake.

Once he did.., Mason wanted nothing to do with dirty, sticky fingers. He truly is his father's son.
Last, but not least was the pinata. Apparently, every good Mexican birthday party needs to have a pinata. Mason liked to hit it, but it wasn't quite hard enough to break. He had plenty of cousin behind him to break it though.

I'm a Walker!

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was incredible. I can't believe I've lived in Utah for so long and have never been. If we didn't have a 1 year with us and it wasn't 100 + degrees, we wouldn't have hiked down in to the canyon more. They have some fairly easy short hikes.
Mason actually spent his first birthday in Bryce with my sisters, their family and Grandpa Ketchum.Pat and Grandpa Ketchum

The Grand Canyon

We had the opportunity to meet up with my sister and her family for part of their month long cross country road trip. We met them in Page, Arizona and started off with a float trip down the Colorado River. We started at the base of the Glenn Canyon Dam. We drove through a service tunnel where only Dam workers are allowed, hence the hard hats.

Our float trip ended 2 miles down the Colorado River at the start of the Grand Canyon.

Aaron, Ethan, Michele and Rachel. Aaron tells me the 80's glasses are cool again. I'm not buying it. Linda and Meredith
Day Two: We made the drive to the Grand Canyon. The Wilkinson ClanI thought the Grand Canyon was going to be desert like..., but it wasn't from the North side. The closer we got, the greener it got. Driving in, I felt like I was back east with the huge pine trees and green fields. This was a pit stop we took after Mason had his melt down from driving in the car way too long.

We actually saw a Bison heading into the forest during our pit stop.The Grand Canyon
Mason's expression describes his thoughts on the Grand Canyon. He was truly a trooper but was very much down after 6 hours of hiking around with no naps. He crashed on out way to Kanab.