Happy Birthday Bruce

Just wanted to wish Bruce a very happy birthday (July 28). Thought everyone would get a kick out of these first pictures of us with our first born. Bruce has brought us so much joy into our lives. We are so thankful for him and his beautiful family.
I think this picture was his blessing day. That was our church in Provo in the background.

Dark hair and those glasses!!!

This picture was taken coming home from the hospital in Rexburg. (We moved to Provo when he was only a few weeks old).

When Bruce and Tiffany and kids visited us over July 4th weekend we gave Bruce his birthday present then. Debbie had typed all his emails from Iraq and compiled them with his pictures and sent it off to be made into a hardbound book. It makes a great journal of his service to his country. If you click on the pictures you can see it enlarged.

This is the front cover of the book.

This is one of the first pages....

And this is the back of the book. Debbie put a lot of work into it and I was the proof-reader.

Happy Birthday Bruce!

Cousin Time

Deanna and Nathan visited the lakehouse again this year. It is always so fun for cousins to get together every year. Tyler really enjoyed bigger cousin Nathan. We got together for sunday dinner just before they left to go home. Can't wait till next year!


The little girls always enjoy Jeff. This is Natalie and Jeff.

And Brooke and Jeff.

More pictures from the Fair.....Tyler asking questions about the pigs.

More Fair rides

Brooke and her favorite pony...Gracey.

Here is Brooke milking a "fake" cow....she actually milked a real cow....but it's not on my camera

Fair Time

A favorite time of year is when it is County Fair time. The following pictures are some pictures of the kids enjoying the fair.

Brooke and Natalie on a motorcycle ride.

Brooke sharing her ice cream cone with her daddy....notice her tongue!

Tyler and Natalie on the motorcycle ride.

Brooke riding a pony

Brooke playing the drums.

A new feature this year was a camel ride. This is Brooke having a turn.

Randy and Drew just hanging out at the fair.

Tyler and Natalie petting the camel.

We are not done with the fair yet...there will be more pictures to come.

Summertime's the Best!

A cousin reunion....we lined up the cousins/2nd cousins (some of them) from tallest to smallest. We told them to give a "thumbs up"....zoom in on picture and see how the little ones are trying to give a "thumbs up"....it is really cute.

Tallest to smallest....Nathan, Tyler, Ella, Natalie, Kanyon, Maya, Ally and little Tyler.

Kobe (the dog) and Uncle Scott and Brooke and Maya.

Ahhhh...the fishing life (Randy).

Nathan and baby Drew

A group shot....

We love our boat rides....and thanks to Mike and Jeff everyone gets to tube, ski and/or wake board or just go for a ride.

until the boat drivers are all tuckered out.....Jeff........

and Mike.....thanks guys!

More Lake Pictures

I loaded the rest of our July 4th pictures onto the computer. It took me awhile but I have posted alot of pictures of that great weekend. Isn't it wonderful that we can celebrate our freedom in this wonderful country as a family and have so much fun.
As you view these pictures you will notice the love and commraderie that we all enjoy as a family. A very big thank you to mom and dad (grandma & grandpa and great grandma and great grandpa) for making this all possible. This is what life is all about. We have a great time together. Everyone helps everyone and we watch each others children so everyone can be safe. The little ones all play together, fish off the pier with the help of a very willing and patient Uncle and cousins...not just once...but over and over and over. There are endless boat rides and ski trips and sand castles built. There are grilled hot dogs and burgers and brats....salads, watermelon and cookies and brownies....everyone shares! There are more hours spent fishing and the patience of waiting for that special "catch". There are games and baseball and water squirt guns. There is camping in the tent and Tyler coming in the house in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and couldn't find my room....and didn't want to wake anyone to ask them where I was so he just went back to the tent. This same little boy though doesn't hesitate for one second to squirt you between the eyes with his water pistol!!
It's more than words can describe the fun and joy we have together....so I will let the pictures do the talking.
Moms and dads, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, cousins and friends.
The pictures tell the story......see for yourself!

A new face at the lake this year....a friend of Mike's....Camille...from Utah.

Another new face....Megan...visiting Jeff...also from Utah.
It was great see Matt.

He didn't waste anytime playing with the kids.

Ella's catch

Lauren's catch

Grandma Iris (Jill's mom) under the blue tarp.

John and Terry

Matt and Nathan

The boys (cousins) taking a break from swimming/fishing.

Uncle Scott and Devon going fishing

Ryan and the boys "net fishing".

Checking out what they caught...notice the girls looking on.

Ella and Ally (sisters)

As the kids were digging in the sand....they came across something white and round...

They called Uncle Scott over to check it out....turns out they had found some turtle eggs. If you look really hard....you can see the little round eggs. They covered them up again and left them alone.

Bruce and Devon on the wave runner

Carter's turn with his dad on the wave runner

Now a turn for Tyler and Lauren

This is actually Carter's catch...a big catfish. Uncle Scott is showing them how to hold it

Tyler...always "thumbs up"

Jeff and Natalie

Deanna knows how to relax

Tyler and Lauren waiting for a ride

Grandpa playing with Chelsea

Bruce, Tiffany, Paul and Tracey

Lauren and Natalie trying to paddle the raft.

Then it was off to the farm. Thanks to Jim.... the kids (young and not so young) got to try out the farm toys

Brian and Heather on Jim's motor bike.

Bruce and Carter on the bike

Bruce and Tiffany in the dune buggy

And finally....the horseback rides..thanks to Uncle Jim as he guided Butch....named after our wonderful horse loving Uncle Butch

The spectators as they waited for their turns

This was a long one....hope you enjoyed the "show".

A big thank you to everyone!!!