12 Years

Seriously, did we have any idea 12 years ago that life could be this fantastic?

Say What?

Lyla couldn't go to church on Sunday because she had a cough and she was crying that she had to stay home with dad. Cannon just as we were heading out the door said, "it is funny that Lyla is crying because she wants to go to church and can't go and I just want to stay home and I have to go." Phil reassured me that he thought the same thing about church from about 6 until 15. I had to laugh because I remember LOVING primary and singing and trying to out sing Felicity Hanson. Then I skipped ahead a few years and remembered skipping Sunday School Class to walk to KwikWay with Nate. I don't think I turned out too bad even though I skipped out a few times.

Miya, while we were up in Seattle was watching me paint and asked "mom why do you like painting so much?" I just laughed and thought I must be doing a pretty good job at masking my anger at having to re-paint the whole house after the tenants moved out. We are finally done with the place and we were able to work on cleaning things up around here.

Tenants

So I went to do the move-out inspection with the tenants at our home in Seattle and it went something like this...

1. Fleas X
2. Filthy Carpets X
3. Broken Garage Doors X
4. Broken Kitchen Sink X
5. Broken Toilet X
6. Boogers on Wall X
7. Tubs that Smell like Poo XX

I have spent the last week cleaning the house when really all I wanted to do was light a match and burn the place down. I was there for over 50 hours last week and Phil put in 15 hours with two large loads to the dump to get rid of all the garbage they left. This week will be about the same, but the kids can finally play inside because the fleas are gone, the boogers have been scraped off the wall, the carpets have been cleaned and I have scrubbed ever last inch of the place. This week we will be doing repairs and painting. I love what people can do to a house and in such a short amount of time. I can't believe people lived in that filth and feel a little sorry for them after I have been so mad. We have learned that the three favorite things of our tenants were cigarettes, beer, and nose picking.

The kids have been having fun up at the house now that they can come inside and have been really great about having fast food for both lunch and dinner while we are up in Seattle. They were not happy about not having McDonald's for dinner tonight, but will be excited on Wednesday when we are back at it again. Good thing it is super cold and rainy right now so I don't feel like I am missing the last of the nice weather this summer.

More Driggs

So my sister finally left my parents house and got all the pictures off her camera to send to us all and I had to post something so I could get everything in my blog book. It is mostly just a ton of pictures, but I felt I should caption each one so I wouldn't forget how happy we all were to be together and spend time in a place we all LOVE. We had an adult only (plus little Ruby) dinner up at the golf course. We now have six wonderful nieces that are old enough and responsible enough to babysit so we had lot of these nights. Phil and I just after eating a delicious dinner. This is were he spent most of his time on the trip.

He was always mister cool wearing his sunglasses because I kept forgetting to bring his regular glasses when we met up after his golf games. He even had to go to the movie in Jackson with his sunglasses because they are prescription and I left his other ones at home.

Phil, Michael and Ryan's shadow on the course.

We were missing Stephanie the night Glen Beck came for the July 4th celebration and mom was working the night shift, but can you tell just how much we love our dad. He is the world's best and even though he likes his alone time he was good enough to take all our husbands golfing as often as he could.

All of us freezing between the BYUI band and Glen Beck speaking.

I was trying to get a pictures of the out houses, but Glen Beck kept getting in the picture. Then they came and said "no pictures". He did a great job speaking that night and he seems to be a well studied man when it comes to American History. (oh, and disregard my big nasty belly sticking out, I don't know why I was standing like this)

Cannon wanted pancakes for his birthday dinner so the adults had taco soup. I love eating taco soup on the couch with Smashy!

This is a room full of love. The picture is horrible, but I love all these people SOOOOOO much. There was tons of talking and laughing around this table.

Trying to warm up after swimming lessons and taking over the pool when we come. The women's locker room is way to small for this crew.

Miya swimming with cousins.

Cannon and Caleb jumping off the side. Cannon is a big believer in plugging his nose just like I am.

Cannon taking out all of his aggression on his pinata.

Phil made Cannon a race track cake with some hotwheel cars for all the boys. He was excited to share with everyone.

This looks like a serious conversation, but I am pretty sure they were talking about tee times and different types of play for the next round of golf. I love that they enjoy each other and really like playing golf, because we have a lot of kids and quite-time and Phil likes to stay busy.

We took the kids up Teton Canyon and had a great time showing them the waterfall that I always loved playing at as a kid.

I am sure all my sisters, or at least Ashlee and Nicki, would recognize this spot at the waterfall right away. We played house here for hours when we would go up the canyon.

The kids did a pretty good job on this little hike once we got them all wrangled in.

I love my family and I love when we all get together and I love Driggs even though it has changed so much from when I lived there. It was great to get a fresh lime freeze, hike in Teton Canyon, go to a movie in Jackson and show Tyler all the frozen yogurt Maverick has to offer.

Family Reunion & FHE

I have been absolutely crazy busy with enjoying the summer. We got home from Driggs just in time for me to enjoy a weekend with all my sisters-in-law away from everyone and enjoying time together. Then I followed that up with the Combs' Family Reunion here at our house. The beach was littered with children, toys and snacks. The sun hid behind the clouds the first day, but we all managed to get sunburns the other two days. We played on the boat and the kids all got plenty of tubing in. All the adults got in a run or two on the wakeboard or skiing and we taught Tim how to ski and all the kids were really proud of their older cousin.

We had RS pres. meeting here yesterday morning and had all the kids swimming while we tried to get a few things done. I am not sure it was the most productive meeting, but the kids seemed to have a good time.

Then last night we had FHE with a few family friend and enjoyed the sunshine and company. Everyone just looks good hanging out in the sun and swimming. Then we ended the night with a little fire and s'mores. Every kid went home tired and with some marshmallow in their hair. I just love summer and can't wait to enjoy all of August.