Another unforgetably happy time at the cabin in Heber.

July 16 to the 19th was overly fun! Everyone was able to come this time except Allsion, who we missed greatly. Her baby is being welcomed this week! (July 20th, to be exact!) Brian and Scottee was only able to stay for one day and one night because of Brian having to go to scout camp. Next year, family, we are scheduled for July 24-27 so no babies or scout camp allowed that week!!! :)

Our first stop was in Payson, AZ for pizza!

 Little Wesley is always happy, especially when food is in the picture!

Millie is always happy except when things aren't going her way in her two-year old mind! (You will see a real-life example of that later!)

Charlee, Ande, Jaxson, Millie, Nina, Oaklee, Elle and Bastian. What a fun bunch! Devin, Adam and Mindy joined us later at the cabin.

 One step onto the property and Brian was snagged to play croquet with Bastian and Jaxson!

Carter was not ever far from the swing set!

 Millie and Ashlyn got right to work on some sand creations.

 Sam was flying down the slide in no time at all!

 See what I mean about Carter and the swings?!?

I love all the little signs that hang around the "Gratitude Lawdge". (It is owned by a Law family from Gilbert, AZ)

 For FHE the kids put on a talent show. Singing, piano playing and acrobatics were the main attractions. Grandpa John read us a scripture about a father giving good gifts to his son. Our good gift from him was a $5.00 bill for each of us! The next day, almost all had piled as many as could fit into cars and headed to Circle K or the tiny grocery store in town, to spend that money that was burning a hole in their pants!

 We had daily devotionals that set a good spirit for the day.

 These two adorable toddlers, Millie and Mollie are only four months apart and they seemed to be in the same places at the same time!

 There's that happy Wesley again! He is fun to take pictures of!

 And their off! (Rich and Millie)

 We were thankful that John wore his helmet when zipping since he hardly got hold of the bars before he was flying through the air. with his legs swinging free..no sitting on the seat for him!

 Greg and Bastian overlooking the zip line and action below.

 WaHoo Sam! He's a brave boy!

 Elle or was that Rapunzel!?!

 Ella or was that Juliet!?!

 Adam and Anya's dog, Mona, made the trip. What a good dog she is. She learned to catch frisbees in her mouth! You should have seen the tricks these guys were doing as they tried to catch the Frisbees that were flying at them one after the other with hardly a break in between. One person would yell out the challenge..."Cartwheel with a 360 turn" and then try to catch the Frisbees! The tasks got crazier as the game went on! There was also badminton and catch going on!

 Ashlyn was thrilled to have her very own, brand new, sleeping bag!

 Sam, the man!

 The stars in the peaceful, black nights of Heber are astounding! One of the most fun things we did was to lay on the lawn and gaze up! We saw satellites, shooting stars, airplanes and who knew, millions of glowing balls of gas! Thanks for the explanation Poomba! ("Lion King" was one of the main attractions in the upstairs TV room!)

 Without Allison, Devin had full-to overtime parent duty and he excelled! (Greg did too!)

See the inflatable (not flammable) fire on the floor? Since fires are out of the question in the forest, we brought our own!

Adam and Anya-cute couple! They both had homework to do since they are still in school this summer! Also they are moving in the next couple of weeks to Scottsdale. Brian and Scottee too are moving. I guess they will still be in Phoenix, but a little further North-East of Carefree Highway. With Devin and Allison having their third child...things are hoppin' around here!

 The kids had a blast playing good 'ole games...What Time Is It?, Duck, Duck, Goose,
a scavenger hunt, hours and hours of sand creations and playing with their 'slime' that Rich and Treslee made for them. The sound of laughter was constant-even at night when they were supposed to be asleep! There's was even a 'aw oh, I wet my pants', incident from laughing too hard! And no, it wasn't me!

 After a little rain we were treated to a double rainbow! It was Millie's first time seeing it. In her enthusiastic and dramatic two-year old way she pointed and yelled, "Colors! Cool!"!

 Look hard to see the rainbow behind us.

I have never seen such dirty kids and Rich and Treslee's got the prize! Those two babies are dirt magnets! The picture just can't capture the amount of dirt on them and in Wesley's case, in him! He ate it by the mouthfuls!

 Now here is an attractive look! Rich put on these 'leather' women's pants over his shorts! This was during our "Murder and Detective game". I guess it is a picture we should send in to "What Not to Wear"!

 Mindy and Ryan's family on the front porch as we were packing up to go home. The days come and go so quickly there!

Bastian, John, Ella and Elle watching "Peter Pan."

 Ella, Oaklee and Bastian on a digital device! Usually the kids were too busy outside to mess around with one of those, but Adam showed them a dog that would say what they said in a funny voice and they thought that was a riot!

 See, there's Mollie and Millie again, both standing instead of sitting to eat!

 Brooklynn was sometimes nocturnal. She was her most awake self at night! What am I saying sometimes! She's 16!

Oaklee's ready to zip!

 Jaxson's first time to zip!

 The slide is steeper than it looks. Did it worry Millie? No Way!!!

 Elle either!

 Devin just loves to see what he can get away with in outrageous ways... like spooning with Ryan!

 Gearing up for the marshmallow wars!

 One thing I love about Adam...he seems to have a niece or nephew with him a lot! Mollie is the lucky one in this pic. (above) Here he is in 2008 with Ashlyn!

 Our marshmallow war was a riot again this year! We are getting some strong-armed grandson's though and might have to give them a fifty-foot handicap!

 That is an awfully sweet smile for what is going on in Oaklee's mind!

 Millie was right in the thick of it!

Look at that face of Millie's!

Haha, look at how much poor Jaxson got pelted!

 OH Wait! Never mind poor Jaxson! Poor ME! I guess I was the widest target-a sitting duck!

 Plus, I throw like a girl!

 Oh Charlee...I don't imagine you hit your target very often on account of that hairstyle of yours!

 Elle doesn't look too worse for the wear!

 Notice Wesley marshmallow? He found the dirty ones off of the ground and like I said...he had as much dirt in him as on him!

 Duck Bastian! Duck!

 Nothing stopped Sam. Not even a marshmallow to the face!

 Poor me! Again!

 Ella's face belongs on a magazine cover for "fresh and innocent!"

 It looks like Treslee throws like a girl too! :)

 Go Nina!

 You don't see joy like this everyday!

Millie was afraid to swing before this trip. Not anymore! Above is Rich and Millie. Here we have Rich and Johnny on our first retreat in 2008!

 This is all of us except Wesley, (asleep) Brooklynn (asleep?) Allsion and me. (I'm behind the camera, besides we saw enough of my best side covered in flour in the prior pictures!) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bunch! (And Brooklynn, Wesley and Allison too, of course!!)

 Here is the perfect example of Millie's dramatic ways. Something just wasn't right in her mind so she took herself over to the swing set,,leaned on the post and howled! Pitiful...and funny!

 Rich and Treslee made 'slime' for the kids and my, what fun they had with it! They made everything from jewelry to food to snakes! They played for hours making hairstyles on their goblets that we gave each one of them to use for the week and take home. The slime is made of borax, glue and water so it is not sticky or messy. It can be molded and shaped, but it goes back to being a blob when not being played with.

Most of us took a happiness test which I found in the LDS Living magazine. Wouldn't you know it...most of us are happy! I especially enjoyed hearing Nina, John and Bastian tell me about their happiness!

 One of Elle's slime creations.

 Nina and Oaklee's somethings!

 Ashlyn and Carter got in to it too!

 Greg and Ande's turn to swing!

 This year we set up tables on the walk-around patio and ate all of our meals out in the perfect-weather-as-long-as-we-were-in-the-shade! Each family made a meal and boy, oh boy, did we eat like kings! Taco salad, pancakes-sausage-bacon-eggs, grilled sandwiches-salad, Navajo tacos, waffles with strawberries and cream, sloppyjoes-baked beans, white spaghetti-salad-garlic bread, desserts, snacks, Otterpops. I feel like I want to eat every hour now that we are home! Going to have to go on a starvation diet just to make my stomach know I am in charge! It is going to be a tough few days ahead! We also had a 'chore envelope' where each adult and the older children chose a slip of paper that told them what their chore was for each meal. It worked like a charm to have everyone help so that the messes got cleaned up in a snap and no one was over-worked!!!

Adam also wore 'the pants'!



I can't wait until next year! Nina suggested we stay for three weeks! How does that sound to everyone!  :)