Youth Conference 2010

The whole Gang, I was not super stoked about being responsible for these girls on the side of a huge mountain.
This prank the girls played the last night was hilarious. Just picture all these glow sticks in the pitch dark doing the robot, pretty good.
Daren thought we did not make enough BBQ beef, we showed him by making him eat all the leftovers out of Dave's Bare hands.
The goofy face picture.
Me and Chrissy. Love her.
Snowbird was so beautiful, the location could not have been more perfect.
This was a team game that made for some excellent pictures.
Can you believe I hike up that whole huge mountain? Whew!
Thank heavens for Lindsay who blew up this air mattress not once but Twice (after I left the cap open whoops!) for us to sleep on. Love her.
I conquered my fear of falling to my death of a ski lift.
I made sure to document my near death experience.
The YW who were there on top of the mountain.
Us on the tram on the way up. Talk about claustrophobia. I guess I have something with heights.

Youth conference was so awesome, I went in thinking I would have some fun but it was SO FUN. We camped up above snowbird and it was beautiful. We shared a campsite with a mom and baby moose (thought my Grandpa Orme would like to hear that!) and tons of wild flowers and flowing streams. It was the perfect setting. One night at 11:00 pm we hiked to Cecret lake and it is now one of my favorite things I have done, ever. I was so proud of all the kids that were able to come, they were so great. I loved staying up waaaaay to late every night with Chrissy Lindsay and Mary (I missed you Holly!) I am lucky to serve with people I enjoy so much.

Miriam turns six!

Lesley and baby Will. Doesn't she look so darn cute pregnant?
Me and my little family after Curt kept spraying Deacon with the hose, he loved it!
Me and the birthday girl.
A bunch of the family chit chatting.
The hit of the night was the candy bracelets, Deacon could not even stop chomping his for one minute.
Miriam and her Daddy about to blow out the candles.
Miriam and Evie, poor Evie was sick with the flu for the last days she was here. But she did manage to put on a party hat for the picture.
Cupcakes and cookies and party fun.
The birthday girl was very specific in her cupcake requests, how many did she eat? 0. Hilarious!
On the Scots last day here in Utah we celebrated Miriams' sixth birthsday. It was so much fun. It was great to celebrate with them since we are not usually together on Holidays and birthdays etc. She is such sweet girl who is so smart and lively. I love her. I loved decorating a bit for the party, shocker I know. Mostly I just loved spending time with my family.

The Cabin

Isaac and Grandma with the kids at Big springs.
I love this picture because it really depicts the dynamic between Deacon and Will. Will adores Deacon and thinks he is so funny, look at him laughing at whatever nonsense Deacon is up to.
Speaking of Will, he is at the best age, so funny and cute and usually always in a good mood.
The kids playing and eating some grapes.
Deacon at Big springs.
This is my favorite hour I spent at the cabin. It was a huge rainstorm and The kids all cuddles up to me and Deacon falls asleep, that never happens.
This also never happens, Isaac and I sitting next to each other at meal time. It is a long standing tradition that we sit miles away from each other at meals, we broke barriers that weekend.
This is at the paint pots, which for the record are not awesome.
The kids getting a little impatient waiting for Old Faithful.
One morning I went running and Deacon was sad when Lesley and Amelia told him where I went and he kept saying " I wanna go for a run!" So for the rest of the weekend I would take him outside for a run. He would walk for a minute and then say to me "Lets go for a run!" run for thirty seconds and then say " I a good runner! Lets walk today. We can run amorrow." Pretty cute.


A highlight of my summers is visiting our family cabin in Idaho. Pulling in to the dirt road always makes me happy. This trip to the cabin was even better because the Scots came! It was a mad house jam packed with fun. I was so glad I got to go and had so much fun laughing and hanging out with my family. Especially loves almost making Amelia pee her pants from laughing so hard.

Summer

My sister and her family have been visiting form Scotland for the past three weeks. They just left this morning and I feel lonely. The past few weeks have been total chaos and so much fun. Not much brings me the kind of joy that watching Deacon play with his cousins brings me. I realized I did not take enough pictures I think I was just trying to have as much fun as possible. Anyhow the above picture pretty much sums up our time together, awesome.

Some serious cute

While my sister and her family have been in town we had to get some Bickmore grandkid pictures. I love them so much. Of course Angie took them. I am so happy to have these pictures of these darling kids. It was quite a process and I am glad its over and we have these to show for it, TADA!

Another year older and wiser too!

that is a Bickmore smile if I ever saw one

Happy Birthday to you! Today is my dads big 55. I don't think you want me to list 55 awesome things about him (I could though) so I will just go with 5 things.

1. He is such a good grandpa, loves his grand kids and dotes on them. They in turn adore him.
2. My Dad is very smart and a hard worker. Whenever I meet someone he works with they always rave about how great he is at what he does.
3. My dad is funny and likes to have fun even though sometimes he pretends to be grumpy even when he is not.
4. People love my dad and he really goes out of his way to befriend people and make them feel included.
5. He has always set a good example for me in a lot of different ways and I admire him for always trying to do what he believes to be right and good.
So five cheers for you dad, hip hip hip hip Hooray! Love you!

Takes me back

Does this happen to you? It is so crazy to me how a song can take you screaming back to another time in your life. I guess smells and tastes do as well but nothing does it for me like a song. I was helping my mom clean her house yesterday when I heard a song I had put on a DVD of pictures I made for the family I nannied for 7 years ago. I was surprised when my eyed filled with tears and I remembered how much I loved being with them and all the memories of them. Just like Van Morrison reminds me of my Dad and Saturday morning chores.

Ben Folds reminds me of my brother Walker. Shawn Colvin makes me think of my mom. And boy does Pearl Jam make me think of love and my true love. I love the way James Taylor and Elton John take me back to my childhood and how I love listening to them and singing their songs to Deacon now. Something about music and a memory that makes me smile.