California Bound

Our Family VacationThis year our family is going to Disneyland again. But this time I have a computer and thought I would post during the trip to keep up :) This year we finally got city passes. I am so excited. I haven't been to Universal Studios since I was little and I have never been to sea world! So of course I had to blog the driving experience down. What a time we had. Justin's parents and his brother and his 2 girls and our nephew and niece all rented a 15 passenger van. Call us crazy! My plan was to leave at 2pm on Friday after the kids got out of school, we finally got out of the driveway at 2:45 not too bad. We stopped at the gas station where the fun beings. Troy and I went in and got drinks and snacks while Justin gassed up and everyone else waited. We finally get everyone their treats and everything loaded, we close the door and hear "I have to go to the bathroom!" from Kenzie. Since we haven't pulled out yet, I run her in. We finally leave the gas station at 3:15. So we drive and hit traffic for the weekend, we get through it and then comes the Utah county traffic. WHAT A JOKE! We were in traffic from Lehi to Spanish Fork for 2 hours! Finally after Spanish Fork it all moves we get going. Let's just say it was a "fun" ride. I forgot to mention that when we left the gas station, Mckenzie says "are we there yet?" HA HA just think about that and that is how the ride was!

Here are pictures of all of us on the drive

Justin drove first

His dad got the front the whole time since he had surgery :)

Carson being so good :)

We stopped off in Baker and of course we had to take a picture with the Big Boy!

I will post more tomorrow. We are going to Hollywood!!!

Boulder Mountain Camping

Labor Day weekend we were invited to go to the Boulders with my Dad's family. We had a lot of fun! It was a short trip but the kids love camping. Me and my sister Becky took the 4 hour drive with us and 4 kids. Matthew and Justin were at the BYU game and were going to join us later. Here are the kids while we were driving. Don't they look excited, well Saphira does in the back :)
Alyssa went for a ride on the 4-wheeler with my Uncle Scott and was able to get some pictures with scenery it it :)
It was so pretty, I forgot to take my camera out for a lot of it. I regret that.
Alyssa by the Boulders :)
Kim took Matthew for a ride. He loved it. She took him up to the boulders and he was able to stack the rocks, they stay stacked, it is weird.
Alyssa again by some scenery

At the campground
Mckenzie. She got burned on the last night. There was a pit that had coals in it for the dutch oven and me being the good mom I am, had her in flip flops and she walked right in it. Luckily we had some EMT's there :) But when we got home we could see that the part that was really bad was never treated because no one could see it in the dark. It is healing now but probably would look at little better if we would have seen it sooner.
Carson eating some yummy chocolate cookies
Mckenzie getting her helmet on to go on the 4-wheeler. She loved it. All of the kids did!
Justin and Alyssa
Mckenzie
Carson wanted to drive it :)
Carson by the mini lake. It was swampy and just for fishing.
My Cousin Jesse's twins
Matthew was sooooo excited to shoot the guns!
Zach helped him get everything going :)
I don't think you can see very well but there are like 20 little frogs in this picture that all the kids caught. Then when we were ready to go back to camp they released them.
Oh My! You can tell we were camping! Look at that messy face. No point in cleaning it off :)
What a Ham!
Carson and Mckenzie loved these Twins! They were so cute.
Campfire time!
Carson wanted to roast a marshmallow. :) We had a lot of fun for the short time we were there and are excited to go more!

Grandparent's Day

Alyssa and Matthew had Grandparents day this year. Grandpa Barker hasn't been to any so we invited him this year! He had surgery on his back in July so it was kind of hard for him to get around and actually play with the kids on the playground :)
Alyssa with Grandpa Barker
Matthew and Grandpa Barker. Matthew got to be pulled out of class so they could all eat together. Normally the 3rd graders were later.
Alyssa had to show Grandpa a rock she found on the ground...She's a little crazy :)
Waiting for lunch to start
Matthew was trying to give him bunny ears but was chickening out :)
Then Grandpa caught him but Matthew tried to deny it
Eating lunch. It was a good BBQ.
Almost done eating
Getting ready to dump the trays
They insisted I get in this picture even though I told them I wasn't a grandparent :)

Dance Recital

Since I am catching up on my pictures for Blogging, I might as well add in the Dance recital from June. :) Alyssa didn't want me to post this picture, but guess what? they are my pictures HA HA! Alyssa and my nieces Alex and Abby all took a hip hop class together. Alyssa is actually really good at it.
All three of them being cool for the picture :) Alex on the left, Abby in the middle and Alyssa on the right.
Alyssa, she still won't smile with her teeth because of her braces. She gets them off next week! ALLELUIA!
Alyssa and her friend Brittney. See that goofy smile :)
Abby...her dad never brought his camera, what a bad dad! :)
Alex, she is too cool for this picture.
Mckenzie took a tap/ballet class. She did her dance to "The Locomotion" It was was cute. Here she is with her friend Madi.
Here they are again, but Madi's cousin wanted to be in the picture too :)
Mckenzie showing some attitude!
Too cute dancers!
Matthew and Mckenzie. He is sporting his Mohawk from the summer.
Alyssa, Claire and Mckenzie
Mckenzie and her other friend Madison
Mckenzie holding Carson. It was a long night but a lot of fun!