our visit to Vernal part 1

After our reunion in Bear Lake, we traveled to Vernal and spent a couple of weeks here.

The kids in front of the carpet store. My Grandpa Cal opened this business in 1949. 61 years and 3 generations later, it's still around...this place is a big part of our family.

On our way to the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo!


Papa and H by the big monster truck, H loved this...

and he loves the rodeo. They ended the rodeo with a motorcycle show where they do flips and jumps. This kid was in heaven! His little cowboy outfit cracks me up, so cute!

On Saturday July 10th, Paige was baptized on her Dad's birthday. We gave her the choice of where she wanted to be baptized and Vernal was her choice. She was baptized in the same stake center that I was.

Paige and her grandparents

Paige and her cousin Jessica. We were so happy that Jen and Jimmy's family, Alisha, Heidi and Grandma and Grandpa all drove to Vernal for the baptism, we loved having them there!

Braden and Joey. We lived with Jen and Jimmy (Mike and Martha too) for a couple of months while our house was being built years ago and these boys were just babies. We had so much fun everyday!

Daddy and daughter
Papa and Gaga with the kids. (Gaga was one of Braden's first words and it just stuck.)

Mom bought this $10 slip and slide...the kids used this a lot and loved it! We love summers in Utah!


One of my favorite things about coming home in the summer is getting to spend time with Wes, Ricci and the kids. Ricci's parents gave them this motorhome and we had a blast in this thing! I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures of the inside. It's a 1989 model, complete with slate blue and mauve decor. They had it detailed on the inside and Wes put new flooring in it, it was a major improvement. This thing is a beast! It has a bumper sticker on the back that says, 'Get high on fishing, not on drugs' :)

We all piled in this thing and drove around talking and laughing about how 'white trash redneck' we were...it was fun!

Ricci and Brandt

grandma

I've been wanting to do this layout for a long time and today I finally finished. I took this picture on New Year's Eve, the last time I saw Grandma before she passed away. She was sitting in her wheelchair and I just quickly snapped this picture. She asked, "Why are you taking a picture of my old pathetic hands?" and I told her, "I've always loved your hands, they're a comfort to me."

I really love scrapbooking things like this...it makes me happy :)

a mom's business card

As I was cleaning my room today, I found this ad that I tore out of a magazine a few years ago...isn't this the truth?! I want to get some of these made and whip them out when someone asks me what I do...

Summer vacation part 2: Bear Lake

The next stop on our summer vacation was Bear Lake for our annual Hammond family reunion. Jen and Jimmy were in charge this year and they did an awesome job! I would love to do it again!

I took so many pictures on our summer vacation...I probably took the most pictures here at Bear Lake. I'm in the process of putting these pictures all together and sending them to all the families.
This 1st picture is a big family picture. We are missing John and Heidi :( I couldn't find my tripod so Aaron and I took turns taking the picture. Aaron just loves having his picture taken...you can see how excited he is :)

another family picture


Jen asked me to do a craft for the kids. I found these inflatable guitars and the kids colored them with Sharpies. I couldn't resist getting the backdrop. I think the kids enjoyed it.

Grandma bought buckets and water guns for all the kids. They spent 2 days building sand castles and taking turns in the boats and canoes. Watching them interact with one another was the highlight of this trip. All of them are such adorable kids!
B, P,H and Whitney

my sis in law Alisha. She's the professional photographer of the family and takes amazing pictures.

We saw these bikes and just had to go for a ride. These bikes are for 8 or 6 people. It was a workout!
We rented a boat on the last day (you can see it in the background) and we all took turns going out.

Eric and Aubree
my sis in law Heather. I have to say I'm very blessed in the sis-in-law department. I adore every one of my sis-in-laws, they are all so good to me :)
Heather and I taking a picture of each other
H...I just love this one

Justin was such a good sport...
We turned him into a ballerina complete with a belly button and some serious curves. He's wearing Heather's glasses and my hat. I'm telling you, he was such a good sport.

Aaron and Matt
Mike and Martha

The first day we got here, the family went to tour a cave and I stayed behind just sitting in this chair and enjoying the awesome view. In between the awesome views, I did do some laundry...there's no escaping the laundry...
taking turns in the boats and canoes
this was the awesome view from that rocking chair (now you see why I didn't want to leave) The water there is so blue!

the cabin where we stayed. It was beautiful...I would love to go back

Whitney and Paige, the twins.

These two had so much fun together. Isn't this sweet?! They fell asleep like this!

I enjoyed reading Heather and Rebecca's posts and their pictures of the reunion!

Summer Vacation 2010 part 1

We are home from our summer vacation!! 26 days of total awesomeness...it's hard to come back to reality! It's taken me a few days to unpack and get things somewhat organized. I took a lot of pictures and I've been so excited to download them.
We started our vacation by driving up to Orem and staying with Aaron's parents for a couple of days. I spent one day shopping with Alisha and Lexie (that was fun!) and then we spent an evening with our friends the McElwee's.


From Orem, we drove up to Idaho Falls for the 4th of July for a family reunion with my mom's sister Linda and her entire family. One thing about the Doggett family is that they know how to HAVE FUN! It was so great spending time with my cousins and having our kids play together.



A and the kids at the falls





Idaho Falls temple

my cousin Jessie and her daughter Samantha

Aidan (Nate and Melissa's little boy)


Nate, Melissa and their cute little munchkins

My uncle Mike (he's on the far left) and his band The Affection Collection perform every year. They were AWESOME! I've got some video of this, I need to put it on here. The fireworks show in IF is the best one I've ever seen!!

On Sunday, we ate some of Linda's good BBQ, took the kids over to the park to play and we watched old home movies of us as kids.


Kadren, Aidan and Paige

some softball


Happy Birthday Jessie!!

The 4th wouldn't be complete without fireworks, right? To my family: I will get that video of Von to you, don't worry! ;) I'm still laughing about that...


enjoying the fireworks

A huge thank you to Mike and Linda and the kids! We had a blast and hope we get to see you guys at Thanksgiving!

Summer vacation part 2 coming soon...

thirty five

Today I turned 35. I remember being little and looking forward to getting older, especially turning 16 so I could drive. Now, I can't believe how fast time goes by. To celebrate my birthday, I did something I've never done before. Dad and I went to the stake center and donated blood to the Red Cross. I look forward to doing it again. I have to say going anywhere with Dad is always an adventure. He asked the sweet little Mormon lady handing out the cookies and juice if she had any vodka...we can't take him anywhere ;)
Looking forward to more fun things and I'm soaking up this awesome weather like you wouldn't believe!

Happy 8th Birthday Paige!

A birthday shout out to Paige! She's so excited to be 8 and she's looking forward to getting baptized on Saturday.

We love you!