Spokane

We planned a fun trip up to Spokane to go boating and to get family and senior pictures! Mindy was so generous and offered to do photos for us! We hit the ground running and started with Senior pics! I just stood back and watch the magic happen. Mindy was so good with him! 

The next day we did family pictures! And it was in the most beautiful spot! We had so many options for scenery!

And the smiles came very naturally, because we had quite the entertainment going on next to us and in front of us! Oh Mr. Gavin you are such a clown! And it really brought out lots of giggles and smiles!

The colors, lighting and everything were just perfect! I knew they would be amazing!

We shopped and wasted time until Chet was off work and then the boatin fun began!

It happened to be Chet and Mindy's anniversary so we had to celebrate them a bit! 

We had the MOST perfect day on the water! It was glassy ALLL day and I got to wakeboard first! We found a beach and set up camp and hit the water hard! 

We of course hit the clay wall and Mollie had to leave her mark. 

Then Mindy said to Chet that for her anniversary gift she wanted him to write in the clay for her. So off Chet went, spotting a snake even before he found a good place to write. 

Gavin entertained us again....never a dull moment with this guy. 

Snuggles!

When we had all we could of surfing and wakeboarding, we pulled out the tubes. Oh man, these were wild! I thought they'd be dangerous, but they were actually pretty fun! At one moment, Carter did a barell roll over Gavin and landed it! We were all impressed!

It was SOOO hot so we had to take water breaks and the crazies jumped off the rock. 

We love lake Roosevelt! It's so pretty! It was quite smokey, so we were sad it wasn't that clear. We went back the next day and boated there again, but it was so smokey we called the day early. 

We went boating one more day at another lake and Bri tried and tried to get up on a surf board but never quite got it. I was proud of her for trying so hard! our purpose for being here was to capture Carter surfing in a cap and gown. And we forgot it in the car! UGH, I was so mad, but sucked it up and enjoyed the evening. Chat GPT helped me out later. 

Pretty good if I say so myself! It atleast made me feel a little better. 

 

At the end of the night, the kids did a running jump off the back of the boat while we were driving! It was quite fun. 

We were pretty great at whipping out meals pretty quick, even if it was 9pm some night and we were still in our swim suits! 

 We love our times with these people! We were sad we missed Morgan, but so glad she is on her mission! Until next time!! We love you!

We woke up one morning to Rylee and Chet making breakfast! They had already been to the store and Chet bought her Mountain Dew and then they cooked breakfast together! The kids hit golf balls in the back yard and rode 4 wheelers and dirt bikes. We just loved being in their welcoming home!

And on another day, we did one more photo shoot at a track before we hit the water again. We loved these but it was SOOOOO hot!

Thanks for the best time everrrrr!!!

Sister Hymas

We were absolutely honored when we were asked to take Morgan to the MTC just like we did for Maycie a year ago! We picked her up from the airport and took her shopping and to Zuppas and hit up a cute thirft store. We zoomed over the the Provo City temple for a few cute pics and then drove to the MTC!

Oh, I dread the day that it is our turn. But for today we could just be happy. There were a few tears of course because we love this girl fiercely and are happy for the choice she made!

They snapped a pic and then missionaries wisked her away! I was choked up so I couldn't get out much except that she'll be so great and bless so many! 

I cried all the way to salt lake knowing that we could be here exactly one year with our son. Oh the happy heart break! 
 

Reed Reunion

Howdy! These 2 outlaws put on quite the rootin' tootin' reunion! They had a western theme to our camp trip this time and had shirts and bandans for everyone. 

There were many cowgirls present!

Grandma got lots of rocking time with the babies!

We went to the park one day and set up yard games. but the star of the show was the roping cow! My kids all loved roping and were pretty good at it! Carter and Rylee especially loved it and did it nearly the whole time. 

We all got a wanted poster shot. 

Except Carter I guess. 

And there there was Cowboy Chase! So sweet!

We had many laughs and lots of good talks around the camp fire. It was a pretty great relaxing time. 

The ladies!

Everything went gerat except our water day. 

We were trying to get our blown up paddle boards over to the beach area. I was preparing to get off with Rylee and take them to shore. I packed my phone, Rylee's phone, towel, shoes and sunscreen in the bungee cords of my board. Chad came over and flipped my board over to put the fin on the bottom of the board. When he flipped it back over, I realized that my phone probably slipped out! UGH! I was sick. I slammed my hands on the boat 3 times. Realized there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Turned and stepped off the boat onto my paddle board. I took Chad's phone with me so we could still communicate through the kids phones. 

I was so sad. And so was Rylee. Our phones were sealed in a baggie at the bottom of the lake, still working and tracking and telling me on Chad's phone it was going for a walk! 

Once on shore and everything set up, I told my family my phone was gone. I was bummed! I did NOT feel like boating. So I gladly held this sweet baby so others could go have fun in the boat. It helped holding a baby when I was so bummed. 

It was sort of refreshing to be without a phone for a few days. Sort of. I still kept thinking of everything I probably lost and hoping that my google drive backed most things up. Luckily, I found out, it did. 

Grandma planned a cute craft for the girls and here is Ry's. 

We took many trips to the doc to 'fish.' and it was so cute watching these kiddos lean over hoping with everything they have to catch a fish. 

It was here that Carter decided he was going to be a fisherman! He picked up a pole that Chuck left at our last camping trip and claimed it as his own. He fished...well tried to fish....he learned a lot of fishing lessons, like untangling string from a tree and from under rocks. It was cute to watch him though. 

This is such a beautiful place! 

 And we franticaly bought a gas fire pit thinking that we would not be able to have a fire with all the fire bans going on. We found one the morning we left, because you can't camp without a fire! We found out though that we indeed could have had a fire because they are on government land....ok, whatever! So we used our fire the first few nights and had a real one the last night. Sure love this Reed Crew! We have lots of love and it just keeps growing!