Greys River.10

As I said before, every year my family goes camping up in Greys River, WY. And it is REAL camping. You know the "dig a hole to poop" kind. And wouldn't you know this is exactly when Paige decided to get potty trained. I think we dug 25 holes a day for her. Fun.

My mom wanted to get family pics while everyone was in town. It has been a while since our last session. We all liked the idea of having a non traditional family photo shoot. Most people get matching outfits, new haircuts, spend all day getting ready, and finding the perfect background.

Well, in true Veigel fashion, We took pictures after 3 days of camping, no showers, half the kids in swim suits, and in the back of a truck (which I still think is a perfect background). You have already seen our funny shot, which I love. Here is the cousin shot.


Bottom row: Oliver, Avery, Paige, Oakley, Morgan, Jackson
Top row: Andrew, James, Aaron, Sarah, Aide.

And here is the serious family shot. I need to crop and edit it, but after almost 2 hours of doing this post I didn't have it in me.

Bottom row: Luke, Me, Trent, Oliver, Avery Paige, Oakley, Morgan, Jackson, Mom, Dad
Middle row: Kimmy, Andrew, James, Aaron, Sarah, Aiden
Top row: Emily, Cade, Jake, Becky


Now on to the camping experience. Here are just some shots from around camp.


Hanging around camp was real nice. The kids would just explore and the adults would sit around and talk. In between taking care of the little kids that is.

When we were up there we would run every morning. I think I had the best runs of my life on that dirt road. Becky and I ran 4.5 miles the first morning and were shocked when we found out we ran that far. I have only been running 2-3 miles a day to try and get my IT band back in order.

And here is the machine. He runs 4.5 miles on his days off from real running.

Campfires and Smores. We did this every night. And by the last night we refused to let our kids do them. Cleaning 5 kids after every marshmallow toast is not too fun for the adults. Maybe if they would eat like a normal human being it wouldn't be as bad.

Poor Paige and Oakley got sick up there. Luckily it was only a 12 hour bug and luckily we caught the throw up every time.

Here is another favorite pic of mine. We have one just like it from last year.

My mom in her glory. Her and Emily brought up a whole preschool for the kids. It was heavenly. My kids love Grandma Hoggie and Aunt Emily.

Every day we would all load up and tube down the river. we have sooo many pics. I really need to go through and delete half of them.

The first day all the boys went and the next day all the girls went. It was awesome. Although we did have a near death experience and almost lost Emily down the river. We laughed hard about it later when we told the story around the campfire. Although the boys said they couldn't understand my blubbering through my laughter. Trent said I sounded like a squealing pig trying to tell a story.

Here are the kids. Such good times. Most the kids loved it. I would say my girls were not so fond of it though.

Here is a pic of the original boys in the family. It truly is an amazing shot because they are all smiling. My dad and Cade never smile and Luke is usually acting like a goof. Jake is the only one that smiles good for shots.

Murphy Lake:

We always go to Murphy Lake while we are there. The kids love the shallow water, the "beach," canoeing, rafts, and tubing.

The rope swing. It was pretty stinking high. I am surprised my boys went on it. They are on Trent's back in the bottom right pictures.

And here is how we slept every night. Aren't they cute all lined up?

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So overall, I would give our Grey's River Trip 2 thumbs up, which I couldn't do in a self portrait shot.

A big shout out to my mom and dad who provide most the food AND cook it for us. They are amazing. And thanks to everyone who helped with the Hoard. Life is much easier for us with more adults around.

Here's to next year!

24th

I just can't keep up with my blog right now. Besides our big family camping trip a week ago, I just got back from girls camp as well. Hopefully soon I will get my life back in order and narrow down pics from both camping experiences. Until then here are some pics from our 24th.

I love, love, love the 24th. I love the fair-scones, snow cones, corn on the cob, cotton candy, bbq sandwiches, toys, fish pond, and the nostalgia it brings me. Here are a few pics from the events:
Aiden is an amazing climber. I like it much better when he is climbing things like this and not climbing up on our roof.

Andrew chose to spend his tickets here. He thought it was great.

And Oakley just wanted to do the shark slide over and over.

Paige and Morgan did some things too, but since I was late getting there (you gotta love work) I didn't get any pics.

We ended the night watching the fireworks from our roof. Much better than the last fiasco of firework watching. And Morgan was sick that day, so she went straight to bed.

Preview

We just got back from our Annual Grey's River Trip. It was awesome. Here is just one pic out of 1,000. It may take me a while to do an actual post. Stay Tuned.....

Just In Case...

...Old Navy closes, Aiden has found a new line of clothing.
I think he looks Fabulous.

Bums

Not much to say about this pic.

A Chef in the Making

Andrew had a great idea for a sandwich the other day. Saltines, with chicken salad, and a peanut butter Ritz Bit.

He only made one.

Doin' the Dirty Work

I figured since Paige and Morgan are not into getting potty trained, they should start cleaning up their own gross diapers. I was hoping if they had to do the work they might be more inclined to use the potty.
Paige seemed too happy to be carrying a bag full of human waste.

Keep in mind that bag probably weighs as much as her...well almost.

Unfortunately, Paige actually thought this was great and my plan backfired. I don't think they will ever be potty trained. Stubborn girls.

Miraculous

The other day, July 10th to be exact, we went to Training Table to celebrate Grandma Teri's birthday. This is a favorite place of ours. We love it. It isn't quite the same when we take our hoard with us though. They don't eat, they play with the phones, they run on the benches, and are loud. But when we arrived that Saturday evening they all sat down and colored for a good 5 minutes. It was so amazing I had to document it.
Unfortunately it was only 5 minutes, but 5 is better than none. And that is Brooke, our 7th child (Oliver is our 6th), coloring in the bottom right corner. Even though the kids were rambunctious,

the food was delicious and the company fantastic. Happy Birthday Teri!

St. George....Again

BUT this time I went by myself with my Hoard. Yep, that's right. BY MYSELF. I was a little bit concerned about this at the beginning, but it went surprisingly well. Of course, there were other family members to help once I got there, so I wasn't entirely by myself.
Here we are heading down. I got a lot of the "3 looks" looks. You know, when people take a quick glance, then another just to make sure they counted right, then one last one to have it permanently in their memory. Yep, we got a lot of those when I corralled my hoard into a stall to go potty.

As soon as we arrived in St. George I had to get me some In & Out. So, I took my kids, had them save a table while I ordered me my #2 animal style, no pickle or tomato hamburger, with well done fries, chocolate shake, and a lemonade. It was oh so good. The kids only wanted shakes for their dinner, so that is what they got. What can I say, we were on vacation.

Finally it was time to swim and swim we did. I can't believe how much we swam. It was awesome.

Luckily Big Brad was vacationing with us. All the boys loved being thrown in the air. Brad was nice enough to throw the boys at least 30 times.

Paige and Morgan are little fish. They love the water and our quite awesome with their floaties. Oakley on the other end is still terrified of the water. Although by the end of the 4th day of swimming she was wearing arm floaties and would go in the deep end....as long as she had a death grip on a grown up.

Jumps. and lots of them. And I hate that Heidi already looks better than me (its okay to be jealous of your sis-in-laws right?). Its only been 6 months since she had Jackson and 3 years since I had my last hoodlums. I've GOT to stop eating.

And I just had to throw this pic in. I think it is hilarious. Those are Aiden's little legs sticking up and Josh and Andrew are somewhere behind him. Those 3 boys just love being together.

And here is the whole crew. Since I had no pictures of me swimming (which I am, and probably all of you are, thankful for) I thought I should pop my face into it.

As always SG was a blast. Thank you to all who helped with the Hoard. I couldn't have done it without you all!!! And, as always, thanks to Brad and Teri for letting us use their facilities. They've got the best ones in town.

Dance Camp

One of my Miamaids had a dance camp all last week for my girls (and Caroline & Izzy). It was heavenly. She took the girls everyday from 9:00 to 12:00. 3 hours!!! It is amazing how easy just having 2 kids is.
My girls were so excited for the camp, but they always get shy when it comes time to actually have me leave somewhere. So, to get them more prepared/excited I found these tutus at TJ Maxx. They love them. However, it didn't cure the their shyness. Paige and Oakley were actually fine after the first day. Morgan, on the other hand, had issues every morning. But in the end the week was a success and I told Maren she needs to do this once a month in the summer!

Well Endowed

If you are judgemental or easily offended don't continue reading this post. Its not bad, I just didn't know what people would think of it, but I thought it was hilarious. And seeing how this is my blog, I can post whatever I find worthy of posting.



A couple weeks ago we were doing water balloons in the yard. My boys are fixated on certain things right now. I hope it is an age thing and not an Aiden and Andrew thing. At one point in our playing Kimmy and I looked over at the boys and noticed something unusual. It seemed that they had matured over night...

Kimmy and I couldn't stop laughing.

It may have been funnier in real life.

Hot Jasper

I know a lot of you disagree about the hotness of Jasper Hale, but I thought I would post some pictures to confirm the fact that he is good looking.

Here he is as a vampire. Way better looking than Edward.
And here he is in real life. Very cute.

And here is 'shovel face.' Not so cute.

I rest my case.

Ooooowwwwwuuuuu

Last night we finally went and saw Eclipse. And I have to say it was actually really good. Of course it still had its cheesy parts and funny lines, but it was much more exciting and intense. I loved it.

Per usual routine, we hit up Rumbi before the show.
Then we rushed up to see a little Jacob and Edward. Add Jasper, Emmett, and Reily (sp?) and it had some cute boys. I know most of you will say, "Who likes Jasper?" Well, that would be me. I don't know what it is about him, but I have liked him from the beginning. I think he is much cuter than Edward for sure.

Here is the crew. Kimmy (who apparantly didn't want to get too close to Tracy), Tracy, Candi, Lindsay, Me, Mindy, Heather, and Kristen & Amber on the bottom. We missed you Meg!

Amber brought her son and friend along. We had to get a pic of the only boys in the group.

And Amber thought it would be funny to leave me a secret picture. I thought it would be funny to post it for the whole wide world of blogging to see.

It was a superb night and thanks to all the husbands for watching the kids! Can't wait for the next Twilight Party!!!

Our Fourth

We did so much celebrating this weekend. It nearly killed us. By the time Monday rolled around all we wanted to do was sit and do nothing. So that is what we did. Here is a quick recap of the things that (combined) nearly killed us all.



1. The Cabin. Which is always fun. The kids love it up there and it really is so amazingly beautiful.



I went up early on Friday with the kids. We stopped at the outlets, so I could do some shopping. I really don't know why I try shopping with 5 kids. It makes me ornery, but I did come away with some cute stuff.



After Trent, Jill, and Cameron arrived we started a fire. My kids love fire. I should be a little worried, but I am a little bit of a pyro myself.

We hung out at the fire just waiting and waiting for the fire to burn down so we could roast some marshmallows. That nearly killed the kids. They have about as much patience as I do.

Finally, they were able to roast the mallows and eat some smores. Everyone enjoyed the nice hot marshmallow, melted chocolate, and graham cracker treat. Everyone except me that is. I have never liked marshmallows, so I just melted me a Hershey bar and ate that. Divine.

And of course there is always 4 wheelin up there. Another thing my kids love.

The Neffs usually are up at their cabin the same time we are at the Jensen's, so that means some horse seeing/riding. I haven't been on a horse for years, I shouldn't have worn my tight pants....but who am I kidding, all my pants are tight these days.

All my kids loved the horses. They loved riding and feeding them. Trent chose to stay behind and take a nap. He absolutely hates horses.

And this is how we all felt at the end of the trip.

2.Veigel BBQ and Fireworks. We had my family up for a bbq, some small fireworks, and then we went to see some BIG fireworks. Another fun, but exhausting night.

We just did snaps, smoke bombs, and sparklers. I usually nix sparklers because it is inevitable that someone will get burned, but luckily we got through with no injuries.

We decided to go see the firework show in town. Big mistake. By this time of night after 2 days and a sleepless night at the cabin the kids were tired and ornery. Add walking a mile to get a spot and waiting for 1/2 hour for the show to start made it not so much fun. Don't get me wrong the fireworks were great, but I don't know if the 20 minute show was worth the other 2 hours of work. But isn't my family cute? And I think I have the hottest husband around.

3. The Jensen BBQ and Fireworks. The next night we had Trent's family up for some good grub and firework show. Always chaos, but always fun.

We put on our own little show, which, of course, included smoke bombs, snaps, spiders, parachutes, and classic fountain fireworks.

And don't make fun of the matching shirts. When I was at the outlets on Friday, Old Navy had everything in the store 40% off. I couldn't pass up on the $3 flag shirts could I?

So there you have it. Another successful Holiday.

A Hiking We Will Go...

For our play date this Thursday we went on a 'little' hike. I don't think anyone will let me pick the hike again. I said it was suitable for all ages, but I think a few would disagree.
We still had a great time and managed to wear out the kids. Everyone had excellent naps that afternoon, including me.

Another great picture with my Hoard. Don't my boys look so big and grown up?

Pea Pickin Time

This is one of my favorite things about summer. And now it is one of my kids favorite things to do. They have been watching Grandma Holly's peas grow all Spring, just waiting for the fat peas to come. Now, most everyday they ask if they can go to Grandma Holly's with the peas. And my mom is always nice enough to let them come and eat the delicious peas.
This is the family bucket that all the peas go into. Grandma usually divides some up at the end of the picking time for each kid. Then we get to enjoy fresh peas at home. It really is heavenly. Few things come close to the yummy taste of fresh peas from the garden.

My kids love to scour the garden looking for the 'fat' peas. It takes me back to my childhood, eating peas in our garden and the gardens in Star Valley. Good times.