The Apple Press - Old School

We have a good friend, Robbie, who grew up on a farm and likes to sort of live off the land as much as possible.  For him, that means buying apples cheap, making his own apple press, and freezing gallons and gallons of apple cider to last the whole winter.  We thought that sounded awesome so we set it up in our garage, invited a few families, and went to town.  It was a blast, minus the part where all of the kids threw up the next day and we weren't sure if it was the cider or the flu.  Yeah, that was kind of awful.  Turns out, it wasn't the cider.

So sad to see the Rackham family go, but it was that very night when Scott got the call from BYU that he got "the job" and off they went.  Our loss.

As always, it was wonderful to have Marriotts visit.  I just wish we hadn't sent them off on their road trip home with vomiting children.  They haven't been back since.  Hmmm.

The Lake Trip - Year 2

 We went up north with three other families in our ward to a lake house and had the most glorious time.  The cabin was enormous and the property it was on was equally large.  We all vowed to go back next time and wondered the whole time how we could convince our families that coming to the middle of Wisconsin for a week would actually be worth it.

Catching frogs.  I love that my boys are experiencing a "real" childhood, complete with frogs!

With daddy.  Yeah, I haven't quite gotten pig tails figured out for her yet.

Winfield, Jack and Brooklyn - judging from Winfield's hair, I think they got some speed on the tube.

We took turns going out on the power boat and staying on the beach with some of the kids.  When we came back from one outing we found Christian in the rowboat with 7 kids.  They all looked pretty pleased, and so did Christian!

Heather - queen of treats. 

 Mortons brought kid skis that are tethered together so Jack had a great experience skiing.  You can see Jake's head, left behind in the lake.  We'd just leave him there after he helped the kids get up on the skis. He was a good sport.

Some of the crew.  

One happy skier!

Georgia in her adorable "Gammy" dress.  It's one of my favorites.

The Dive

I've never met a person who can pick a restaurant like Christian.  We have tried some amazing places just from online reviews and I can honestly say I've never had a bad experience from any of the places Christian finds.  They are all jewels.  If you want a list I'm happy to give it to you, except for this place.  Yes, that is particle board walls with plastic "windows" you see, and yes, those are plastic lawn chairs on a concrete floor.  Christian took us to this (literally) hole in the wall place called Philly Way for - what else - Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and fries.  He said it was a "pretty good" place that he and some guys from work go to sometimes.  Let's just say I was ready to hit the road the moment I got there and the sub-par sandwich didn't help either, but I'm glad we stayed because the place itself has now become a family joke.  It was hilarious!  Just look at it!  It was also blog-worthy, so for all two of you Milwaukeeans out there who read my blog, stay far away from Philly Way!

Good Bye Bay Ridge

We moved.  It was a stressful process, selling and showing a house with four kids, but we did it!  I am going to miss that cute little house.  That was Charles' and Georgia's first home and we lived in every inch of that house, but it feels great to move on!  We love our house now and I wouldn't go back, but I do wish I could move all of our old neighbors to our new block.  We miss them!

The Grand, Grand Junction

 We went swimming at one of Paige's friend's homes and she basically lives on top of a mountain.  I mean, check out that view!  It was incredible.  I really loved Grand Junction's weather and scenery.  Such a surprisingly beautiful place.

 While we were there we just HAD to go to Aspen music festival which is only about 2 hours away and see Gil Shaham perform.  It made me wish I was a music student again and could spend three months at a gorgeous location learning from the best in the world.  But, this was as close as we got and it was fabulous.  I even saw a friend from IU playing in the orchestra.

 It was raining like crazy.  Good thing we had plastic from Dad's car - always be prepared!  Actually, it didn't help a whole lot, but we got some good laughs and so did the people who saw us.

 Standing by the aspen trees in Aspen.  Oh my!  Were my legs really that white or is Paige just really tan?!  Okay, I'm really that white, but I AM from Wisconsin after all.

All the boys after breakfast at the Main St. Bagel place.  We miss our cousins!

The Cabin 2011

 Nature walk with Nana while the big kids went horseback riding.  Winfield, Jane, Charles, Audrey, and Kate all learned about plants, checked the river for water skeeters, threw rocks and got dirty.

With Emily and cousins Matthew and Kate.

In the hammock with my baby girl.  Who can resist the hammocks under those huge pine trees with the river a few yards away?  I've never seen it so green as it was over the 4th; all thanks to a full month of rain in June.

Just had to include this photo of Audrey because she looks so pretty.  Glad she got Laura's looks!

How many cousins can a Brazilian hammock hold?  

If I could look this darling when I'm pregnant...Isn't Marian adorable?

After the scavenger hunt we donned the crazy eyes and felt right at home.

July 4th Tradition...Plus a little Surprise!

 Aren't they cute?  40 years of marriage and they still love each other, which is no surprise to me, but by the world's standard it's pretty amazing.  What was surprising was the party we threw for them when we were all gathered for the 4th of July.  We had "reunion" shirts made that said "Marriott" on the front, baseball style and then patiently Laura stenciled a number on the back of each shirt - all 40 of them - with the order in which we were born.  Christian and I were #5 and our children were numbered by the grandchildren starting with Melaine as #1 and Joseph #23, I think.  It was pretty cute to see them all running around in their shirts.

 Caroline made a photo book about them and it was so much fun to see pictures of them in high school and college and on their honeymoon.  I hope I can look back at my own pictures in 30 years and laugh with my kids!

Paige and John at the Oakley parade.  Gotta love the Rodeo Queens in the background.

This was our first try at the parade and the kids got SO much candy, they loved it.

Mom in her cowboy shirt that Dad bought for her in Chicago, of all places.

One happy kid - candy in hand!