Cowboy State... Part Two.

On Monday we had another family reunion (this one, not so immediate-ish) in Greybull. Which I always thought growing up, was spelled Grabel. We learn so much when we grow up!! Hmmm.

I knew about three of these people.


Okay, maybe four...





We have a cousin (not so immediate-ish, but related, somehow) who plays for the Pittsburg Steelers. (Go Packers!!) Brett Keisel would be his name, football is his game. We had heard that he would be at the reunion, so we had gone to a Pamida (the Big Lots of the cowboy state) and stocked up on things for him to sign. I have good friends, Dorothy and Gary, who would be celebrating their 30th anniversary later that month. They are HUGE Steelers fans, and I knew this would be the perfect gift. You can read all about their big surprise party here.

We were totally those lame people, I asked him if he would sign something for some friends of mine. Then we came trampling up with about three bags worth of things for him to sign. I tried to make a joke and said "Heeeyyy, remember when I asked if you'd sign something, well I really meant ten things!!" Haha, funny right? He came back with "Yeah, thats usually how it goes." BURN!! He was very nice, and even laughed when I gave him the sports "cup" to sign. He added his own twist by writing "Safety First".


So there you go people, I'm inadvertently famous. I'll be signing autographs later.

The next day we were in Burlington staying with my Grandma and Grandpa Hockley and we headed over to my brother's in-laws house to see some animals.




We saw cats and dogs.


The pigs were cute.. but wanted nothing to do with us. We sent Conner in to catch one, but he was too big of a wussy. I should've shown everyone my pig wrestling skills.


Then we went to see the baby cows.. OH MY ADORABLE. I wanted to take one home for a pet. They weren't too keen on the idea of the kids mauling them, but they behaved.




This cow's name is Hollywood. Either Hulk or Brooke Hogan (I get confused) milked her on an episode of their show. I believe she had a baby that same year, or the next, that had a star on it. CRAZY, I know.








The next morning, before we headed out, we took some pics in front of my Grandma and Grandpa Hockley's house. I will be refraining from posting ANY with me from that morning. Not pretty. But these guys sure look cute.


And Shonni. Jerks.


My Grandma Loveland (who is actually my mom's first husband's mom, but we have always considered her our grandma) lives just around the corner from where we were staying and we haven't seen her for years, so we stopped to say hello. She lives in a little white house, that I love. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.



I have a picture of me when I was younger, sitting on this same banister. I wanted one with Kapri there too, she wasn't too fond of that idea. She had reached the end of her (short) rope and was ready to go home.





At some point on the trip (again.. I get confused, it was two months ago, afterall) we stopped at a cemetery where my mom's first husband is buried. Her name happens to be on the headstone next to his.. creepy, right? We made her pose next to it.


Her husband wanted her to lay down in front of it, but she thought that was too much.



The girls loved running through the headstones, some people may thing this is disrespectful, but they're one, they were having fun. I hope kids run around on my headstone one day. In fact, I'm gonna run around with them.





The ride home was pretty uneventful.



But BEAUTIFUL.

Cowboy State... Part One.

I can't do a quick blog.. post a couple of pictures, write a few words. I've tried. More than once. Its just not in me. I also don't have time to write such extensive blogs.. which is why I am never caught up. I'm doing this blog in two parts, so I can actually post the first half that I've already spent twelve days on.

Back in the beginning of June (yes, I realize its almost August and I'm just now catching up) Shonni, Addison, Kapri and I headed to Wyoming for a couple of family reunions.

Side note: I would like you all to know that I just about had a heart attack. Here I am writing a blog about Wyoming and my pictures were missing. Phew.. I found 'em. You can stop crying now.

WARNING: I have a lot of pictures to share.. if you're not interested, pretend you are, and look anyway. Pretty please.

We got to Thermopolis pretty late on a Friday evening. When we pulled into our Motel Shonni and I both looked at each other with the look of DEATH in our eyes. It was THAT motel.. you know, the one you see in all of the horror movies!! The sign was even flickering "VACANCY". Of course there are open rooms.. because everyone's dead!! They lure you in with the Free Hot Breakfast.

We calmed down, a little, got the girls bathed, into their pj's and headed over to Grandma and Papa's room to do some motel room "bed jumping".





We didn't stay in a lot of motels/hotels while I was growing up, but I'm pretty sure we jumped from bed to bed (over and over again until the adults locked us in the closet) in every one we did stay in. Thus, it has become tradition.


At one point, quite a few people were sitting on the bed.. then I decided to unload myself (a mere 120 lbs I'll have you know) onto the bed. BOOM. Yep.. I'll say it. Right here on the World Wide Web.. I broke the bed. You can be nice and say it was ALL of the weight together.. but I was the straw (or bale of hay) that broke the camels back (or in this case, the bed). But don't fret, I fixed it.

At some point Kapri kept wanting to wear Shonni's bra.. so I of course helped her. I'm a nice mom like that.



The next morning we had the first of two family reunions. This one was for my mom's immediate family, their kids, and grand kids. So I knew everyone, what a relief. We were supposed to have it at a park, but I don't think it stopped raining the entire time we were there, so we ended up in a church.

Games were played...







Prizes were won...




Fun was had...




Meet my Grandpa Jack.. he's our "Horse Grandpa".
Meet Braeden, and his pants.. that are ALWAYS falling off.

Grandma Hockley, the sweetest lady ever. (But she wasn't always this sweet, hehe.)

Then we went swimming in the hot pools. I didn't want to deal with my camera, so there are no pictures. (Darn, I know you ALL wanted to see me in my bathing suit.) But I'll have you know, it was a BLAST.

That night we did some more bed jumping.. and this time Grandpa Jack was there too.


Addison is the world's best giver of Raspberries.

Next up.. more pictures (surprise), ANIMALS!!, banister sliding and cemetaries.

Camping.. sort of.

Last month Cody came up with a BRILLIANT idea. Camping.. IN HIS MOM'S BACKYARD!!! Lets face it, it was genius. Don't get me wrong, I love camping. However, I do not love bears. Over the past few years (I'm sure you remember the little boy that was killed by a bear up American Fork canyon) I have become MORTIFIED of bears. I hate sleeping in tents, and every noise makes me pee my pants. I think becoming a parent has quadrupled this fear. It doesn't help that last year when we went camping there was a bear sighting and they actually had to set up a bear trap.. TWENTY FEET FROM OUR CAMPSITE!! Really.

Anyway, hunky husband had a brilliant idea.. blah blah blah. We decided to do it the same weekend that Taylorsville had their little town celebration and they were doing fireworks.. even more convenient.. we could see them from the backyard!!

When we got there our niece Taisha was playing on the slip 'n slide.. Kapri was not about to miss out on the fun, so she joined in, clothes and all.




Frank amazed us with his bbq.. AGAIN. Heck, its delicious. Wish I got a picture so you could drool over it. Annie made me a cake.. and everyone was nice enough to sing to me.



27. What the heck. When I turned 26 I didn't feel old. For some reason, this year I do.






After we ate dinner and got into our pjs we settled in to watch the fireworks. Kapri loved 'em, much to my satisfaction.








Poor Ashley was the hot seat of the night.



Frank made a fire, and then pounded on his chest, cause thats what guys do. I think he might've yelled something like "I am he-man, hear me roar!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure of it.




When Cody and I went to the store to get stuff for s'mores we saw the HUGEST marshmallows you've ever seen, and of course we had to get them.



They were messy, and delicious.

Let me just tell you that fires are almost NO fun when you have a one year old running around. None of us really relaxed the entire time we were sitting there.

At about midnight I decided Kapri was pooped and needed to go to bed. Now, if you've met this little girl, you know that she does not like to miss out on anything. She screamed for a good ten minutes after I brought her in the tent because she was so upset that I was making her go to bed.



She's a fiesty one. Me, Cody, Ashley and Tim stayed up talking until after 3. WHAT? Who does that? Certainly not me, I love my sleep.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then went swimming.. Kapri's current favorite thing!!





Sometimes I dread going camping, just because I hate doing all of the clean up. This time, we folded up our sleeping bags/blankets, took down the tent, and we were done!!