Our Phoenix Adventure

Dinner time on our drive up from Idaho Falls and the reunion to our flight in Great Falls down to Phoenix to fix up and furnish the house.

We had great food, we wanted to remember this little place in Dell, Montana, the 1903 school house converted into a Calf-A.

 

While waiting for our evening flight to Phoenix we took a boat tour of the Missouri River and this is the famous Mann Gulch.

 

We finally made it to Phoenix, and I love Phoenix sunrises, they are always so beautiful.

It's easy to be up early in Phoenix, that's when it's still cool enough to go outside!

 

 

 

Doug putting together the furniture and fixing up the house.

We did a lot of driving around trying to find just the 'right' things for the house! Just about 'drove' us crazy!!

 

Kathy is a happy camper with all of Doug's hard work!!

The house is starting to come together.

 

 

We found time after church on Sunday to drive up to Sedona....so beautiful!

And so much cooler than Phoenix in August!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun putting each room together.

Panda bear room is my favorite!

 

 

 

 

Outside patio is going to be a great place to BBQ and socialize!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a lot done in 10 days, it's almost ready to be rented out.

It was hard to say goodbye to the desert and Phoenix, but we'll be back!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Wilson/Schmitt Reunion at Lava

Our first ever Wilson/ Schmitt family reunion with our siblings... Kevin, Kathy and Karla all together for a weekend! It was so good to get together again and spend some time having fun. We planned our reunion at Mom's death last November, and it was good to get together to strengthen our friendships, and talk about old times. Our brother Kris died a year ago March, and our other sister Konnie couldn't make it to the reunion, we missed them both.

Friday night as we started to gather, we enjoyed a potluck of sloppy joes and salads. Everyone was coming in and getting settled. I was so happy to see everyone again!

 

We had a lot of good food throughout the weekend.

The house we rented was georgeous and gave us a lot of room for enjoying each others company!

 

What did Karla do?

It seems that she is always up to something!!

She sure made us some delicious pancakes!

 

Doug had some fun colouring with the kids after our 'Canadian' breakfast.

He's saying..."see, like this, the maple leaf is always red!"

 

 

 

Hmmm...Jace is thinking, "I just love Aunt Kathy's snicker salad!'I think I'm going to Canada for some more next year!"

 

After all the breakfast was cleaned up it was time for swimming at the swimming pool and water slides in Lava Hot Springs.

Karla made a grand entrance, and almost lost those fancy sun glasses!

What a nut!!

 

The highlight of the day was watching the guys come down the water slide, it was so funny, especially Kevin. He looked like he was having a blast!

It was fun for some of us just to relax! Joeen, Nick and Morgan are loving just kicking back with new baby Beckett.

Pool time!! The twins wanted to do the water slide with the big boys, but Jessilyn and Andrew weren't going for it!

 

By evening everyone was tired out and it was bath time before bed. How fun to be taking a bath with all your cousins!!

Erika is saying, "How did I get myself into this??"

And Chelsea is showing Miken how to squirt everyone!

 

 

Happy 30th Anniversary to Karla and Bryan!! Kevin serenaded them as Karla cried. It was so touching!!

What a sweet couple...30 years of marital bliss!

As it all came to an end on Sunday morning, Ron and Arlene drove up from Logan and visited with everyone. I am so glad they came up to say hello!

After hugs and pictures we all went our different ways! It was such a great reunion, I hope we will continue this wonderful event!! I love my siblings and their families and feel so blessed to have spent time getting to know them better, they are all so wonderful!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Family Reunion with our Kids

Well, now that Cam and D are back home, we had our family together at our cabin at Wizard lake for our Stringham Family Reunion over the long weekend in August. It was like 'heaven' for mom and dad having everyone together again.

We had a lot of fun. The cousins enjoyed playing in the blow up 'jump house' together! A lot of yelling and jumping around...

 

and it was even more fun when Grandpa got in there with them. That's really him, all you can see are his socks but he's loving it.

 

 

 

We had a fun time tossing around water balloons but then Grandpa got out his water balloon launcher and things really "took off"!

 

 

It was so funny to watch them! The cars took a few hits, but Cam didn't mind too much, he was just giving his car a car wash, so it helped him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had musical parades, played games that made grandma laugh so hard and ate some delicious food!! I think the ice cream bars were the biggest hit!

 

 

 

 

 

Then we hit the lake!! It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun on and in the water.

 

We did some tubing and the kids loved it, saying..."again Grandpa, again!!"

 

 

 

 

 

One of Grandma's favorite thing is swimming in the lake, and it's even more fun with family!!

 

 

 

 

Even Mckinley was having a good time! What a cutie! Next year she'll be out there on the tube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the day had to end. Good bye Grandpa...thanks for a great day!

 

We sure enjoyed our time together at our annual 'Stringham Reunion'. We're looking forward to next year already!!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Summertime

 

Well, Doug and I were back at the temple this week. We had two weeks off while the temple was closed for cleaning and maintainance. It was so good to be working there again, there is such a special feeling of peace there. It's a wonderful place to find 'solace to the soul'. We are so blessed to be there every Wednesday!

 

 

 

We have had some interesting weather this summer!! It hasn't been very hot, so we haven't done a lot outdoor activities. Anyway, now we just plan activities and go, regardless of the forecast!!

 

Last weekend, Lindsay, James, Doug and I packed up and went quadding near Edson. We brought all our camping gear with us to camp for two nights, but just as we got into Edson, about 3 hours from Edmonton, we got caught in a massive hailstorm!!

 

 

 

 

 

The hail was so thick, I thought it was going to break through the windows of our truck as we waited it out. We scrapped the camping idea and got settled in a hotel room on Friday night (with two dogs) as it continued to rain.

Saturday brought overcast skies, but the rain had stopped, so we decided to take the quads out for a few hours. There was SO much water on the trail from the rain and hailstorm the previous night, that we got stuck within five minutes!!

But part of the adventure is getting the quads 'unstuck'.

 

 

 

 

We tried several different trails, but the majority of them were swamps!!

It was so much fun just playing and riding in the mud. But then our machine got stuck in second gear. That really slowed us down, but we kept going through the trails, just not as fast!

 

 

 

 

It was a great day!! Our quad finally cooperated and started shifting again, but by then we were getting a little cold from being so wet! We headed back to Hinton for some great pizza, and then home. No camping for us in those wet conditions!!

It's always so good to be outside, I'm glad we went regardless of the weather!!

 

 

 

Monday evening for FHE we went out to the lake to do some boating. We lucked out and caught a beautiful evening. We spent over 2 hours just tubing and swimming. It was so lovely out there, and we had a blast laughing at the antics on the tube!

Mark and James were just hilarious trying to stay on the tube together.

 

 

 

 

Last week, I had the opportunity to babysit Mckinley and Brynnlee while Di was out of town and Cam was working. It was an adventure in itself!! Now I know why I don't have kids that age...just grand kids! It is a busy job, it helped me appreciate young mothers even more! We had some fun swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

Brynnlee liked the wading pool, but the sink was really great! She is sure doing good now, considering that eight months ago she was a 'preemie' in an Intensive Care unit. She has sure come a long way.

We are so blessed to have grand kids and family! That is where we find our greatest joy!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy