I wish my scanner was working right now! I have a stack of notes from Nalani that I would love to scan in and be able to hold them over her head for years to come.
Most of you know how sweet and darling Nalani is. Her sparkly eyes, her little lisp when she talks, her random hugs. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret though: along with the sugar, spice, and everything nice...this girl got some sassy thrown into her recipe.
This summer in Jackson, I was teasing her about loving the Jonas Brothers...she got so mad at me that she didn't talk to me for two whole hours. I'm not lying! Then in church this last week, I made her get off my lap because she was being too noisy and wiggly. The next thing I know I'm getting notes from her folded up tight. I was expecting something cute...a stick girl with crazy hair and a smiling sun? No. A big heart with an X through it, all in black crayon. Kind of funny. Until you have four or five of them in your collection.
This morning she got in trouble for answering the phone and being rude while I was on the phone. More notes. More black X'd out hearts. What am I gonna do with this girl? It's a good thing she's so cute and sweet the majority of the time:) And, this is fair warning to everyone out there...you don't want to get on her bad side. Believe me, I've been there and it's hard work getting back in her good graces.
On our recent trip to Utah for Kelly's family reunion, we took a little detour to Monticello to see my dad. While we were there,we (meaning I,) wanted my kids to experience one of my favorite childhood memories...cutting fire wood. I thought it would help my dad out too, since that is the primary source of heat for his house during the winter time. 
Okay, back to the nice hot summer weather! Besides cutting wood, my dad brought a few guns for us to shoot while we were there. Here is Maika. When she got the gun in her hands her arms just fell, I don't think she was expecting it to be so heavy. 
Logan was all business, I think she even hit the soda can she was aiming for, after taking awhile to figure out how to see through the scope.
Kelly had a go with the chain saw. I think he had a good time, too. We were cutting some huge trees that had fallen during the winter snows. All our backs were pretty sore for the next few days.
Nalani had fun riding the tree-horse we made. I used to love doing this when I was little, too!
Here's my dad with my kids. In the quakie trees. Quakies (Aspen) are my absolute favorite tree! I love hearing the wind blow through the leaves!
Logan and Maika.
Our family picture.
I decided to start off with our attempt at a family photo. A week before we were at these falls, some college kid jumped in to show off for his friends and was killed. I'm thinking he had a little "liquid courage" in him, because the only way I would jump in those falls would be to try to save one of my kids!
As the only grandsons, Bronson and Spencer stuck together. "Bence" is sporting a butterfly bandage in most of these pictures, because he ran into a BBQ stand while playing Frisbee. He cut his eye pretty good. The next night, while playing baseball with some kids from the condos, he got hit in the head by the bat...poor kid! He's a tough one, though!
This momma moose and her baby were right in our backyard two or three mornings, nibbling on some leaves. One night the kids were playing at the park and these two came running through the field and actually stepped on Spencer's bike and broke the hand-brake. Not too many kids can say their bike was broken by a moose:)
We spent the majority of our time at the pool. Every day we would pack a lunch and spend hours over there. This is Spencer, Macy, and Logan.
And, here are Bronson, Maika, Nalani, and Hannah in the hot tub.
Quite the action shot of Bronson jumping to Kelly. That's Nalani's head...she just finished jumping in and was getting ready for her next turn.
Auntie Rachel with all her nieces and nephews.
Grandma Marcia with all her grand kids.
My mom and Gary in front of some geysers.
Nalani's "boom-boom fire power!" pose.
Beautiful Logan!
We saw some other "wild animals" sticking their heads out of the truck while stopped for road construction in Yellowstone. That's Maika and her huge smile. All the kids fought over who would get to ride with Grandma and Gary.
This huge buffalo was about five feet from our truck.
No, this isn't a lake. The morning we left was super cold and foggy. We loaded up the truck, said teary good-byes to Logan and Maika (they rode home with Uncle Jesse and are spending a few fun-filled weeks with Kelly's sisters in Utah...more on that in another post), and started the drive up the mountain. At the top we started seeing blue skies and sunshine...we pulled over at a lookout point to take a picture. Jackson is buried somewhere beneath all those clouds, you can see the whole valley was covered and the mountains sticking out on the far side. It was so beautiful.