The End of Summer

With just a few days until school would begin--or so we thought.  Hurricane Irene had other ideas! We took a trip down to Rocky Neck State Park with the Tibbitts, a family in our ward.  It was raining in Tolland so we didn't have high hopes for the day but it turned out great. It was cool and overcast and empty!  It's always a good day at the beach.

Em

Em and Jessica.  

 (I don't have any photos of the boys because they spent all day on the rock jetty catching crabs.)

 I left my camera home so these are Chiara's photos. 

The posed photo of sandals in the sand should be your first clue that I didn't take these!

Em

My cute girls

After the beach, we went to Mystic to eat ice cream and watch the drawbridge go up.

The ice cream on Cardon's face is a nice touch!

Mystic---I love you!

Summer Fun

Of course it wouldn't be summer without a month-long trip to Utah to catch up with family and friends and all of the Utah things we miss!

Bear Lake.  One of my favorite places on the planet. 
We spent time here with the Elwoods and the Griffins.

We stayed in a cabin near the lake for an Elwood family reunion.
This night we had just returned from seeing the play, "Who Shot Juanito Bandito?"
The Bandito mustaches were a hit!

Waiting for a tour of Minnentonka Cave

A group shot inside the cave.

We also rented a condo with the Griffins and spent another few days of fun!

Morgan and Em on the Waverunner

Baby Isaac was adopted by my sister Chantel in May. 
Isn't he delicious?!

Cardon felt the need for speed this year!

A majority of the Griffin cousins--one absent and two sleeping!

Indian Paintbrush---I love you!

We hiked up to the Limber Pine in Logan Canyon.

Siggghhhhh.  If anyone asked me to describe my home, this would be it!

A trip to Cache Valley wouldn't be complete without visiting the pigs!

Nothing is better in life than Cardon getting to go shoot critters with his cousin Nate. 
(Sorry, that's kind of  a gross photo!)

A trip to the Cache County Fair Rodeo. 
Good burgers and amateur cowboys--it doesn't get any better than that!

Van packed to the top and a mixture of smiles and frowns=the journey back to CT has begun!

A Return to the Blogging World

Well, last May I didn't have any intentions of giving up on blogging for one half of the year, but it seems as if I have!  Between  a stint as a Youth Conference cook, a trip to Utah, a new calling and 2 natural disasters within an eight-week time period, blogging has fallen way down my to-do list.  In fact, I haven't even read anyone's blogs in the same amount of time! (I hope you are all well!)
My kids keep asking me when I'm going to get back at it because they like to see themselves--so here I go.  I have a lot of catching up to do!
The first week in July I returned from Youth Conference, we sent Chiara off to Utah to play travel softball, and Dennis and Cardon went to Scout Camp for the week.  Here are some highlights:
Cardon's camp was in Narrowsburg, NY, and it was an all LDS camp from troops all over the Northeast, which was a great experience.

 Cardon, Matthew and Vincent with their favorite counselor ever! He is from a Native American tribe--which one escapes me at the moment--and his Indian name is Eeniemeeniedessaweenie!  Oh, my.  The boys loved that!

 When Dennis and Cardon entered the Mess Hall the first night, Dennis's old mission companion, who lives in Schenectady was there with his son!  Small world.  As you can see, it was REALLY rainy for the first 2 days!

 Bud spent a lot of time at the lake fishing and playing.

I LOVE this photo of my 2 favorite boys in the whole world!

Sis had an awesome season playing for the Cache Valley Vengeance.  She really got a lot of experience and made some super cute new friends.

Love this photo!

To be continued...Soon!

The Month of May

May is always dominated by softball at our home, but in between tri-weekly games, we've had a few other things going on.  For example:

Em turned six!  We celebrated with an Enchanted Fairy Party.  Chiara painted a backdrop for fairy photos, and she and Casey Dilzer lent their artistic talents to butterfly face painting!

The birthday girl with her magical fairy cake.

Em definitely had an exciting birthday week.  Chantel and Morgan flew in on the 20th and the girls took a dream trip to the American Girl Doll store to spend their wads of birthday cash!  Em chose Molly and Morgan chose Kit.

Brunch with Molly!

The last time the girls visited the Statue of Liberty, Em was in my tummy and Morgan was in a stroller so it was really their first trip.  This is cousin fun at its best!

Moms, daughters and a random lady in a red shirt!

Em's also playing T-ball this spring. Another softball player in the making!

Whew!  A busy month for Em.  She also had her dance recital on Saturday. 

(We're also now prepared for Halloween with a Tinkerbell costume!)

We purchased a new canoe this month and Cardon has been doing some serious fishing.  Here is Saturday's proud catch-an 18 inch large mouth bass.  Life doesn't get any better than that!

Spring Happenings

The month of April has been a busy one but also fun and exciting!  Here's a recap!

April and May = softball!

Sis is looking good this year.  She's been hitting the ball like crazy!

On April 15th, this is all that was left of our 89 inches of snow!

We dyed Easter Eggs for FHE

We made a day trip to Boston to get our money's worth out of the year pass we bought for the Science Center when we went at Thanksgiving with Chantel and Barrett.

Chiara and Casey passed on the science museum and went shopping instead.

Dennis had Good Friday off from work so we decided to make a quick trip to Gettysburg. It rained a lot and this is the only photo I took.  We had a lot of fun though.

We celebrated Easter.  (Remind me to get my foot out of the shot next time!)

My baby girl celebrated her 16th birthday!  Sixteen.  No way!  sigghhhhh!

Isn't she beautiful?!  (It's ok to brag on her 16th, right?!)

Em had her kindergarten spring concert. She was very proud of the tree she decorated.

I should have adjusted the red eye on this photo! 

Em's sunbeam was somewhat of a nose guard!

All in all, April was a great month.  Now we're gearing up for a May birthday so check back soon!