The Williams Family Reunion

We spent a week near Sun River, OR for the Williams family reunion in a couple of houses right off the river. 

Paulina Falls, I think.

 Here's the whole gang.  We took some normal pictures with everyone looking at the camera and smiling sweetly but this picture is probably closer to the way things really were the whole week :)

 Heidi and Carissa were good buddies the whole week and had so much fun.  It had been three years since we last saw Carissa's family!!  Luckily we'll see them again in one year.

 I wouldn't mind having this for my back yard all the time.

 Nicole and Briella with their giant marshmallows.

 Hiking up a mountain of obsidian and pumice.  This was really cool and the view on the other side was even more amazing than this one.

 Heidi and cousins down in the lava flow cave.  It was very hot outside but underground it was 40 degrees.  This was the only part Tyler really didn't like.  He made it all the way in but got tired of the dark and cold and told us about it all the way out.

 Heidi, Brittany, and Carissa in a little tiny pumice cave.

Family Reunion and Tyler's 1st Birthday

We left two days after school got out for a Lyman Family Reunion at Island Park, Idaho near Yellowstone.  It was a great way to start off our summer; a fun filled week without one dull moment.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the week. 

Heidi and Grandpa on the 4-wheeler.  I love this picture!  On our last night there they went for a ride and saw a bear and a moose.

 Granny Jo entertaining Tyler with a song.  What a good grandma :)

 Nicole and Grandpa taking a breather and enjoying the moment.  She loves to get a "rescue mission" from Grandpa even when she doesn't need to be rescued.

 This is the group we called "Joni and the in-laws".  Pretty tough huh?  They went running together one morning but didn't really keep it up due to playing rook into the wee hours of the night.

 Tyler impressing everyone with his cup stacking abilities. 

He is a pretty gifted stacker if I do say so myself :)

 A sign made by my cousin Myken and her husband.  They own a sign making business and surprised us by having this hanging up on the morning of Tyler's birthday.  It's bigger than it looks in this picture.  It's covering the whole loft banister.  Thanks again Myken and Brian!!  I'm sure Tyler won't mind having a "Cars" birthday for quite a few more years so we can use it again and again.

 The happy birthday boy.  He was pretty confused by all the attention he was getting.

 I love the way he's looking at his cupcake.  

 Tyler and cousin, Crosby.

 Tyler and Carson with their matching hats.  They gave Tyler his hat for his birthday.

 The Taylor Swift fan club singing their hearts out.

 Nicole's travel buddies, Hayden and Ava.  They got along great about 90 percent of the time :)

 We saw plenty of these guys at Yellowstone.  I hear that they have very small brains for having such big heads.  They definitely have no fear of cars and just walk along the road like they are one.

  A fun little machine we all rented for a day.  It was fun but left us covered in a thick layer of dust from head to toe.

 Tyler's first 4-wheeler ride.  He fell asleep as most babies do with the loud noise and jiggly ride.

 A rare smile from our boy at the Bear Park.  This was a really cool place where we got to see grizzly bears and wolves close up.

Tyler's travel buddy in the car was Granny Jo.  He grew quite fond of her and I just love this picture too.  We had so many fun and memorable moments.  A family is such a wonderful blessing!

The "Try"athlon

 Bright and early Saturday morning.  They're ready to go!

 Nicole is confident at the start line.

 Notice that both her feet are off the ground.  Scott's photography :)

 Both the girls said that biking was the most fun.

 Heidi and pals before and after the run.  Three times around the track.

 Nicole on the home stretch!

"Mommy's Major Hunk"

Tyler is 11 Months!

Tyler is on the count down to his first birthday!  His newest tricks are clapping and walking with help.  He loves to walk and thinks if he can get my two hands in his that he will be up and walking every time. He isn't crawling yet but we're working on it.

Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day this year I got a very fitting gift. . . my mother :)  She got to fly up for a visit last weekend and during the few sunny hours we had, we went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  I found this backpack that Tyler is in at a garage sale that morning along with a stroller that I love!  Possibly my best garage sale find yet!  We got three scrabble games in while she was here and I'm not sure how many games of Sorry were played with the girls and Granny Jo.  We always try to make the most of every minute and the best part is that I get to eat Tillamook Mudslide when my mom's in town :)

 You can see that our family is not accustom to the sun being out, thus the squinting eyes.

We went to a really fun Easter Egg Hunt at a beautiful home near here on Easter weekend.  It was an unusually warm day in the midst of our extremely cold and rainy spring.  The chocolate candy in the eggs was even melted!  Nobody was prepared for a day that warm but we all enjoyed it.

Here's our annual egg dying picture.  They always seem to look "eggs"actly the same :)

Tyler playing with his first matchbox cars.  Heidi and Nicole got them out of Cheerio boxes and were very excited to start his collection for him.

Just a cute pic of Tyler playing with plastic eggs on Heidi's bed while under her watch.  She was busying around in her room and he was just so content, until he spotted me with the camera.

Nicole still loves to hold her brother and help him eat, walk, crawl, etc.

The pictures below are of our recent trip to Utah for Grandma Lyman's funeral.  It turned out to be a really good trip.  It was so nice to see all the relatives in Blanding and say goodbye to Grandma.  I'm sure she is much happier now than she has been in a long time.  We had a few minutes of nice weather there so ran to this park to enjoy it.  The kids always have so much fun with their cousins.

Our new play structure!!  We love it.  It was installed on Wednesday and then Scott worked all day Saturday putting a border and bark chips underneath it.  The kids enjoyed helping him and riding in the wheelbarrow.