Family Reunion at Zions

Russell's mothers family had a reunion at Zions August 4-6th. Russell took the three oldest and left me and Evelyn home to work. I really didn't mind staying home to work, because I had a PCB layout to work on, which is pretty much a puzzle. I had a blast, but it would have been fun to go visit with family too. Evelyn got to play with Grandma Henningson and Grandma Slim all week. Thanks for watching her for us.

Tawnya Olsen Family

Russell, Kyler, Kaylee & Kenyon; Thomas, Ryan, Anna & Amy; Tawnya; Brynn, Kate, Bryan, Meg, Lex, & Moriya. Missing were Wendy & Evelyn; Dee, Tammy, Jason & Joel.

Kenyon enjoyed the food!



Brynn gave the cousins Break Dancing lessons!


Kyler is just relaxing.


Kenyon had a blast blowing bubbles!

Kenyon enjoying the food again.





The cousins had fun playing on the playground together.

Kaylee and Kenyon were worn out after a busy day of having fun!

Kyler beat Russell in a game of pool!

Kyler is getting ready to ride the Zip Line.



Here he goes!


You couldn't pay me enough money to do this, but he loved it!

Walking back for another ride!


He rode it twice and probably would have gone more if Russell would have let him!


Thanks Tawnya for a fun trip, the kids really enjoyed it!

Sunday Walk To The Manti Temple

We have really enjoyed being so close to the Manti Temple. Our kids love to go there for Sunday walks and play on the grassy hills. We are so blessed to be able to live in Manti and raise our children here!

Sleeping Beauty

I can't think of anything more precious than a sleeping baby!

Picnic at Yearns

Russell's brother, Bryan and his kids were up from Vegas on July 9, 10, and 11. Friday the kids went swimming at the Manti Pool and then went to the movie Ice Age 3 while Russell and I partied by ourselves (Sunday, the 12th was our 9 year anniversary so we celebrated Friday night.) I don't have any pictures of Friday's activities. Saturday, we all went up to Yearns for a picnic. It was a lot of fun. We started out by roasting hot dogs.

Bryan, Meg, Lex, Kyler, Brynn and Kaylee.

Lex, Kyler, Kaylee, Kate and Kenyon.

Kenyon and Bryan.

Notice how black Kenyon's hot dog is.

Here is a close up of it. We were nice and didn't make him eat it. Actually I guess we were mean, because when he asked for one to cook, we gave him one that had fallen on the ground because we knew it would not be edible when he got done with it.

After dinner, we went for a walk around the lake.

Half of Kenyon, Kyler, Evelyn, and Russell.

Kaylee, Grandma Olsen, Kenyon and Kate.

Russell and Evelyn.

Kyler and Kate.

Kyler is King of the Rock.

Kyler started the picnic by getting ants in his pants. They were mean, biting, red ants so it was a painful thing. He did end up having a fun time though.


Kaylee enjoying her new pink chair (I know I've pretty much given up on the pink battle).



Kenyon showing me his little stick.



Lex's bum, Kenyon and Brynn.



Kenyon getting help from Grandma Olsen.



After the hike, we had dessert. Kenyon enjoyed his so much he had thirds. The first layer is green, watermelon yogurt, the second layer is chocolate pudding and the third layer is butterscotch pudding. YUM!

Evelyn enjoyed crawling around on the table. Since there were red ants all over I wouldn't let her crawl on the ground. Aren't I so mean?

Evelyn being cute.

We were able to get all of the cousins (except Evelyn) to hold still long enough for a group photo. Meg, Kaylee, Kenyon, Kyler, Brynn, Kate and Lex. Aren't they a cute group of kids?

In all we had a really fun weekend. The kids got along really well and only had a few minor spats. We hope they come back to Manti again soon!

Some Fun Pictures

Family Pics (sort of)

I was a nerd and made everyone dress in Red, White and Blue for Church Sunday, and then made them get their picture taken. The kids did not cooperate very well, but when do they ever? This is the only one we got of the whole family, I guess it isn't too bad.

Doesn't Kyler look so happy to be getting his picture taken?


I think this one turned out pretty well, even though Kenyon isn't looking he is still smiling!

Fourth of July!

We had a fun 4th of July! We went to the City Park in Manti (a tradition from our childhood) and had a nice time visiting with old friends and pushing the kids on the swings! To finish things off the kids got a snow cone. I don't think that Kyler was too excited to pose for pictures, we took about 6 and he has the same facial expression in all of them. Maybe we should have taken them before they got worn out. Thanks to Grandma Henningson for the cute clothes, the kids love them!

Evelyn before the park...

... and after the park. She was tired!

I guess Kenyon got worn out too, this is how he took a 2 hour nap!


We ended the night by watching the City Fireworks from our front porch. It was nice to not have to leave home to watch them!

Kyler is a Great Big Brother!

Kyler was so nice and helped Kenyon ride his bike home from Grandma Slim's house. He wasn't too excited about it at first, but I think he enjoyed it once he got started.