Idaho Family Reunion

We had another fun weekend at the Manning family reunion in Idaho! It started on Friday at the Harris Family Pond in Burley. They had a train for the kids, paddle boats, canoes, a zipline, swings, and lots of other fun stuff!

Easton went on the train with his cousin Deryk, played with Grandma, shared his fish with his cousin Annie, and went on the paddle boats with cousin Jake and Aunt Kennedi.

My dad took Easton on the zipline! It was little scary watching him fly across the lake dangling from a rope!

Above in the corner : this is Easton after he was thrown by my Uncle Russ jumped into the lake.

After the day at the pond we drove to our family cabin at Birchcreek. My dad made some awesome t-shirts for us. Easton spent most of his time throwing rocks into the creek. He also went on a walk with my dad and found some sticks. It was good to see my Great Grandma Manning. She always has such a good attitude.

You might be a red neck if ... you hold your son's hand in one hand and your 9 millimeter in the other.

After all the fun at Birchcreek we headed to Twin Falls for my newest cousin Bricelyn's blessing. Easton loved the baby and loved having Grandma and Grandpa to play with during sacrament meeting!

Now we are just happy to be home. Easton's latest thing is to walk in the front door and throw his hands in the air and say, "E Home!" He gets cuter every day.

{Thanks to Jen-n-Em for the fun photo collage idea!}

{eh} is for Canada

We spent the weekend driving over 24 hours to Canada and back! Tyson's best friend, Seth, got married on Friday to a girl from Cardston. It was such a long drive, but we were so glad we got to be there! We got there at about 4 in the morning on Friday. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I have the best baby!!! He was so good in the car. He didn't cry at all except for around 9:00 on the way there and also on the way back he got sad because he couldn't get comfortable to fall asleep. It only lasted about a minute though! We're so lucky!

Here's our family at the Cardston Temple Friday morning.

We were so glad we got there early (yes, that's the first time I've ever said that in my life) and got to see Seth and Rachel walk in. They were so cute and excited!

It was a beautiful ceremony. There's nothing more special than a temple sealing. I love everything about weddings, but getting to see the actual sealing is the best!

They had a really nice luncheon, program, and reception. Tyson was the best man and had to sit at the head table and give a 5 minute speech. He did a GREAT job! And I cannot believe I did not get a picture of him giving his speech, or even of he and Seth! I was a little busy with Easton that whole day because he was being extra wild, he is not a quiet child.

We slept 2 nights at a bed and breakfast owned by Rachel's aunt. They were soooooo good to us. They had bacon, eggs, and waffles for us in the morning and were so happy to help us with directions, entertaining Easton, or anything else we needed. Saturday we woke up and left for Waterton. It was BEAUTIFUL there! We brought Easton's hiking backpack and hiked around a little bit.

Oh, did I mention Tyson's brother Hayden came with us? We couldn't have done it without him! He watched Easton at the temple and kept him entertained in the car.

Hayden is always good for a laugh.

Also, Canada is cold!

We ate at a cute place in Waterton and decided it was time to head home. We traveled with our friends Jordan and Corinna who were going to a bbq at a friend's in Blackfoot Idaho and staying there for the night. So I thought it would be a good idea to see if we could stay at my Uncle Stan and Aunt Mary's home in Blackfoot so we could continue to travel together. We knew we wouldn't make it through another night of driving! We got to their house around midnight and they had us all taken care of! They made us a delicious breakfast this morning and then we were on our way again! We got home around noon today, and we're so glad to be home!

Now I just wanted to hurry and post some funny things that were said on the trip so I don't forget them:

Rachel's dad imitating Rachel while walking into the temple: "I forgot my recommend, I forgot my dress, I forgot my head!"

Rachel's uncle playing pingpong, every time the ball hit the edge of the table or barely went over the net: "That was soooo Greasy!"

Easton sang as we hiked around Waterton: "walk walk walk. hoop ball hoop. ba ba baby. walk walk walk." It actually had a nice rhythm to it.

The U.S. Border police to Tyson: "Who's baby is that?" Tyson: "Mine?"

The U.S. Border police to Hayden: "Where do you work?" Hayden: "On a ranch?" Police: "Who's ranch?" Hayden: "Dee's Ranch?"

(They had a scary way of asking questions that made you question your own answers!)

Tyson's closing remarks of his speech/marriage advice: "Treat your wife like your best hound dog. Take her out, feed and water her well, and she'll never leave you."

(This advice is what Seth wrote home from his mission when Tyson and I got married:)

Claim to Fame

So my little sister Cassidy, who is 15, got some exciting news this week. My dad arranged for her to spend the week with him traveling in Washington D.C. Cassidy was thrilled to get to spend time with our dad, but even more thrilled when she found out who would be joining them on the trip....David Archuleta! I am told she actually cried when she heard the news. Cassidy is a mega Archie fan. Always has been and probably always will be (she really thinks she might marry him.) One day in D.C. she, David, and my dad (the chaperone) took a 3 mile walk back to the hotel (she calls it a romantic stroll), went to get ice cream, and went and did baptisms at the D.C. temple. They did not have enough temple workers there so my dad got to do the baptizing. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about, go here:)

Anyway, they had a great time seeing the sites: the White House, Mt. Vernon, Washington Monument, etc... Cassidy was more focused on the site of the back of David's head on the bus seat in front of her than any of those out the window...but still, a great experience.

Tomorrow Tyson is doing a photo shoot at the Great Salt Lake so, since he's never done pictures there, we drove up today (in pouring rain and 48 degree weather) to get a feel for things. Since we were already in the area, we picked up my dad and Cassidy at the airport on our way home. We parked in the parking garage and decided to go in and wait because we were early and hungry. Right when we walked in Tyson said to me, "Look there's Bill Clinton." A very close Clinton look-alike was walking right toward us. As we were staring at him, the woman with him turned to us, pointed at Easton and said, "That is a cute kid." We said thanks and looked at each other and realized that was Paige Davis! It was definitely her. We think the Clinton man must have been her body guard of some kind. So my claim to fame is that Paige Davis thinks I have a cute kid. My dad later pointed out that she probably saw us pointing and talking about Clinton guy, thought we were talking about her, and felt she had to say something to us as we were walking past. I choose to believe that she just really thought Easton was cute.

Ahhhhh Summer.

It finally feels like summer!

We left for Lake Powell Thursday night after I got off work at 8. We stopped in Spanish Fork canyon to watch this moose that was running full speed down the mountain....and right in front of a semi! Barely made it out with its life.

We went with Tyson's cousins, the Binks family.

We had so much fun just hangin out on the boat. Easton LOVED to "hock" the horn.

Semi-synchronized back-flipping. (Hayden, Thomas, and Steve)

Easton also loved swimming! He never even complained about the water, although it was so cold at first! He just swam around, floated, went under water, and teased us a lot by drinking the lake water. He thought that was so funny. (Steve, Hayden, me, Easton, Amanda)

He was also so good about his life jacket! Do I sound like I'm bragging? I really have the best baby ever! He wore his life jacket the whole time without making a peep! And didn't even care about being smothered with sunscreen!

This is me wake boarding.

They say I use dance moves when I wreck. I don't know what they're talking about.

One day we took the ferry over to Halls and then drove to Natural Bridges.

We saw some great natural bridges!

Tyson spent a lot of time fishing, and not a lot of time in the water:) But he took a lot of great pictures.

Easton wanted to fish sooooooooooooo bad. We had to go get him his own pole. That reminds me, he's learned a ton of new words: ice, boat, pole, fish, hot... the list goes on. Here he is fishing from the loading carts. When he casts he makes a "swoosh" sound. So cute.

This needs no explanation. Just laugh.