the latest adventure

Yeee Haaw!! Welcome to the wild west.... or Bear Lake. A couple weeks ago, we headed up to Georgetown, Idaho to visit my sister GayLynn. We had a blast. We went to the rodeo and watched Callie run barrels and poles, spent a day at Bear Lake, did the slip'n slide, played card games, and rode horses.
Here we are at the rodeo waiting for Callie to do her amazing run. We had a great time watching her and the boys loved the horses. Eli especially loved the tractor that came out to "mow" the dirt in between events.
Carver is my cute little "great" nephew! He is such a cutie, he and Eli were a hoot together, causing all sorts of trouble. These two cute boys are only 11 days apart.... I can't imagine the trouble they'll be as they grow up together, but I think they'll be great buds.

Hahaha! I love this picture. I think the boys look so cute up on the hay bales in their matching shirts.... but Eli did NOT like the feel of the straw on his bare legs! His face cracks me up.
Will absolutely LOVED farm life. It just made me even more anxious and excited for the things I've always said I wanted (land, big gardens, animals to take care of, etc.). Both Will and Eli just had a blast running around, getting filthy, helping take care of animals, ride the 4 wheeler, and being outside. It was fun to let them run loose for a few days!
Will also LOVED the horse. Newey is Callie's horse that she rides and races on. She is a sweet horse and Will had a lot of fun riding her. He was not one bit nervous or scared, I was so proud of him. He rode all by himself and even made her trot a little.
Eli on the other hand prefered to ride the 4 wheeler. He is my risk taker and thrill seeker baby that is for sure. Anything loud, fast, or dangerous, he's ON it! He did like the horse too, but still wanted the 4 wheeler. Above is my niece McKenzie and her little boy Carver with Eli.


Will wanted to be buried in the sand while we were at Bear Lake. He was cracking me up with his goggles on his head and his eyes closed. He was a good sport though and had fun digging himself out of the hole!

Bear Lake was awesome. It was overcast, so we weren't melting in the sun. The kids played in the water a ton, and we ate lunch, had snacks and chit chatted. My parents also came up to Idaho with us, so we had quite the group. On the day we went to the lake, my brother Mike and his kids met us up there. It was a blast. Eli didn't like the cold Bear Lake, he just dug in the sand and ate cheetos the whole time.
Will and Cade (below) are pretty good little buddies. They are only a couple years apart, and they have a lot of fun together. Will has issues when I ask him to take his picture..... I wanted to get a picture of the two boys because they both looked so cute, and they originally both had their goggles on top of their heads. They played a lot together at the beach and Cade was so nice to Will when he accidentally set his pet turtle free in the lake. Yep, he let their turtle loose in the lake, never to been seen again. I'm not sure if I should say poor turtle, or lucky turtle to be back in his habitat?
We got home from Georgetown on a Tuesday, and Friday morning we left to head up to the cabin. This time, we took my parents and my sister and her family up with us. It was a lot of fun, as usual. It was also really nice to have millions of people there (which is how it has been both other times we've gone up).
We did a little hike/walk at Bear Gulch. It was amazing. I'm going to post better pictures when my sister sends them to me from her snazzy camera! Bear Gulch is the old railway that went to West Yellowstone, so it is about 45 miles long. People bike it, hike it, 4 wheeler it, and in the winter, snow mobile it. It was breath-taking. The views were amazing and the wild flowers were incredible. It's called Bear Gulch because the trail is lined with huckleberry plants and when the berries come on, it attracts the bears!
Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins with a few of their Grandkids. These are the cousins Will lived with for 6 months. Amazingly they are still friends.... they are actually more like siblings. I'm so glad!
Here's the old rail tunnel. I know it doesn't look that cool, but it was seriously neat to see this. It is old and caving in and really intriguing.... I'm thinking some awesome family pictures could be taken here..... and with a nice camera (not my dingy point and shoot), they could be really awesome.
Nice photo Scott (above). I guess our point and shoot isn't totally worthless. :)
We also floated down Warm River. It was an adventure! My boys love it, but as usual, Eli would prefer to sit in a lawn chair and eat peach rings while the rest of us float the river. Almost every picture I have of this kid is him eating.....
The table all set and ready for our Sunday dinner feast. I bought these pretty blue napkins at IKEA for Martha to have at the cabin and they looked SO cute with her bird plates. I couldn't resist a picture. And I'm totally in love with these plates, they are so, so, pretty. It made our yummy dinner even more yummy!

It wouldn't be a trip to the cabin without feeding the giant trout! I love seeing everyone lined up on this little dock. The fish to feed are always fun to see. They are huge and some of them jump out of the water. Of course, once again, when we hand Eli bread to throw in, he just eats it. It's pretty funny to watch.
We had a great time at the cabin. Played lots of games, floated the river and we visited the Ashton ward for church. It was a great weekend and SO great to see Scott after being gone from him for almost two weeks. Now, we are set to move in two days!!! I can't wait, it has been nine months since we've had our own place and we are more than excited to move into our little condo and figure things out.

Next post.... our NEW place!

family and friends

This Summer, althought slightly crazy, has been one of my favorites. It has been full, and I'm talking FULL of fun events and visits with family and friends. It has been so wonderful to spend so much time with family. We have learned a lot about our own little family and we've grown in many ways. Has it been a little overwhelming? Yes. Has it been difficult transporting my kids to and fro and sharing a bedroom with them for the past 2 months? Yes. Has it been worth it? Double yes.

This past weekend, after a few days in Logan, we made a quick trip to the Mortensen's cabin for the JD Mortensen family reunion. We had a great time with Scott's uncles, aunts, and cousins. It was fun to get to know some that I didn't know very well and even meet some for the first time. The cabin as usual is awesome. It looks beautiful in the summer, and the weather was perfect. Martha had made this cute "Mortensen" sign and I couldn't resist getting a family picture in front of it. I especially love that the Mortensen family is diverse. Different races and nationalities, and who all call each other family. What an amazing thing.

One thing I love and have always loved about the Mortensen family, is that "family" goes far beyond the reaches of a "normal" blood related family. The Mortensen's, especially Glenn and Martha (my in-laws) always have open arms and have amazing talents at making lasting friendships and relationships with people. Above, are my lunch partners. :) Patti (Glenn's sister and organizer of the reunion) planned so many fun activities. We drew names out of a hat and those people were our lunch partners! It was a great idea. So here are my partners Veikko Puikkonen, and cute little Ivie. Isn't that a great idea? We had a great time. Veikko has been part of the Mortensen family since most of them can remember, even before Glenn served his mission in Finland. He and his two daughters both came to the reunion. It was fun to see them and they really do feel like family.... isn't that what being a family is all about? Acceptance and inclusion? Loving each other for our differences? I think it is what family is about and I feel blessed to have such a family.

Now that the weather is warm, it's time to float the river! SO FUN!! My boys loved it. It's hard to tell that Eli loved it, in this picture.... but I promise he did. The river is just shallow enough that I wasn't worried, and just slow enough that was great for the kids. We had a blast. I am looking forward to our next trip to the cabin and more tubing down the river.
Tyler made our awesome T-shirts for the reunion. He took a picture of Grandpa JD and did a profile of him on the shirt. They look really great. Plus it was fun to see everyone wearing them and remember what a legacy and how much love and family can come from one man and one woman. Pretty amazing.

After our reunion, on our way back to Pleasant Grove, or "home" for the next couple of weeks.... we stopped in Centerville to visit some friends who are in Utah visiting family. These people are some of our most cherished friends. We love and respect them so much. We knew each other our first year in MN and have been able to stay in touch and stay friends ever since. They have two boys, Will and their oldest are the same age. Chrissy and I were "first-timers" in MN and had a lot of fun talking about parenting and the adjustment into motherhood. Plus, our boys had a lot of fun together! Chrissy is expecting her third BOY in November, so fun!

We just love these guys. I'm amazed at what true friends are. Even though we haven't seen each other in over 4 years, our friendship doesn't change and it feels like I just saw them yesterday. It's easy to pick up, right where you left off when it is a true friend. I look up to Chrissy a lot, she is an amazing person and wonderful mother. I hope we can visit them before another four years goes by! Thanks guys for the fun visit and yummy dinner!!

flyin' by

This isn't the greatest picture of Scott finishing the race, this guy stepped in front of him right as I was trying to snap. Then I was cheering and too excited and didn't snap another one. :(

This Summer is flying by! I can't believe it is already July. We have had such a fun Summer so far and done so many fun things. A couple weeks ago, Scott ran the AF Canyon half marathon. He did SO awesome. I was pretty proud, and impressed. The race started at 6 am. He told me he was hoping to run the race in 1 hr. and 20 min. Yes, that is insane. Well, knowing him, I got to the finish line at a little after 7am. I saw the very first runner come in and knew that Scott was not far behind. I was right, at 7:26 here came Scott! We were so proud of him, he did awesome. He took 3rd in his age group!
After the race, we saw Scott's cousin Joey. It was fun to see him and catch up a little bit.
Eli was so happy to see Daddy. He was cheering and clapping for him with me and Will and then he just wanted Dad to snuggle him.
This is a very "NON" flattering picture of me, but cute of the rest of my cute little fam so I had to post it. Way to go Scott, that was awesome and so fun to see you finish the race in such a great time!
After the race we went and watch Denver play some baseball. Eli had to sport his "Irish" shirt!

We headed to story time last week to get us out of the house for a couple hours. It was really fun. They had a snack and crafts for the kids to do. The theme was Asia.... and more specifically dragons. The kids got to try their hand at eating with chopsticks, they gave goldfish for snacks and they made dragon kites. We had a great time running around the big lawn outside the library flying our kites! Eli's favorite part was the goldfish.... and the water fountain.

Family Reunion Time!

My brother and sister in-law did a great job planning our family reunion this year. It was over the 4th of July weekend. Day 1 we all met at the temple and did sealings as a family. It was awesome. My dad is a sealer so he was able to perform them all, plus we had enough people that we had a whole private sealing room all to ourselves. It was great, and in typical fashion with my family, probably the roudiest sealing session I've ever been in. BUT, it wasn't just us being irreverent, it was the hardest, weirdest names we had ever heard in our lives. We tried to maintain some peaceful reverence and had a great experience, I feel so blessed to sealed to a wonderful family. We couldn't help but think of our little E man getting sealed, it was an experience we'll never forget. What a blessing for us all!

After the temple we met for dinner and then headed to the fireworks. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures on Day 1!

Day 2 we had breakfast and went for a hike up Providence canyon. The kids had a great time as usual. It was a nice, hot, sunny day. We got plenty sweaty and ready to head to the pool after our hike.


We spent the afternoon at the pool and then had a weiny roast and smores for dinner. It was great. Will loved the pool and went down the slide several times! Go Will!

Day 3
We went to church with my parents and then had a yummy Luau dinner. We talked and laughed and then laughed some more at our "Family Talent Show." My little nieces and nephews did great, I wish I had recorded all of them it was really awesome. We had a lot of fun.

Post talent show picture with grandpa and grandma thrown in there somewhere. We are only missing 4 grandkids from this picture. :( We missed you Denver, Breanna, Taylor and McKenzie!

After the talent show the kids watched a movie together and ate lots of yummy treats and popcorn. It was cute to see everyone watching together. It was really funny to hear all the rustling of popcorn bags and eating of treats! Will (in the bright green shirt) was very intently talking to aunt Jenn, telling her some very interesting things that she told me after.... I don't know where he is learning this stuff!?


Happy Fourth of July! Day 4. A yummy pancake breakfast and then farewell to everyone. Here's the best family picture we had from the 4th. You can't tell very good in this picture, but Eli got a mosquito bite right between the eyes and apparently he is allergic. He looked a little Quazimoto-ish for several days. He woke up with eyes swollen and head swollen even bigger. It was like the size of a golf ball. Now it is a big scab. It was really bad. He also had several big, swollen ones on his arms and one on his back. Darn mosquitoes.
One more of the grandkiddos. All decked out in their holiday decor! They are a cute and festive bunch!
Will is so kind to Eli. He is a great big brother. And Eli trusts him with everything. I love how Will is holding him back in the picture with his arm around him and Eli doesn't even mind. Funny smile on Will's face, but still cute boys!!

After our reunion, I headed to Wes and Lorinda's house for a few days. I'm still here actually. It's the life of a gypsy.... we are still homeless, but not for long! Only three short weeks!! We always have a great time at Wes and Lorinda's. Will loves playing with his cousins. Yesterday we ventured out to American West Heritage Center. It was great. It is such a pretty spot. We had a great time. We rode the train, rode ponies, talked to the farm hands, watched them feed pigs, strain milk, make wool yarn, do rag rugs, talked to the mountain man and learned about Beaver traps and furs, talked to the Native American and learned some Native American sign language, fed chickens and gathered eggs, and panned for gold. By the end, we were pleasantly worn out and had a very fun day. We will be going back for sure!
Cute kids. Will, Ivie, Norah, Eli, Caleb (notice him and Will have matching shirts on!), and Jane in the stroller. They are a fun bunch!
Oh, and I almost forgot to say we learned how to throw a Tomahawk. It was a little scary.

Nice throw Caleb!

We've been busy and having a lot of fun. We are looking forward to the busy next three weeks and then moving into our new place. We are really excited about it and even more excited just to have a place to ourselves! I can't wait to get all my stuff back out of storage and hope that it has survived the past 9 months! I can't wait to have my own bathroom and a separate one for my kids, I can't wait to do my own grocery shopping again, cook my own meals, and even do my laundry with my own washer and dryer! I'm even excited to clean my own house again. Weird the things you miss when you don't have them, isn't it?