{Summer Catch Up}

I have a bunch of random pictures I am going to throw together in this post...and then I will be caught up...almost!!

We love summer storms, and after the hail stopped Ethan and Kade ran outside to enjoy playing in the rain. Then we jumped on our bikes and rode to the park in the rain....not very practical but we had a great time!!



Our ward camp-out was lots of fun....so I heard! I stayed home this year and had some girl time with Chloe while Cody bravely took our three boys + Mason (we had Mason and Chloe for the weekend). They came home dirty but had such a great time!!



Can you tell we are getting a little attached to Socks??



Cody has been wanting to get one of these for months...I have resisted because I am afraid of broken windows and lights. Now that we have it I will concede and admit that Cody was right....it is a lot of fun!



The boys all started school in August! Rhett is in the 3rd grade and has the same teacher as last year, Ms. Malasnik. She moved up a grade and took her whole class with her. Rhett is lucky, she is an amazing teacher who really cares about each of her students. Ethan is in 1st grade, and has Mrs. Encarnacion. She was Rhett's Kindergarten teacher, and she rocks too! She pushes her class and I know Ethan will learn a lot this year! Kade is in preschool and goes four times a week for 2-1/2 hours. I am going to school full time so that helps to be able to do schoolwork during the day instead of just at night. Kade's favorite part about school is riding bikes outside and of course snack time :o)



Kade and I have lots of fun together while the older boys are at school all day. He is always keeping me laughing with his expressions and funny things he does. He is always telling me "Mom take a picture!"



A couple weekends ago Grandma and Grandpa Ashton came into town for Mason's baptism. It was a special weekend and we had a great time being together.

{Snowflake}

When I was growing up my favorite place to visit was Snowflake, and I love how the tradition has carried on and my boys love it too. We always talk about heading up there for the weekend but with sports and Cody's busy job we don't make it happen. We ALWAYS make time for going up for the Pioneer Celebration though, and look forward to it all summer long. The picture above of the road leading to my Grandparent's home makes me excited just to look at....there is nothing like going to Grandma's house! White picket fences, big red barn, swinging from the tree branches, horses, frogs, snakes, all you can eat snow-cones thanks to the new fun machine, and dozens of cousins makes this the best vacation ever for little boys and their mom too :o)



The boys always love holding the kittens, and have no fear when it comes to catching snakes that they find slithering across the grass. Jon and Cody took them "froggin'" one night and they were proud to show the frogs they caught.



Uncle Scott hosted our big bunch over at his house for a BBQ and basketball. I love catching up with all my aunt and uncles, we all live in Arizona but only get together a few times a year.



The Lance Flake Golf Tournament was fun also, my cousin Lance passed away four years ago and we always remember how passionate he was about sports.





Four Wheeler rides are all my boys want to do and Rhett and Ethan felt pretty cool giving Mom a ride (and some scares!)



Keaton and Uncle Scott saddled up their miniature ponies and the kids loved to ride them around the lawn.



The parade is always fun too, Rhett and Ethan rode on my Grandma's float with their cousins and Kade had a great time catching candy and cheering for the floats. We had a great time and can't wait to go back soon!!

{Day Camp}

This summer Rhett attended his first Cub Scout Day Camp. It was in the *HOT* 100+ degree weather but the boys didn't seem to mind one bit! I was able to go the first day and see all the fun things they were able to participate in: swimming, archery, bb guns, etc! Rhett LOVES scouts and I am so thankful for his great leaders who sacrifice a lot of time to help him earn his badges. He earned his wolf badge and has now become a bear. We are proud of Rhett and love his enthusiasm with the scouting program!

{Ashton Family Pictures}

My super talented sister-in-law Monica brought her camera to the reunion in Utah and took some wonderful family pictures for everyone! They all turned out sooooo great!

Gene & Cassie

Cody & I



Cody & Brooke Family (yes my children are very photogenic, lol!!)



Tyler & Susan Family



Teri & Jace Family



Kael & Monica Family



Boyd & Mona Family



Dustin & April Family



Danny & Lesli Family



Gene & Cassie with all their children and spouses



LOTS of Grandkids!!!



The Gene Ashton Family 2010!!

The butterflies represent Cody's sister Jodi who passed away when she was only 4 months old, and Kael and Monica's daughter Devon.

{Ashton Reunion 2010}

Several years ago Cody's family decided that every two years they would have a summer family reunion, and the siblings would take turns being in charge of it. We've gone to Yellowstone, Bear Lake, and Disneyland....and this year Dustin and April were in charge. They arranged with Cody's cousin Brian to use his beautiful (and very large) cabin located near Brian Head in Utah. It was a nice central location for most of us and the best part is everyone was able to come.

On our way there we stopped at The Hoover Dam. It was exciting for the boys to see up close even though we felt like we were melting in the 100+ degree weather. We let the boys look around in the the gift shop. Although they looked so great in these sunglasses we stuck to our $1 budget and they each just picked out a postcard :o)



We were VERY excited to make a stop in Logandale, Nevada where our dear friends the Turners just moved too. Shelby has embraced the small town feel and has vowed only to have southwestern decor in her new home.



We arrived at the cabin safe and sound and it was so fun to see everyone! The weekend was filled with fishing, lizard hunting, hiking, friendship bracelets with help from Aunt Lesli, games, and lots of reminiscing.







The kids loved sleeping together at night, and looking at how many kids we have between us it is amazing that any of us got sleep at all!



One day Cody and Danny took us on The Narrow's hike. It was beyond beautiful although it was a bit of a challenge for the little ones as most of the trail is going upstream in the river. Everyone was up for the challenge though and had a great time.









Monica brought her nice camera and her sweet photography skills and took some family pictures for us. They turned out so nice, I'll put them in a separate post.



We had such a wonderful time....it was so fun to be around Cody's sweet parents, his siblings and all the in-laws, and my fabulous little nephews and nieces. It's a wonderful family to be a part of and I love how everyone gets along so well. It's hard to live so far apart from most of them, but I love how when we do get together things flow so smoothly and the kids just love playing with their cousins.

{Flagstaff}

Each summer Cody's work has a weekend retreat and this year we went to Flagstaff. We had such a great time and the weather could not have been nicer! It was hard to go back to the heat when we were spoiled by cool nights and mornings!

The boys love a good hotel bed...the only time they get to perform tricks and jump from bed to bed. My favorite part about hotels is cranking the AC on so the room gets cold and shutting the blinds so it's nice and dark and tricks my kids into sleeping in :o)



The kids had fun swimming in the pool, eating from the yummy buffets...and most of all being outside! Cody had some meetings so we went on some little hikes and had fun exploring in the forest.



We toured The Riordan Mansion, built over 100 years ago and is 13,000 square feet with 40 bedrooms. There was a map with clues that led you to neat features of the home and they loved decoding it. They were impressed with Louie the Lumberjack, he's pretty big :o)



Cody took Rhett and Ethan up on a ski-lift ride to the top of a mountain and they found some snow to play in.



One of the nights there was an awards dinner and it was fun to dress up and have a nice dinner with all the adults.

On our last day we headed back into the forest to find a lava tube cave Cody had heard was really neat.



We were prepared with jackets (we heard there was ice and it was pretty cold) and flashlights since it's completely dark in the cave. It was pretty steep and icy when you first descend into the cave.



The mile-long lava tube cave was formed over 700,000 years ago from a volcano eruption. It was really cold inside and I didn't realize until we had gone a mile to the end that we wouldn't just come out of the ground, but had to turn around and go a mile back! The boys LOVED it though, what boy doesn't love a chance to use a flashlight?? It was a really neat experience and we will definitely go back soon.

{Swim Lessons}

I am way behind on my blog and it is stressing me out!! I am going to try to catch up...so let's go back to June!

Every summer my boys look forward to swim lessons, they learn a lot and have so much fun!

Kade became a fish this summer, shedding the life jacket and becoming a good swimmer like his brothers! He also was very excited when at the end of the summer (just tonight actually) he was finally tall enough to go on the big slides and for a solid hour and a half just went on the slides over and over again.





Ethan and Rhett were very excited to learn that Jerry was their swim teacher (same as last year) and these pictures show why. He is fun!! On the last day of class he bounced on the diving board while holding the boys, and then when he jumped off he threw them up. Very safe I'm sure....but oh so fun!