The summer of OUT OF CONTROL FUN!!

This summer has been full of OUT OF CONTROL FUN! Here's a rundown of what's gone on for our family this summer.

1. First of all, we attended baseball games galore with Brennen playing coach pitch with a pitching machine. Brennen hit a home run this year and a few doubles. He did an awesome job. Taylor's girls fast pitch softball was a little more intense this year. We traveled to Bear Lake, and Soda Springs to watch her play against their teams. Taylor's team went the whole season undefeated until the final two games in tournament. They took second place out of all of the teams. She did great!
2. HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY DEAR PARKER! We had planned a party for Parker and had to cancel it due to Tay's softball tournament. I had offered to watch my sister's five kids and so when she brought them to our house that Sunday night, we decided to hurry and do a fun party then for him with the Heuseveldt side. The Harris side of the family had planned on coming that Saturday until we cancelled it. They gave him cool presents later on. Parker loved having a party just for him. A funny story: When I was frosting the baseball cupcakes, Parker ran and found his step stool and stood by my side saying "UMMM, those look good mom!" over and over. All of the sudden, I heard a smacking noise followed by a "MMM, those taste good mom!" Parker had taken a big bite out of the cupcake closest to him. I then overdosed it with red frosting so we would know which one had his mouth all over it! He was so excited and he knew that cupcake was his special 0ne! SIDENOTE: Now that Parker is three, we have really buckled down the potty training. He's got one substance down, we are waiting for the other to come. In the meantime, my laundry duty has tripled! If we would stay home for one week solid this summer, we'd have it!
3. We watched Jennifer and Jonathan's five kids for four nights, five days so that Jennifer could go to drill team camp and Jonathan could work and do dress rehearsals for the Soda Springs play "Hello, Dolly"! We kept very busy those days with water parties, library time, park picnic, and yes, Rachael my sister in law and I took 11 kids to Bear Lake-CRAZY, BUT SO MUCH FUN!
4. FOURTH OF JULY was celebrated in Soda Springs this year. I ran the 5K with my family cheering me on at various spots on the course. We attended the parade with Grandpa Heuseveldt while Grandma rode on the float with her Jr. High Cheerleaders. Taylor rode on the truck with the drummer in it with all of the girl cousins for the Cardettes. Jennifer, my sister, is the advisor. The park activities have greatly improved after the parade from what I remember. They had free games for the kids to play for prizes. Our kids loved it! We then went to mom and dad Heuseveldt's for the annual dutch oven chicken and potatoes meal. The men did all the cooking in their fancy aprons (refer to picture!). MMM-finger lickin' good!
5. The first annual Ken and Carol Heuseveldt family reunion was in Bear Lake this year. Shane and I were in charge of it this year. We camped at the East Shore Idaho State Park. We had reservations for a picnic area for the two evening meals there. We based our theme on Pirates. The kids had a treasure hunt with real buried treasure, decorated bandannas with paint and crayons, and played, played, played at the beach. The highlight was skit night where we had several fun skits performed by each family. (I left my camera in the truck so I don't have any pictures of skit night.) After all of the skits were done, Shane gave a short presentation on "Where is your treasure?" He did an awesome job teaching us of family, Christ, temples, and service. He had everyone in tears by the time he was done. He hooked up his laptop computer with speakers and used some of the "Mormon Messages" movies during his presentation. It was AWESOME! Our family came away from this closer and spiritually uplifted. It was a great time. Another highlight was the kids learning how to water ski. Mom and Dad bought a kid water ski setup and every kid tried it except Parker in order to win a milkshake from grandpa! Grandpa Jolley and Anne came up for one night as well and pitched in money for the milkshake fund.

We have been so blessed to have this opportunity to spend so much time together as a family this summer. We truly have felt the love of our Heavenly Father as we have grown closer with one another and have witnessed the tender mercies of him through the sell of our home (closing next Friday!). Our summer is not over yet, we still have more to come! These pictures should show some of our enjoyment to this point!!

BEAR LAKE HEUSEVELDT FAMILY REUNION

Brennen Learning How to Water Ski

In order to get Taylor to try waterskiing, I had to sacrifice my dignity and agreed to water ski ONLY if she tried it. When I was done, both of my contacts were sitting down by my nose-amazingly enough, I didn't lose them!!! I haven't tried this in years and it was so much fun!

The beached whale!

Taylor water skiing!

Right before she tried to ski-she's pretty nervous!

Parker enjoying the toys on the beach

The girls minus Jalissa

Shane tried the tummy tube. He reached some awesome air! It was fun to see him try to stay on the tube!

FOURTH OF JULY

The cousins enjoying the dutch oven dinner

DON'T MESS WITH THE COOKS!!

Enjoying the park festivities after the parade

Brennen having fun

Parker and Jalissa riding the "train"!

The parade-girl cousins riding with the Cardettes

waiting for the parade to start

BRAVING BEAR LAKE WITH ELEVEN KIDS AND TWO ADULTS! THANKS RACHAEL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER

Notice Parker's REALLY RED CUPCAKE! Read story above!!

TAYLOR'S FAST PITCH GIRLS SOFTBALL

BRENNEN'S BALL GAME

PoPcOrN Explosions, Summer Fun-Camping

This summer has already been so much fun for the family. In spite of the rain, we have succesfully pulled off two camping trips both with loads of fun. Our first week out of school, we met Mom and Dad Heuseveldt at Colter Bay Campground in Grand Teton National Park for a couple of nights. The boys were able to go fishing on Jackson Lake in Dad's boat. Were they successful?? OH YEAH BABY! Brennen caught the biggest fish of all. One within the first fifteen minutes of being on the lake. He then caught another one a little later. Shane caught two as well. Dad drove the boat so the boys could have some fun fishing. I need to add that night we wrapped and cooked Brennen's fillet fish in tin foil on the grill with butter and added lemon juice. This was the BEST fish I have ever tasted. Way to go B! While the men fished, mom, Taylor, Parker and I drove into Jackson Hole. We went to Snow King Resort where the Alpine Slide is. Just a warning to any of you wanting to try this out, DON'T DO IT, IT IS EXPENSIVE! Tay, Parker and I went down twice, while Mom went down once. We rode up on a chair lift and got in a little sled that has a brake on it. Parker was able to ride with me. Tay and mom drove themselves!!! Tay was nervous at first, but she learned really fast how to accelerate the sled. She totally had me beat the second time down. It was a ton of fun. We also went down to the lake later that day. Dad and Shane taught the kids how to skip rocks. Later that night, we were cooking popcorn on the stove in the camper. It's the kind that has a big foil that pops up as you cook it on the stove. All was going well and the kids were loving watching the popcorn push up that foil. At the very end, there was a loud noise and popcorn showered everywhere. YES, WE HAD A POPCORN EXPLOSION!!! I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy turning off the burner and picking up the popcorn. The kids loved this! We had a blast with mom and dad and stayed warm inside the "Taj-Mahal". Camping now has a new meaning for me. I don't know if I can go back to tent camping-"OH YES I WILL "says Shane!!! Ok, I guess I need to rough it a little again. Thanks to mom and Dad for their generosity with their toys, we were able to come back for the weekend with Rob and Rachael and their boys for another night. It did rain quite a bit, (we left before the snow flew!) but the kids were still able to get out and play catch with, football, and baseballs. Rob cooked us his famous dutch oven chicken and potatoes in the rain of course (refer to pic!). It was yummy. We had a gray fox come come right into our campground. He wasn't scared of us at all. That made me a little nervous. I took pictures of it,but they are all blurry. He jumped every time my flash went off and my dumb camera has a little delay causing the blur. We love summer time, we love camping, but most of all, we love spending time with family. Here's a million pictures of our camping adventures! They are a little out of order-as long as they are all there right?

Check out Brennen's cooked fish! Fun eating.

You catch it, you fillet it, you enjoy the smell!
The moose swimming by the boat. He was a good swimmer-not a problem paddling!

Ah, the life!

Do you think he could be more excited???

One of Shane's fish. What a hunk!

IT'S NOT CAMPING UNLESS YOU HAVE CAUGHT A FEW MARSHMALLOWS ON FIRE!

Dutch Oven Cooking in the RAIN! It's all good!

Yummy says Parker!

right before our PoPcOrN eXpLoSiOn!!

When we camp, we eat good!

Say Cheese!

Mom and B fighting over the last bite of his fish

Down by Jackson Lake

Kids skipping rocks with Shane and Dad

Still in Love after how many years?? I love my parents and the great examples that they are to Shane and me.

Brennen hanging out with Grandpa

THE ALPINE SLIDE AT SNOW KING RESORT IN JACKSON HOLE

Waiting to get on the chair lift-can you say cheesy???

Granny coming down like a wild woman!

Parker and Me racing Tay

Tay on the chairlift