Family Night

Here are the kids Sunday night. Randy (father-in-law) drove to Indy to get Missy's boys so they could be apart of this next week of events. There is Rian, Brenin, Denham, Raegan, Jarom, Baylie, and Tarin.

Kylie, has been the greatest helper with Ammon. Kylie, are you sure you don't want to move to Georgia...we have a room for you. ;0)

Home Coming

Thursday night ... wow that was 2 thousand miles ago! We loaded up, layed all the kids down and started off. We left around 10:30pm and started toward the East side of the country. Trent's parents, sister Kiley, and niece Baylie all caravaned with us. We drove through Colorado...it was neat to see the sun rise over the rockies and drive through all those little ski resort towns, then drove through Kansas (boring scenery), and stayed Friday night in St. Louis, Missouri. It was midnight when we arrived in St. Louis, but it was really neat to see the arch lit up and across the river highlighting the skyline. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but that late at night...

Saturday morning, we drove through Illinois, Kentucky (this is the bridge going over the Ohio river), Tennessee (major traffic jam in Nashville), and finally Georgia. The only weather issue was about 30 miles north of Chattanooga it poured down rain. But it was refreshing.

And yes, we had everyone in the car. Long story, but the last leg Baylie road with us...so you can imagine the chaos of six children and nowhere to move. We were glad to finally get out and be done with the trip. (Notice Raegan in the back left, she's really loony...they all were).

And then the sweet reunion of the kids to their daddy. Many tears of joy were shed. Jarom was crying and embarrassed I took the picture. What a great sight.

Home Grown

Back to Georgia. We had a great time touring the west but we need to be home and see daddy. The kids really miss you daddy...but they aren't looking forward to the upcoming drive. We leave tonight at 9pm and drive all night and day til we reach St. Louis. The next day will be the home stretch. Pray that we will make it back in good health and safety. (I miss these great, green trees!)

Thanks Gma

Here are some great hats Gma gave the kids. BYU will always be welcomed in our home. Sorry Troy, U of U wasn't an option.

Tarin and her big, blue eyes. She had gotten the "Angel" hat.

Raegan earned the "Princess" hat...but wasn't feeling too much like one. She's been feeling a bit under the weather lately. I hope she feels up to the long drive back.

Family Favorite

Last night I met up with the remaining 3 "Palmer" siblings I haven't seen yet...well I did see Jeff and his fam at the cabin. This resturant is the ultimate family favorite. I hope they bring one out to Georgia.

Here we are, Tana, Trevor, his "friend" Kristina, Alice, little Tanner, Jeff, and me.

Here is Trevor and his "friend" Kristina...just thought I'd get a pic for all of you family members wanting to put a name to a face.

Another Great Day

Here we are again...we went to liberty park in Salt Lake City and had a picnic under the beautiful giant trees. The kids liked chasing the seagulls away.

Raegan wanted to show her eating skills. What a comedian!

Afterwards we went to gateway air mall and played in the Olympic sprinklers. Where in the sprinklers is Jarom?

American Fork Canyon

Here is the entire hiking crew! Yes we made a little buddy system. We drove up American Fork Canyon to have a fun hike and play in the water.

I wish Georgia had mountains like these...nearby anyway.

The water was a bit cold, (snow water) but...

that didn't stop them from getting in and getting all wet. This is Tarin falling off the rock and noticing that her shorts had suddenly gotten wet

Let's just say that Raegan's pants use to be a lighter color of gray...good thing I had sleeping bags in the van for them to snuggle up in for the ride home.

Visiting GGma DeMille

We visited Great Grandma DeMille (Stacey's mom). This is where Ammon had gotten his middle name. It's been awhile since GGma lived in Georgia, so the kids haven't seen her in many years...hence Raegan's reluctant behavior.

More Cousins

Here are only a few more cousins. They were enjoying the whipped cream sprayed into their mouths.

I was thinking about how many cousins my kids have, so I thought about it and counted...total on both sides of the family, including them and the ones soon to be born...drum roll...there are 42!

Here are the babies. Ammon being the oldest at 3 months, Kayhlen at 2 months, and Riley is almost 1 month. You could almost make a growth chart with these little ones.

Cat-o-rama

There has been a bond that Tarin has made with a certain cat named, "Little Man". Tarin has created a memory that isn't ready to laugh at just yet...maybe in a few days...To help tell the story, I've created a formula...





This cat +






This little cat crazed girl =






Sorry Gma and Gpa Wardwell.












I guess Tarin was carrying the cat around...like in the picture above, and was placing it on the table thingy...well, she was trying to scoop him off and everything came falling over. Besides a few scratches, a scardy cat, and a few broken items, everything turned out alright. Needless to say her "cat priviledges" were taken away for a bit.

Driving To Utah

We set out for the next part of our adventure. We drove to Utah from Phoenix. We left Sat. morning at 3:30am and my mom came as an extra pair of hands...thank you mom! We stopped in Page, Arizona for breakfast and to see the sights. This is Glenn Canyon Dam...holding back Lake Powell.

We stopped at the visitor center that over looks the bridge and the dam. Tarin and Raegan were both fascinated with "whoa that is far down there!"

Jarom told me that he thought a dam was part of a river...I think after this experience he has a better understanding of what a dam is and what they are for. I love to see the wheels turn in children's heads...they have so much to absorb in life.

And yes, here we all are with about 5-6 more hours of driving left to do...our kids have a better knowledge of the desert.

A few minutes after the dam...and a warning from a police officer (another story)...we crossed into the great state of Utah. I think the kids were expecting different scenery once you cross a state line...nope more desert!

So Sweet But...

I caught the incident on camera. He's been finding his thumb lately, and it is so cute...but he may be our only one who follows through with the bad habit. I don't remember any of our other kids this good at finding their thumbs this early on and as often.

Sewing With Gma

Rian had a few sewing lessons from Gma. She loves every minute. Here she is sewing something for everyone.





She made pillow cases for all her siblings.

Irrigation Fun

Here are my little fishies. Playing in the irrigation was something I did as a kid, and now my kiddies are doing the same.

They splashed and wore themselves out.

They didn't hesitate to use the entire yard for their playland.

The poor chickens were a victim of their fun.

Once again, this is in the shade. So playing in the irrigation was refreshing for the kids.

Of course, the swings and slide were apart of the bigger splashes. To bad this doesn't come everyday.

#1 Dad

Unfortunately we are out in AZ and daddy is back in Georgia. The best we could do was send a package and call him on the phone. I forgot to get a pic of the tie we made, so that will have to wait. You can imagine the service for cell phones up in the woods (at the cabin) was far from conveinent...you should have seen us driving down the highway looking for bars. We'd hit one then two and attempt to pull over, then lose it all together. Yeah, on our end we worked hard for Father's Day. It was all worth it! We love you and miss you a ton!

A Weekend At The Cabin

My parents own a cabin about 30 miles east of Payson, AZ. We decided to go up for Father's Day weekend. My brother Ben, Jeff, me, my parents and all of our children came. That would be...

13 children and 7 adults in this tiny cabin...but it was awesome. (The two babies are missing from this pic.) Remember this is only a fraction of the 27 grandchildren in all.

Jeff and two of his boys, Carter and Braeden...

Yeah, leave it to Braeden to be silly. He definitely gets it from his dad.

My brother Ben gave several rides to the kids. I think he enjoyed being in charge of the big toy everyone wanted.

Grandpa and Raegan going for a walk.

Here are my parents with 3 of my kids. Notice the hot cheeks on the kids...they all played so hard...it was nice when bedtime came around.

Looking over the edge.

Here is Tanner and Ammon...the two missing from the group pic. Tanner was so amused with Ammon, he kept trying to hold his hand. Tanner is 6 months and Ammon is a whopping 3 months. Wow, they grow up so fast...I hope Ammon has thighs just like Tanner in a few months.