West Yellowstone

On Friday the kids and I headed to West Yellowstone.  My niece Madeline went to an acting camp at the Playmill Theater and we went up that morning to watch her variety show.

 Maddie is the middle front row.  The lighting was stage lighting which was horrible for pictures! She was amazing though! She is very talented and when she came out to sing her song she did it beautifully!! It was such a fun variety show and my kids are still quoting some of the skits and jokes from it! 

 We then did a little shopping.  Mostly for a sweatshirt for me! It was raining and cold and all the kids had jackets we rounded up in the car, but we couldn't find one for me.  I didn't mind a new sweatshirt though. :)

We walked a few boardwalks and hit old faithful.  We were disappointed to only see elk.  The kids kept saying "we could have seen elk at the ranch!!" They were right!

We had to wait 30 minutes for Old Faithful.  It goes off every 90, so I thought 30 wasn't too bad.  By then the sun had come out and was cooking us.  The kids did good the 1st 10 minutes then I kept hearing, "20 minutes is just SOOOOO LOOOOONG!!" I kept telling them that if their friend only got to come over for 20 minutes they would think it was TOOOO SHOOOORT!! :) They said that was different! 20 minutes is 20 minutes is the way I see it! Funny Kids!

We ended the night back where we started at the Playmill Theater. 

 We got to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  It was SO GOOD!!! The kids were mesmerized!  We laughed really hard when during the preshow one of the ladies chose to come sing "My Guy" to Dallin! He didn't laugh quite so hard! It was so funny!!! The show was wonderful and we wish we could go back for the other two shows! 

A Day at Downata

We went with the Hawkins cousins to Downata last week.  What a blast!

 All 11 grandkids!  They are at such fun ages and play SO WELL together!

 Sage and Laiklie are almost inseparable when we are together.  Laiklie needed Sage! What a blessing that Uncle Chase found Aunt Yvonne and her sweet girls!

 Oakley, Macady and Ciara.  The "big" girls! :)

 This is Dallin just coming out of one of the slides.  They have 4 at Downata and we went down all of them over-and-over again all day long!

And Rhett shooting out of "the black hole!"  I have ALWAYS been terrified of the black hole! I never went on it as a child and my cute sisters-in-law couldn't talk me into going on it this day either.  My little Laiklie went on it with her Aunt Tara and Rhett begged and begged and begged for me to go on it with him. He finally gave up on me and let Grandma Hawkins take him.  We seriously have worlds greatest grandma! I don't know very many grandma's who would do "the black hole" with their grandbabies, but Linn would!! At the very end of the day we had all the kids headed into change their clothes except Rhett who was on the slide and I decided that it was important for me to give up my fear of the black hole for my little boy.  So as he came shooting out I handed him my stuff and said, "hold this I am going!" If you could have saw the look in his eyes that his mommy was pushing past the fear to go down the slide that terrified her YOU WOULD HAVE GONE TOO!! :) I am proud of myself for doing it for my little boy! It was a great day together!!

Diabetic Night at Squealers

Every year the ladies from JDRF come to teach families how to make a team for the Walk to Cure Diabetes.  This year they did it at squealers and the kids had a blast!

 The boys LOVED the go carts! They kind of scared me! They looked like they were only in control part of the time!

 We did the buck-a-roo ride too! This is Laiklie thumping the bell! Super fun!

And here Oakley is about to take Dallin down on the blow-up toys! Such a fun night and I love getting to sit and visit with other families who live with this disease day-in and day-out just like we do.  It makes life seem a little bit more normal!  We are looking forward to the Walk! More info on that later!

Jacobson Family Reunion 2013

ALWAYS A PARTY!! And we are ALWAYS A CROWD!!

 29 Grandkids all lined up and ready for the Jacobson Family Olympics!

 Grandma's Team!

 Leslie's Team!

 Grandpa's Team!

 Jacob's Team!

 And Kaden's Team!

The events included the balance beam, the ring toss, dart throw, horse races and many more fun ones! 

They involved the little to the old

And everyone in between!

Rhett and his splits!

 Laiklie showing off a kart-wheel!

Then it was off to the hotel and pool! We SERIOUSLY filled the pool!! 

 And the hot tub!

And yes....that is my brother Travis in his cowboy hat! He said it was his hotel key holder.  He also put his babies pacifier in there at one point too. :) What a funny guy!

 Even grandma and grandpa got in on the pool action!

 We then headed to the park and it didn't take long for us to become "train professionals!" on the slide.

 The next day it was off to my Brother Shane's house for lunch and a talent show.  Talents were anything from roping....

 to karate....

 to a song by the Shumways!

 My kids did a trampoline performance with all their backflip type tricks! Super fun but of course I didn't get a single picture of it!

We then headed to my house for some "Minute to Win it" Games!

 Arnica will appreciate this one! :) It was either this picture of her or the one where she wore two different shoes out and about for the whole first day of the reunion! Hilarious!!

We ended the day with an August birthday's birthday party!  And no, Ryan's birthday didn't change.  It is still in November.  My mom couldn't remember so she stuck his name on there just in case! :) One of those birthdays was mine however.  We spent it together as a family and part of it in the temple with a cousin getting married.  No better way to spend a birthday!  My parents work in the temple and as we were getting ready to leave my dad grabbed me and my sisters and told us he wanted us to meet the temple president.  As he introduced us to the temple president he said, "These are my daughters, this is what makes my world go round."  BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!! I teared up when he said it and had to actually turn around so nobody would see.  I needed to hear that I made someone's world go around on my 34th birthday! Thanks Dad!
We had a GREAT weekend together and look forward to it again next year! It is always one of the highlights of our summer!!

We have a TEENAGER!!

Ready or not.....HERE WE GO!! Oakley turned 13 on August 1st.  She is beautiful and talented and so full of life and fun right now!  She has grown and matured and is constantly amazing us!

 Look at that smile! Isn't she gorgeous?!

 And here are her besties!! (Lauren, Katie, Alicia and Oakley) Oakley wanted to take them kayaking and paddle boarding for her birthday and Rainbow Lake was the perfect place to take them.  They had a BLAST!! It was a windy day, but for being 1st timers on paddle boards and fighting the wind they did fabulous!

 They REALLY wanted to paddle board with all 4 of them on at the same time.  They would only sink though! So funny to watch!

Oakley reminds me everyday that my Heavenly Father loves me.  I didn't fully understand that until the minute they put her in my arms at the hospital.  I had NO IDEA you could love someone so much!  What a beautiful young woman she is growing into! We love her and are so proud of her!

Happy Birthday Babe!!

Darn Dentist

This poor little babe - Laiklie - had a cavity that she had to have fixed, which meant a numb cheek.  I couldn't help but get a picture of the crooked smile! Love it!

Diabetes + Friends = A Blood Checking PARTY!

Oakley has GREAT friends! They have been Oakley's friends since she was diagnosed and know about as much about diabetes as anyone! They take AMAZING care of her! Oakley's friend Lauren has been begging for Oakley to check her blood and there's no better time than a gathering at our house! So changed needle and new test strip and away they go! :) She did have to poke her 3 times before she would bleed though.  It was HILARIOUS to hear them all scream as they poked her.  What amazing friends! Lauren's blood this time around was 147 and Oakley's was 72.  So Lauren was good to go and after a quick snack so was Oakley! :) We LOVE GOOD BESTIES!