Evan is a Big Fat WEENIE!!!

Evan had a use it or lose it week off of work, so we used it!  It was Evan's idea to go visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and go camping.  We stayed at a swanky KOA camp ground.  Evan whined the whole time.  OK not the whole time, but most of the time.  He whined about Autumn wanting to go in the tent with her shoes on, he whined about the bugs, he whined that it took too long to get food, he whined that the food I cooked didn't fill him up, ect.  Most of his complaints were food based-he gets quite hangry.  I told him I'm never going camping with him again and he said, "good, I don't like camping with girls anyway."  Uh not sure what being a girl has anything to do with it, but next time Autumn and I will go by ourselves.  She loved it, slept well in the tent, didn't get too dirty and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Autumn "jumping" on the jumping pillow, which is kinda like a mix between a bounce house with out walls and a trampoline.

Me cooking delicious (yet slightly cold) chicken kebobs with peppers and pineapple.

This is how Autumn now "smiles" with her eyes closed.

Autumn's favorite activity was the water slide. (Also the pool floor was painted green, so the water looked super gross...But I'm pretty sure it was fine!)

Mt. Rushmore.  George Washington's eye is 11 ft wide, but since you can't get very close it seems like the mountain is so small.

See..Super small.  In fact driving by if I didn't know to look for it, I'd probably miss it.  I think the Disneyland Matterhorn is probably more noticeable than Mt. Rushmore.

Another "Autumn-isim" She now loves to try and do the splits, but then gets "tuck" and can't get up.  She thinks it's funny.

The original plan of Mt. Rushmore was to carve more of the presidents, including jackets and their hands...as seen below.

Eating a snack.  After making dinner the first night and breakfast (eggs and ham) the next morning, I opted to not listen to Evan whine anymore and we ate out for all our meals.

Playing on the play ground.

Eating at a restaurant the last morning.  The plan was to eat the "all you can eat" pancake breakfast at the campground.  We arrived and they needed cash, so we walked to the little store to use the ATM, only to find out the ATM was at the front of the campground.  So Evan walked to our car and drove up to the front, then he remembered he didn't have his ATM card.  He tried to use my card but didn't know my pin number.  He drove back to where Autumn and I were waiting to get my pin and drove back, only for the ATM machine to still not give us money.  So after 45 minutes of trying to get cash we went to the near by restaurant and used a credit card.  I ordered french toast and I received three thin pieces of french toast, of which Autumn ate one.  Now you ask who was hangry now? Me.

2 hour drive to Devil's Tower

A fun Australian couple took this picture.  They are spending a month in the states traveling around to a bunch of nature things, ie Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Redwood Forest.  Not my idea of fun.  I hate nature.

Autumn and I waited at a park bench for over 45 minutes while Evan walked "around a bit".  He enjoyed himself.

Evan met some more strangers who took a bunch of pictures of him.

This is Evan. If you look above, closely in the middle of the picture you can see a climber wearing a green shirt. Less visible below him/her is the belay wearing an orange shirt which I am not sure if you can make out or not.

One of my earliest movie memories is watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I don't really remember much about the movie except there being this tower structure that Richard Dreyfuss replicates out of mashed potatoes.  Eating mashed potatoes is one the few things in my life that always triggers an association with something else. I never knew it was called Devil's Tower nor that it was located in WY, but now I will always think of our trip to Devil's Tower and how cool it is when eating mashed potatoes (I don't eat mashed potatoes often). Oh and that I was a big whiner and am a big fat weenie!!!!!

Finally back in the car!  She was so happy not to be camped out on that bench in the sun.  We drove another 4.5 hours home.  Only had to stop twice-once because I made Autumn laugh so hard she threw up all over herself.  Not a perfect trip-despite all my planning and preparation.  Next time we go camping (if we ever go again) it'll be with my mom so she can make all the food!

The End of Summer

I hate this time of year...the end of Summer.  Even though I haven't "gone back to school" in 6 years I still feel the anxiety the last weeks of "freedom" brings.  I feel like I have to fit in a bunch of fun stuff the next two weeks.  I love the changing of the seasons IF it is from Winter to Spring or Spring to Summer.  I really hate being cold. I am not looking forward to Winter.  The only redeeming quality winter has is Christmas, which is barely in Winter.  I read somewhere that the mere act of planning a vacation, whether you take the vacation or not, helps boost your happiness.  So I will be planning lots of fake trips for this winter (you could come if you want).  I do like making caramel apples and watching the BYU football team in the fall, but it doesn't nearly make up for the coldness.  Well here are a few pictures of our last days of Summer.

Golfing at the Put-Hut

Going to my favorite park when uncle Patrick came for a visit.  Autumn is quite bossy.  She likes to do things all by herself...with you watching.  This time she insisted Patrick ride in the baby swing next to her.

Wadding at the Children's Village.

Splashing...

Building sand castles.

He's great with kids, loves the outdoors, plays the guitar, loves to dive and surf, has huge biceps and yes ladies, he's single.  

Robert's Reunion

Like I said last post I didn't take pictures of the Robins' Reunion, because my camera battery died.  I've been going to those reunions as long as I can remember.  They have morphed over the years as the family continues to grow.  I am proud to say I know most of my 2nd cousins and 1st cousins-once removed, at least by sight if not by name.  I think it is important to know who you are and where you've come from.  That is why I love my family reunions.

The Robert's reunion was held in Mount Pleasant, Utah.  It was perfect, except the scary mountain we had to drive up to get to our destination.  The house we stayed in was by far the fanciest and accommodated our huge family perfectly.  The following pictures are out of order, but we'll work with it.  Each evening on of the "siblings" is in charge of an activity.  My favorite is the "Family Olympics".  The Robins use to be quite the contenders until we all of a sudden had toddlers on our team.  Other activities included "Jeopardy", "So, You think you can dance: Roberts Edition season 3", and "Family Bingo".

 The Tom Robert's team.  Only team sans toddlers and they pretty much dominated.

 See what I mean by not dominating because we have toddlers.

 But at least he had fun.

 The moms unrolling streamers.  It was like they had there own choreographed dance as they pranced around the grass.

 The competition

 I asked them to show me their best "game" faces...not what I had in mind.

 Grandma and Tom and the Cheetos toss

 Greg very serious with his "Chubby Bunny"

 Mackenzie NOT so serious with her Chubby bunny.  But look how cute the Reunion shirts turned out this year.  The "Roberts" is made up of the names of all the family members.

 This is one of my favorite pictures from the reunion.  You know it's a big deal when you bring a girlfriend to the family reunion.  I'm so glad Simon has young nieces and nephews that kept them company!

 Autumn and Alice got bored of competing in the Family Olympics.

 We did a lot of just hanging around the house this year, since there wasn't anything worth driving to, near the house.  Although some people did venture out to a candy shop one day, and Down East Basics, and the boys went "shootin'" one day too.

 Four generations

 We also do a lot of cooking and eating at reunions.

 Family pictures is always a lot of fun.  I thought it was virtually painless this year since only one person ended up in tears.

 My little family.  Hopefully in two years Evan will be able to join us again.

 Dustin stealing my spotlight.

 This is after the group shot and Dustin and Noah were whining about talking more pictures.

 The kiddos did crafts one day.

 Four generations plus Rex

 My mom bought the grand kids coordinating outfits.  The girls decided to take naps at different times...all day long.  It was quite difficult to get a group picture at the end of the day...

 see what I mean

 Cousin baths are the best...especially if the tub is super huge and the tub fills up from the ceiling.

Korey has so much personality.  LOVE HER!