Family Pictures!

Since it will likely be 3 years before we are all together again, we got family pictures done early this year before Ella leaves on her mission. If Cavin goes next Summer, then it will be at least 3 years before we get to have everyone all together again. As always our friend Kelsey took them and there were FAR too many to choose from.

The kids were getting silly by this point!

A mini vacation!

We were able to take a few days away this past weekend and go to San Antonio and spend some time together before Ella leaves on her mission. I needed some time away from work and I was grateful to have some time with our family all together. 

Due to circumstances and Ragnar still looking for a job, we couldn't go far and wide, but we made the most of it. The first day we went to the Houston temple on the way out to San Antonio. 

Deacon is only 6 months away from being old enough to join us, so my parents came and hung out with him while we went and did baptisms. 

We then drove 3 hours to San Antonio and went on the river walk and had a nice dinner. 

The kids and I love hotels, so we went back to the hotel and hung out together. 

We were gifted tickets to Six Flags which we were super grateful for, so we went and spent the day there! 

It was hot, but the kids all had fun trying out the roller coasters and water park. 

Ella and Channing loved the roller coasters and I went with them on almost all of them. 

Cavin is not a fan of heights or rollercoasters, so he enjoyed more of the water rides and Deacon did a mixture of both. 

It was a fun day together! We got dinner and ice cream and cooled off at the hotel for the evening. 

The next day we headed to Top Golf for an outing. We sweat a lot together, but enjoy playing. 

We had a fun mini getaway, and I am grateful for the chance we had to take a few days of us all just being together. It will be a while before we are all in the same place together, so I am so glad we got this time. I really do love being with my family.

Cake Wars!

In the summer the kids get creative on ideas of what to do. They wanted to do a dessert/cake contest and make something for each of us to try. They got all of their ingredients and then baked away! Ragnar and I had to be the judges.

They each made their own design and were given a theme. 

Cavin had a movie theme and is still obsessed with the movie CARS, so he made a chocolate cake of Tow-Mater which was yummy.

Channing made sugar cookies and had a beach theme and got creative decorating. 

Deacon had the theme of Summer for his funfetti cake and his was yummy.I was surprised he didn't get too disinterested first :)

Ella had a musical theme and make the cake for Wicked. She spent a lot of time on her cake. 

Her cake looked really cool inside. I love their creativity, but I don't love the mess they leave afterward!!

My Grandma Wall is 100!!

My grandma has been saying for years that she is ready to move on to the next life and she doesn't know why she is still here. As she got closer to her 100th birthday she conceded that maybe it would be ok to celebrate her 100th birthday, but that was as long as she wanted to live. Well, I definitely didn't want to miss out on her celebration!!

I flew in to SLC and hung out with my good friend Ashley as I waited for my sister Marisa to land and go to Vernal.

Well on a good day it only takes 1 hour to get to Provo from SLC. We were supposed to go from the airport to Provo to pick up the catering food and then head to Vernal. Well....it took us 3 hours to get to Provo because of Memorial Day weekend traffic and we almost missed the pickup time for the food. Luckily my niece Madison got the food and we got it from her and had a quick dinner with her. By then it was already 8:00 so we didn't feel like we should be driving to Vernal so we stayed the night in Provo. 

We woke up early and drove to Vernal with no problems. We helped set up the food and the party and celebrated my grandma!

She was happy to celebrate and loves food! 

She had a great turnout and so many came to help celebrate her! 

I got to see my cousin Amy which I don't get to see often enough and many of my aunts! 

We had a nice time chatting and there was SOOOO much food left over. 

The next day was her actual birthday, so we went to church and then came over for her party at the assisted living center. They sang to her and we had cake and ice cream. 

I was glad to be able to be there and spend time with my sisters. 

I got to end the trip with a beautiful morning, mountain run! The weather there was amazing! I'm so glad I got to be there with my grandma again. She has declined in just the couple weeks since I have been there. I don't think she was kidding when she said she wanted to reach 100 and not much more. I'm glad I got to see her again and be there for her special day!