Uncle Sid's wedding

Mike's brother Sid got married!!!  We are so excited for him and Taylee.  It was a beautiful wedding and reception.   Congratulations Sid and Taylee! 

Rylie was so excited for the weddings and was in awe over the beautiful wedding dress Taylee wore.

 Mike's siblings  -  Kenny, Sharon, Sid (new SIL Taylee), Kevin and Mike

The Beckstead Cousins (minus a few) -  Mike's sister Sharon made all five of the little boys matching purple ties, they were so adorable!  This is the best picture when you are trying seven kids under five to hold still.  :)  Still pretty dang cute though!

 The Happy Couple with Rylie and Bode!

Island Park Camping...

Another fun get away for the Becksteads.  We went camping for a week in Island Park.  We camped right on Island Park Reservoir.  We had such a great time camping, had delicious food, lots of good company, were very bear aware and so much fun.  Can't wait til next year.

Boating on the the reservoir was so much fun.  The kids tubed, Mike wake boarded and I got up water skiing.  The water was glass all day long and it sure was pretty sweet.

We took off one day to Yellowstone, there were so many people there.  We saw this buffalo, an elk and another buffalo, pretty exciting.  But the kids have never been to the hot pots or old faithful, so we did it. 

Nice pose, Bode. 

Karissa, Terri, Zayne and Saige Fredrickson, so enjoying a good time waiting for old faithful to erupt.

After deciding to bail on Yellowstone Park, we headed to Quake Lake, it was pretty neat to see.  There was an Earthquake there in the 1950's and the whole side of the mountain slid down and damned the water which created Quake Lake.  We watched the video at the visitor center, its amazing the force the earthquake had. 

Then we found another Lake to check out it was called Wade Lake, it was absolutely gorgeous.  We decided to stop and try out the water.   It was way to tempting for my kids to not get wet, but since we didn't have swimsuits, they stripped down and swam for hours.  Very refreshing and made for good naps on our way back to camp.

We had just loaded up to head home and was about a mile away from our camp.  I was telling Rylie to look out through the pine trees and look at all the trees.  I looked over shoulder to see if she was looking when there was a black bear out Mike's window.   It was loping into the trees.  I about gave Mike a heart attack, I was freaking out.  I couldn't believe I actually saw one in real life. 

4th of July...

I ALWAYS have big plans for the 4th, but this year was abit different.  We all caught a virus and weren't up for much festivies.   I was deteremined to still celebrate my favorite holiday just in a lower scale than normal.  We spent the 3rd of July home, cooked hotdogs, cheetos, and star shaped watermelon.  It was big hit!  and topped off the night with Logan Fireworks and rootbeer floats. 

On the 4th, we went to the parade in Lewiston and celebrated the day.  Mom made an awesome 4th of July BBQ and I was so grateful she did, my family had not had a real meal in at least a week.  That night we enjoyed the Lewiston Fireworks.  I LOVE the fireworks, i always get all emotional, patriotic and grateful.  It reminds me how BLESSED me and my family are. 

HAPPY 4th of JULY!    

 I love this picture of my parents with my kids. 

The little dude's hair...

I love Bode's curls and shag hair.  Mike cannot believe he has a little boy with curly hair.  We love it and encourage the lenght and curls.  See what you can do with it.   He is outgrowing some of his curl and his hair texture has changed, but thats what happens when you are a big boy! 

t-ball

Rylie had a blast playing t-ball when she got going.  There were a few games of tears, not sure why.  It was a bit hard for me to swallow that this may not be her sport when I played college ball. 

BUT, we will wait and see what the future brings.  :) 

Once she got over the tears, she had fun!  And that is all I wanted her to do!!  And her best friend Hannah was also on her team.  They make way cute girl t-ball players. 

We were out of town the last two games and I think she was relieved.  

the month of June...

The month of June went by so fast and here we are in July already.  June was an awesome adventurous month, cant believe how fast time goes by....   what we have been up too! 

* Started off the summer with swim lessons at the sports academy.  Bode just played with mom in the water and was a bit jealous of Rylie.  Rylie jumped another couple of levels and is swimming so good, she is part fish!  

*We got to have Rylie and Bode's cousins come stay with us while their mom and dad were in Europe.  It was a bit crazy around here, but we had so much fun.  I had a 6, 5, 4, almost 3, and 2 year old!!!   We went to several parks, did swim lessons, bike rides, playing in the water, refereeing over toys and lots and lots of playing.  My kids thought it was so awesome to have the cousins stay over.   I guess I just kept them all alive  (ha ha)  and forgot to take any pictures that week.  :(   

*Our first outing in the camper this year was Bear Lake, Mike ran in the half marathon over there and did awesome.  13.1 miles in about 2 hours, pretty awesome!!!  He has a pretty awesome support crew, we would go a few miles ahead and wait for him to come so we can cheer!   We celebrated his accomplishment at Cafe Sabor at Bear Lake, love this place.    It turned off cold and windy later that weekend, so we mostly hung out and relaxed.  Its always fun to just be gone for the weekend!  

Way to go Mike! 

*celebrated getting older!!! (oh man, it does come around every year)

* Ate our hearts out at the Summerfest.  I enjoy looking through the booths, but I can usually get Mike to go for the food!   A few years ago at the summerfest, I purchased this water color of Jackson Hole Ski Resort and it is still one my favorite pictures, my basement was decorated around this picture.  Each year i hope to find something I have to have, but not this year.  I do want to do the old ski's made into an American Flag, I loved it, so creative. 

* Celebrated the guys in our life.   Was a bit of crazy Father's Day for Mike, in otherwords, not to relaxing, but I hope it was special.  He is such a great Dad and I couldn't of picked a better Dad for my kids.  And for my Dad and Father in law, they are pretty awesome too.  The card we gave them for Father's Day was pretty fitting " the best Dad's get promoted to Grandpa's".   They are the best!

* I got to go to girls camp for four days, we went to the Cinnamon Creek.  What a lot of work, but the girls enjoyed it!   Mike sure makes a cute Mr. Mom while I am gone, nutrition goes out the door, but the kids sure have fun.  I sure missed my kids, but they were spoiled rotten while I was gone.  (thank you Aunt Sharon and Grandma Beak)

* We attended TWO family weddings in the same weekend.  (posts to come, I said I wouldn't spoil the "real" wedding photos with my pics.   :) 

*Had our share of otter pops, snow cones, and ice cream.  ( we caught a sore throat bug for a few days and this is what we lived on, glad that's done so we can enjoy the rest of summer). 

* T-ball games

* a Good friend of mine from California came into town.  She has three kids under three, so its a bit wild, but we love seeing her family and will take them in anytime. 

* and lots of running through the sprinklers, water on the tramp, water fights and pool time. 

* best of all....   being together as a FAMILY!

Dance recital...

This is Rylie's 4th dance recital.  She did awesome!!!  She knew her dance, lover her costume because it was pink and purple and had a fun time while on stage. 

 I love watching her dance and am sad to see it come to an end. 

Grandpa and Grandma Beckstead * Rylie *  Grandpa and Grandma Smith

Both Grandparents are so sweet to come support Rylie and she loves them all SO much!