Nielsen Family Reunion

My parents did an amazing job of getting almost all of us together for the family reunion this year. They took us up to a cabin in Ashton, ID where we played games, had a bbq, played in the river, went to the Playmill Theatre and saw the hilarious 'Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels', watched the women's World Cup and just enjoyed each other's company. I was sure I took more pictures than this, but can't find them. :(

First stop was Big Judd's for dinner. This is a monstrous hamburger and so delicious.

We went tubing down the river at Warm Springs. However, Warm Springs was not warm at all. When we first got in, Alayna jumped immediately out and said she didn't want to go. I finally convinced her and we had a great time once our legs became numb.

Notice the empty tube? Yep, we lost Tyla on the way down. The kids wanted to go under the bridge so we hooked all the tubes together with bungee cords. As we came to the bridge, I tried to direct the tube train to the right, but I didn't realize they were already drifting to the left. We wrapped around a pylon and were stuck. Mason and Alayna started crying, Tyla bailed out, and I tried desperately to pull us out and around. Finally, I gave up and unhooked the tubes. Tyla swam to the banks and then ran down to Dad so he wouldn't freak out when we got to the bottom without a rider.

I sure love these girls!! They braved the cold water and did the traditional dunk in the river. In case you were wondering, I did not!

I forgot to put on Ragen's pictures. She was there, too! We brought her little feeding seat and she would sit and eat and eat. I think she ate quite a bit of dirt, too!

Here she is hanging out in the stroller. The first night we were there, it was pretty cold and windy! Not super-fun but the second night was much better. For future reference, Campsite 11 would be the best one!

City of Rocks 2011

Every year, we try to go up to City of Rocks in Idaho. It is a beautiful place nestled in the mountains. This year, we learned it was world famous as we spoke with a couple from England who came over just to climb the rocks. I love watching the rock climbers dotting the large rocks. The kids have a blast running all over the rocks creating homes and hiding in caves. And I was glad not to be pregnant this year!

Alayna did such a great job climbing! She loved it and wanted to keep going and going.

We love City of Rocks! What a beautiful, fun place to go camping. Thanks to Travis's brother, Kyle, who brings the climbing gear.


Travis and I on top of Bath Rock overlooking the 'city' below. I sure love that guy! We have a picture on top of Bath Rock from the first year we were married.

The famous Bath Rock where a large crater in the rock fills with water. Legend has it that the cowboys who passed through the area would stop and take a bath in the water. It looked pretty dirty to me, though. Bath Rock is a huge rock that is fun to climb with a few tricky parts, but the girls went right up with no problems at all.

The only problem with camping at City of Rocks is you have to bring your own shade!

A view of our campsite and the tiny kid climbing on the rocks behind it. The rocks are very porous which causes your feet to stick and you can climb up anything, it seems.

My handsome little guy with his climbing helmet on!

Tyla decided she wanted to try the grown-up climb and she climbed higher than most of the adults! She just wedged her little body in that crack and went up and up. You can see how far up she was with this picture.

Here's a close-up of her wedged in the crack. She had such fun and is turning into a little mountain goat like her momma. :)

My turn to climb the hard one....and I made it to the top! I love climbing, especially with ropes. It gives you a sense of confidence to trust your hands and feet to hold you. I have yet to fall (knock on wood), although I have felt that I would fall at times.

And Travis climbed up the crack as well. He's so strong, it's fun to see his muscles flexing as he climbs.

Here's Tyla on another climb. The kid one was way to easy for her so she had to tackle the bigger climbs.

Tiana's turn climbing. The kids look so cute in their climbing gear! This year the girls were able to go up and down all by themselves.

And Mr. Mason gave it a go. He did pretty well climbing up but had a hard time coming back down. It's hard the first time you have to sit so far back for a rappell. I climbed up and helped him. Then he wanted to try all the grown-up climbs, too. He would climb two or three times, then say, "I'm done."

Cooking hot dogs! Always a fun tradition and they taste better cooked over a campfire. Well, Travis doesn't think so, but I do.