Echo Twenty Ten

We are so lucky to have such a fun vacation every year at Echo Lake with my family. It's hard to believe that we've already been going to the same cabin for over 10 years! Time sure flies... And it's sad, because we probably won't be able to go there for much longer as my family is just getting too big, and it's a bit crowded when we're all there together. But as always, we had a great time, fabulous weather (for the most part), ate lots of yummy food and just RELAXED. Thanks Mom and Dad, I love making memories with you!

For Nixon's 1st Canada Day I thought it would be fun to start a tradition of always getting a family picture in our country's colors!

We decided to make a fun Canada Day dessert to celebrate,
even though we were in the USA

It's hard to believe that Gray and Nixon are only 3 months apart!
Before long they won't look any different in size... isn't that crazy?

We had fun visiting the Schow's at Lake Blaine and reminiscing about
the good old days. Our family vacationed there for like 40 years
before we started going to Echo. I miss it.

I love this picture - Levi's face is adorable!

It's a good think Nick went swimming the day we got there,
because it rained for the rest of the 3 days he was there :( sad

Just chillin in the rain

Mom and Grandma after church in Big Fork (aren't they pretty?). Since it was also the July 4th weekend, there was a record 1700 people at church. It was SO packed! Needless to say, we only had sacrament meeting.

Dani and Levi were so cute with Nixon, and loved to be around him.
Dani was an especially great helper with holding him and feeding him his bottle.

I think this picture is so funny because Dad is talking to and tickling Nixon,
but it looks like he's scolding him or something.
Look at Nixon's facial expression - so funny!

My dad is such a stud. He still puts on a good slalom show for us and
he's already 56. Not old at all ;)

Tubing with the kiddos

Me, Jill and Mom enjoying the sun. It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L for
the whole 2nd half of the week we were there. Finally I could get a tan!

I'm sure I'm going to get a LOT of this expression from Nixon, "Oh come on, Mom. Get the camera out of my face already!"

Ack! How cute are baby flip flops!?!

Nixon's first time in the water
(Yeah I know, it looks like Nixon is loving the sun.)

Even though we had a working shower, Jill thought it would be fun
to "bathe" in the lake. Ha ha good times :)

Visitors and Nixon's Blessing

At the end of June our friends, Cam & Sheri Watkins, flew up from Arizona to spend the weekend with us and be there for Nixon's blessing. It was so much fun to have them stay at our house - can't believe it's already been 10 months since Nick and I flew to Virginia for their wedding! We had fun shopping, watching movies, playing soccer (Sheri and I were totally hardcore by the way...) and just chatting. Nick and Cam also went "fishing" and to the driving range and Sheri and I got pedicures. So much fun! We are so grateful they made the trip to see us, and we can't wait to hang out again when we go to Phoenix in November. Unfortunately I'm a total lame-o and only got one picture of the four of us.

My parents, and my sister's family also came up for the blessing so we had a pretty full house. Nick and I are really lucky to have most of his family and so many friends that live close by and a lot of them came to church for Nixon's blessing and then over to our house for lunch. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and just have a relaxing afternoon hanging out in our backyard, especially on such a sunny day. So thanks everyone for coming, and for supporting Nixon. We love you!

We took this right before church, and of course Nixon had to barf

all over himself and his white outfit. Typical.

All of the men that were in the circle

L-R: Melvin, Jeremy, Ryan, Nick, my Dad, Cam, Mike, Ben and Albert

Sheri, Cam, Jill & Nixon, Tami, Mike, Kyle and Robin

Sarah, Mitch and Ben

G & G Famulak, Alysha, Bryan, Nick's Dad - Neil, Uncle Jeff and Tyler

Bennett, Kay, Jeremy, Paige & Ty

Auntie Ann & Nixon and my Mom

Uncle Brad & Jaylin, Sharon, Kyla,

Nick's Mom-Teressa & Nixon and Nick's cousin

Cute little Parley is going to be one of Nixon's BFFs

Nixon and Ty (who is one week older)

are going to be best buddies, right Paige?

(I love this picture because Nixon just looks so chill with his collard shirt and his hand looks like it's casually in his pocket.

ha ha.... so funny!)

Family Pictures

Here's just a teaser....(I'm not posting the best ones until I get them printed off and framed for my house). When my sister Jill was up in Edmonton, she took these family pictures for us. Nick's family hadn't gotten an updated family picture in over 8 years, so I was really excited to get these done. I think they turned out pretty good - even though Jill made me do all the editing myself and I'd never used her program before. For those of you that know your stuff, don't judge me too harshly! Enjoy.

Bryan, Neil and Nick

Alysha, Teressa, Nixon and Carrie

Nick & Carrie and Nixon

Nick's parents - Neil & Teressa

Alysha & her boyfriend, Tyler

Alysha

Bryan

My favorite group family pose

Saskatchewan Wedding

Nick's cousin, Kaitlyn got married on June 19th, so we made the road trip over there to support them and celebrate with all of Nick's extended family. I was finally able to meet some of Nick's favorite cousins, and get to know some of his other relatives better. It was a beautiful day and everything went well. We got our first family picture of the three of us, and I love it. Everyone thought Nixon was adorable in his cute outfit and mini tie (even though it was still huge on him).

The wedding party during the ceremony

The happy couple: Kaitlyn & Bryan

Nick & Nixon outside the church after the wedding

Nixon striking a pose

Alysha & Tyler at the reception

The maid of honor Kalli and her sister Kaitlyn the bride

Grandma Teressa with Nixon and Grandma Irene with Sabine

Vincent was so cute, always wanting to hold Nixon and be his buddy

Bryan, Joey and Nick at the reception

Our little family at the end of the night with one

tuckered out little boy

One night at the motel I looked down at Nixon while feeding him his bottle, and this is what I saw. Interesting...

I bought this cute outfit a couple years ago, and I love it so much because it's Africa! Nixon wore this the day after the wedding to a family brunch / birthday breakfast for Teressa

with all of Nick's "Calgary cousins"

Bryan, Lisa, Sabine, us, Irene, Kristin, Julie, Thomas, Joey, Jack

Nick's parents, Neil & Teressa.

It was also Teressa's 50th birthday that day