Mortenson Family Easter Party

My little divas, all ready to head up to their cousins' house for some Easter fun!!

 

 

We went up to Darron and Ann's today for a big family Easter dinner and party.

The kiddos had so much fun playing games, hunting for eggs, and spending time with their cousins!

 

Thanks Darron & Ann for hosting!

We had a great time!

Happy Easter!

..::Christmas 2012: At Grandma & Grandpa's::..

The festivities started off by heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's on Friday (the 21st) after Kevin got off work.  The kids' highlight that night, getting up on the top bunk in the spare room!

 

The next morning, we took the kids to a nearby park to feed the ducks while Kevin went mountain biking with his brothers.  I think he may have been wishing after the fact that he would have chosen the ducks over the bikes! :-)

 

Barrett was equally enthralled by this little stream/waterfall as he was by the ducks!

 

Tender!

Barrett was Grandpa's little shadow while we were visiting!

 

And Payton was Uncle David's little shadow. I'm sure he loved it!

 

Later that afternoon (the 22nd), we went to the park so the boys could play football and the kiddos could play.

 

Alexa and Ainsley wanted to do a photoshoot!

A number of times during our visit, we would find Payton like this: 

 

All ready for bed after a fun tub with cousins!

 

Oh, there's Payton with Uncle David again...surprise, surprise!

 

Sunday morning, we awoke to Payton having pinkeye!  Actually, it was during the night that she woke up and couldn't open her eyes...so in the morning, everyone else got ready for church while I stayed at home with Payton and Barrett.  And after Uncle Duane had called in a prescription for Payton's poor little eyes!

 

That evening, we went to the Mesa Temple to see all the Christmas lights.

 

The kids loved the reflecting pond.

 

And I was even able to meet up with a dear old friend, Krista, from back in my Calgary days.  It's crazy how much time has passed since I last saw Krista, but it was just like we were teenagers again!

 

Christmas Eve was our big Mortenson Family Gathering.  Everyone started showing up in the morning to play games.

 

Then we had a program.

 

Barrett continued to be Grandpa's little buddy!

 

As decent of a family picture as we could get!

 

This is what having too much fun and not getting enough sleep for several nights in a row ends up looking like!!  Now it's back home to get ready for our own little Christmas!

Mortenson Family Campout 2012

It's that time of year again...time to go camping! (MY personal favorite time of the year...no sarcasm whatsoever!!!)  However, my sweet Mister LOVES camping, as do my kiddos, so it's a small sacrifice on my part!! :-)

 

Alexa and Barrett look ready to start our camp out, don't ya think??!!!

 

 

We went up to the Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon this year and it was a great campsite.  Spots for 6 or 7 tents, a campfire area and a covered eating area, complete with electricity.  Oh and separate bathrooms for each campsite so we didn't have to share with any other families.  It was great!!

 

The kiddos had fun playing t-ball with Grampa!

 

They always love to spend time with Gramma and Grampa!

 

The "Triple A" cousins all born the same year (Alexa, Ainsley and Amelia)...such cute girls.

 

Can you believe they used to be THIS...???

(can you tell which one is Alexa??? oh my...I sure make squishy babies!!)

 

We had fun roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

But even more fun eating them!!! 

 

Barrett's favorite spot was the van...he wanted to play in it constantly!!

We went on a little bit of a hike the 2nd day...and Barrett even got to go, had the best seat in the house in fact!! 

The treacherous mountain terrain was worth these views...my handsome Mister AND the landscape!! :-)

Alexa chose to stay back at camp to play with cousins so this is our family picture from the hike.

We realized while we were up there, that ALL of the Mortenson siblings made the trek...several cousins and spouses had stayed back at camp, but all of the actual siblings were there so it was definitely picture time!

This little guy just loved being outdoors...sure wish this picture had been in focus cuz he's one handsome little dude!  Man, I love this boy!!

 

And this little lady was beyond infatuated with her new baby cousin, McKinley.  She'd been dying to hold her the whole weekend and was so happy when she finally got the chance!!

Grampa and Gramma with all their grand kids...what a cute, lovable, crazy bunch!

Thanks to all who made this a great campout...looking forward to next year!!