Boys will be boys

Every year since the beginning of time there was one thing I could count on every year: the annual Orme Brothers Hike. My dad and uncles shed their CIO/Architect clothing and transformed into mountainmen. As each boy cousing hit the age of 11 they got to undergo the rite of passage into manhood and join on those hikes. Gathering the troops for this hike has gotten progressively more difficult as the cousins have become fathers themselves, had children, gotten jobs and all the other good stuff that comes  with getting old. This year things largely fizzled out but my dad wasn't going down without fighting so he put together a quick camping trip and got Junior, Jon, and Tyler to join in. Since it was a campout with day hikes rather than the usual strenuous backpacking trip I put in a plug to see if the age marker could be lowered so Brayden and Tavita could join. All graciously agreed and two weeks ago they loaded the cars and drove up to the beautiful mountains of AZ. And yes, there are beautiful, green, mountains here believe it or not. So what do the men do when away from the women? Well here ya go:

They had fires, fires and more fires

 Caught lots of snakes

 Kissed a few of them

 Dug around in the marshy grass for.....

 Crawdads!!!

 Opps, this slipped in out of order but they fished

 Gotta eat what ya catch!

 If you aren't gonna eat it, better release it back into the water!

 The got stuck in the rain and made a poor, wet, little boy hike back to camp

 Played "Chubby Bunny"

 When the uncles declared they could fit no more, Brayden and Vita made sure they got a few more in!

 Taking breaks was not allowed.

 Grandpa won two contest: 1. Chubby Bunny    2. Best faces caught on camera

 It's gonna explode!!!

 Back in ya go!

 VICTORY!!!!

Off course, it wouldn't be my dad if he let anything go to waste, so he roasted the remains. DISGUSTING!

They caught bugs

Went fishing

Saw a hawks nest

Went "cliff jumping". Brayden't comment after

coming out of the water:

"Camping is awesome!!!

Tavita is indeed jumping into the water,

 not standing in it.

Good shot Grandpa!

Lots of hiking!

 

Who says AZ isn't pretty?

What do the women do while the men are away?

We Shop!

Make silly faces!

Eat chocolate!

and though we enjoy our beds, we kinda

 wish we were here with them!

SOOOOO grateful that I have an awesome husband, dad, and brothers that help make such great memories for my kids.

Saying Goodbye

June 3, 2012 marks one of the sadddest, most tear filled days for our family. It was the day we said farewell to our lovely 1st home and our DEAR friends. There were tears all morning, the whole drive down to Arizona, all night, ahh heck, there are still tears from time to time now. The house represented so much of what shaped us into a family. We learned so much physically and emotionally from that house. We worked ourselves (and many others) to the bone to create something we came to cherish. It is where we watched our babies turn to little people, 1st words were spoken, 1st steps taken, 1st days of school, and countless other firsts. The walls were truly filled with laughter, chaos, and love. The doors were opened by countless little hands eager to join my kiddos in their own little world of endless imagination. Some of my favorite times in that home were when the walls were shaking from 10-15 kids running around We created lifelong friendships with people we have come to love as deeply as our own family. They acted as grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins to our children. The children were our kids best friends. The adults our best friends. We "shopped" in each others kitchens, stole tools out of each others garages, kept an eye on eachothers houses, celebrated each others triumphs and milemarkers and shouldered each other through hard times. The neighborhood was the definition of what a true neighborhood should be. We know we have made the right move but it is still VERY hard. I would give anything to have a good wall-shaking, floor-rattling, ear-piercing house full of kids again. We will always deeply cherish our time in Utah and hope that sometime soon we can be in a neighborhood at least half as cool! This picture defines two the two things I miss the most: 1. LOADS of kids (and all thier awesome parents. No this is not a party of any sort, just a typical day. 2. The beautiful view out our front window

The Monday before we left we got to have one last Memorial Day BBQ with all of our favorite people

Kalei with her pal "JetJet"

We all like John pretty well, but apparently he thinks differently of us!

The Shorts. These guys were as good as siblings (for some reason didn't get a picture of Jeremy, Jandi and little Mattson)

Showing their true colors

There's no telling how much trouble these 4 made together.

The other set of "siblings", the Halls

Again I failed to get Erin and Luke but we have a shot of Erin's arms when she graciously added Taiven.

Some of the neighborhood gang. Missing the Goods and many others.

Lil John, the boys idol!

Our dear friends the Mcilmoils.

With "Sister Beesey" The kids surrogate grandma, one of my best friends and mentor.

Our 1st home (and no, you will probably never get a good picture of the Shum family, accept it!)

The kids trying to figure out what in the world the movers thought they were doing with our stuff.

Many hours were spent in this tree at the local park.

Going for a final ride down the Beasley's driveway.

Went out for some ice cream with the Halls, Shorts, and Beasleys.

Brayden and Carson trying to figure out how they're going to conquer the world from long distance

We were lucky enough to catch Carson's baptism right before we left. What a neat experience.

After a heart-wrenching sacrament meeting, we hit the road and this is what it looked like most of the way down. The boys cried plenty too, they just put their tough faces on for the camera.

Lest you all thimk we're sitting around moping, here's some smiling face in front of our new house!