The Homestead

We went on a little cabin retreat to my sister-in-law's family cabin--what we lovingly refer to as "The Homestead." It's about 30 miles east of Show Low and just about the most gorgeous place you can imagine. The weather was nice and cool and we enjoyed the rain. We had a blast with Sam, Jennie, Paul, Anna, Jason, and the kids.

Jack was so excited to be "camping" that the first morning there, he ventured out in his slippers through the mud to go play on a golf cart...unaided. It took us about 5 minutes to find him once we realized he wasn't in the cabin.

We climbed to the top of a forest ranger's tower on Green's Peak and had an awesome view. It was a little foggy, though, so the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Thanks Tingey family for letting us crash your awesome cabin!

Photos by Jack

A couple of days ago, I had a really exhausting afternoon. We got home from running a bunch of errands and I desperately needed a nap. I asked Jack very nicely if he would please let me sleep for 20 minutes alone in my room. Much to my surprise, he left me alone and I got a nap! It was a miracle. Anyway, when I woke up, I found my camera out of the case and 52 beautiful, blurry pictures on it. Funny kid. These are some of my favorites:

Love the little toes at the bottom.

I thought this one of my sewing machine was pretty artsy.

I think the best part is that he took pictures in almost every room of the house. I think we've got a new hobby-in-the-making!

I Love A Cookin' Man

Tonight, Ty took the task of dinner all on himself. He made grilled green chili chicken sandwiches with grilled veggies. It was amazing. Why don't I let him do this more often?

Looking at this close-up seriously makes my mouth water.

Jack approved, too.

Son of a Page Boy

Last night at dinner, we we were all comparing our summer tans. I asked Jack, "What color is your skin?"

He thought really hard for a second and then answered, "Rez."

Camping Excursion in Pine

This weekend we headed up to Pine to get away from the 110+ temperatures we've been having. It was actually kind of funny because as soon as we got there it started pouring rain and within 15 minutes we were freezing! I did a horrible job of packing and forgot jackets for both me and Ty. Oops.

We played in the truck at our campsite for about 2 hours until the rain subsided. Just then, Papa arrived and about 10 minutes later, Cody and JoEllen's family arrived.

We had a great time and got to use our camp chef for dinner and breakfast. There's nothing like a warm meal when you're freezing.

Papa and Jack

Jack and Ethan

Ethan, Jack, and Gavin: These three little boys did great at keeping each other entertained. They dug in the dirt, played hide-and-seek, and searched for animal droppings...you know, typical boy activities.

Did I mention I forgot to pack Ty a hat? Oops again. But I redeemed myself by making this totally awesome bandana out of a dish towel.

Fishing at Potato Lake: No fish, though. Just snakes.

Papa relaxing

Cody and JoEllen brought their badminton set, so we had to have a little competition. The consensus was that JoEllen and I are awesome at this game.

We got home to a lovely 92 degree house. Needless to say, we spent the evening in the pool.

Hansen-Higginson Reunion

Well, we decided to go on another marathon trip! This time the destination was a family reunion in Idaho. It was a lot of driving for just 5 days, but I'm so glad we made it happen. Here's a quick recap of everything we did.

Page, AZ: We stayed the night with Ty's parents to break up the journey a bit. Jack picked apricots off Granna's tree so we could take them home and can apricot jam. Yummy!

Clifton, ID: My dad's best friend, Ron Mumford, invited us to stay the night with them on our way to the reunion. They had an awesome house out in the country and let us take their four-wheelers out.

Central, ID/Day 1 of the reunion: We all met at the Central Cemetery where my great-grandfather Charles Hansen and his wife Rachel Higginson are buried.

Mom, me, and Mike at the cemetery

Anders Hansen is my great-great-grandfather

This is the site where Anders Hansen's cabin stood. The foundation is still intact. My grandpa played here as a child.

The graves of my great-great-uncle and great-great-aunt near Lund, ID. My mom and uncle Ron found this site last summer. All they knew was that they were buried near Lund and that four redwood posts marked the graves. They used a picture of these posts taken in 1964 and lined up the view of the mountains until they came to a spot with four redwood posts knocked over in the weeds. Uncle Ron just had this headstone made and grave site dedicated.

A shot of the Lund Cemetery

Me and Mom with Uncle Norman. Norman is my Grandpa Hansen's younger half-brother. Soon after Rachel died in childbirth, Charles Hansen remarried Clara Plant and nine months later Norman was born. I had never met Norman before and it just gave me chills to meet him and put my arms around him. He reminded me so much of my Grandpa Hansen that has been gone for 12 years.

Audrey and Jack playing

Hatch, ID/Day 2 of the reunion: We focused on Rachel Higginson's history, starting with a visit to the Hatch School in the town where Rachel lived. The school was built in 1915.

This cabin is where my great-great-grandma Sophia (Rachel's mother) lived. It was originally located about a mile away from this site. Rachel was born in this cabin, and it was only after Sophia had her ninth child that the family built and moved into a bigger home.

Dad, Mike, "Uncle" Roy Hatch, Me, and Mom: This is a cool story. Roy is distantly related to my mom. We met him because his family now owns the property where Sophia's cabin stands. While my dad was talking to him, we discovered that Roy is my dad's first cousin once removed. How awesome is that? He was telling my dad memories of Marvin playing here in the summers. It just sent chills down my spine...

Maybe that's why my family is so strange...

This is the cabin of my great-great-great-grandma Christina Young (Sophia's mother), who was a stowaway on a ship from Scotland to America. She came across the plains and settled in Idaho.

The inside of Christina's cabin. The green paint is original.

Chesterfield, ID: This old town has been restored to what it would have looked like in the early 1900's. Rachel Higginson lived here for some time.

This is Charles Higginson's house (Rachel's uncle). The house has been completely restored.

My great-grandma Rachel's blessing dress. All of her siblings were blessed in it, too.

A picture of Christina hanging in the house.

Lava, ID: We stayed the night in this fun little resort town before heading back to Utah. We got to take a dip in some natural hot springs, too.

Story time: While in Lava, Ty convinced my dad and I to "float" the river with him. My only stipulation was that I did not get my hair wet. We were totally unprepared... Within two minutes, I was completely soaked. We continued down the rapids for about 20 minutes, getting scraped and banged up in the shallow rocks. We gave up and bailed out of our tubes because we were just not having fun. My dad sustained the worst of the injuries, as seen below:

Temple Square, UT: Jack loved seeing the temple and the Christus.

Lehi, UT: We got to stay a night with Andrea and Zach's family. It had been eight months since Jack had seen Savannah, Quinn, and Josie. The kids had so much fun playing together and Jack stayed up way too late. We miss the days when we lived close by and played with the Taylor's all the time.