Quick trip to see the Mantei's

July 2 - 7, 2014

Blake does not have much time off work this year, and knew he would not be able to go to the Chambers Reunion, so he would not see Cindy and her family.  We got to thinking that since he would have July 4th off, he might be able to swing a trip to Michigan.  So, we flew out of Idaho Falls on July 2nd and arrived in South Bend, Indiana in time to see Cindy for a few minutes on her birthday.  We packed a lot of fun into those few days, of course including a dinner at Silver Beach Pizza. Here are some pictures of some of the fun.

Stormy always gets way excited when Blake comes to visit, and the cats always seem to find a time to jump up on him.  We thought it was funny how Cindy puts Stormy to bed.

Cindy and Sydney took us to Stover U-Pick farm to pick some red and black raspberries, blueberries and cherries.  We also went to their little market and bought some yummy cherry butter, about 3 different kinds of salsa and a blueberry pie.  We enjoyed the fruits of our labors the whole time we were there.

Cindy and I in our 4th of July attire, actually any day is a superman day for Cindy.

While we were waiting for our turn at the Sagautuck Dune Rides, we went to a flea market, it turned into a perfect place to take some pictures.  Syd is so cute and loves to pose for pictures, I love spending time with her.  I think the picture of the three of them all looking down is funny, it looks like maybe they don't trust the bench.  

Here we are on the Sagautuck Dune Ride.  I didn't get to go on it last summer because Annie was too young, so I stayed with her.  It was really fun, I liked it a lot.  We went really fast up and down the dunes and stopped and looked out over the lake. 

Blake found some antique farm equipment at the flea market.  Cindy and I got silly eating cherries out on her swing.

We found three frogs in the window well, Syd was very entertained with them, actually we all were.  She named them Alexander, Bay and Neal.

Cindy and Blake were able to play some good tennis. Ken came and played one day after he finished a workout on the track. I was a great spectator and picture taker.

We went fishing a couple of different times in different places, but did not catch any fish. Some people had built a fire and then left it burning.  Ken pushed the larger pieces of logs into the river, then Cindy and Blake used a plastic garbage bag to finish putting it out.

We went for a walk at Silver Beach down the pier. It was very windy, but fun to be out on the pier closer to the lighthouses.

Thanks Cindy, Ken and Sydney for the fun time!

Chambers Reunion 2014

June 16-22, 2014
St. George, Utah - North Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Suzanne was in charge of the reunion this time, she found a house in St. George that was perfect.  The Purcell's were kind of scarce at this reunion.  Cindy, Ken and Sydney came and they thought that Courtney and I were going to be the only other Purcells, but a week before, Randy decided he could make it, so we decided to surprise the Mantei's. 

Randy, Courtney and I left Blackfoot about 7:30 am on Monday, June 16th. We stopped for lunch in Orem, then made our way to St. George.  I had a nice place to put my legs up in the car.  This is the living room/kitchen/dining room of the house in St. George.  I got to meet Michael Cook, Michelle and Adam's little boy for the first time.

On Tuesday, the 17th those of us that were in St. George loaded up and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were so surprised to see buffalo and go through mountains and trees on our way there. This is where we met up with Cindy's family and surprised her with Randy being there.  It was very windy as you can see by my mom's hair! Some of the family went on a little hike down the canyon a little ways.

We stayed in these little cabins Tuesday night.  They were very rustic, and small, but kind of fun.  Some of us watched the sunset over the canyon.  It was very pretty.

There was a beautiful lodge where those that weren't hiking waited.  Courtney tried out the top bunk, but things changed with some of the sleeping arrangements so she ended up in a queen bed with Randy instead.  The winds died down by Wednesday morning.  The canyon was amazing. 

Later Wednesday morning, we headed back to St. George. Everyone loved the pool, and basking in the sun.

There was a separate building that had a basketball court and other games.  There was a huge back yard with a trampoline and fire pit. Of course, there was a lot of basketball played, and ultimate Frisbee and marshmallows roasted.

There were a lot of games played at the kitchen table. There was a pool table, too. And with 41 of us staying in the house, there was a lot of cooking. Each family had 1 meal, so it wasn't too hard on anyone.  The house had 7 bedrooms, so since Blake wasn't there, I found a little nook for my bedroom.  I decided that I wanted a little bit of privacy, so I brought up these cardboard film characters from the media room.  It worked out really well, and no one had to share a room with me and my snoring.  Suz and Courtney thought it was funny that they were twins!  Some of the family went to Zion's National Park on Thursday, and on another hike on Saturday.  It was nice that those that wanted to could just stay at the house and relax by the pool or in the nice air conditioned house.

On Friday morning Mom, Dad, Lynne, Rob and I went to the St. George Temple. It was very beautiful.

Friday night we took some group pictures.  There were 41 in the big group picture, there could have been 52!  

It isn't very often that Mom and Dad have all their kids together, so we took one of us! Lynne, Randy, Tricia and Shauna on the back row, me, Mom, Dad and Suzanne in the front.

 The Purcell's represented were, Ken, Sydney, Randy, Cindy, me and Courtney. (We were missing Blake, Brian, Celia, Maden, Annie, Jared and Nikelle.)  

Kelsey, Travis, Mylee, Randy, Julie, Colton, Chelsey, Skylar and Matt were there from Randy and Julie's family.  (They were missing Tyson, Carli and Tanner.) 

 The Terry Family was all there, Logan, Nikki, Troy and Shauna. 

The Leifsons were missing Dallin. But, Joseph, Jackie, Ryan, Rob, Lynne, Samuel, Adam, Michael and Michelle were all there. 

All of the Taylors were there, Branson, Carter, Stefi, Suzanne, Alexis, Troy and Adam. 

 Richard, Zoie, Tricia and Corbin are all of the Murdocks. 

After the pictures we had an "untalent" show. After the show, we wrote letters to our two missionaries Tanner and Dallin.

The "untalents" were varied and fun.  Mom and Dad did a couple of silly boy scout skits. Cindy and her brothers came up with some "you might be a Chambers Grandkid if" sayings, it was very fun to hear all their funny/serious/silly ideas.  Randy and Julie did a spoof of a crossfit workout, they even involved Ken, the crossfit king, it was hilarious!  Shauna's family did some jousting with Shauna and Troy as the newscasters, very cute!

Lynne's family sat on an invisible bench till Lynne told them she'd move the bench, so funny. Suz's family did synchronized "swimming".  They are amazing.  Richard juggled three different sized balls, that was fantastic.  We decided we are all very "untalented"!

Randy and Courtney left early Saturday morning, then the Mantei's and the Murdocks left on Saturday afternoon to catch their flights home. The Terry's left about 9 Sunday morning. The rest of us went to the temple grounds and to Sacrament Meeting, then started the trek home.  It was a great reunion, with a wonderful house and lots of fun. We definitely made some memories! Thanks Suzanne for all you hard work! It was great!

New Screen Door

June 13, 2014

Ever since we put new windows in the house, I've wanted to update the screen door. We bought a really nice one that the screen rolls up when you are not using it.  It looks really nice, I love it!

As usual, I did not get a before picture! It was nice to have Randy's help installing it.

It took a couple of hours to get it in, they said they could do another one in half the time now.  

Sister Suzie

June 11 and 12

My sister Suzanne Taylor and three of her kids, Branson, Carter and Stefi came to Idaho from Greenville, SC to for a few days. It's always fun to see her/them! 

They had never met Nikelle, so Jared brought her down to introduce her to more of her new family.  Branson is sooo tall, he's 6'5" and 13 years old! We had dinner, then played outside, Nikelle showed Stefi her clogging skills. 

The next day, we went to dinner at Randy and Julie's, then became tourists at the "Idaho Falls".  Branson is so tall, he actually covers up the temple! There were some things along the banks of the river I had never seen before.

Robins

May and June 2014
For some silly reason a robin decided to build a nest on the brick ledge on our front porch, it was pretty fun to watch the progress of the nest, eggs and birds.  Here are pictures day by day.

Every day it looks like the eggs have been stirred and mixed up.

The first bird hatched.

Now there are 2.

Three

Four

We never really saw the Mama, she would fly off when we'd open the front door.

Pretty ugly.

I was out of town on June 2nd, so no pictures.

I guess they got too big and kicked one out.

On June 9th, the nest was empty, we think we spotted at least 2 of them in the flowers and on the lawn.