Hamblins in California

Matthew turns 3! John, Mary and the kids brought Grandma out for a visit to California to visit Paula and where the Hamblins grew up. Matthew chose the dinosaur cake pan but when the cake was baked he wanted it to be a dog instead! I told him it was a dog and his ears got frozen off in a bad winter.

Ready to blow out candles. We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Rice's because they have a bigger house than Paula.

Lighting the candles.

Opening presents. Aunt Paula gave him a huge jumping spider.

John Mohon talking to Mary and Grandma Rice.

Camping in the Sequoias with everyone. We brought our camp trailer and all of the Hamblins borrowed camping stuff from Cousin Ted Hatch.

Teara and the back of Liz who paid her own way out for a visit.

This is Nero Stump that has been around sincwe 1908. The inside was hallow and the kids loved climbing it over and over.

A bridge made out a sequoia log.

See how huge the tree is?

A stump with most all of the kids. There was 19 of us camping in 2 campsites. The camps were across the tiny creek from each other.

This is the room in the tree. It was drilled out by some loggers and you could probably fit about 30 people inside. Dane, Liz and Teara posing for me. It was a 3/4 mile hike up hill that all of us hiked. The tree is still living and the walls are about 3 feet thick. It was warm outside but very cool inside the tree.

We found the hidden Falls and played in the water. It was very cold.

The water went across the road on a cement bridge/dam. It was fun to walk across the cold kind of slippery surface after being dirty from camping.

This is Shay after he jumped off of the 20 foot cliff into the freezing water.

Locey and Shay were the only brave ones up to this point of jumping off the cliff.

Todd and John looking up at the cliff of those jumping and deciding if they will do it or not.

Teara and Liz looking down the cliff seeing how high it really is.

Paula jumps and shows them how. Teara, Liz and even Skyla jump off the cliff.

Shay and Locey repeatedly jump and Locey climbs up the face of the cliff and the others follow a trail through the woods.

Todd jumps!

John jumps! What cool DADS!

What a wonderful time we had with the relatives in California. I forgot my camera when we went to Avila Beach. The ocean was really cold too but boy all of the kids and Dad's went body surfing for hours.

We camped at Frazier Mill that was FREE! It probably is one of my most favorite campouts yet to date. Todd and his family camped there all of the time when they were kids and now the grandkids know how fun it is too. I never saw so many little boys just love playing in the dirt! The campsite was cool and green with hardly any sunshine getting through. It got chilly at night but we had good food, good entertainment and good conversation. It will be remembered for years to come.

Thanks John and Mary for bringing Grandma and all of your kids! Liz what an ambitious girl to earn your money and come too! We sure love all of you and we look forward to next year at the Mackley reunion.

Watts Party and Ward Campout

Spent the day at Sand Harbor on a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky and the clearest water.

Devree floating around in our big innertube.

Dane eating his watermelon with gusto!

I floated around on the innertube on my belly and was seeing all of the little minnows and how beautiful and clear the water was. All of a sudden a man was swimming right under my tube! It scared me and then I realized it was just Manny and Noble playing a trick on me. It was Manny and I didn't recognize him!

We came home from the Lake and had a "Welcome Home Watt's" party at our house. The Watt's are a family that served with Todd in the Bishopric and went to Mexico to teach for 1 year. This is Leslie, Stephanie, Connie and Emma.

Todd talking to Dan and Hallie.

Me captured with Stephen and Brady at the bar.

Beth came and met the Watt's. Beth started the missionary discussions that Friday.

Devree with Elena. They are both avid readers. We shared notes about books we liked.

Krista holding Chiara with Leslie but Sariah doesn't want her picture taken.

Dave, Karl, Todd and Mark having a conversation.

Chiara having some crackers.

We had the Ward campout at Davis Creek. I was teaching the kids camp songs before our real campfire started.

We had a really good campfire program.

Brother Sonnerholm put some interesting things on the fire to turn it different colors.

The Young Women lead some silly songs with Amber, Devree and Kennidy.

The ward campout was really wonderful with so many families that came. It was very fun and we hope our ward has one next year. We left Saturday morning right after the breakfast to go to California to meet John, Mary, kids and Grandma Hamblin.

Devree's 16th Birthday!

Devree blew out all of her 16 candles and that means she is cheering that she has "no boyfriends".
We visited Sister Day in our ward. She is 97 years old and in a rest home now. Noble and Shay blessed and gave her the sacrament and then she asked for a blessing and we visited a bit.
We went to the fountains at Sparks Cinema to play in the water.

Noble and Dane messing around.

Shay messing around.

A close up of the big dead tree and Shay climbing it. He is going to put the rope around the branch facing forward so we can break it off for firewood. Eventually after 2 days of hanging on the rope with Noble. The huge branch finally came down and miraculously no one got a concussion.

There was a big dead tree that was a challenge to climb and kept the boys entertained.

Dane the hero who was hiking ahead on our 4 mile hike.

Shay on our 4 mile hike where we never found the lake to swim in.

Breakfast in bed for the 16 year old!

Devree is a big fan of "Hoops and Yoyo" cards that talk and sing silly things. This one is about "A dingo ate your birthday cake".

Devree's gift was Sims 3 Adventures or something like that. She is a big Sims fan.

Todd with his close eyed smile happy to be camping.

The 3 boys swimming in the "snow melt" kind of water.

Todd setting up the water bottle rockets.

The boys found a log to have lots of fun with.

Devree requested a carrot cake that we made in the dutch oven over the fire.

Noble got ordained an Elder today by Todd. The fourth of July will have much remembrance now.

We were able to see the fireworks last night in Virginia City. We saw it with the Olsons and I forgot to take even one picture. It was a great show and I loved how the church bells played patriotic songs throughout. It was probably one of the best fireworks display we have seen in a long time. This week was a fun filled, birthday filled and becoming an Elder filled week. This summer has been packed with lots of activities already. But still more adventures to come. We hope your summer has been fun filled too.