Shoes, shoes, shoes...

One of Olivia's favorite things to do is try on Mommy and Daddy's shoes and walk around the house with them. She's getting pretty good, even with Mom's high heels, which is no small feet.

Reunion Reminiscing

The first official Gary and Pam Monson reunion was this summer at Snowbird Ski Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon and it was so beautiful! The cousins were assigned a secret person to give a little gift to each day. That first evening, the kids decorated their secret cousin boxes. Olivia and Caleb really got into it. "Okay, let's see, what can I chew - paper, stickers, ahh...crayons and glue - nice!"



So there was quite a lot of boasting about who could do the most flips on the bungee trampoline. Never found out who won, though a few lost their dinners. Good times.


The kids had a ball in the blow up castle. It was funny watching Caleb and Livvy try to walk in there. Little unstable on the feet.

This was the spectacular view from the aerial tram. It takes you from the bottom, up tens of thousands of feet (can't remember exactly how high). It is gorgeous. Some of us (not me) saw some moose on the way up. Moose seem to evade me - being from Alberta, you'd think I might have seen a few but I always seem to miss them. We live in a beautiful part of the world don't we?

Here's the view from the top. We get out and hang around for about 15 min., then it takes us back down. So pretty!

Bit windy at the top eh?

Rob fell off of the cliff and was just hanging on by his fingernails. Phew ... close call:)

Races were held in the hallways of the resort hotel. You can see how much fun Tyson is having. He really had been looking forward to it for a couple of months.

With a large group, you often find those times where a random game of duck, duck, goose comes in handy. At this point Livvy had a stomach virus and had been throwing everything up. She's not too happy about the duck game.

As nature has it, families share those wonderful germs and we all ended up spending a good amount of time in this room - thought we should include it:)

Used just a couple of towels.

All in all it was a fantastic first Monson reunion, with many more to come. The boys get to plan the next one - so we're excited to see what they come up with:)

Happy Fourth!

Fourth of July parade, down town Provo. This was the facial expression for most of it - not sure what to think about the canons and motorcycles. Loved the dog that sat right beside us, and of course, the rocks.



Only in Provo, Utah. The missionaries are in the parade behind Rob and Olivia. They were shouting, "Hurrah for Israel!!" You've just got to love the missionaries!

Scripture Power

This is the cutest video of Livvy reading the scriptures. When she's pretending to read she says, "bu da budah bu da da baa." I can always tell when she's reading a book, it's hilarious. Something interesting too - she has destroyed parts of many of her books, but she is always really careful with the scriptures. She knows they're special, it's really sweet.

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Kevin finally found his one and only (who's name happens to also be Jaime - which means the name Jaime Monson will still live on:)), so we hopped into the car and drove from Utah to Texas like crazy people to celebrate his happy day. At his family luncheon we had catered Rudy's BBQ - the best bbq in the world. We are so happy for Kev and Jaime. They make a perfect match!

In front of the Dallas temple with the newly weds. Congratulations Kevin and Jaime!

Livvy and Great Grandma Cahoon. Grandma is such a trooper. She has a gazillion grandkids and still makes it to their weddings. She has always been such a tremendous example of putting family first. It's understandable why the Cahoons are such a tight knit group. We love this lady!


Now that is a happy man. He should be - Jaime is a fantastic girl. We are thrilled to welcome her to the Monson clan. Jaime, good luck taking care of his rose smelling hockey equipment.


While in Texas we got to see some of our old buddies from Austin times. Trent and Jamie Bates, friends from the Shoal Creek ward, let us crash their house for a night. As you can see, lots of love.


Loved the dolphins! One actually jumped right up and almost touched Livvy. She was fascinated, though that was a bit too close for comfort!

Sea World was a great time. I forgot how hot and humid it is in Texas!! Livvy had a blast trying to drink as much water as humanly possible.

Can't go to Sea World without a picture of Shamu!

So Livvy does this thing where we ask her "Where's your happies?" Arms go up in the air, big smile appears on her face - this happens even when she's really sad. She takes a break from her sadness, shows her happies, then continues her sads. It's pretty funny.


After a hellish trip from Texas to Arizona with Livvy screaming in the back for the last couple of hours (she did pretty terrific during the trip overall considering the number of hours we spent in the car), this is how we felt. Never had a home look more inviting than Mom and Dad Martinsen's that day.


Livvy was so ecstatic to be out of the car and so happy to be with her Arizona family. In this video she's running from Great Grandma Martinsen to Grandpa Martinsen. So fun to be here.

Nothin' but her diaper, playing for hours with Grandpa and Brutus in the backyard, this is the life!


Feeding the goats with Grandpa. Livvy loves animals, so she had a hay day with goats, dogs, chickens, roosters, and horses. It was a little piece of heaven, especially after spending so much time cooped up in a car seat!


Snuggling up with Uncle Brad.

Little Fishies

Swimming lessons - well actually just getting used to the water lessons. We took them in Orem at the rec center with Paka and Dhiren. Once in a while the guys filled in. It was humorous to see them bobbing up and down in circles singing "Once there was a snowman."


Livvy was so timid of the water the first couple of times and just clung to my neck. Then Rob went with her and dunked her several times and she was cured. She loves swimming now. Go Rob!

With our lovely instructor.

Such great daddies! I think they're having more fun than the babies.

Okay just thought I'd throw this picture in to tie with the whole swimming theme. Paka and I have been trying to get together once a week for playgroup. They really love the baby swimming pool, though it's all I can do to get Livvy to not guzzle down the water:)

Bikes and Bread

First bike ride! Our neighbor has this cool contraption that sits on the front of the bike. Livvy loved it, except of course for the pesky helmet!

Poor kid. That helmet looks painful.

At the duck pond just south of campus. We let Livvy feed the ducks which she did happily until she started just eating the bread herself. Lunchtime.