Vacation Time with the Harmon's

We were really excited when we found out we had the same fall break as the Harmon's AND when they invited us to join them in San Diego.  They have a beach house about a mile from the beach which is awesome.  We rented the unit next to theirs for 5 days.  Kiersten was so nervous and worried about missing a week of dance so after much deliberation we decided to let her stay home.  Grandma Boswell stayed with her at night and took care of getting her places she needed to be.  So grateful for my mom and all the many, many ways she helps me.  She even offered to keep Ella.  But there was no way because Ella LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the beach!

Grant and Carson enjoying playing together.

Oh yeah Ella was happy about being at the beach!  Our kids are beach bums.  They are more than happy to play at the beach all day long!

I love my little beach bum!

Since Kiersten decided to stay home, we thought why the heck not take another kid.  Hahaha.....well Hunter thought why not take another kid.  And since Brody is pretty much a part of the family we figured why not.

The boys would catch a wave together and then give each other high fives as they rode the wave in.  The water was FREEZING!  But our kids didn't care they just kept boogie boarding.  The Harmon kids hardly even touched the water because it was too cold.

Gosh Mr. Grant is a handsome fella!

One day we rented a catamaran and took to the ocean.

It was fun but nothing like the Carribbean...hahaha.....didn't think it would be as fun as the catamaran in Barbados.

What was fun was that the captain let the kids all take a turn driving.  And I mean he really let them play around with it a bit.  We didn't just go in a straight line.  They kids thought that was awesome!

Hunter was excited to be old enough to not have to wear a life jacket.  It's funny because he is smaller than either of these two boys.  But 13 was the age and Hunter was thrilled.

Grant having his turn at the wheel.

Ella bugging Carson

Carson isn't use to a younger sibling so some of the stuff he would say to Ella and about Ella just cracked me up.

We all enjoyed watching the seals on the bowies.

I pretty much love this couple right here!!!

They are so fun to travel with, they have never judged me and have always made my life better.  Sure lucky to have them in my life!

We had some excited boys as we began our journey at sea!

Even Ella had a try at sailing!  Looks like she is a fan.  What you don't see if that she is NOT a fan of taking orders from the captain.  Hahahaha! Good thing he was a good sport!

These two really got along on this trip and I was sure proud of how nice they treated Carson.  Logan especially had a fun time playing with Carson.

Our Family!

I sure missed Kiersten being with us.  We texted and called through out the trip.  I think she missed coming as well.

Just keep smiling right?!?

Look at this Logan kid!  He is such a funny character!  He makes thing fun.  ALL. THE. TIME.

We were quite the group when we all went out to eat together!  It was crazy but personally I loved it!

Just chilling at the beach was my favorite part of the trip!  Never gets old to me!  

Graham County Fair Time

It's fair time again....

Ella was pretty excited about the parade...

She got a cotton candy beard and everything!  Too cute!!
Ella doesn't know a stranger, she kept sitting on the indian ladies lap, who was sitting next to us.  I think the indian lady got quite the kick out of it because she kept smiling and giggling.

All the other kids were on floats in the parade, so it was just Ella and I enjoying the parade together.  Well and Ella's indian friend...hehehe!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of my kids performing but I didn't.  This is a picture of all the company dancers prior to the performance.  I love that before they perform they always get a pep talk from their teachers and they say a prayer together!  What a great tradition!  We love our dance family!

After the kids performed at the fair for dance we hit the rides.  Kind of sad that 3 of our kids are old enough to go off with friends while at the fair.  So glad I still have two littles left that need to stick by mom and dad.

Although Ella was pretty ticked that she couldn't go on the scary rides!!!  She kept telling me, "Mom I can do it!  I not scared!  Okay?"

Seriously she wanted to go on the Zipper, the Ring of Fire and the huge Swings.  And I am pretty sure if the workers at the fair would have let her, she would have.  And most likely she would have LOVE the scary rides.  I tell ya..... she is a WILD CHILD!

Enjoyed a ride on the Fairest Wheel with my love.  We might have event kissed while on it.  Much to the dismay of Mr. Grant!!  Justin often doesn't join me in taking the kids to the fair, so I was pretty happy to have him by my side tonight!

He was not impressed with our kissing.  Hahaha!

The older kids all had a great time with their friends and I believe Hunter spent $20 on Dave's Lemonade!  It is seriously some good lemonade so I understood why he would spend that much on it.  Plus Hunter hasn't drank any soda for 2 1/2 YEARS PEOPLE.  So when he wants to drink something other than his usual water I am okay with it!!!

Fun county fair!  Sure love this time of year and this sweet family of mine!

Graham County Fair Time

It's fair time again....

Ella was pretty excited about the parade...

She got a cotton candy beard and everything!  Too cute!!
Ella doesn't know a stranger, she kept sitting on the indian ladies lap, who was sitting next to us.  I think the indian lady got quite the kick out of it because she kept smiling and giggling.

All the other kids were on floats in the parade, so it was just Ella and I enjoying the parade together.  Well and Ella's indian friend...hehehe!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of my kids performing but I didn't.  This is a picture of all the company dancers prior to the performance.  I love that before they perform they always get a pep talk from their teachers and they say a prayer together!  What a great tradition!  We love our dance family!

After the kids performed at the fair for dance we hit the rides.  Kind of sad that 3 of our kids are old enough to go off with friends while at the fair.  So glad I still have two littles left that need to stick by mom and dad.

Although Ella was pretty ticked that she couldn't go on the scary rides!!!  She kept telling me, "Mom I can do it!  I not scared!  Okay?"

Seriously she wanted to go on the Zipper, the Ring of Fire and the huge Swings.  And I am pretty sure if the workers at the fair would have let her, she would have.  And most likely she would have LOVE the scary rides.  I tell ya..... she is a WILD CHILD!

Enjoyed a ride on the Fairest Wheel with my love.  We might have event kissed while on it.  Much to the dismay of Mr. Grant!!  Justin often doesn't join me in taking the kids to the fair, so I was pretty happy to have him by my side tonight!

He was not impressed with our kissing.  Hahaha!

The older kids all had a great time with their friends and I believe Hunter spent $20 on Dave's Lemonade!  It is seriously some good lemonade so I understood why he would spend that much on it.  Plus Hunter hasn't drank any soda for 2 1/2 YEARS PEOPLE.  So when he wants to drink something other than his usual water I am okay with it!!!

Fun county fair!  Sure love this time of year and this sweet family of mine!

More of Nashville

We finished off the trip in Nashville with a Shenandoah concert at the Grand Ole Opry. 

When you travel to Nashville you almost feel like you have to go to the Grand Ole Opry right?!?

We are a pretty good looking group right here!

These people are the best!  So much fun to travel with them!

The Grand Ole Opry was a lot different then I had imagined.  The artist you think you are going to see only plays two songs.  So much for listening to Shenandoah for 2 hours on our drive over to Phoenix to catch our flight...haha!  

You then watch and listen to about 13 performers that you have no idea who they are...lol!  It was fun, but just not what we expected.  Still cool to go to once.  Not sure it's something I would want to go to again.  I'd rather go to a concert of an artist I know and like.

It is live and on the air right then so it's cool to watch how they run things.

We all agree we need to go to a fun country concern still to make up for what we thought we were going to get at the Opry.  I see a fun little weekend in our future!

The next morning before our flight home we took a ride on the General Jackson showboat.  We enjoyed brunch and a show.  The music was great!  It was cool to cruise down the river and see some of the sights of Nashville!

We had one last stop before the airport.  We stopped at the Boswell Harley Davidson Motor Cycle shop.  Pretty cool and I picked up some awesome souvenirs for the kids and my dad.

We were sad to see the time go so fast on this trip but I don't think my waste line could handle much more fun!  hahaha!

Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg

We traveled 3 1/2 hours to Pigeon Forge to go to Dollywood.

Honestly we are a fun group!

The photographer said, "Okay be normal now!"  HAHAHA!

Loving this time with Justin!  Took him a day or two to get in the groove of being talkative and social but once he did he was on a roll!  I think going away as a couple once a year is a great idea!  We need time to build our relationship away from the normal stresses of life.  Thanks to my mom and our friend, Jessica Little, we were able to get away.

We had such a fun time with Lori and Justin Reed and Kanani and Blain Brown.  Funny because both those couples are good friends.  Kanani and Blain are in our ward and we are friends as well, but have never done a whole lot together.  Even though our kids are best friends......Brody Brown that we have on half of our trips is their son.  Anyway just funny how things work out.  We were sure grateful Lori and Kanani invited us to join them on this trip they had planned.  It was a great time!!!

I officially became a roller coaster rider this trip!

I now love roller coasters!

When Justin could opt to have dessert as a meal he did.  LOL!!!  Oh man he had some sugar on this trip!  Well we all did but his love of ice cream and soda really shined through!  I think he enjoyed himself from the look of that smile!

Even driving in the car is fun with these peeps right here!

It's good to scream like a school girl every now and then.  And that is exactly what I did on those roller coasters!  I feel 10 years younger now!

The park was pretty dead.  Well lots of people were there but they were all going to the shows.  We were just there to hit the roller coasters.  So we totally scored! 

Lori happened to get us a hotel room in the neighboring town of Gatlinburg.  So glad she did.  Gatlinburg is the coolest little town tucked in the Smokey Mountains!  We all fell in love with it!  I'd gladly go back there some time.  

We enjoyed exploring the town the following morning.

Neat entertainment spot that had musicians every hour of the day and night.

Pretty awesome when they have rocking chairs for you to sit in while you enjoy the music!  Gosh I loved that town!

Here is a picture of Gatlinburg from the top of the mountain.  We rode the skylight up to check out the view.

As we stopped to get gas on our way back to Nashville what does Justin do?  Run across the street to McDonalds to get himself a coke and an ice cream cone!  Bahaha....we all had a good laugh at how every time we turned around Justin was having ice cream!

Gosh this trip was just what my soul needed!  I needed to see Justin let loose and relax.  I needed to see that we can fit in with other couples and have a great time.  I needed to see Justin act like a little kid.  I am so grateful for this time we had and for the fun memories that we made!

Seeing Justin Reed get a candy high on the streets of Gatlinburg was hilarious!  We were all laughing so hard!!  We all let our inner fat kid out this trip!  Hoping I can put mine back in when we get back home.