Reimchiissel Family Vacation!

I was counting down the days until this vacation! We had such an amazing time with my family. Thank you so much to my awesome parents and also my sister Amy for planning this trip and making memories! We first flew in to Idaho Falls then went to Amy's house in Pocatello. That next day we all loaded up and drove about 2 hours to island park to start the party/vacation!

Things we did:

-went to a rodeo in Montana

-drove up to Yellowstone 3o mins away

-saw Old Faithful, tons of wild life, paint pots, lots of

different falls & hiked

- drove the 4 wheelers around & explored

-rented wave runners & a tube & were lake bums for a day :)

-went on a moose hunt and found some near the cabin

-celebrated Bailey's 4th bday

-cooked amazing food

-had fires at night and the guys in the hot tub late nights

-went to a high school musical local play

-went to local restaurant and ate bison burgers

-guys & kids went fishing (Bailey was the only successful one)

There is a little bit of a picture overload below but there were so many good ones.

Yellowstone & Island Park

This was the cabin that we stayed in. It was a perfect fit for us and was in such a beautiful place! It had a great big yard for the kids to play in, plenty of space to drive the 4-wheelers, hot tub, fire pit, and rocks to throw. :)

Some falls on the way up to Yellowstone

Local rodeo in Montana. The kids had a blast and especially Connor. He absolutely loves horses and was just in heaven with it right in front of him.

Famous Yellowstone entrance sign of course we had to get a photo :)

I know its tiny but there is a bison in the middle. The scenery was so beautiful!

Many times while driving around the park the wild life were just eating and walking around the sides of the roads. So amazing to see them up close! This picture is not zoomed either!

This was a spot at the Paint pots. It was amazing to see such clear beautiful water! It was boiling like crazy and certain spots really did look like paint. A lot of small geysers were around them also.

My sister Ashly made these cute capes for the kids to wear. They were adorable! The little boys at reversible batman and superman ones. Then the girls had reversible princess crown and flower capes. Of course the kids loved them!

Dave had a little too much sun so this was his problem solved haha...a little to late cause he was already burned at this point! The guys were soaking themselves in aloe vera the next couple of days. I think it was worth it cause the wave runners were so fun! The dock was just around the corner from the cabin so we all were there on and off all day.

All the kids were so much more brave then I thought they would be on the wave runners and 4-wheelers. So many good memories! I ended up getting pretty good air on the tube with both Dave & Brandon driving. Lets just say I ended up with a few good bruises the next day! :)

lil Lacie Bree :)

Cannot wait for the next family vacation/reunion! SOOO much fun and a huge thank you to Mom & Dad and Amy for the planning!! You are AMAZING!

Trial Run

Doug & Katherine and their 2 kids invited Dave and I to do a little one night stay trial run sort of camping trip. We did it in San Clemente at their camp grounds right after the fourth of July. It was a nice camp ground near the beach and the weather was pretty good. The only thing was, is that it was a hike down to get to the beach not so convenient. Dave kept teasing saying this was not "real" camping. I don't mind roughing it but I can only rough it and get dirty for so long! I like to have a bathroom....no digging holes in the ground for a toilet. That is not fun nor a vacation so why do it! One night was plenty for me. :)

Dave on the other hand LOVES to do that stuff. He has been wanting to do "real" camping at Lake Mead for awhile which is why we did this. Hence the Trial Run title of this camping trip. We will see how it goes with no potty....just the dirt, sand and the lake. EEK!

Of course you can't camp without hot dogs & S'mores. They brought Reese's to go in the middle of the s'mores instead of Hershey bars and it was so good!

Doug had the idea to bring croissant rolls and wrap them around our hot dogs and cook them. Sounded yummy and good! That definitely entertained us for awhile trying to figure out how to cook it just right. Ended up being to hard to cook the hot dog and the croissant without one being done/burned before the other.

So we just ended up cooking them separately and I would definitely add that to bring on a camping food list. I think they were pretty fun and different. We (by that I mean I haha) finally figured out after many burned to the crisp and half doughy rolls found a good way to cook them so all sides get cooked. Braid it around the roaster stick like a figure 8 and put it over the coals until it is a delicious golden brown! YUM!

Independence Day 2011

4th of July

One of my favorite holidays! So much to be thankful for living in this free country!

The Crew walking down to the park loaded with chairs & snacks

Not the best picture...but these are DELICIOUS! They are cheesecake cupcakes. I got a new cookbook called "Our Best Bites" and I am attempting to cook now. :)

(Thanks Amy for the cookbook!)

A lil festive dessert for the occasion.

Our friends Mike & Estee

I didn't realize until after how cordinated Dave and I are with our outfits & chairs. Pretty funny because this was of course not planned. :) (My shirt is blue and white striped if you can't tell)

This year has been the 4th year I have spent 4th of July at the Nelsons house. So crazy how time passes. They do the same fun tradition every year. Family and friends come over for swimming and a yummy BBQ then we all walk down the road to Peralta park for the community party. They have a band there and food, then when it gets dark the firework show begins! Always amazing fireworks!

Tourist In My Own Home

We had some good friends of ours the New family come and visit us these last couple weeks from Utah. We had a great time visiting all the fun things that San Diego has to offer. I love living here more and more every day. So much to do and see and its absolutely PERFECT weather all the time! There are still so many things to do on my list but we knocked out a few while they were here.

SEAPORT VILLAGE

This was a cute restaurant that was right on the water and we got a window seat. Such a great view and atmosphere...the food on the other hand was average.

Coronado Island

I only got pics from my phone in the car but it is so pictureque! Such a cute lil town.

San Diego Zoo

I wish I had taken more pictures of the animals! Seriously amazing all the animals they have there. Be prepared to do a ton of walking because it is HUGE there. So many things to do and see. My all time favorite were the Koala bears! I wish I could have one for a pet...cutest things I have ever seen!

Lil Audrey and I

Its hard to see but there are the lil Koala bears I feel in love with. So cuddly looking! It was interesting how they all nested in a small section of branches in the trees. It looked so uncomfortable.

Estee was holding freeze dried elephant poo in this picture :)

If you look at this picture closely this camels hump it is lopsided and just hanging there...sooo weird to me. I found out though that the hump is just all fat. I don't know if its just this particular camel but this might be a known thing...its news to me.

Legoland

These next couple pictures are of mini land. All of it build out of legos. They had tons of cities and also famous landmarks. The detail in it is amazing! Just a few of my home town.

Can't get enough of this kid. Greyson has the cutest smile!

Amber and the kids on a ride

Memorial Day Weekend....a lil late

A very random and quick houseboat trip for the weekend but it was a FUN first for my parents and I. Now Daves family, they are professionals at this houseboat trip stuff. Dave has many good memories about these trips and was like a lil kid getting ready for it! The lake is his ultimate vacation! As for myself my first choice would be somewhere exotic but this would be my second choice. :P It was just us and both our parents. So relaxing just to hang out and do absolutly nothing and its beautiful scenery! We were not able to go skiing on the lake because it was to cold. We just cruised around, played games, ate yummy food and watched movies. Best kind of vacation...NO schedule!

The guys driving us to our camping spot

Captain Dad!

I think my dad had a good time driving the HUGE boat. He did a great job....we MIGHT have turned him into a lake vacationer :)

Love birds<3 (The pic above haha)

Mom in the kitchen & dining
area.

Grill master! He grilled some delicious food while we were there.

You would not have known we were on a houseboat. We ate some

seriously good food!

The crew...minus my mom

Getting some sun on the front patio.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day MOM!

Disneyland 2010

I'm a day late on posting but I have a good excuse. I was in Orange County with my in laws on mothers day and didn't have my laptop. :) I really did want to write some thoughts, memories and feelings down though especially about my mama. She is the BEST and since this is like my journal it is in need to be written down.

- I LOVE that I got my mom (& dad) to myself for my last years at home (not that I didn't miss my sisters tremendously!) My mom and I made such good memories with cruises, random trips to Utah and Cali, Disneyland, running errands together, shopping, going to lunch but it was just me and her and I love that and will cherish that forever.

-She is always there for me no matter what. If I called her at anytime and needed her....not only will she be a listening ear on the phone but she will also be on a plane in 2 sec if it was needed.

-She is always sharing her testimony with us and others. I know my mom loves the gospel and it has always been taught in our household on a daily basis. I love that she spends her Friday mornings at the temple working.

-Dave always teases that the worst thing about the Reimschiissel girls is that we can't say NO. Which is obviously a compliment ;) Really though it is because we learned service from our mom. She is ALWAYS doing something and keeping herself busy helping others.

-Can I mention her good looks! She is absolutely beautiful and looks like she is 25 and one of my sisters. I sooooooooo WISH that when I am at her young age that I look like that! PLEASE PLEASE can I get that gene?!

-She is always striving to improve and learn. I remember in high school her going back to school to take classes and I may not have said it then but I was so impressed and proud.I thought it was so cool. Also I have good memories of us taking piano lessons together and it was fun to practice together. It made me want to do better seeing her example.

-She has so much patience. I know that I had lots of ideas when I was younger and she just went along with them. A funny memory I have is when she would take me grocery shopping. I loved running errands with her. I know I asked for everything down the isle but then when we got home I had to play cashier. So before she put anything away I had to line it up and check everything in and add the beeping noise. So she just waited and put things away one by one until I was done playing. Now that I think about it...how annoying haha

I could go on and on and cry some more talking about my mom! She is seriously the most amazing woman and I am truely thankful I got her. I don't know where I would be without her and her example. She is my best friend (I talk to her at least once a day) and is alot of peoples best friend I know. I just try and soak up everything from her cause I want to be just like her when I get older. I just hope I can be a mom to my future kids like she is to me. I LOVE YOU MAMA :)