McCall Part 1 The Gardens

One of our favorite things we do in McCall every year is visits the gardens. We always go the Sunday we are there in the evening after church. It's a great Sunday activity and the gardens are beautiful.

The kiddos always want to jump this little stream for some reason. They even send their shoes down it... not sure who's kid did that this year.
The boys with some of their cousins. It's hard to get them to hold still for more than a second to get a good picture. Norah, Stelring Henry, Dellin, Elijah, Ezra, Sam, Lydia, and Zach.

Dellin loved the little ponds. I love this picture of him with his daddy.

Grandpa and The Gouverneur.

Now that Gouverneur is walking, everything is more enjoyable. He has more fun and so do we. He looked so cute walking around the gardens.
This is all of the Fillmore cousins minus Parley and Amy's family (Amy was a week away from having a new baby so they didn't come this year.) We had the kids all sit by someone not in their family to shake it up a bit.

Here is our whole group. Mom Fillmore hasn't been to McCall in 3 years, so we LOVED having her there.

Our yearly family picture. I love how it turned out.

Sterling took some cute pictures of the boys. This one is my favorite thanks to Gouverneur. He is sitting up like such a big boy in this photo and it kills me. Sterling Henry wouldn't smile for any of them, and Dellin is is cute self. I love my boys!

We stayed at the gardens for a few hours and enjoyed the beautiful flowers and weather. Until next year...

McCall Part 2 The Beach

From Monday morning to Friday morning, we play on the beach, swim in the lake, or the pool ALL DAY LONG. It's heaven. The boys stay completely entertained the whole day long and I get to sit and relax.

Gouverneur was only 2 months old last year and never even got in the water so this was his big breakout year and he loved it. He loves sand and enjoyed walking around like a big boy.
He loved the water too and spent a lot of time splashing around on the beach.

The cousins were always making a castle or playing some fun game.

The boys being pirates. I'm sure the owner of this canoe loved all the sand the boys dragged in.

The boys decided to grill up this plastic fish. Dad helped them make a "fire" and they sat around watching it cook for a while. Gouverneur kept trying to destroy the setup but Sterling Henry and Dellin did not give up. Dad is the best! He always thinks of the fun games.

Little Man was the last one to give up on the fish.

Wrecking someone's sand castle from the day before. He looks a bit mischievous here.

This Alligator was always around at the beach or at the pool.

I wasn't the only one who got to relax on the beach. Dad took a nap on a few occasions... He deserved it.Stay tuned for more pictures from The Great McCall Vacation. That's what we called it all week long. No other name would suffice.

McCall Part 3 Everything Else

We spent so much time in the pool. With dad there and all the cousins, it was the perfect thing to do for most of the day.

Last year Gouverneur only got in the pool once so we made sure he got lots of pool time this year. The boy is a serious daredevil so we tried to keep him in a life vest or floatties. I love everything about this picture.

By the end of the week Little Man was jumping in the pool all day and loving it.
I didn't even go in the boat this year but Sterling made sure that the boys had plenty of boat time. They loved the boat. They probably also loved having dad to their selves. We got some sweet pictures of Dellin on the easy ski and tube that I can't find but will post later.

Sterling Henry and Sam are just 6 weeks apart and had a great time together.
We love going to the Pancake House for breakfast. We always go at least once because it is a lot of fun and delicious. I've always wanted to try their famous cinnamon roll. When I realized it was $3.25 we had to try it. It was huge and super yummy!

We were lucky enough to stay right next to Grandma and Grandpa and got to spend lots of time with them. Here's Gouverneur reading with Grandpa Fillmore.

Gouverneur made up a super fun game with Dellin where he'd hold onto the back of his clothes and Dellin would pull him around. The whole thing was made funnier by the fact that he had just started walking. Dellin enjoyed it too.

We always take this picture the morning we leave. It's so hard to leave such a beautiful place. The only thing that makes it easier is knowing that we'll be back next year.

Dellin needed another picture too!

We needed to drive down to Boise that night and went a different route due to some wildfires. We came across the sweetest rock and fossil shop. The boys had all just woke up from a nap and were melting down so it was the perfect time to stop. Check out that awesome T-Rex.

When we were putting the big boys down, Gouverneur crawled right in with them. We knew it wouldn't work all night but was really cute to see all the boys in one bed. Naturally they started wrestling almost immediately.
Here we are the morning we flew out. The boys are bathed, dressed, and completely exhausted.
We sure love McCall and love seeing so much family. We look forward to next year with the four boys. FOUR BOYS?... It's going to be a crazy year I think.

McCall 2011 Part 2

We spent lots of time in the lake and on the beach. The rest of the time is spent in the pool. This was our first time in a pool this summer so Little Man was a bit timid at first. Within 24 hours, he was swimming all by himself in his life jacket. He loved to say, "I am swimming."
Dellin loved the water too but didn't want to be left alone. We don't mind holding him so it worked out well. My handsome boys.
Dellin needed some breaks to warm up.

Gouverneur all decked out. The only water he enjoyed was bath water. Next year he'll be swimming with the big boys I'm sure.
We always rent Jet skis for a couple of days. Sterling and his brothers get real intense about a schedule. I give them a hard time about it but deep down, I love it. The boys loved riding around with dad. Here they are ready to go.
Dellin got to drive this year.


Nothing wears you out like a day in the sun. A week in the sun really wears you out. Little Man fell asleep in the boat with his life jacket on.
Gouverneur slept like a champ all week.
They even passed out on the airplane.

We had the most amazing two weeks of vacation. It was packed full of family, food, and fun. We look forward to this trip every year and plan to make it every year. Mom Fillmore wasn't there this year and we REALLY missed her.

We are missing our family like crazy. We are counting down the days till Christmas vacation. In the meantime we are loving our new house. We are renting and in heaven. I will post pictures of the new place soon.

McCall 2011 Part 1

After the Hawkins Family reunion and some time at the farm, we headed up to McCall Idaho to spend the week with the Fillmores. On the way up we met up with Dave and Melanie. They were on their way home from McCall so we met up at the Malad Gorge.

McCall was super action packed this year. Here is just some of the events from the week.
We always go canoeing up the river. This year was a bit crazy with the three little boys. We turned around after about 2 minutes and me and Gouverneur got out. The two older boys paddled around with dad.


We went to a boat show. It was pretty swanky. Everyone was dressed all nice, walking around drinking wine. Our boys ran wild while we sipped some Mt. Dew from a plastic bottle. Classy.
We went to church.
Sterling took Little Man to a rodeo. It was small time but Little Man loved it.
The boys spent lots of time with cousins. We stayed next to Rachel and the girls so cousin Lydia was over a lot and we loved it.

We took a nice evening boat ride around the lake. This is probably one of my favorite McCall traditions.

We went parasailing. Ok when I say we, I mean some of the family went. I would never in ten million year dare to do anything this exciting. It was fun to watch everyone else. Here is Eric.

We spent lots of time on the beach. The water was perfect temperature this year.

This shot of the babies is classic. Here we have Zack, Gouverneur, and Norah. This same shot could have been taken at the pool on most days.

We ate lots of yummy food.

We went to the gardens. We go to this private garden every year on Sunday. It is the perfect Sunday activity. Little Man sort of looks like a hippy in this picture. He discovered silly bands on the trip and wore them non-stop.

Dellin has more darling expressions that we will ever be able to document but we are sure trying. Love this boy!

All the cousins minus one. It's easy to see why my boys were in heaven all week.

I love this picture of Sterling's brothers and his dad.

Me with my boys.
More pictures to come.