What happens when family convenes...?

Beins Family Campout 2009 - Eight Mile Campground, Idaho

Another great campout this year over the 24th of July up in the mountains of Idaho. We had good food, good activities, and a little bit of craziness as always to go with it. We met Alease's boyfriend, went on bike rides and four-wheeler rides, hikes, runs, and did some fishing. All in all it was a great weekend for some relaxation.

Here's the fam getting our pose on.

Elvis and the kids going 4-wheelin

Kelly with the other load of kids

On the way home Conner and Easton got a pic in front of the "Devil's Handprint".

This is Elvis and I getting our morning bath out of the way. We're basically sitting at the beginning of the creek in a cold spring.

Me and the boys

Easton and Grandma

Can't wait for next year, too. Always a good time to get away and go rustic. We need to get a few more family members up there to make it complete, but it's still fun regardless.

Going up there makes me realize what a beautiful planet we live on and how lucky we are to be here.

Gateway and Silver/Twin Lakes - Sunday

This Sunday we had a family day. We went to Gateway with my sisters and their families and watched the kids play in the fountain and ate at the Pizza Kitchen. Then we said goodbye to them and then went hiking with Michelle's family up Big Cottonwood. It was a long, but fun day and we capped it off with dinner at Porcupine. (Which included calling the cops on some people who left their dog in their hot car... idiots).

All of us at Twin Lakes.

The boys strikin' a pose.

Some of us hiking up to the lake.

Elvis and Ella playing in the water.

Easton and Ben just chillin...

Me getting Ella acclimated.

Getting our mist on.

Easton enjoying himself in the water.

Too much fun that ended a busy weekend with family in town and a family reunion. We're also watching our nephew this week until I take him up with us to go camping this weekend. Good times...

Montana in July - Lazy Days

The time we spent up in Montana for a week flew by. While there we sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed being together as a family. It was good times indeed. Have fun looking through the pics...

Playing games by the river out front of the cabin.

Tucker loves Paula... so much he has to be in the hammock with her.
Tucker REALLY loves Allen, so much that he doesn't knock him off. :)Ella and HER Uncle Tony... she loves this guy.

The family photo in 2009. This is the best one we got... it was a long day.
Grandma and her girls.
Ella and the Grandmas.
Ella on the 4th in her Patriotic dress and earrings.
Watching fireworks down by Seeley Lake.
Conner posing by the river.
Conner and Sam playing planes by the river.
Easton and Preston hanging out by the river.
The gang going tubing down the Clearwater river. Good times.

Easton's Kindergarten Program

So, I'm not going lie, this was a pretty normal program. What makes it interesting is my kid. Ok, that was biased, but seriously - Easton is one of the funniest kids I know with how he acts and the things he does crack me up.

Take this clip for example, he has to wave the flag for the July song, and during the whole thing he's waving, but it's a distracted wave. Maybe he's thinking about what he wants to eat for dinner, or who to play with, or... what are the words to this song. Regardless, it's amusing (to me anyways) how he just stares at me video taping this like expecting something.

Enjoy this as your children prepare for kindergarten... too funny.



BTW, at the end I pan away because the baby in front me was waving arms frantically to the song and it was cute. Sorry for the sloppy camera work.

Ella's Dance Rehearsal

This is Ella at her dance rehearsal this summer. She's quite the character, but I'm wondering if she doesn't dance because there's people there or because she would just rather look around than dance. Either way, she's stinking cute.

Enjoy...

Getting ready to jump in the air, or kick her feet.

"Tee hee hee... I'm cute."

Catching Up on the past Couple Weeks

Hi all,

Just thought I'd hurry and do a quick post to catch everyone up a little bit.

Two weekends ago, on Saturday, we went with our friends out to the west desert to four-wheel with them. It was nice of them to invite us to tag along, and we're glad they did because we had lots of fun.

This is Ella and her friend, Bentley.

Michelle and Jodi soaking up some rays in the dust.

Playing a game of desert baseball.

Just waiting to light the fire... always top priority for boys in the wilderness.

Sunday - Mother's Day we had Michelle's side of the family over for dinner. Her Grandma June is in town and her aunt, uncle, and some of their family also came. And, of course, Michelle's parents and brothers and their families came.

All of the great-grandkids with Grandma.

Dance pictures day is also a good one... too bad I was up in Ogden and couldn't make it. Looks like Ella might be enjoying this a little too much. ;)

What a little super-model, strike a pose.

Ella and her little BFF, Peyton.

Saturday, May 16th, Ogden Marathon
This was my first attempt at a marathon and now that it's over I can definitely say that I'll do another one. I finished in 3 hours 53 minutes which averages out to an 8:53 min/mile pace. I made my goal of breaking the 4 hour mark on my first one. What a beautiful day to do a marathon too, couldn't have asked for a better day.

The last 100 yards - Easton coming out to urge us on.

Me, Shawn, and our kids for a little post-run pic.

My training partner and runner in crime, Shawn. I owe him for getting me through this.

Well, now you're up to speed. Go and post something about your life so I have something to read.

Hawaii: Days 5 & 6

Day 5: Whale watching between Maui and Lanai

We started out towards Lahaina in search of whales this day. Did a little shopping before and checked out the Banyan tree again. Then off to the pier...

Grandma and the kids getting ready to board the boat.

The whole gang getting ready to leave port.

A competition of males fighting over a female... puh-lease. There must've been at least 7-8 whales in this fight all around our boat. The guide said the female was using our boat as a distraction to "diss" some of the guys.

This is how whales say goodbye.

Probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen were these huge animals swimming so slowly, but gracefully, through the water. We also saw at another spot a pod of dolphins trying to play with, or at least follow, a mother and her calf. It was an awesome day. Sorry the pics don't do it justice.


Day 6: Easter

We started the day when the kids woke up and we took them out to the patio/lawn area of our condo and had them look for their eggs. I think we did a good job hiding them and there might still be a few that other people find after us.

Conn posing for the camera with his early loot.

Cap'n East with his matching shirt and egg. Ahoy.

Ella likes to find new things. Especially candy and toys.

Then we went to the Easter egg hunt that the condo unit put on. There were a TON of kids we didn't think would be there. They didn't do that many eggs so you had kids scrambling, racing, and snatching candy out from other's noses. However, our kids got their share and made it out OK.

The boys showing off their painted snake tattoos. Those would last approximately another 7 minutes before they were washed off in the swimming pool.

Dad and Ella - she wasn't so sure about going out and finding candy. Can you tell she's shy in public?

All in all, another great day in Hawaii. In fact, it's kind of hard not to have a good day there.