Girls Night at Six Sisters

Insta Post, September 17, 2016: “Oh you know, just hanging out with famous bloggers at the Six Sisters Stuff book launch party tonight. When I heard about the party, I roped my sisters and mom into coming with me. We had such a fun girls night! I love hanging out with these people. Thanks for coming with me. 😘”

Aunt Lindsay's Birthday

We all love Aunt Lindsay. We were glad we got to celebrate her birthday with her with a family dinner and yummy cake afterwards. The boys were especially excited to help her blow out her candles. So sweet. The kids had looked forward to Lindsay’s birthday party allll day. Such anticipation to celebrate this great person we love so much. Happy Birthday Linds! (We love celebrating these special occasions with family. Check out these fun pics.)

Backyard Camping Night

Troy, being the fabulous and fun dad that he is, agreed to camp with the boys in the backyard. They thought this was the best idea in the century. (Mostly because it was Gray's idea in the first place and their dad lovingly agreed. ;) They had an epic light saber fight in the backyard as the sun was going down and then they cuddled right in their sleeping bags and went right to sleep... as you can see they looked SO tired when it was time to get into bed. Actually, not tired at all. Ha. I'm so grateful these boys have such a fun dad.

Insta post, Sept 16, 2016:
A couple weeks ago, Gray asked if he could go camping with his Dad and his brother Jackson. (He was remembering Fathers and Sons campout, I think.) A few days later, Gray said, "I have a plan! We can sleep in my tent in the backyard!" So tonight, Troy was the nicest Dad ever and camped out with his boys. They were beyond excited and had a special light saber fight in the dark wearing their pajamas. 😂 Gray made sure to ask me multiple times to stay inside. "The girls sleep in the house." He kept saying. Alright, Gray if you insist, I'll sleep in my warm bed indoors. 😏

Insta Post, September 17, 2016:
One more from last night. Because the light saber fight in the dark was pretty epic. This picture depicts their personalities so well. Jackson takes his light sabers seriously. Gray is in it for the good time. 😐😝

Dixie Chicks Concert

My sisters and I went to the Dixie Chicks concert at USANA amphitheater on September 2nd. It was so much fun. It was a little crazy getting there as I had to leave the younger kids with a babysitter (Troy was still out of town with Jackson in AZ) and drive through lots of traffic to get there. But the venue was really fun and we were loving the music. There are so many fun memories attached to Dixie Chicks songs for me. Singing my heart out to "Cowboy Take Me Away" while cleaning my room. Listening to "Landslide" while driving up to Avon to visit my friend Christy's Aunt's cabin. Singing "Ready to Run" when that part of the movie "Runaway Bride" came on screen. (One of my fave movies from my junior high school days, I still quite like it.) The Dixie Chicks were a part of my childhood, so it was perfect to go to this concert with my cute sisters. So glad Ashley came up with the idea.

Instagram Post, September 2, 2016:
My sisters are fun! We went to the Dixie Chicks concert tonight and had a blast. I was amazed at how I could remember every word of some of those songs even though I hadn't heard them in years. I sang my little heart out. It was a good time. Thanks for the fun idea, Ash! I'm so glad we went. 🎶Cowboy take me away. Fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue. 🎶

Troy and Jackson's Trip to AZ

Troy and Jackson went on a Bushman Boys trip to Arizona at the end of August/Beginning of September. The trip had been planned for over a year with the intent to see the Cougars play at the Cardinal Stadium. Troy took Jackson, and Troy's Dad and his brothers Regan, Landon, and Mckay also went, as well as our nephew Boston. They had such a great time together. Troy and Jackson rode down with Troy's Dad, and everyone stopped at the Grand Canyon on the way. This may or may not have been the highlight of the trip for Jackson. He LOVES rocks and so this was kind of a dream come true for him. Ha. It was a bit of a quick trip, but they still had time to see the Grand Canyon, swim, go golfing, and attend the BYU game. And Troy and Jackson also made it Thunderbird to go on a hike in our old neighborhood as well as see the Phoenix temple grounds from a distance. They had a great time I'm so glad they got to FINALLY go on their long awaited trip. Our portable DVD player broke on the trip down to AZ, so Jackson did the whole trip without any entertainment. Troy said he did great. Love that Jackson.

Jackson standing in front of our old house while golfing.

Jackson in front of the Larson's house. (Friends from our ward, during med school.)

August 2016

In this edition of random August photos from Troy's phone archive.... Gray being a crazy cowboy. The boys climbing in Ruby's crib to say hello. Clara wearing Jackson's Dodger's hat. (She's started to like wearing hats. It's so fun!) Jackson in an awesome getup. Ha! Clara hanging out in the driver's seat of the van. A family night lesson at Grandma & Grandpa Barneck's house. And lastly, an incident with our gas meter. Troy was mowing the lawn when he accidentally hit the gas meter with the lawn mower. The pipe immediately broke, and Troy smelled gas. He came running inside to turn the gas off. It was a bit scary. After the gas was off, Troy called our friend in the ward who is a plumber. He came to look at it and decided it needed a special tool to re-thread the pipe and reattach the meter. A friend of his came by to fix it. $200 later we had it reattached and could turn our gas back on. Got to love home-ownership! Ha. Moral of the story, be very careful when mowing the lawn near your gas meter. ;)