lake powell part two

has it seriously taken me this long this finish the powell trip?
i promise i have a good excuse.
one day we spray painted shirts to keep the kiddos occupied.
they turned out awesome.
got the idea from pinterest.
imagine that.  

  

bear grylls and his love for creatures.

nikson's first tube ride was with mom and dad.
a total success.

thanks for a fabo trip brothers.
we love inviting ourselves to the party.
and garrett, if you want me to sing you tangled every night, all you have to do is ask.

a little piece of heaven part one

every year a few families on the jones side get together for a week of pure bliss at lake powell.
this year was no exception.

mike getting some shut eye.
poor brother had massive neck problems and had to take 'er easy this go.
what a bummer, but he still managed to be the life of the party.

i fell in love with this nugget.
jace is seriously the biggest sweetheart on the planet.
he definitely made me baby hungry.

mike and leighton, cooling off.

nikson rocking blake's baby life jacket.
what a stud.

most of my boat rides were full of sleeping babes.
and i could not get enough.
austy was a little tuckered.
probably from doing her hair.

nat took one for the team and her knees and popped up on the knee board.
that a girl.

handsome.
what. a. gem.

brynlee got to come this year and boy was i grateful.
she is the best kind of sister!
she makes you laugh and laughs at you!

tessa, she is also the biggest sweetie on the planet.

emma, drake, aubrey, cry baby, and claire.
these kiddos were inseparable and loved hanging with nikson.
even if he was a total mama's boy THE WHOLE TRIP!

does this pic need to be censored?
i can't tell!

ha! handsome covered little in mud and all nikson would say was, "mud monsta."

my twin.
halle.

jace and nikson are eleven months apart.
they were such good buddies on the boat.
nikson would touch jace's cheeks and say, "oh baby."

the boys.
brandon, garrett, blake, and tyler.

frosty.
i can't get enough for her.

like father, like daughter.
halle was sure to point out that her legs are higher than her dad's.

oh handsome.

there's my girl.

not his best photo.

handsome definitely had some shining moments this trip.

he actually doesn't scare me because he is so aware of what he is doing.

what a cool cat.

tessa was a trooper and held Jace in the hot boat for a while.

going, going, gone.

stay tuned for the rest of our trip.
hope everyone is having a great Monday.

mmm august

i can not believe august is here.
summer seems to go by faster the older i get.
i swear, when i was little they seemed to last for days and days.
but don't get me wrong, august does not mean it is over, no way.
guess what august brings for the bishops?

lake powell

wakeboarding

and picnics

and as if i needed one more thing to add to the busy plate, guess who is playing lady league softball?

not handsome. 

what are your august plans?

.our best trip yet.

well Powell this year was incredible to say the least. we seriously were so blessed to be in the company of such wonderful family in such a beautiful place. thanks to mike and deb for letting us join in on all the fun. the best thing was watching our sweet little man with all his cousins. he is going to be heart broken when he wakes up this morning to just the mom. boo. he had the time of his life.

lots of beach time with my baby. i mostly spent it making sure he didn't eat all the sand.

nikson with aunt debbie. deb rocked the air chair all week and made all the boys jealous.

 my studly man. it was good to be together all week. i really like him.

baby boy with his cousin Charley. she kept wanting to play pretend with nikson as her baby,

swimming while watching the cliff jumpers. nikson LOVES the water and splashes like a mad man. it is so fun to see him take to things.

Leighton and Nikson became good buds. who isn't good buds with leighton cartwright?

All the kids played on the tube. they are a bunch of wild hyenas.
(charley, claire, afton, emma, and wesley) Drake and Garrett were off hunting lizards.

aunt Stacey needed some good boy bonding time since she is adding one boy to her mix of six gals. nikson makes most people want a child. stace is six months pregnant and on our last night she decided to take advantage of the smooth water and wakeboarded. don't worry stace, i won't post a pic of it. she was concerned about her rump looking big. whatever. she looked great!

could he be any cuter? ahh! i just love him. he loved being on the boat and watching his dad do cool tricks and his mom stay safely inside the wake. most of the time he slept. that smooth lulling was just what we needed for some sweet nap time.

blake caught some massive air this trip. he looked so amazing out there. the little girls kept saying how good he is. i mostly just thought of how good looking he is.

see what i mean. the man is a looker.

the best part of the week was seeing my two guys together. they seriously just get each other and have so much fun. anytime blake was in the water nikson would bounce up and down and try to yell at him. they high- five each other which makes me laugh.

to add to the bounty of the trip, i had tons of great conversations with people i really admire.  blake and i learned a lot about how to be good, loving parents. being with everyone really motivated us to be better and to do better. it's not your to-do list that's important, it's your to be list, right leighton? everyone is so dedicated to their families. it is refreshing to know there are people who understand the principle of family. i think sometimes i get too wrapped up in the busy-ness of life to really take time for the important stuff. i am fortunate to have such great examples of love and patience in my life. here's to more experiences like this past week and a better me.