Goulding Reunion

The Annual Goulding Family Reunion was a HIT like usual. A good time was had by all (except maybe Alex and Helayna...more to follow on that subject)

We spent our first night in Utah hiking in Zions. We left the girls at Tricia and Darrens and hiked part of the narrows. It was so fun and beautiful! We spent a lot of time hiking with the girls while we were out there too. They loved every second of it. They went to Zion, hiked the little narrows on the red hill and we went to that splash pad in St. George.

Kaia LOVES her uncle Dace...

Dusky, Dace, Dustin and Adlai got up bright and early one morning to go hike angel's landing...

Whatcha doin there lukey???

THE RED HILL

Kaia loved the narrows. She kept saying "I want to go up the skinny one again"

And then the reunion began....

We met at Joe and Robbie's and had dinner. Then we played a minute to win it, had a talent show and all of the kids had a sleep over.

I was a little nervous about how the girls were going to do on the sleepover. They all were sleeping in a tent and they have never had a sleepover before except for with Grandma and Grandpa. But they LOVED it. All the bigger girls took care of them. Plus, they were so exhausted that the second they laid down they were OUT like a light.

The next day they went over to the Toquerville Parade with Robbie. They had a blast.

Then we all went to Dace and Lauries and went swimming and had a BBQ.

Little Man Alex decided he wanted to do a backflip into the pool. He walked right over to the side and did a backflip in. He slammed his face in to the side of the pool. As soon as he came up there was blood everywhere, his whole face was scraped and he had a huge goose egg on his forhead. He put a big ice pack on his face and slept it off for a while. He's a champion.

So then we went back over to Robbies. We walked down to the Toqerville Park and went to a concert while the girls played at the park. Then it was getting dark and time to do fireworks. The boys bought some HUGE fireworks. So we all went out front and sat on the grass and the boys lit off the fireworks in the street.

All of a sudden, Helayna grabs her face and starts running toward the house. She said "I can't see! I think I busted my nose." There was a huge trail of blood and Helayna was GUSHING blood out of her nose. Sorry, I know it's a little graphic but it was super scary. She couldn't see out of her right eye. She had been looking up at the fireworks that were 150 feet in the air and a big mortar shell didn't go off and it came right down and hit her on the forehead/nose. Her head was sliced open from the forehead down to her nose and we thought her nose might be broken. She ended up having to go to the Emergency Room and get stiches. She had a nice swollen, bruised nose, two black eyes and stitches down her forehead.

And what does the Goulding Family do when Helayna leaves to go to the hospital? They go finish lighting off the fireworks. hahahaha.

Laurie and I were standing in the kitchen while all of this was going on and she said to me "I just had the Wilson reunion and it was totally calm, collected, nothing going on.....and then we come here...." It just wouldn't be a Goulding get together if someone didn't end up in the ER.

I LOVE that family. They make my life exciting.

Last hiking pics.....

Summer Fun #3...Alaska

We spent a few days in the motorhome in ALaska. It was awesome. We did some fishing and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! It was kind of nice to escape the heat for a little while and go somewhere that we needed jackets. It's so pretty up there. The girls had a blast running around on the rivers, feeding ducks, and riding in "Grandpa's moving house."

SUMMER FUN #2

Our annual Lake Powell trip was a hit! I LOVE that place. The girls love it too.
They made some awesome sand castles with the help of Grandpa Holt.

We did a lot of wake boarding, tubing, surfing, and we partied like rock stars. We put the kids to bed and played games everynight. Tasha and I were even funnier than usual (I know...Thats hard to imagine.) I seriously haven't laughed that hard for a long time.

Zach made a sweet slide down the beach with a jump into the water.

SUMMER FUN...#1

I'm going to attempt to update with our summer adventures.

First of all, my kids are CUTE!!!!

THanks, I made them myself... (well, with the help of a good lookin' man)

Eja has changed drastically this summer. She is no longer a baby. SHe's a little girl. She talks like crazy and everything she says is adorable. When she wants something she says "Peeeease" and it just melts your heart. When the girls try to get her attention and she doesn't want to talk to them she plugs both of her ears and sings "lalallalalalalala" It's hilarious.

When you tell her to act like a doggy she gets down on her hands and knees and sticks her tongue out and breathes heavy.

This is what happens when you let her eat by herself...

At the end of the school year they had a "Mother's Luncheon" at Kaia's school. It was so cute. They made all sorts of stuff for us, including lunch, and we went and ate with them. It was so fun to spend the day with just Kaia. She's so cute.

Then they had the Alphabet Parade. Which we all know is not really Kaia's thing. I told her if she would march in the alphabet parade we would take them to chuck-e-cheese. So we got there and Sienna (who doesn't even go to school yet) was BEGGING to walk in the parade. So the teacher said that was fine, she grabbed a little girls hand, and marched right out the door. I love my little Senny. She's not afraid to try things. She is soooo excited to go to preschool next year. She can hardly stand it. She keeps telling me "I really miss my teachers" (She's never even met her teachers)

Kaia, on the other hand.....

This is what she did.

Senny marching...

Kaia pouting and hanging on her dad...

They still got to go to chuck-e-cheese. Because although kaia wasn't very happy about it, she still did it.

THen Kaia had her preschool graduation. I was expecting her to cry and not participate, so I was completely SHOCKED when she came marching in, singing her little heart out. I wanted to cry. She stood up there and sang every single song. She kept stopping in the middle of each song and waving to us. Then she walked across the stage and got her diploma like a champion.

Kaia is hilarious. We took the girls to the 4th of July parade in Peachtree City. They threw out TONS of candy. All of the kids were sitting on the curb and as people threw out candy all the kids would run out to the street and gather as fast as their little hands would allow them. So there was a big group of kids out in the street and they were all excited about the tootsie rolls and suckers they were getting when all of a sudden Kaia pops her little head up from the middle of the group, throws her arms in the air and yells "GUESS WHAT I GOT?...A GRASSHOPPER!!!"

All the little kids started screaming and running the other way and I just kept saying "Who's child is that?
haha It was CLASSIC Kaia. She didn't pick up ANY candy. She held that stupid grasshopper until I just couldn't take it anymore and I made her go put it in the trees behind us.

Kaia has also said some funny prayers lately. The other night she was saying the family prayer and she said "Please tell Santa to bring us a baby brother"

Dusky and I both looked at each other like "what the heck?".....

Then she was saying the blessing on the food and she just kept going. She was blessing anything and everything except for the food. So finally I prompted her by saying "Please bless the food" and she made a LOUD sigh and said "Please help us to say OUR OWN prayers"

Eja went through a little rough period for a few nights when we came back from Utah this last time. So kaia also prayed that "Eja wouldn't cry when mom put her in her crib tonight"

We have done a lot of fishing at the lake behind my m om and dad's house this summer. Kaia is quite the little fisher woman.

The girls are getting pretty good at swimming. Eja jumps off the high part into the pool, goes under and kicks her way to the top until I grab her and as soon as I get her out she jumps again.

Dusky has been enjoying the flying this summer. He's gone some pretty cool places and luckily he's had a great schedule.

We LOVE the georgia thunder storms. They are the best. The girls love to run down to the mailbox and back when it's pouring rain outside. It's their favorite game to play.

At the beginning of the summer we had a girls weekend in park city. Dusky kept the little girls and it was soooo fun to see my friends. We did a lot of shopping, eating, and game playing. I'm so lucky to have the greatest friends in the world. I'm glad we can still get together and it feels just like old times.