Larson Ranch Trip 2011

Nathan took this awesome picture of Taryn and I just love it..so much joy

Here we go...the annual Larson Family Ranch Trip. Be prepared for an onslaught of pictures! It is so hard to narrow down the hundreds and hundreds of pictures from the week...but I think I"ve done it! We had such a great time, as always. Nathan and I were pretty excited for Sawyer to really experience the Ranch this year. He was finally be old enough to enjoy a lot of the activities that go on there. He totally had a blast! Between lots of cousins, tons of outdoor time, lack of bedtimes, and unlimited food and candy ...I think it was pretty much heaven for this kid. The four of us slept all together in the same room all week and I was pleasantly surprised at how well that went. It gave me a lot of hope for when I move Violet into Sawyer's room in the next couple months.

We drove up to Las Vegas on Friday evening (July 15th), stayed the night briefly, then finished up our drive on Saturday morning. The kids did pretty well on the drive. We met up with Sydney and Mitch for lunch before heading up to the Ranch that night. The following Saturday night as we were driving home we had a tire blow out while driving at 85 mph. Luckily there were no cars around us because Nathan had a tough time controlling the car between the two lanes available to us. He did great and we were able to pull off and change our tire and make it safely to Vegas where we bought a new tire the following morning. We felt very blessed that everything turned out the way it did. As for all the fun we had during the week...I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

One of our favorite activities at the Ranch--the giant slip'n'slide! Sawyer thought it was so much fun this year...

The guys built a rope swing into the pond this year. Here is Nathan taking the plunge!

Violet sitting on her Grandpa's lap while the kids played on the slip'n'slide...

So apparently I missed this little event below...when they told me Sawyer was hiding under the blow up pool as everyone crashed into it at the bottom of the slide, I was glad I missed it! Good thing he didn't DIE! Sheesh...Sawyer, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious.

Violet chillin' with her aunties

Even little Vi went down the slide with her aunt Andrea! This was pretty much her facial expression the entire way down. Just can't contain the excitement ;)

After the ride...

I just loved all these cute little pictures of Violet...so I narrowed it down to 3 of them!

Taryn and Sawyer getting ready to feed the horsey's. Those two were best enemies :)

A rare, but tender, moment

Julianne and Ned prepared a little Book of Mormon adventure for the kids. They brought costumes and we all acted out the Lehi & family adventure into the wilderness and then to retrieve the Gold Plates. It was a fun day of walking around the ranch and eating dried fruit. Sawyer was a grumpy face that day...so he fell perfectly into character with his Daddy as Laman and Lemuel.

I thought this was the cutest picture of Trenton helping Sawyer take a drink

I laughed so hard when I saw this picture. This is so typical!

Me and my little Lemuel

Erin and little Vat in her costume

Sawyer and his cousins catching baby water snakes

Andrea and I had on the same skirt in different colors on Sunday! Great minds think alike, I guess :)

Taryn and V in matching suits

Macie decorating the table for their little Hawaiian themed dinner...so cute!

Ashley made little 'surf-shacks' with the kids. They loved it! Sawyer especially loved picking all the candy off of them throughout the week!

So the last night before we left Marley discovered a rattle snake on the porch right by the door! Yikes! It was super scary, actually. It was hiding behind a duffle bag with sports equipment in it...probably looking for a warm place on the rock. She heard the rattle, saw the snake, and ran for help. We are so grateful that she noticed it before one of the younger kids got in it's way. It was litterally inches away from the door that everyone went in and out of all day. Super scary. Ned was able to kill the snake with a shovel as we all watched in horror and fear! Really hoping that we never see one of those around there again!