At the end of August, Justin's family headed down to St. George for one last summer get-a-way. It was fun! We got to spend time with Justin's Uncle Steve and Aunt Tara who live in Dammeron Valley.

Jackson is my little swimmer! He loves the water! Here he is taking a dip in the hotel pool. It was 108 degrees in St. George!

We also went swimming at Baker Reservoir. Michelle, Amy and Matt Brooksby

When I get this behind in blogging its tempting to just say "I'll just skip up to the present time". And I kind of want to do that because it would be soooooooo much easier! But after looking at some pictures from the past 5 months, I just have to blog about it! So here goes. I'm hoping to do a quick wrap up with just hitting the highlights.

AUGUST was a great month. We celebrated Justin's 29th Birthday, went to Yellowstone with my family and then a quick weekend trip to St. George with Justin's family. But the best part of August was finding out that me and Justin were expecting baby #2!

First up Yellowstone:

Jackson at Gibbon's Falls.

Yellowstone Lake

This year our annual Bear Lake trip was over the 4th of July. I was a little worried that I wouldn't enjoy the 4th if we weren't in Salt Lake to enjoy the fireworks show. But it turned out great. We were able to get in all the fireworks we wanted throughout the rest of July.

Bear Lake will always be one of my favorite places to camp in the summer. The Rendezvous State Park has a perfect beach for the kids to play, and shallow water so we parents don't have to worry excessively and you can have a campfire right on the beach! Here's some pics.

The Tiller side great-grandkids getting pulled on their floaties.


Playing in the sand


Eli posing for the camera.


Jackson trying to be "cool" like Eli. :)


Brooklyn


Sunset on the beach


Grandma Tiller

This summer has flown by so fast, I can't believe it. Hopefully over the next few days I'll be able to catch you up on all the fun things we've been able to do this summer. First up, my youngest brother, Michael, graduated from Alta High School. Here's so pics from our celebration at the Olive Garden afterwards. We are so proud of him! If you haven't seen them already, check out Mikey's Senior Photoshoot. http://jsmithdigital.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/mikey-g/

Mikey with Grandma Gregerson

Next up is Jackson's 4th Birthday! We celebrated it with both sides of the family at the Smith's house.

Opening his slip-n-slide from Aunt Michelle

Jackson with Grandpa Gregerson

Uncle Matt putting Jackson's new "Cars" scooter together

Giving Uncle Mikey a "thank-you" smooch for helping put the scooter together.

By now you're probably thinking I'm going overboard with the Disneyland posts, but they're some of my best memories! So obviously, I want to preserve them! Hopefully you enjoy the pictures as much as I do.

Jackson with Grandma and Grandpa Smith

Isn't my mother-in-law beautiful? My mom lovingly calls her "movie-star grandma" because she is always dolled up and looking so pretty!

Aunt Michelle and Jackson on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Aunt Chris and Aunt Michelle on Peter Pan's Flight

Me and Jackson riding Ladybug Boogy

I've come to really enjoy Bug's Land at California Adventure. It has great rides for little kids and it's rarely crowded, which is always a plus at Disneyland!

And to finish it off-here's some cool photos Justin took. Justin always captures a side of Disneyland you don't normally see. Isn't he awesome?

This trip Jackson was very interested in meeting all the characters so we decided to spend more time doing what he wanted to do. He met Mickey at least 3 times.



We were a little late getting into the line to meet Woody, but a really cool cast member let Jackson hug Woody as he left. Sometimes the cast members can be little strict with the end of the lines, but this one was awesome. He even made sure Woody knew Jackson was waiting for him.

In California Adventure, Jackson met Mater and McQueen. And the cast member thought Jackson was so cute she even gave in a rag to "wash McQueen". Jackson totally loved it.

This trip was also an "all things Spencer" trip! Jackson was Spencer's shadow all week! He especially loved going to Pirate's Lair (formerly Tom Sawyer's Island) with Spencer.

After our cruise, Justin's family met us in California for a week at Disneyland. It was so good to see Jackson! I missed him so much while we were gone. We did Skype with Jackson once during our cruise and I just cried and cried afterwards because I missed him so much. It felt good to have our little family back together again.

This first picture is actually from the same day we boarded our cruise. If you didn't know it, Justin has lost his mind when it comes to all things Disney. He drove through the night to get me to Disneyland on Mother's Day. He is so sweet! It was kind of bittersweet though because Jackson wasn't there with us.

My Mother's Day cinnamon roll! Hmm. Nothing compares to the fresh baked goodies from Main Street USA!!!

Tomorrowland Rockets

Big Thunder Railroad. He loved the "fast choo-choo train"!

Jackson also went on Grizzly River Run for the first time. He saw it and talked all of us into it. We were hesitant because we didn't want to get wet. But it was so worth it to see the look on Jackson's face. He would squeal in anticipation of getting splashed.

After a long day at Disneyland, is there anything better than playing DS with Spencer?