When the kids went to bed....

Packing for holidays is never fun.  I don't know about you, but it always seems I spend the week before running around like crazy making sure I don't forget anything...which always happens.  After seeing some super cute travel mini albums (here, here, and here) I got it in my head that I was going to make one.  With only about 20 minutes to round things up I put together a little kit (which means grabbing whatever I can think of I might want to use).  

I made sure to pick up this camera before we left to make it super simple to complete this mini album.  It was so much fun taking pictures and the boys loved watching the picture appear!  I would keep my little stack of pictures in the pocket of my camera bag and once the kids went to sleep I was free to scrap...of course while we watched the first season of modern family!!  Love that show!

Now to see some of the layouts...

I actually didn't even bother to make a cover for the album.  I just kept stacking my layouts on top of each other...it seems to work.

I tried to keep the album about favorite memories and moments...and little details and thoughts about the trip.

This really is one of my very favorite holidays...and so I love that I created this while I was there in the moment.  I hardly pulled out my dslr camera the whole trip, but I'm okay with that.  I am happy to have caught a few fun clips using my new instax camera...and that they're all kept right in this album.

One of our family traditions is to go to the go-karts when we're there.  I don't think there has ever been a year that we haven't stopped (even in the rain!).

*sigh*...how quickly it feels like I was never there at all...

K :)

Wishing to be back here.

 Almost every summer since I was a little girl (I think I was 3 years old the first summer we came) my family has spent time at Shuswap.  I love it there.  Love the beach...the sun...the weather...the memories...the traditions.  Every year we have a fabulous time.  This year my family wasn't able to go, but Cody and I still wanted to make the trip so his two sisters and their families joined us for a couple of days.


Maguire is our difficult traveller...he cries and complains the whole time, but he actually did really good driving the 8 hours.  Of course we were always happy when he did this...

haha!!  And then Ryker is always great!  He can easily entertain himself and loves to just watch out the window.  

The first night we stayed in a hotel.  We didn't actually get our cabin until Saturday afternoon, but Cody has been working on a cabin on Shuswap so we went early so he could work.  The boys always love staying in hotels!

We spent Saturday morning at the public beach watching the ducks...

 and throwing rocks...

playing at the playground...

and getting all the grocery shopping done for the week.  I think we were all just so happy to be away and spending time together.  With Cody so busy at work we don't always get the chance to get away like this...so we really enjoyed it.

The cabin we stayed in!

We love this community.  This was our third summer here and it was perfect.  All the cabins are privately owned, but some people rent theirs out.  We had stayed in this cabin 2 years ago, so we knew what to expect.  We even had an extra bedroom!  Ryker was excited to sleep in the top bunk and Maguire thought he was such a big boy sleeping in a bed.  It was pretty cute!

I love this view!

(this is looking out at the lake from just above the beach)

The boys loved playing with their cousins!  They had a great time playing in the sand and swimming together.  They spent hours just playing on this mound of sand that had been dumped to fill the beach.  Ryker cried when it was time to spread the sand out.

Maguire loved the water guns...even though he couldn't spray them.

We had great weather for the most part.  Some days were a little cloudy, but still nice.  The one day that was a little rainy we decided to go into Salmon Arm and have a picnic at the park.  On our way home we stopped at the go-karts.  It started raining right before our group went and everyone got soaked!  Ryker loved it though and didn't mind one bit that he was all wet.  

Everyone left by Thursday so we had 3 more days to spend as a little family.  Family friends own one of the lakeside townhomes, so we got to go out in their boat with them.  I even wake surfed and got up on my first try!  I haven't down anything like that in over 13 years.  Cody had never seen me wakeboard or ski!  The boys of course cried when I jumped off the boat and didn't want me doing it.  haha!!

We rented a pontoon boat and sea doo with Cody's everyone while they were hear.  I think that was a favorite day for everyone!  The kids all took turns tubing (Ryker was nearly impossible to get off the tube he just loved it!).  One of our stops was Margret Falls!  It's such a tropical hike...everyone loved it! 

 We had such a great time!  These two little guys absolutely loved it and did not want to come home.  We ended up staying as long as we could and travelled all night home.  It was definitely another great holiday!

xox

looking forward to....

shopping here and here.

eating here and a million other places.

getting pictures done by this amazing person!

playing with the kiddies!!!

and hanging with the hubby :)



just can't wait...


K :)


p.s.  If you have favorite places in Phoenix area...please share!  I'm always looking for other fun things to eat...do...places to shop....  share!