4 babies and a camera

In the Mansfield family, all the married kids had a baby within 6 months of each other. Now we have 4 babies that range in age from 16 months to 22 months. While we were camping we tried to get a picture of the 4 cousins. Not an easy feat.

We bribed them with keys to play, 

and treats to eat.

Finally they are all looking at the camera.

And, that's it!  They're finished.  No more picture taking today.

I guess that is the best that we should have ever expected.  Who tries to get a picture of 4 one year olds anyway?

Mansfield Family Camp

Over the 4th of July weekend this year we had our annual Mansfield family camp at Flaming Gorge. We had a great time as usual.  We spent our time boating,

Playing at the beach,

Playing bocci ball, and horseshoes at camp

and just hanging out together.

The kids thought it was great to camp for 3 days with all of their cousins.

There was plenty of dirt to go around.

And by the end of the camp I think we managed to wear everyone out.

I decided to ask everyone in my family what their favorite part of the camping trip was.  This is the results...

Wyatt's favorite part about this weekend was the early morning boating to waterski and wakeboard.  He got up at 6:00 a.m. both Friday and Saturday mornings to take the boat out.  It was pretty cold that early in the morning, but that is when the water is at it's best. Friday morning they did a guy thing. Wyatt, Kamryn, Kevin, and Mikey went out. Saturday morning I made Kamryn stay home to watch the kids and I went with Wyatt.  We couldn't wake anyone else up, so it was just the two of us.  I have to admit it was worth the cold water and the early morning.  The water was pretty good to ski on.  Flaming Gorge gets so choppy in the afternoon that skiing isn't even fun, so early morning is the way to go.

Kamryn said that his favorite part of the family camp at Flaming Gorge was learning how to slalom ski, and wakeboarding. Sorry Kamryn, but I didn't get a picture of either of them. Kamryn decided that he wanted to slalom ski like his mom and dad.  He was determined that he was going to drop a ski.  Well his determination paid off.  Saturday while water skiing, he dropped a ski and slalom skied for about 10-15 yards.  Way to go Kamryn.  He also was gettiing some pretty good air on the wakeboard.  I hate to say it, but he wakeboards better than his mom.

When I asked Derek what his favorite part of the camp was he said, "The whole thing, I liked everything". He just had a great time. He loved the water, the beach, the dirt, playing with cousins (especially Stephanie), everything.  I'm glad that he had such a great time.

Brynli's two favorite parts of the camp were playing at the beach and playing with her cousins Marshall and Allison. It is so fun to have cousins her age. Brynli and Marshall are about 6 weeks apart, and Brynli and Allison are 6 months apart. She has so much fun playing with them. They don't all get together very often, but when they do life is great in Brynli's world. They all loved playing in the dirt. They couldn't get enough of it. They didn't care how dirty they were, they just had fun. I was pretty amazed at how well they all got along. Not much fighting at all.  Good job guys.

Sadie can't tell me what her favorite part was, but she really liked boating. As we were driving there with the boat behind us, she kept saying "Daddy's boat, Daddy's boat, I want Daddy's boat". She kept trying to get out of her car seat so she could turn around and look at the boat. While we were boating, the water was choppy and we were going pretty fast so it was a bumpy ride.  Sadie would sit on her knees at the front of the boat, she would hold on and bounce up and down with the boat. I held on to her as much as she would let me so that she wouldn't bounce right out of the boat. She had a huge grin on her face the whole time. She just loved it.  

Sadie also loved Megan and Mike's dogs, Max and Lily.  They were so good to let her play with them.  She had so much fun with Max and Lily.

I think I would have to agree with Derek, it was all great.  I really enjoy boating and especially with all my family.  I am so glad it is something we all enjoy.  Even the little kids love to play in the boat and on the beach.  I also love to just sit back and watch my family enjoy themselves so much.  I really am grateful that we have such a great family and are able to do so many fun things together.

The last of the pictures from Powell

As you can see we all had a great time at Lake Powell. When can we go back again?

Cliff Jumping at Lake Powell

Should we do it?

Let's all go together on 3

Kamryn and Randy were the only ones to go on 3, but eventually everyone took a turn.

Derek even found a "cliff" small enough for him to jump.