Homecoming Game

There's my Demon Child... the cute one with the horns. This was the homecoming parade at half time. He did such a great job, but boy was he hot and sweaty in that thing.

This is after the parade, he had just changed out of Hot Stuff, the demon.

"GO DEMONS!"

It was great to see the Demons win their homecoming game, I think the first win this year, and watch our boy cheer his heart out. What a cutie!

Like Father Like Son

I just love those pretty blue eyes! What sweeties!

Papa and the Coyotes

Yesterday, we got to go see my dad play hockey at the Jobing.com Arena, where the Phoenix, Coyotes play. He has been practicing hard and working out to be at his prime for the game. He did a great job. I loved watching him skate around and maneuvering the puck through the other players. He played awesome!

We got to see the Coyotes practicing for awhile before Papa's game. They were fun to watch and some of them were HUGE!

Later in the evening some of the family and some friends went and watched the Coyotes play the LA Kings. It was an awesome game, well, at least the last few minutes when the Coyotes tied the game and then won in over time.

The Teams (Papa is in the back row, third from the left)

A couple of pretty faces

The star of the game

Showin' 'em whose boss

More pretty faces

Those are some of the Coyotes playing in the back ground.

#10 is my dad. Look at him as he races down the rink! Most of the fellows playing are much younger than my dad, but he's still got it and they love playing with him.

Dandi's son, Lucas, took this picture of me. He insisted that I needed my picture taken by him with his puck.

We wore our shirts from Aspen Grove to support Team Papa. They say: FAM*ELY, It takes more than matching shirts to make a team. (My maiden name is Ely.)

My mom and dad. Aren't they adorable!

It was a great time, and so much fun to watch my dad playing his favorite sport. He has been skating since he could walk. He grew up in Superior, WI and played hockey all the time at the neighborhood rink. It is wonderful to see him now at 64 still amazingly fit, whizzing around the rink. His nickname in his younger years was Rocket, because he was so fast.

Thanks Dad for making is possible for us to all have a fabulous time showing our kids what a cool Papa they have and then getting the tickets for the Coyote game too. We love you!

Curly Sue

Susanna was being so flirty and cute last night. I had curled her hair with our new Curlformers.



They work amazingly with all my girls hair, from Zanna's baby hair to Sara's thick wavy hair. They are quick and easy and make beautiful hair for church with very little work. LOVE THEM!

Working with Dad and Grandpa

After the big move in to our new house, Richard and his dad took on the giant task of disassembling our play set and trampoline. The kids had a great time working with the two of them. We still have to get them reassembled at our new place... more great memories to come I guess. Hopefully they can still remember how to put it back together.

Gavin's Birthday!

My lil bro Gav is officially 22. We decided to surprise him with a small outing to Red Robin. He knew my parents were going to take him out for a treat after an accompanying job he had last night but he didn't know his crazy sisters and brother were going to be there too. Gavin ended up being about 30 minutes late getting home so we got to hang out and be silly while we were waiting.

I think most of the event was spent laughing and being goofy; it comes naturally to our family.

Dandi, Gavin, Steph, Jessi and Ben
This was our "Pretty" pose.

Dandi and Dad

Nellie (Dandi's baby) and Papa

More silliness. It was mostly a night of bad pictures with drunken expressions. Drunken with laughter and chocolate malts only, but I wondered what the waiters thought with the way we were acting.

What a beautiful bunch of grown kids my parents have! Any mother or father should be proud of offspring like us!

Aspen Grove

Aspen Grove Family Camp is our FAVORITE vacation spot. It is in Provo Canyon a bit up the mountain from Sundance. We checked in on Saturday the 5th of June and stayed through Friday the 11th. It is a week of fun and bonding with the Ely family. I don't even know how to describe all that goes on during the week, everything including BYU professors giving lectures, just about any sport, crafts, pool, ping pong, air hockey, swimming in a huge 80 degree pool, family games, delicious food, ice cream and hiking. It is a busy fun filled week. My parents, their 5 kids, 3 sons-in-law, 1 daughter-in-law and 22 grand kids all share a family lodge, a big cabin with a family room, kitchen, 8 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a loft.

The WHOLE gang on Sunday after church

Dandi, Steph, Sara and sleeping Nelly

Laney very happy!

Nate

Papa handing out candy to the kiddos.
I think he was even more excited about it than the kids were.

Lots of dancing went on throughout the week. Here is Nate and Sara jammin' out.

Eating the YUMMY food

Drew with half of an egg on his head

The kids had to walk this to the finish line with out killing anyone. They did a great job.

Josh and Gavin

Sam and Wilson

The FAM*ELY gang cheering away

Sam and Tyson were the martyrs in this event. We had to fill a holey trash can with water. We plugged holes with fingers and toes and then put Sam and Tyson in it so we didn't need as much water to fill it. It was icy cold. They were the heroes of the day for sure.

Sara hoppin' to the finish line.

Tim in the tree tops doing the high ropes course

Tim after conquering the rope course

Drew, Nate and Tyson having fun being silly.

Sara and her friend Aleah

More ropes course champions

Rich in the tree tops

Sam almost floating in the air

Lilli and Lucas on the kids rock wall

Nate used his allowance and bought a shirt and hat. He was so proud.

The menfolk, Sam included, fought fiercely in the 5 on 5 basketball tournament.
We lost, but they had a great time. Sam was guarding a giant, but never seemed shaken by it.

Hiking Timpanogas, Rich, Sam, Josh, Tim and Sara had a great time playing in the snow and exploring the waterfalls and such.

Zanna loved running around playing with all the cousins. There is always someone to play with all the grand kids.

Josh throwing an axe

Sam and Tim whipping balloons

Snow cones and balloons at frontier night

The musicians were great. All the staff was in character and made frontier night great!

Tim got hit in the mouth with a cue stick during a game of pool. We took him to Provo the next day to have the exposed root sealed. He had a root canal and a crown done when we got home.

Daniel and Madi loved being together in group and with the family. They are great buddies.

Sara was quite the actress during skit night. She was belting out her song and totally in character.

Nate and Drew during their skit, They look like they are ready to stir up some trouble.

Daniel skit night

Laney and Gwen, The theme of skit night was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. The kid's groups all acted and sang to one of the songs.

Sam hanging out with his new friends

Josh and his new friends, aren't the girls pretty?

Papa made popcorn every night when we were settling back down in the family lodge. Yum!

My awesome parents who organize this whole trip and make all the fun possible, Thank you!

By the end of the week we saw more and more of this face on Zanna. She was ready for a regular schedule and her own bed.

This was just before we left to come home. It was a great week.