August

August was a very busy month! We had 2 major vacations planned! At the beginning of August, we went to Yellowstone with my family. It was so much fun! My parents booked condos for all of us, and we went to see all the sights.

Yellowstone was amazing, of course. Our first day there was very drizzly and wet. We all thought, as we waited for Old faithful in the rain, that we weren't sure this was going to be a great week. But the weather was great after that day!

It was so fun to see all of my family, and to spend the whole week with them! Besides Yellow stone, we also went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone village. The kids loved to see the bears eating and hang out with their cousins all day!

Each evening, 2 families were assigned to cook for everyone, and we would all get together for one big meal. It was a crazy, chaotic time, yet really fun time.

We also all went swimming together a few times. That's what's great about staying in condos!

There were 5 babies born into our family in 2010. This was the first time we were able to get them all together! Left to Right- Evan and Jared Rappleye (August), Alyssa Rappleye (July), Briggs Ford (May), and Sean Doyle (November). It's amazing how similar they all look! They must be cousins.

Over all, It was a great trip to Yellowstone, but best of all was the reunion with my family. The only ones who were missing was Richard and Callie. (They went away for the summer to install alarm systems.) Bottom left corner-Monica and Ruston Ford + 6, front right- Mom and Dad, middle right-Mindy and Lafe + 4, top right- Roger and Tasha + 1, top left-Ryan and Jocelyn + 3, across the middle- The Doyles.

On our way home from Yellowstone, we decided to stop off at the Idaho Falls Temple. It's a beautiful place, and a beautiful Temple!

At the end of August, we went to Lake Powell again. This has become a yearly trip that we’ve taken with some friends of ours. John’s taken up skiing and he’s getting better every time.Erin went cliff-jumping, knee boarding, snorkeling, and swam so much that she came home with swimmers ear. She also learned to ski!!! She’s tried before, but this year she was successful. She loved it. Devin went cliff jumping too! And he really liked knee boarding and the jet ski, but his favorite thing to do this year was tubing. He was always asking if we could go tubing. Colin slept on the top of the houseboat for the first time this year. In years past he’s slept inside with me, but he was a big boy this year! He also just loved going out on the boat and especially loved the jet skis. I was kind of worried about taking Sean to Lake Powell, but he slept great, even for naps. And he was easily entertained by swimming, going on the boat, or playing in the sand. He loved it!

Lake Powell

We had the opportunity again this year to go to Lake Powell with some great friends of ours. We stay on a house boat in the middle of nowhere out on the lake and swim, ski, boat, and relax to our heart's content. This year the big thing to do was the double tube! Sounds dangerous, but they all really had a great time! We also got to jump off the top of the boat this year! Pretty scary if you ask me.

John's skiing has majorly improved this year!

Erin enjoyed everything, Skiing, knee boarding, the slide, and the tubes.

Devin's favorite parts were swimming in the deep water, and riding the water wienie. He also tried the knee board again and enjoyed it, and went down the slide!

John took the kids on a couple of rides on the wave runners too.

Colin discovered that he loves the water. Every morning the first thing he would ask was "Can we go swimming!

He also loved jumping off the deck on the back of the boat. he did this over and over and over.

As for me. I couldn't do all the risky stuff, but I did swim a lot. It helped me cool down and keep the swelling down. I also went on a couple of SLOW water wienie rides.

We had a great vacation. Thank you to our friends for inviting us again.

Since we were down in southern Utah, we decided to drop by my brother's house is Las Vegas. He and his wife just had twins! They were only 1 week old and I can't believe that Ryan and Jocelyn let us stay with them, but it was so fun to see those cute babies! Evan was 6 lbs, 7 oz, and Jared was 6 lbs. 15 oz. Talk about big fir twins! But they were so tiny! It's hard to believe that people can get that tiny! My kids loved holding them! And I got to change a tiny diaper. I'm just getting geared up for things to come! Thanks for letting us stay guys!

Thanksgiving!!!

Ok, I know it's way past time to blog when my camera's memory card gets full. I've got a little bit of catching up to do!

First of all, We had a great Thanksgiving at my Mom and Dad's house in Delta. While we were there we went to see Santa. Erin asked for a video camera. Devin asked for Wolverine Fingers (It's a wolverine glove with retractable claws)

Colin wanted nothing to do with that strange Man with a big white beard!!!
Ryan and Jocelyn were there too with baby Brad. Richard and Callie came later, and we saw Roger and Tasha part of the time too. We went to see New Moon, decorated a gingerbread house, played guitar hero, and watched the BYU vs. Utah game. My Grandma Sorensen joined us for the BYU game. With half the gang rooting for BYU, and half rooting for Utah, it was an exciting game.

When we got back Erin and John got their blue belts. They are really cruising toward black.

A week in the life of the Doyles

We have had a really busy week!!! I'll start at the beginning. Last weekend John and I went down to Las Vegas (leaving the kids with my Mom and Dad) to see U2 in concert! It was an amazing concert! The black eyed peas opened for them and played some of their best songs: I got a feeling, Where is the Love, big girls don't cry, Meet me half way etc.

During the intermission while they set up the stage, John went down to buy his Official Souvenir T-shirt. Then U2 came on. They were awesome! They started off slow with a lot of the oldies for the die hard fans. and then the show got better and better! Here is one of our favorites:

They also played With or without you, One, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Beautiful Day, etc. U2 alone played for over 2 hours! John was in heaven! He's an avid fan, as some of you know. We stayed with my brother Ryan that weekend. It was so nice not to have a schedule for kids, or an agenda of things to do. It was a nice relaxing weekend. We slept in, played Guitar Hero (for the first time ever) went out to eat, and went to a home show. Things I normally wouldn't do with kids. What a nice weekend. Thanks to my brother for hosting, and my Mom and Dad for watching the kids.

On Monday we carved our Halloween pumpkins.

Colin loved taking the seeds out of his.

Erin carved her own pumpkin this year! she did a great job!

Devin helped mark the pattern on his. and then John carved it for him. If you can't tell it's a skull with a spider web in it's head. He loved it!

I've seen a lot of snow in my days, but this is the first time I remember it snowing so much so early in the year. On Tuesday we had about 3 inches of snow!!!! Devin thought is was great!

He insisted that we get out the coats and gloves and hats and out he went to play. That snow stuck around too for almost 3 days! It's been so cold!!!!

Tuesday night was our Ward Halloween party. We had a soup potluck, a costume parade, games in the classrooms, and trunk-or-treating (inside, cause it was freezing outside!!!). It was a great party and there were so many people there, they were setting up more tables as people arrived.

On Friday, Erin had a Costume parade at her school at 8:45 and then I had to get Devin to his school in his costume for his class party at 9:15. What a busy morning. We made it to everything though. Costumes, treats and everthing.

Now tonight we get to go trick-or-treating too. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them soon. Happy Halloween everyone!!!