{Rossell Reunion...

Well, here we all are. It's a crazy bunch but everyone is so fun. When we all get together it's going to be a party and this year did not disappoint!

Grandma Gege. The lovely matriarch of our family.

Jackson is a fish! He sees the waves, grabs a board, and hops right in!

One of my favorite beach traditions... Abba Zabbas on the pier. It helps to kill time when we don't catch anything.

This is our catch. I'm not kidding! The night before I sent Jackson with Grandpa Semi and they caught some red snapper, a sting ray, a baby leopard shark and an octopus! Everyone was so excited that we went the very next night and this is what we came away with!

Each family takes a night and provides dinner and some kind of activity. Our night was Hippie night on the beach. SOooo fun!

This is Grams playing one of the crazy games that mom came up with. Good times!

One of the highlights of our trip was meeting my newest little niece, Sophie. What a little doll!

{"My name is Tagan Hawker and I am 1/2 Bajan...

We just got back from a pretty fabulous family vacation to Barbados. My father was born in Barbados and lived there until he was 14 years old. This was our first family trip to see the "home land." The running joke the entire vacation was that the Berry kids were 1/2 Bajan... we even attempted to fit in with the locals by working on our tans and our accents. Needless to say we weren't very successful! The people were so friendly (minus the airport!) and always willing to help us find our way around the island. The beaches were my favorite part of the trip. We stayed on the east side of the island which is the windy/rough side. We usually had a gorgeous white sand (that felt like brown sugar under your feet) beach all to ourselves! Here are some snapshots of our favorite beaches...

The Crane Beach, Foul Bay Beach and Beachy Head were our favorites.


These are some pictures we took around the island, they are mostly places dad remembers from his childhood...


We decided to take advantage of the fact that we were all together in a gorgeous location and have some family pictures taken...

We are a crazy Bajan bunch!

{Yellowstone...

A few weeks ago we drove up to Yellowstone National Park. Gorgeous! My parents say they took us when we were kids, but I don't remember it... The weather was perfectly cool (great for hiking) and the scenery just couldn't be prettier. Here are a few of my favorite shots from our getaway with Todd's family.

On our way up to Yellowstone, we stopped in Teton National forest and hiked Jenny Lake. 6 miles of pure bliss with 3 little kids! No, really is was beautiful.

Grand Prismatic Spring

These are just some pictures of the "stinkies." Can you believe those colors?



This was some of the wildlife we encountered...



...and THIS is what 14 hours in a car does to a 23 month old!

SO worth it!

{Family trip to Utah...

We kicked off our summer break by scooting over to Utah for just over a week. Anna graduated from High School and my niece Miah was baptized! We stayed at Craig and Liz's home in Draper (thanks for putting us up even with all that you had going on!). We sewed bags, the kids played, we got Miah's ears pierced, and Jackson learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! Go J!
Towards the end of the week I was able to get together with a few of my old roommates from the Y. What a ball! It was like I was a freshman again. We stayed up until 4 in the morning talking and looking at old pictures just reminiscing. So, so much fun. I didn't take one single picture, so girls you'll have to pass some my way!

{We're back and ALL our dreams came true!!!

Well... we are back! What a crazy, fun adventure... Brent and Ann started talking about a Hawker family vacation last year and the place was going to be Disney World. Last week we packed our bags and all 20 of us (10 kids 7 years and younger) met up in Orlando, FL. We had a ball! Grandma and Grandpa bought us each a 6 day pass to the Magic Kindom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We hit it hard each day we were there and I am wiped out! Here are a few pictures from our fun family vacation...

{Princess Aurora called Jackson her "Prince Charming" and he was completely embarassed}

Indiana Jones AND Star Wars in one day... Jackson was in little boy heaven!

The kids took naps when just couldn't keep their eyes open any more. I'm hoping Sammy sleeps for a week solid!



One of my very favorite things was going through the land portion of Epcot. How cool would it be to have a gorgeous, soil free spiral of herbs growing in my kitchen??? I've got to figure that one out! Epcot should come out with a mini version for home use. Hmmmm....