Remember When...

This post is some of my random thoughts and pictures of the last week. It has been a week of reflection in many ways. Last week I brought Brayden to Rexburg, to go to EFY. Rexburg is where Ira and I met 18 years ago. I had the intentions of going and showing Brayden around campus before leaving him for the week. As it turned out, we didn't have time for me to give him the grand tour. When our family went the next week to pick him up, we spent the night and the next day in Rexburg. Ira and I wanted to walk around campus and "reminisce" and show our kids our old stomping grounds. As we walked around campus, it was barely recognizeable - some things weren't recognizeable at all. So instead of us showing our kids around... Brayden showed us around. BYU Idaho is a beautiful campus, and in some ways - I wish I could go back to that time. (Only I would want to know everything I know now - I really don't want to relearn some of the hard lessons of life I've had to learn along the way). But 18 years ago, life seemed simpler...and I miss that simplicity.

I remember when... this kid would call me "mommy", and wouldn't want me to leave his side.

But...I had to leave him for the week (much to his total excitement and my excitement for him...mixed with a bit of emotion that he's growing up).
I Remember When... my dad would take us to Dawnata Hot Springs and play games with us in the water, while we called to my mom who was sitting on the side "Mom, watch me." Now Ira is the dad playing with the kids, and I took on the role of my mom who watched my kids million tricks in the pool.

(I'm usually in the pool with them, but since Ira was there this time...I took advantage of sitting on the side and doing what I like to do best - take pictures).

When we went to get Brayden, we stayed the night at a hotel in Rexburg and swam in the pool.

I Remember When... Ira and I would walk hand in hand across this campus in our dating days. I remember when I would walk from class to class, I would hope that I would cross paths with him. When I would happen to see him, I remember how my heart would skip a beat because I was falling in love with this red headed guy with such a soft voice and beautiful eyes.

I Remember When... it was just we two.
Now it is we six! (and the sign used to say "Ricks College")

I Remember When... these two didn't mind me dressing them alike. This particular morning, I had brought matching clothes, and Jarin had a melt down for an hour because he didn't want to be dressed like his brother. *sigh*

I Remember When... a carousel was the greatest thing E.V.E.R! It was a real treat to get to ride one of these, and I could go on them over and over again. This carousel is in a park in Rexburg, and I got dizzy even watching the kids on it - no way would I get on one now...does that mean I'm getting old??

I Remember When... I loved these water parks. Oh wait...I don't remember that - cuz they didn't have these COOL splash pad parks when I was a kid. But I'm sure I would have loved them... if only :). This splash pad is at the same park in Rexburg. We need to get us one of these parks in Smithfield!

I Remember When... Ira was still in his 30's...that seems SO long ago! Ha ha ha. We celebrated his "real" 40th birthday this week. (Remember when we had his surprise party back in June - well August is the real deal). We made it a family affair, and went to a movie and had a little party. Jarin and Ira decided he should have a "Tron" birthday party. So Jarin and I found some Tron paper cutouts online, and Whaalaa...a Tron party was formed. And as Jarin said, "We don't have THAT many birthday candles - that is too many".

I Remember When... we had the painters come paint the main part of our house one and a half years ago - and I didn't want to pay for the small bathrooms. I figured it would just take a short time to paint those two small rooms. Well...we finally got it done (well, actually, it's not done, done. I'm waiting for a couple walls to dry as I write this).

I Remember When... I would build forts out of every blanket and chair in the house. I absolutely loved it. So what can I say when my kids ask if they can build one? Of course I can't deny them the privilege of so many "adventures" when their imaginations take over.

I Remember When... I would spend summer days with my friends. These kids are best of friends, but they moved away. So when summer rolls around, we exchange kids so they can have those summer memories with their friends.

I have so many wonderful memories of my life past. I love to think back on them and "Remember When". But even more...I love to create new memories. One of my favorite quotes is from "Kung Fu Panda" when he says that today is a gift, that's why they call it the present.

family camp

SURPRISE!!! Yes, I am writing in my blog, can you believe it? I'm sure any "followers" I once had are long gone. But my purpose for my blog has always been to keep more of a journal of my families happenings. My sister-in-law (who lives in California) reminded me that she doesn't know what's going on with our family anymore - since this was our main way of keeping each other posted on our family lives. And she told me to not try to go back and catch up - just start from now. Well Maria...I took part of your advise. I am blogging - but I couldn't help but to play a little catch up. (I didn't post as many pictures as I would have if I had stayed caught up - bad for me, lucky for you). One of my biggest pet peeves is jobs half done - and I knew I couldn't let my blog be left half done. SO...there will be many catch-up posts to follow this one. Just remember - they are for my sake - you don't have to read them all.

Last weekend we had our annual "Moser Family Camp". As always...lots of good laughs and memories. This was the first year in many years that we had all 8 kids there. We were missing some of the grandkids and a sister-in-law. They were staying home waiting for a baby to be born (what a lame excuse to miss camp! - ha ha!) This year we had mom and dad back home to run the show - it just wasn't the same last year without them.

Kam and I in the fields of wild flowers.

Brayden with his cousin Skyler
Kam with his cousins McKay and Ryan. McKay lives in California - so they don't see each other much - and they really had a great time together. Aunt Kimme brought fun activities for the kids - and they made these hats. They loved them. Thanks Kim!
I love this picture of my sister Robin and her husband Reece. She celebrated a big birthday at camp. I won't tell what birthday it was, but I will say that we had lots of black decorations, and some of the balloons read, "Over the hill". :)
This picture makes me sad. Poor Des fell into the fire. He caught himself with his hand and held his body up out of the coals. His little hand was so blistered up, and he was being so brave.
My scruffy honey. Kinda likin' the scruffiness...mmmhhhmm.

50 years

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, without any fanfare, in January while they were still on Christmas Island. I think they liked it that way - just the two of them - no attention brought their way. However, we kids couldn't let it end there. While we were all together for our family camp - we decided it would be a great opportunity to all go to the temple together and out to dinner afterwards. My sister-in-law (Lisa) was the only one of the 8 kids and 8 spouses who couldn't be there (because of the soon-to-be-born baby). Well, at the last minute, she got a plane ticket to join us for this one day.

It was such a special experience to be in the temple with all of my siblings and my parents. I hope that someday I can have the same experience with my children.

After the temple, we went to dinner at Hamiltons, and unknown to my parents - we were guided into a room full of friends and family.

I think it was safe to say that we pulled off the surprise. And with 50 people in attendance, that is a pretty big deal that they didn't even have a clue. The funny part is that once they realized the party was for them - they still didn't know why they were having a party. Their friends (who had traveled from California), had to tell them that it was for their anniversary. They thought they didn't have to have a party since they were gone, and that we would have forgotten about it....funny, funny mom and dad.

My cute parents at the party.

My parents at about age 14. I just came across these dating pictures a couple months ago - I LOVE them!

This is the only picture I have of the temple that day we all went. We were in a hurry to get to the party, so we skipped the picture at the temple. BUMMER...me and my picture-taking obsession. I really wish we had a picture of all of us there.
My parents and all 8 kids and our spouses. With this size of family, it's kinda rare to get us all together - but this was a special occasion that no one wanted to miss. My parents are pretty special people that we all wanted to be there to honor.


The following pictures are some of the decorations we had set up. The one directly below is hard to tell what it is - but it turned out really cute. It is a "family tree". It was tree branches that were spray painted black, and we had gold clips holding random black and white pictures of us kids as babies and throughout the years and also family pictures throughout the years.


My moms wedding dress.

For entertainment - we kids (when I say kids, I mean in-law kids too) - had put a small item in a bag which represented a special memory we had with our parents. Then they had to guess whose memory the item represented. Some of the memories shared had us laughing uncontrollably.
It was such a fun night, and I hope my parents enjoyed it.

I am grateful for parents who stayed committed to each other and to their family through the years. For parents who showed us through example how to love. For parents who serve others. For parents who taught us right from wrong. For parents who love the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Imogene Lake

Ya'll know what a bucket list is, right? It's the list you make of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket". Well, I had never cared to go backpacking, so it wasn't my bucket list - but Brayden wanted Ira and I to go to Imogene Lake with him (since he had gone a couple years ago with relatives). So a couple years ago, I decided I better add this backpacking trip to Imogene Lake, with Brayden, to my bucket list. Well, this year was the year. It had started out as a trip with Ira, Brayden and I. Long story, but Ira ended up not being able to go because of the scouts high adventure trip being rescheduled at the same time. SO...I was booted out of the trip. But the high adventure trip was also changed from it's previous location to Imogene. AND, my relatives (sister, brother in law, nieces, nephews), were all going to Imogene. So I tagged along with them. It so happened that the relative trip was during the same week as the scout trip. The relatives were hiking out as the scouts were hiking in. So Brayden came with me with the relatives, then he stayed there with the his dad and the scouts.

Me and my approximately 32 lb pack. I wasn't sure I was going to make it the 9 miles in - but miracles do happen!

Our whole group on a day hike to the hidden lakes. It was so beautiful - waterfall after waterfall leading to one beautiful lake after another.
Brayden and I

My sister Kelli and their family. Her husband, Derrick was the leader of our pack. He is an avid backpacker, and had to tell us first timers how it's done. Good thing he was there to pack our bags the right way, and give us a light-weight menu, and throw our rope over the tree to hang our food so the bears and chipmunks wouldn't eat it. I'm just glad he was nice enough to let us crash on his party.
My niece and nephew - Tiana and Nathan.
Kelli's family again.
My nephew Travis and his wife, Brittany.
The backpacking girlies.
Kelli and Derrick
Tiana can't take a single picture without pulling some face. So we saw what she did with this one, and we just had to...
take this one!
Skyler, Derrick & Travis
Teenage cousins.
My sis and I
The girlies again...by the waterfall. We're holding the pine branches our fearless leader cut for us to swipe the mosquitos away.
Did I mention the mosquitos? This is Brayden and Tiana
Another of the beautiful waterfalls on our way through the hidden lakes.
Me and my buddy boy, Brayden. I'm so glad he was my inspiration to go on this trip. If he hadn't told me I HAD to go to this place, I would have never had this breathtaking experience (breathtaking in more than one way!).

On Wednesday we headed out, and the scouts headed in. I wished Ira and I could have had this trip together - but I'm glad we each got to experience it, and experience it with our son.
Ira and Brayden (far left) with the scouts.

They swam out to this little island in the lake. And that water was C.O.L.D!