Reception at the Barn

Thom has always had a dream of having a backyard wedding reception - and Tenille has made that dream come true. Thom and Teresa's home in Dekalb, IL was once a farmhouse on a farm with a barn and silo and everything. All the structures are still there, and they have done a beautiful job of cleaning them all out and fixing them up to use in a non-farmy kind of way! Tenille's reception was held in the beautifully decorated barn, right next to the house. So I think that should count as a backyard wedding, especially considering how nice it was not to have to actually be outside in the rain!Tenille and Lawrence

Becca posing with a bouquet.

It was a long day!

Becca and her cousins, Claire and Ainsley having a good time!

Reese was so funny! She apparently wanted to dance like the other couples, so she kept dragging her cousin, Catcher, out onto the dance floor to dance with her!

At the temple

July 4, 2009
Here we are at the temple after Tenille and Lawrence were married for time and all eternity. What a great way to start out life together! They are a great couple and we wish them the best. (All the pictures were taken right outside the temple doors, because it rained all day, so I don't have any with the whole temple in the background.)

Tenille and Becca

Tristan and his cousin, Graham



Reese and Cameron



Tristan grew a beard in honor of the occasion, and Cameron is just discovering how scratchy it is!


Here's our little family, some more willing to pose than others!

Staying at the Hyrum Smith Farm in Nauvoo, IL

July 3, 2009

We had the opportunity again this year to visit Nauvoo on the way out to Thom and Teresa's - this time it was for Tristan's sister Tenille's wedding. Thom and Teresa arranged for most of us to stay at Hyrum Smith's home in Nauvoo. It was really cool. The middle brick part of the home you see in the picture is the original house, and the owners now have added on to it to accommodate visitors with modern conveniences.

Goodbye Brady Place

WARNING - If you are a Gearhart, this may be a sad post for you. Do not read if you are worried about running your mascara!

I was able to help out with the last little bit of clean-up before Thom and Teresa's house here in the Springs was sold to a new owner, and got a little sentimental and decided to take a couple pictures. I know the Gearhart family has had a lot of wonderful memories in this house and even though I do not have near as many as most of them do, I will miss this house. To me, it was a place of fun and gathering - we ate many a Sunday night dinner here, and celebrated birthdays and holidays together here. I tried on my wedding dress here. Our babies crawled and toddled here, and I learned to quilt, side by side with Teresa and Grandma Nelson here. There were hudreds, I'm sure, of basketball games played out back, hundreds, also, of basketballs that rolled down the hill that had to be chased after. Barbecues, game nights, and even a dance party or two. I think we can love places just as we love people, and 4735 Brady Place has been a place I have loved. I'm glad for the memories I've had there.

The last of the camping pictures - I promise!

Here are a few pictures from the second day of our camping trip. We got up and had a yummy pancake breakfast. . .

(Here's Reese eating with Grandpa)

. . . then went down to the bigger lake to do some paddle-boating. My Dad and Tristan were unfortunately big fans of trying to ram each other's boats and splash lake water all over us!

(Me and my big girl)

..and that was the end of a very fun weekend. We really enjoyed being able to get away to such a beautiful spot for a a couple days and spend some quality time together.

Camping Trip continued....

Here are some more pics from our camping trip:






Posing with Cam

Happy Campers

The boys having fun at a playground at the campsite




Whoever said hiking isn't cute?

Me and my sister, Ashley

Fishing at Farish Park

June 26, 2009 - We went on a quick weekend camping trip with my parents and my sister's family up to Farish Park. The first thing the kids wanted to do was fish. So we got all our fishing gear together and headed down to a small lake nearby. The fish we caught were pretty shrimpy, so I don't think we ended up keeping any - but the kids loved every minute of it! I was really surprised at how well Reese did. Grandpa would cast her line for her, then she would immediatley begin reeling it in by herself! (Wating patiently for a fish to bite is not her thing.) She loved it!

Reese, reeling in a whopper!

Group fishing shot

Mom, Dad, Hannah and Sally

The kids were quite fascinated by the worms

2 cute little fishermen

The Downtown Aquarium

June 25, 2009

We drove up to Denver to go to the Aquarium for ocean week. We got a great deal on the whole trip too - we got 2 free admission coupons from a field trip last year, then the guy kept messing up as we were buying our tickets and he gave us another free adult. We ended u only paying for one adult and one child, not bad, huh? We had a lot of fun too. In fact, the kids were so excited, they went super fast from one exhibit to the next - they were sad when we got to the end, so we told them to go slower this time and went through again! Afterwards, when we went to pay for our parking, the parking attendant was counting his drawer, and told us just to go ahead, so we ended up with free parking on top of it all!

Cameron checking out a Lionfish

Whoa! This one looks like it could eat Reese in one bite!

Trister petting a ray

I love this one! Two tough dudes!

Becca and I posing by some sea anemones.

"The Finding Nemo" tank

A day at the zoo

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES ON THIS POST!!(I had too many cute pictures to choose from!)

Well, at the end of June, we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with my Mom to check out the animals and have fun. We did both! The kids really

enjoyed the trip.

Tristan and Reese checking out a cave in the play area

Reese was excited to see a guinea pig - just like Linny, from one of her favorite shows, The Wonder Pets, Oh, yeah, and this was the week I asked my hair dresser to try to get my hair as close as possible to my natural color - and it turned rusty brown! Don't worry, I'm all better now.

Cam looking very cool in his shades - checking out the giraffes.

Me and my momma.

The kids cooling off in the spray area

Who doesn't love face-painting?

Cameron asked for a pink snake

My mom, Becca, Hannah, and Sally keeping Reese busy while the boys got their faces painted - Reese didn't want her face painted - she just wanted to paint!

A Fabulous Father's Day Breakfast...for a fabulous father!

I meant what I said up there - Tristan really is a fabulous father. Although, I don't know if he would like me to call him fabulous, so let's go with great, that's more manly. Anyway, Tristan is the best father and husband I ever could have hoped for. He loves me and he loves his kids, and is not afraid to show it. He is always working his hardest to make sure we are well provided for and has done a wonderful job. We have always had everything we need and more. I love to find him upstairs immersed in a Lego Batman game with the boys, or just cuddling with the girls, or out in the backyard chasing them all around with the hose! He always makes me feel loved and beautiful, even when I am grumpy or frumpy! I love you Tristan - Happy Father's Day!

The kids made breakfast for Tristan pretty much all by themselves for their Dad this year. They made home-made egg mcmuffins. Becca was in charge of the eggs, Tristan Jr. toasted English muffins and microwaved cook-n-serve sausage. They were very proud of themselves, and the mess was only slightly bigger than when I do it myself!

The ultimate box playhouse

We had some new cabinets installed in our garage in June (thanks Mark!), and as a result, ended up with a whole bunch of huge boxes. Tristan surprised us all with his talent in box architecture. He made a maze-like playhouse for the kids by cutting doors, windows, and other random openings, so they could weave their way through a little wonderland. What a fun and loving dad these kids have! Becca rallied everyone to get out markers, paint, and fabric (for curtains, of course) pretty soon after. It always amazes me how much money we spend on kids - from toys to entertainment - and then they have the most fun with a bunch of cardboard boxes! The kids have been using and reusing this creation now for about a month. They have been used as a jail, some sort of stage for a pop-star concert, and recently, as we are dog-sitting Tyler and Amanda's very sweet dog, Bronco - a make-shift dog house!

Tristan, hard at work

The boys exploring their new playhouse.

Becca, just chillin', while Reese peeks in a window.

I made it!

Add on

We played this fun game for family night that the kids really loved. Tristan suggested we all go out on the trampoline and play"add-on". Each person had a turn to do a trick, then everyone else had to try it. We had some very interesting tricks, and a lot of fun!

I jump very girly, apparently.

Tris, doing a jumping seat spin.

Becca is clapping under her legs in the air.

Cameron is just happy to be jumping!

Reese's trick is static-hair!


Tristan jumping as high as he can, so we all have to hold on for dear life!