Day 4

Day 4 was a little stressful, but in the end, it was a fun day. Some of my siblings had never been to Zion National park, so we headed south for the day. We figured that people come from all over the world to see this place, so we could drive an hour. But one of my sister in laws isn't a big fan of traveling far to see beautiful scenery... and i made the mistake of guessing that it might be an hour away... turns out it was about an hour and 1/2... so she was grumpy for a while and we planned to eat lunch in Hurricane and I didn't know there were 2 Hurricane exits... who would have thought?? So, we were coming from the north and we usually go there from the south, so we took a different exit and there were no fast food restaurants along the way to zion.... and my brother David who has a lead foot, was leading the caravan of cars didn't have his phone ringer on... so, by the time we got into the park, kids were starving, adults were starving and stressed because it was 100 degrees and most of the family is from washington where they don't know what HOT is and they were miserable... I was feeling major stress because I was sort of in charge, because no one else had been there. I am now rambling... I don't have any photo's to post because I got a phone call when I was unloading the car and I forgot to grab my camera! And I forgot to grab my annual park pass! Luckily my parents had 2 national park passes and they let ALL of us in with their pass! YAH! I offered to keep my brother Todd's 4 kids for the rest of the cabin time, because he had to go home to work, so I had 4 extra heads to count... that added a little more stress...

By the time we got lunch at the lodge everyone was a little happier... then we took the shuttle to the riverside walk and we headed straight to the water and everyone got in and cooled off! So, from that point on, we had fun! We explored up the river and the boys found a big rock to jump off! Good times! I will get pictures from my dad and post them later....

Day 3

More exploring today... we wanted to show Dave and the girls around. It's been so fun to get to know Natalie and Tiffany! They live in Washington and we don't get to see them very often. They are such cute little girls. All the little girls are having so much fun together. We had a full house today! A little cazy, but fun! But John and Ashley, Todd and Sharolyn and Angela and Shawn went home tonight... they have to work for a few todays and then we will get back together in Midway on Wednesday night.

The little kids all went out into the woods and built forts... the girls was imaginary and the boys really built one!

We went to Brian Head peak... it was pretty amazing! You could see for miles...

Cute little girls!

The boys wanted to walk down?? crazy!

The Fam...

My brother David and his girls...

All the grandkids... so cute!

Ashley and Justin.... he has a dimple like Ashley.

Julie arrives tomorrow! Should be fun!

Day 2

We are still having a great time... here are a few photo's to show you what we have been up too... we did some exploring today and went to Cedar Breaks and took a little hike to a pond. Cindy and Angela and Shawn arrived in the morning and David and the girls got in around dinner time... FUN TIMES! Lots of food, games of hearts and we've been watching some old family movies...

Mitchell having a wonderful time!

Scott, Jenn and Afton

My brother Todd and Sharolyn, Brendon, Dallin, Charity, Emily and baby Justin...

Cute Grandma and Grandpa (yes, the golf club is a walking stick!)

Cute kids!

Brendon has a bad hip, so he got carried most of the way... John was a wonderful uncle and carried him on his shoulders almost the whole way!

Cute boys!

beautiful girls...

My man!

We had a great idea... kids eat outside! The chipmunks had quite a meal when they were done!

50th Anniversary Trip... Day 1

We are celebrating my parents 50th anniversary this week. Their anniversary is actually Aug. 18th... but this is the week we could all get together. So, some of us are are meeting in Brian Head for a few days and then the "official" reunion starts in Provo on Thursday.

Todd and his family, Scott and his family, my parents and my family arrived last night. We were so excited to meet baby Justin! We celebrated Scott's birthday when we got here. We had some very gooey brownies with lots of candle wax in them!

Afton, John, Ashley and Charity

Ashley and Afton

Jenn and Justin

Todd and Emily

Crazy Tanner and Mitchell

We are having a great time and I will post more in a few days...

Quick trip...

John surprised me with a day at the beach for my b-day. On Sunday afternoon we drove down to Edie and Luke's house (John's sister who lives in Hesperia, CA) and spent the night. We had fun playing Phase 10 and catching up... I believe I was in 2nd place when a few poor losers quit the game... I won't mention names... M & E are their initials... anyway, they live a little over an hour to the beach, so we got up Monday morning and drive down to Newport. We went to Carona Del Mar Beach. I love it there.

I LOVE the Ocean... it's so calming and it makes me so happy. I LOVE playing in the water... it doesn't matter the time of year or the temperature of the water... I have to get in! I love riding the waves, floating on the waves before they break and diving through the waves! It all makes me happy. I love sitting on the beach watching my kids and husband play in the water... and I love sitting on the beach reading a good book, listening to the waves crash in the background! This was a perfect birthday present!

Sometime after lunch John heads to the restrooms and comes back a few minutes later with our dear friends the Browns from Liberty Lake, WA! They were only 20 yards away up the beach! They were in California visiting family and just went to the beach for the day.. how random is that! there are hundreds of beaches in Southern California and we ended up at the same one! Crazy! It was so fun to spend the rest of the day with them and catch up on their lives. They have twins that are Ashley's age, Kendra and Kyle... Unfortunately Kendra didn't come with them... Ashley went to school with them from kindergarten to 7th grade... and then they have a son Mitchell's age. They played soccer together, did Joy school together and lots of play dates. Tanner didn't remember Trevor too much... he was a little older than him. We moved to Liberty Lake the same month that the Browns did and everyone used to get John and Nathan mixed up... The whole gang...

Waiting for the perfect wave...

John caught a good one!

Mitchell riding one in...

Mitchell and Drew

After the beach we drove to the Balboa pier and had dinner at Ruby's Diner... Our fist time eating at Ruby's... Mitchell LOVED his burger... he said it was worth the trip.

the kids chowing down the fries...

After dinner we walked around some shops... Tanner was tired and ready to go... Mitchell was mad that we didn't buy him a shirt at a surf shop and John is just happy to be together...

So my kids have some issues with sunscreen... for some reason they don't think it's cool or something to have someone help them put it on... so each of them got burned at the beach. I can't tell you how many times I asked Tanner if I could help him get his, face, back and chest... he got mad at me each time and said he was fine... Mitch just sat there and watched everyone put theirs on and ended up putting a little on but not enough and Ashley insisted that she wouldn't burn... They forget that the sun is different at the beach... anyway... I won't ramble on about my kids not listening to their parents... but I will say that I had a hard time sympathizing with them the next day when they were all crying about their burns... tanner couldn't even get dressed all day because his chest hurt so bad... if you look close at this picture below you can see blisters on his chin...

I had a great day Tuesday on my actual birthday... a great friend took me to lunch and to a movie... and then the family took me to Bajio for dinner. and to top the night off, I had my favorite ice cream for dessert! Too bad I had to share it... i could eat the whole quart myself!

21 fabulous years!

I am way behind on my blogging again! I will try to do a few posts to catch up...

July 8th was our 21st wedding anniversary... we celebrated by taking advantage of a "locals special" here in town. We got a great deal on a room up at the new Aliante Casino. We took off earyl in the afternoon and spent the afternoon at their pool. It was very nice. We went to dinner and then a movie. We saw the Proposal... it was really cute. Then we went back to the pool and relaxed in the hot tub... it was nice and quiet... everyone else was out gambling! I wish we could have stayed 2 days... but John had to get to work in the morning. so it was a short and sweet getaway!

I found some fun wedding pics... I love my husband so much and I would marry him all over again in a heartbeat!! Thanks John for being such an amazing husband and best friend!!

We look so young!!

Mitch Home, 4th of July and Zion

We have had a great 4th of July weekend! The most exciting news is that Mitchell came home from his 2 week scout camp. He has been at The Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico with our ward. It is suppose to the best scout camp in the country... Our Bishop says it's a great experience for a young man to prepare for a mission... And after listening to most of them share their testimonies today, I believe him! They were amazing.

The boys hiked each day and had to find their own way without the leaders help. Mitchell was the leader of his group, so he had a lot of responsibility... They were suppose to hike 78 miles over 12 days and he said they probably went about 95 because they got lost a few times... He said it was hard, beautiful, fun, exhausting, spiritual and an overall great time. He said that the boys go along good and the worst part was the food... I am so grateful to all the leaders who took 2 weeks vacation to spend with my son... I am sure they would have rather spent their vacation time with their families... THANK YOU!!! I will try to get Mitchell to write a post about it...

We went to the airport to meet them ... Ashley and Tanner made some fun posters. It was pretty cool to see 19 boys and their leaders all in their scout uniforms come down the escalator at the airport! They looked exhausted and yet excited to be home.

Ashley missed her brother!!

I'm sure he would have liked to go straight to bed when he got home, instead we had friends and family over for a little 4th of July celebration! We had fun swimming and barbecuing and lighting off fireworks...

The guys spent a lot of time trying to dive through a small blow up ring... I think they popped 2!

I caught a nice picture of Scott going through this one!

Dave and the kids enjoying Michele's homemade ice cream! delicious!!!

Yum!

Ashley, Alex and Mitchell watching the fireworks...

yes, Logan had a blowtorch!

Nati, me and Scott and Afton (she was so cute in her red, white and blue!)

We pulled all the chairs out...

Larry & Dave had quite the stash of fireworks!

Surprisingly John was the only one who got burned...

On Friday John, Tanner and I went up to Zion National Park. Ashley went to the beach with friends... we missed her! The park was crowded, but we still had a great time. It's so pretty there! We hike a few hours up the narrows and then back. Tanner was in the water almost the whole time!

Tanner being cool...

John relaxing... the water was very refreshing!

I walked around this part... Tanner and John tried to keep the backpacks dry... but it was almost over John's head...

We are so lucky to live in such an amazing country! Happy Independence day!!