Cedar City / Bryce Canyon

One of the reasons we went to Utah when we did was so we could catch our family reunion on the way back home. We had such a great time....we went to Cedar City and stayed at a KOA campground for a couple of days. We went to Bryce Canyon and hiked around and hung out at the visitor's center together with grandma Debbie & grandpa Phil and aunts, uncles & cousins. The kids had a great time and were all such troopers. We had quite a hike and no one complained...as far as I know....the entire time. Avery was a real trooper because I forgot her backpack so we could carry her on the hike so we borrowed a little baby carrier hoping she wouldn't be too big for it, which she was, but we used it anyway. It must have been pretty uncomfortable for her, but she didn't say a word. Way to go, Mom! Another one of those "Mother of the Year" moments. I don't think I'll forget the backpack again. :)

I love the colors of the canyon. I think these all blend together....there were so many pictures, I couldn't choose so I just kept adding. We had such a gret time and it was great to spend time with our family!

My dad, brothers and sister all have trailers....well, we don't anymore, so they reserved us a cute little cabin to stay in. I took pictures of their houses and then our little house. It was just perfect....it had bunk beds and a queen bed and Debbie is always prepared and packed a twin blow-up mattress so we used that and every one slept comfortably and we had just what we needed. The campground was great...it had a swimming pool so the kids loved that, they had a movie theater downstairs that you could choose your movie and rent the room, which we didn't get a chance to use, hard ice cream in the office to purchase, a little store with fountain drinks :) and these cute little bikes that you could rent for 1/2 hour at a time. We had such a great time on them and the kids didn't stop the whole time they had them. We bought a fun bean bag toss game and played that and just hung out and visited. It was such a great time and we all enjoyed the extra few days that we had with our family. It was so hard to leave....it always is and we all had red eyes when we left that morning. Carson and Ty are such good little buddies and I have so many cute pictures of them but they made me cry just listening to their conversations about how they're going to keep in touch and how they wished they lived closer together. They hugged so tight before we left and that just tugs at the heart strings. We sure love our family and are so grateful for the times we're able to spend together. Thanks for putting up with us! We love you!!

Birthdays

It's fun to be able to celebrate Brit's and my dad's birthdays together while we're there. They share the same birthday....that's one present I'll never be able to top for my dad. :) We had a fun party down at Joe & Jessica's house and we all had a great time. They have a pool so the kids stayed in there for most of the evening. My dad chauffeured Brit down on his motorcycle and also took her back home...that was what we asked for. We have a pretty big family with our 5 kids and Debbie's 6 kids and we have a lot of fun together. I'm so glad Joe & Jessica have a big house. It was quite a night....my stepbrother also got engaged so that was fun too. Thanks for the party and I know Brit had a great birthday because this is what she asks for every year now....a trip to Utah.
For Brit's actual birthday, she wanted to go bowling. We got the cousins together and went down to the bowling alley and had a great time. She was able to visit with her good friend, Lauren also which made it fun for her too. She had a really fun day and we ended up at one of her favorite restaurants for dinner with her grandpa and grandma's....Casa Del Rey. What a fun day!!

Brittany, it's hard for me to believe you're 12. This was a really special birthday for you and I know how excited you were to go into Young Womens. You have been such a sweet girl from day 1 and I don't know what we'd do without you. I'm having a hard time watching you grow up so quickly. I know it was bound to happen, but I thought I could drag it out a little. I can't believe 12 years has passed by.....what a joy it is to be your mom and what a sweet girl you are and a special friend to me. Thank you for taking such good care of me and your brother and sisters and for being such a good kid! I hope we'll be able to get through the next few years and stay just as close as we are now. Thanks for asking to spend a day with me for your birthday....that was such a special thing and you really made my day! I'm glad you had such a wonderful birthday and thanks for being who you are....I wouldn't change a thing! Love you!! Mom

Utah Visit (cont)

This is kind of a straggler....it should've been with the first post. The kids loved my dad's motorcycle....and so did Cody. :) We had such a fun Sunday afternoon.....the kids just played with their cousins and we just relaxed and visited. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather while we were there. After coming from 115, we loved every minute!! :)

4th of July

We had so much fun on the 4th of July this year. When we got into town, we ran into one of our friends from the Fire Department and he told Cody to bring the kids up for the parade and they could ride on the fire truck. When we lived there, Cody was a member of the Fire Department and he loved it. The kids loved riding on the fire trucks and hanging out at the fire station. This was so fun for the kids to be in the parade and have a whole fire truck to themselves. Avery fell asleep halfway through so the parade wasn't that exciting but that was fun for all of them. My brother, Justin, and I ran the 5k together and that was a lot of fun. We'll get Mandy back next year after she has their new little one. :) We went to the park and talked to a lot of our friends and that was fun to catch up a little with so many people all at once. We spent a large part of the day with our family and that was so much fun! Scott & Patti have such a fun family and we had such a great time with them and we got to spend a lot of time with Cody's grandma and grandpa. Avery fell asleep there too....I guess you can see how much we ran while we were there....she was worn out. :) Carson won a fish at the park...Cody gave him a dollar to play this ping pong ball game and he won with the first throw. We ended up bringing that fish home because he couldn't part with it and it is still our little pet.
We have a fun tradition of spending the night of the 4th with my aunt Judy and her family. She makes sloppy joes every year, thanks to Cody, and we all bring something to contribute and then we sit and visit and wait for the fireworks which are right in her backyard. I love my cousins so much....we grew up with them and we don't get the chance to see each other much anymore. This whole CA/UT thing makes it difficult. :) We all look forward to this every year and thanks, Judy for getting us all together! We love you!

Avery's 1st Haircut!!

While we were in Utah, we made appointments with my cousin Kim and all got haircuts....including Avery. Her hair was getting so long and cute but there comes a time when you have to even everything out and make it a little more presentable. Kim did just that and Avery was so good.....she loved sitting there with her cape on and she looked so darling when Kim was done. She looked so old; I wasn't really ready for that, but I guess it's bound to happen. Thanks, Kim! We're almost ready for another one! :)

Utah Trip

We had such a great trip to Utah this summer. This is the first post but there's more to come. I'm way behind and I have a million pictures, so just be prepared. I'm trying to catch up so bear with me. We went for a week in July and tried to fit as much as we could into the week. We still ended up with too much to do and not enough time but we really enjoyed the time that we had. We love and miss our friends and family so much and we look forward to spending time with everyone. It's always hard to leave but that will just make us look forward to another visit very soon.


We stayed at my dad & Debbie's and the kids love walking down the alley to visit all of the animals. My dad always has a steer that he feeds and loves during the summer and then ships him off to the "bad place" so they can have meat for the winter. It's amazing how when we come in the summer, he still has the same cow but he always changes slightly in color. :) It's nice that the small kids can't tell the difference. The kids affectionately call him Moo-Moo. There were horses down the alley and down a little further, my friend has horses and they happened to be down there when the kids were with their grandma Leslie and they got to go for a little ride. The animals are always a highlight. It's funny how they think I grew up on a farm. One of the favorite places was the hammock on the deck and I love the picture with all of the kids piled on Cody. The kids and their cousins are inseparable while we're there....love those pictures.

Our little Monkey's

My dad has owned property in a small little town outside of our hometown for quite a while. He decided this summer to make it their vacation spot....it's perfect because it's about 20 minutes away from home, he left his trailer up there so they could just drive up and stay and they made several other spots for my brothers and sister's trailers as well. He poured a cement pad for a shed, laid sod for a grassy play area, ran gas lines for a barbecue, brought power & water hookups for the trailers and even brought up some sand for a sandpile for the kids. It's so beautiful up there and the kids had a great time.....even though we were only up there for a couple of hours. What a fun place this is going to be for next summer.

We had a fun family party at Grandma Leslie & Grandpa Mark's house. They have a large, beautiful backyard and it was so nice just to hang out on their deck for those beautiful, cool Utah evenings. They always have fun games to play and we ended up playing water kick ball with Andrew & Angie and it was so fun. The kids loved it and were soaked by the end. We love being so close to everyone while we're in town. We rode scooters over from my dad's and the kids love that.....I wish we could do more of that where we live now! Oh well...we enjoyed it while we were there.