Boys Night Out

While Makenna and I attended a fun girls night out at my fabulous neighbors home (thanks Maryam), Brett took McKay and Connor camping with his brother Mike and his boy, Brandon. Well, much to their chagrin, a lot of families had the same idea the weekend before school started. By the time they made it to the place they wanted to camp (the Spruces in Big Cottonwood Canyon) it was totally full. But, they did get to hike up to Donut Falls and then they had a big sleepover at Mike and Amz' house (thanks guys).

Connor and Brandon at the base of Donut Falls.
Brett did some fancy trick with our camera to get this picture. Yes, this is the same precious camera we almost lost in Yellowstone......thanks be to the soul who found it and turned it in.

Connor and B-ster at the top of Donut Falls. Brett had to carry each boy up to the top because it was such a steep climb. Uncle Mike stayed with McKay.

Brandon, Connor, McKay and Uncle Mike

Connor's First Fishing Trip

One of Brett's good friends from work asked if he could take him and Connor fishing. Brett jumped at the offer because Connor has always wanted to go fishing and neither of us really know how. I had gone once or twice with my Grandpa Harmon when I was younger, and Brett has little experience under his belt. Jared, apparently, is a professional! He knew this great little lake up American Fork Canyon and Connor had a wonderful time! He came home beaming and told me all about the 5 fish he caught. He also learned a lot about the fishing laws from Jared and was able to pass of a scouting requirement! He was thrilled about that too!

Here is Connor with Jared and one of his first catches of the day!

Can you just tell how excited he was about this fishing trip!? I love this picture of Connor. It just captures all he's feeling at that very moment: the thrill of catching another fish and the need to hold it far enough away from himself that it doesn't actually touch him! He just looks so happy and proud of himself at this moment. Fishing is all he's talked about for the last few days and the other night he told Brett, "I think I want to try fly fishing, dad." And Brett said, "Well, maybe you ought to practice regular fishing for now and get really good at that, and then try something else like fly fishing." Connor said, "Dad, I'm already a pro at that! Jared already taught me everything." It was pretty funny! Thank you Jared for taking time out of your schedule to take two of my boys fishing. They had a great time!

Kindergarten date with Grandma Rush

Brett's mom had McKay and Makenna over for a little kindergarten date. She gave them each a present (a new school shirt) and then took them out to McDonald's for lunch. They got to eat and play and then she let them choose out a movie to rent. They both agreed on Barbie Mariposa. McKay didn't seem to mind. Anyway, the kids we just thrilled to be going on a special date with grandma and are so excited to go to kindergarten! They also got to go along with their cousin Kiera. They had a wonderful time. Thank you, Grandma!

Funny triathlon commercial

This is for all my friends who have ever done triathlons and know the truth to this commercial. Hillarious, but oh, so true!

Yellowstone!

We had a great time at Yellowstone and I am so happy to be able to present you with our pictures!! I still can't believe that my camera was found and turned in. Oh, I'm so happy about that! Anyway, we went to Yellowstone with some of Brett's siblings and their families. We took up a couple of canoes (which I don't have pictures of because canoeing came after I lost the camera) which were SO FUN and we also took a little cousin, Madison, with us. We camped-- no trailers here-- and loved our campground-- fully equipped with flushable toilets and showers!!! My kind of camping! Anyway, here are some of the great shots we got!

Connor, Brandon and Madison in front of Dragon's Mouth-- part of the Mud Pots.

Makenna and Hayley. See the deer up in the trees in the background ?

Walking along the trail of the mudpots with some of the cousins.

Kids playing in a warm stream/river. This was fed by a geyser a little upstream and really nice and warm!

A black BEAR!!! In all our years of going to Yellowstone, we've never seen a bear. Well, we did this year. Interestingly enough, as we pulled over to take some photos and see the bear, I saw an old friend I haven't seen for over 5 years! We'd thought we'd lost contact, but now I have her info! So happy!


Big buffalo walking down the road as we're driving past. He knew we were in his territory and he wasn't about to move out of the way of oncoming traffic.

Brett and Kenna swimming in Jackson Lake. The water was cold, but very fun!

Connor playing on the shore of the lake. He preferred this to swimming in the cold water. He is not a fish like his mom and dad are. We'll swim in almost anything!



Cousins at a really neat waterfall. We explored this one day and saw a whole bunch of college kids climb up to the top and jump off. It looked so much fun, so Brett and I had to do it. We came back the next morning and Brett made sure the water was deep enough (about 10 feet) and then we climbed up to the top and jumped in! I stood on the ledge for about 5 minutes (seriously) before I could jump off-- it's about a 30 foot high ledge. Then I took the plunge! It was so exhilarating, I did it 2 more times! It was so great! Probably the highlight of the trip for me!

This could be on the cover of the visitor's center brochure for Old Faithful. The kids thought it was awesome! Aren't they the cutest things?

10 YEARS!!!!

Well, before I post about Yellowstone, I wanted to post about our 10 year anniversary! Before we left to Yellowstone with Brett's family, we went up a few days early to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! First, I have to start out by saying that Brett is so wonderful! He plans something special for our anniversary every year! I try to plan things and then he says, "OK, tell me your idea and then I'll decided if mine is better. His ideas are almost always better! He loves planning these things and always thinks of everything! I am so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband and one who loves planning surprises for me! This year was no different. Brett planned to have our sister in law, Brandi, watch our kids so we could have a nice date night and then a whole night to ourselves! First we went to eat at Firehouse Pizza. We love this place! It was so yummy and it was so nice just to eat and talk and not worry about cutting up kids food or worrying about who needs what and what drinks are being spilled and who's teasing and being too loud. It was just fun being US! It was great to just sit and talk, too. I am a talker, and I loved having that time together. Then we went out to a movie. Brett really wanted to see the new Batman so we went to see that. A guy at Brett's work had told him that it was the best movie he's ever seen in his whole life. So, Brett went in with huge expectations. I, however, had not heard much except that it was dark and classic Batman-movie: senseless killings, lots of action, etc. So, my expectations were pretty low. Anyway, I ended up liking it and Brett was disappointed, but he still enjoyed himself. After the movie we went to our cute little bed and Breakfast: the Providence Inn. It is such a cute little place. This inn used to be a church, called "The Rock Church". You can see the church to the left in this picture. The church was built by the pioneers who had crossed the plains and arrived in the valley in 1856. It is so neat and really cool looking. I love old buildings like this. Funny enough, we didn't take any pictures! Can you believe that! Needless to say, we had a great time!

Now, about these last 10 years! Wow! I can't believe it's been that long! Some days it's hard to believe it's been 10 years, other days it sees like we've been together forever! Marriage hasn't been what I thought it would be, but it also has been so much more than I could have hoped for. It has been harder than I ever imagined, but so much more sweet and joyous that I had thought it could be. I have learned much about myself (good and bad) and much about what it takes to make a marriage work. I've also learned what it takes to make a marriage not work! I've learned patience (still working on that one), I've learned humility (every day), I've learned to laugh at myself (still working on that one, too), I've learned my way isn't always the right or best way, I've learned being right isn't all that matters-- in fact it's the least of what matters, I've learned two really is better than one, I've learned to rely on my Heavenly Father and Savior more and more. I have learned that the person I married is so much more than what I thought he was: more funny, more spontaneous, more loving, more unselfish, more forgiving, more sensitive, more emotional, more kind, more strong, more fun, more beautiful, more knowledgeable, more faithful. I am so grateful to have Brett in my life. What a man he is! Thank you for the last 10 years, and here's to 10 more and beyond!

We got it!!!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we received our camera! Yellowstone mailed it back to us and everything is there and it still works! We are so happy and can't thank Gary Mackey (the guy who found it and turned it in) enough! Thank you for being honest!

I haven't had a minute to post our pictures! We're leaving for a quick trip to CA so I will have to post them later!

Anyway, thank Heavenly Father for good and honest people!