The Most Fun We've Ever Had at This Place......

We got free tickets to go to Lagoon this year from the place where Brett spent the summer doing a clinical rotation!! The kids were so excited! Brett had a rotation up in Blackfoot, ID and he really enjoyed himself up there. They really enjoyed him, too! So much, that they offered him a job!! But, they knew he couldn't take it because of our commitment to the Air Force. Brett was flattered and maybe when we're done, they'll be a job for us up there. Who knows. Thank you for the tickets! We had a wonderful time!

I took the kids to Lagoon last year without Brett and decided that ALL day was too long. With only a year passing by, it was a little too soon for me to think about going back. But since Brett was coming, and the kids were so excited, we decided to try it again, but to only go 1/2 day. We decided to do Lagoon this year for about 6 hours. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a virtually line-free day!!!! It was PERFECT!!

All smiles as we entered the park!!!

Our first ride: The Haunted Mansion

McKay and Makenna loved this buzzard. They thought he was hilarious!

Getting ready to ride the White Roller Coaster (or Historical Death Trap, as I like to call it).

Excited about the thrills that await!

We rode the Colossus 3 times in a row. It was almost too much for me, but the kids loved every second!

This little guy brings me so much joy. This was our last ride of the night and he chose to ride the Sky Coaster over the park with me. We had a very nice talk about school and making friends. It was a nice, bonding time.

Tour of Utah, baby!!!!

What an exciting day this was!! My dad and I, and a few friends, had been anticipating it for quite a while! I'm talking about the Tour of Utah!

The Tour of Utah is part of the UCI- the International Cycling Union and is called the "toughest stage race in America"due to the heat and altitude. (And let me tell you, it was HOT this year! I was sweating out on the grass watching them!) The race consists of a "prologue" and then 5 days of 100+ miles (or more) of racing. It is totally nuts!! Professional cyclists come from all over the world to ride in this race and we couldn't wait to see them.

This year a part of Stage 2 rode right by our house. RIGHT BY the entrance to our neighborhood. It was AWESOME!!! But so, so fast. One second they were here, and the next, they were gone.

One side of the street of our little cheering squad waiting for the riders to come

Connor and his friends. Those orange things are called "clappers". A Xango truck came out about 30 minutes before the riders came by and gave us all sorts of swag to play with.

McKay is thrilled to be cheering them on. What will I do with that boy and his faces?

They came and they went. We ate some lunch and then headed over to the Riverwoods in Provo to watch the finish. We went a little early to check out the booths and have fun in the atmosphere.

Kenna with her "cool" face. I'm teaching the kids young that road biking is way more fun than mountain biking! Ha!

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The Subaru tent gave us free cow bells

Anxiously awaiting the finish!!!!

Front row seats to the finish. We were so close, we could feel the wind as the group rides by. We were a little too close for comfort, and you can hear me say, "HOLY COW!" as they pass and the wind make me take a step back.

There were a few crashes that day

Connor by the "coolest car he's ever seen."

We had so much fun!

I do have to say, this guy was super nice and so kind to give Connor an autograph. If you don't know who this is, you don't follow cycling as a competitive sport at all. This guy is one of the most famous cyclists of all. You've heard of Lance Armstrong, right? Well, Lance wouldn't be where he is today if it weren't for this guy. They have been on the same team for years.  This guy can crank it on the flat sections and he pulls Lance for miles and miles. Levi does all the hard work, and Lance gets all the glory. It was a pleasure meeting him! He was super nice!

Can't wait to see the next professional race! It was so awesome and fun to follow! All my kids are hooked on biking now! What a fun sport!

Battle Creek Falls

Another one of our fabulous summer hikes! This time we went to a place close to home called Battle Creek Falls. Right up in the mountains above Pleasant Grove.

Here the kids are all spry and ready to go

I love this picture. It reminds me of the journey of life. The road is long and sometimes we can't see where our path is taking us. We know the end goal and we know that with a family is the only way we can get there. 

The kids were enthralled with this web covered tree. We didn't see any spiders, though.

This picture says it all. These two are best friends.

If that isn't a forced grin by Connor, I don't know what is. He didn't seem to mind me taking the picture, but his face says different. Oh well. 

A cave the kids thought was awesome. And McKay, my little actor, always putting on a show!

Connor wanted to clean up the river by descending this hill of shale and picking up the water bottle. He was so proud of himself as this is steeper than it looks.

Another devious look from Connor; and Kenna with her treasures she found along the way. Also, a beautiful view of Utah Lake and Saratoga behind us.

We got to the actual falls, which was only about a 1.5 mile walk, and the kids wanted to keep going.  The falls were super busy with lots of kids and families, so to keep going, was fine with me. We could come back later for pictures.  I was so proud of them that they wanted to keep going. They have improved so much over the summer. So, on we went!!!

Until..... we got to the washed out trail. To keep going, we needed to cross this bridge. The kids were bummed we couldn't keep going, but it looked a little to treacherous to cross to their old mom. 

Our lunch spot-- not the actual falls

Here we are at the actual falls! The picture we saw of this place had barely a trickle of water coming down. Since we got so much water this year, it was a pretty strong force coming down! It was a cool, refreshing spray!

The "we did it" pose! What a fun day!

A Very Important Day

My babies are not babies anymore. McKay and Makenna turned 8 this year.

This is a very important year for them and our family.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when children reach the age of 8, they can choose to be baptized. Being baptized is a very important step in our church because it is the first step to returning back to our Father in Heaven. By being baptized, we show God that we are willing to follow his commandments. We make a covenant with God that we will always remember him, keep His commandments and take His name upon us. He promises that we can always have His spirit (the Holy Ghost) to be with us.

For about 1 year we have been talking to the twins about their baptism. We felt we had taught them what they needed to know to be able to make the decision. We encouraged them to think and pray about what God would have them do. And yes, we believe that God hears and answers our prayers and will even talk to an 8 year old. :o)

They both decided to be baptized.

Here is Makenna with her Daddy before the baptism. 

This is a true, classic McKay face. So happy and cheesy. He loved picking out this suit and was so proud to wear it that day. 

The kids wear white because it represents being clean after their baptism.

Look at that height difference! 

What a special day for our family

I wish we were able to get more pictures of the day. It was a beautiful day and we had so many family members there. My dear friend, Maryam, catered the event and we were blessed with an amazing oriental chicken salad (in chinese take-out boxes, no less) with a killer sauce; wonderful orange muffins, and mango sticky rice. It was oh, so delicious!!!!

I feel so blessed that our children decided to be baptized on this day, and that we have a knowledge of these ordinances and covenants to be able to return to our Heavenly Father.

Can You Guess....

What this post is about?

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

Can it really be that time of year again? Say it isn't so!!!

The big boy on campus, sixth-grader Connor. 

This year Connor wanted to try something new. He wanted to be an "early bird", which means he goes to school at 8am, instead of the "later-gator" schedule that we've been on the last few years, which entails arriving at school at 9:15. I actually thought this was a great idea. Connor would be up early in the morning and get his things done and be out the door to give me some one-on-one (or two) time with the twins. Then, Connor gets to come home from school early and I have an hour alone with him. I think it's going to work out really great.

Cute 3rd grader, Makenna

Sweet 3rd grader, McKay-- don't you love that shirt on him?

The twins showing of their new shoes! 

McKay and Makenna in the sea of students at their school-- waiting

As I was dropping McKay and Makenna off for school, I saw Connor and his entire class, with their teacher, walking out for a mock emergency drill. I ran up to him and loved on him pretty good in front of all his friends. He gave me a big squeeze in return. After he was home I asked if that embarrassed him and he simply said, "No."

Bless his soul......I still have at least one more year to be the "cool mom" and not the "embarrassing mom". We'll see how long it lasts.

Need Some Sunshine?

We got to go on an amazing trip with our great friends, Jared and Lesa Thompson.

They invited us to THIS place:

Can you say beautiful?

Brett had never been to Lake Powell in his life. NEVER!!! He was so excited to go and I was so excited that he could take time off from his clinical rotation in Blackfoot to come along with us. Because heaven knows, even though it was a "couples" trip, I think I still would have gone! :o)

We had a great crowd come along with us: Shellee and Sam Carrick, Brook and Mike Foess, and Shar and Rich Wilcox. We had a great time and many laughs.

SO MUCH FUN!!!

One thing we did that I will never forget is cliff jumping. It was so scary. I wanted to do it, but getting up there and looking down made me have second thoughts....but I still wanted to do it! It was the strangest feeling to have such strong, feuding feelings in my mind! After everyone else had done it, and was patiently waiting for me to jump, Lesa started yelling that if I didn't jump, it was a sign that our marriage was going to fail. Then Sam added in that if I didn't jump I wasn't going to be a good Stake Primary President. It took me forever to finally jump off the cliff, but I did.

We stayed on Brook's brothers house boat. The house boat was 3 levels. It was super nice and even had air conditioning, so we ate in the coolness of the houseboat. I wish I would have taken pictures of it.

Beach babes Shellee and Lesa

Making our way through the canyon

Rich showing off his sweet moves on the wake board

We all jumped off the houseboat, but Mike had to show everybody up and do a back flip off the top. Nice!

This is a rainstorm coming in. You can see in the waterline where the water is coming down. It was a good storm for a while, then over and totally beautiful again.

We had such a great time with our friends. We feel so fortunate to have such wonderful, giving friends. We love you all!!