UTAH....again

We ended up making two trips to Utah this summer. Long story short - we just did. On our second trip we went all the way up North. And I mean all the way, but more on that later. First, we headed to the Salt Lake area. Erik's cousin was married in the Salt Lake temple on Tuesday June 29th & they were gracious enough to invite to all the festivities.

We stayed at my Granddad Carroll's house. (He's one of the coolest men alive! He's always so welcoming to us.) Check out the bedhead on Kylie...

After getting ready it was off to the temple. We arrived early & were able to do a quick tour of the Convention Center. At least up to the roof which is our favorite part! Erik's younger cousin Nate watched the girls so that we could go into the sealing. Which, of course, was awesome! I am a horrible photographer though because I only got one photo of the couple & it's from far away when they first walked out. Shame on me! (Forget the typo on the date. I'm too lazy to fix it since I JUST noticed it!)

Here's some random close-ups of the temple. It's for a project I have in mind, but we'll see if I ever get to it. I still like to look at them. Also, maybe this is common knowledge & we all know I'm not the brightest. But, did you know that the big dipper is on the Salt Lake temple. That was news to me this trip.

After the luncheon we had some time to kill. Erik's Aunt Louise & Uncle Ron were so kind & bought us dessert at the Garden Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Because of timing we were starving & it was hot outside, so that was wonderful! Then, we headed to the luncheon just down a few floors. It was a great luncheon with food & entertainment! Then, it was time to go & I found this AMAZING room as we were walking out of the building. The picture does not do it justice! Especially since it's dark & blurry, but you get the idea.

I want... no, I NEED that chandelier!! Remember that for Christmas everyone!

JUNK

I love looking at the pictures on my camera & finding the most random photos. Here's such an example...

My girls think these photos are hilarious. They do them often. They turn the screen saver mode on the xbox & then take pictures like they're being sucked into a vortex or something. They are nutty!

Then, there's some proof that Nui definitely belongs in my home. I believe he has OCD. Check out his dish...(Not sure why this photo keeps flipping on me. Sorry.)

He always pushes his food to one side as he eats it. It keeps his bowl cleaner & in order. That's my kind of dog!! ;)

ZIONS

For this trip to St. George we were trying to think of something different to do. Since we generally enjoy hiking together Erik thought it would be fun to go to Zion's this year. Only thing was that he wanted to go with Rennie & the kids since she knows that place REALLY well. Luckily, it all worked out & we had a blast!

We ate lunch at a nearby park area before heading into Zion's. I love the picture of the kids hand in hand as we walk into the park! Not to mention the group picture of the kids & Creed's grump face! I love that kid!!

This is probably my favorite picture of the day because if you look at the bottom left corner you will see Creed on the ground. Not sure why, but this was hilarious to me when I found it!

You'll notice in this picture at the bottom is a picture of Rennie jumping a little stream with Memphis in tow. She was nuts & making me nervous. If you blow it up & look close - Memphis looks nervous, too. And then Carter's face in the photo with all the kids & their sticks is classic, too! He looks like he's about to karate chop everyone with his stick!

After all of our hiking we got some ice cream & it was delish. Thanks again Ren for the fun day!!

HIKING

As I've mentioned numerous times before - one of our favorite things to do while visiting my Mom & Alan is to go hiking in their backyard. This time we took Nui & found out that he is a bit of a wimp! Every time he found any piece of shade he would automatically lay down. Even while we were still walking. We ended up carrying him half the way because he was just too tired. Good thing he's little!



When we got back to the house he went straight for a bed & was down for the count!

CAMPING

On Thursday the 27th of May the girls got out of school for the summer! The next day, Friday, was Jadyn's party with her friends. Then, as we cleared out our house of her friends we left to go camping with the Linford's! Erik was beyond excited to go camping again. The girls were, too. I was a little apprehensive since the last time we went, in September, I froze to death. But, it should be warmer now, right? It was & we had a blast!

Erik brought his grate to cook his bratwurst & canned chili over the fire. I know - disgusting, but whatever! He was a happy man. The girls dug a little cave with Carson & Jace. Even though the boys had it already carved out from their father-n-son's outing the week before in the same spot. My girls thought they were cool though & they were pretty dirty. Much to my dismay!

We had fun listening to Darrin tell cop stories & the kids had fun playing catch & "baseball" Saturday morning. Kylie even showed off her mad camera skills when I found some pretty decent pictures of the kids in our tent that I didn't know about. Apparently, she even knows how to use the timer on my camera. Huh - who knew?

We even had some choice neighbors that decided to blare country music from their cars in the wee hours of the night for hours & talk REALLY loud. Erik, Chad & Darrin had a lot of fun setting off their car horns for a LONG time - over & over - to make them made in the morning. I was waiting for them to come attack us, but they really did deserve it!

Thanks again Chad & Shelley for inviting us to tag along! We had a lot of fun!!

MUSIC AWARD

Jadyn was invited to an end of the year awards night at school & we had no idea why. Last year she was given the Student of the Year award for her class, so we assumed that she was getting it again. However, we were excited when she received the Music Award for 1st grade!! The music teacher & the PE teacher pick one student out of each grade to receive the respective awards. Jadyn got it for first grade! We love this girl - she's awesome!!

Here's Jadyn with Mr. Blau the music teacher. He is awesome! My girls love him.

Here's Jadyn with her teacher Miss Thomas.

JADYN's 7

I am WAY behind on blogging...again. I'm going to try my hardest to catch up before a bunch more happens in the near future. In that attempt, here's a post about Jadyn & her 7th birthday. (The next few posts will not be in order, so bear with me.) The lucky little girl had 3 different parties. It was crazy!

PARTY #1
Mimi took all of the girls to see "The Princess & the Pea" at the Hale Theater. It was so fun & the little girls had a blast! Thanks again Mimi! We all loved it! After the play we met all the boys @ Peter Piper Pizza for a combined party for Jadyn & Creed. It was a fun day & even better that it was a day spent with family!


PARTY #2
Jadyn had a friend party this year. We decided awhile ago that we would only do parties for friends on the odd years of the girls birthdays. That way it doesn't conflict with baptisms, YW, etc. And at our house, for Mom's sanity, we keep things low key. Jadyn decided to have a few friends over to watch a movie. She picked the Pixar Shorts DVD. They had popcorn & LOTS of treats. Those poor parents probably hated me that night. I'm sure every single one of those girls went home with a MAJOR sugar high! It was fun & Jadyn loved every minute of it. Despite the fact that her cake did not turn out. We had an awesome cake planned out, but I am no Buddy! (From Cake Boss) I tried & it failed miserably. Jadyn was really upset. Oh well!! Nothing I could do. At least the lip gloss & charms she wanted to give out turned out alright. Otherwise the party would have been a total bust!


PARTY #3
The day before Jadyn's birthday we had a last minute impromptu party with the Parkinson's. Needless to say, I'm soooo glad we did!! This was the week before Esther's passing & the last time we would all be together. We ate dinner, had cake & just enjoyed being together. Kevin showed off his mad skills - doing push ups with kids on his back. Then he was almost taken down by our tough dog Nui!! Hunter & Steele sported all of their Laker gear & took the verbal beatings they received for doing so in stride. It was a fun night!


The next morning was Jadyn's real birthday. We had Ciara spend the night after the Parkinson party. Jadyn received the traditional breakfast in bed & then opened her presents. After that we all loaded up & went bowling. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that. I tried, but pictures don't turn out very well in dark bowling alleys. She had a wonderful, party packed birthday this year! Only 1 year until she's baptized. Now that's CRAZY!!