Fun New Site

Look how fun!

A whole website based on

"The Friend Magazine"

I love it!

Click HERE to take a look.

Everyone's Learning Something New!

Guess what I've been doing since my brothers started school?

Learning to crawl!

Now I can go wherever I want...

whenever I want!

First Day of School 2009

Seems like everyone had something special to be excited about this year!

OTG Boy - extremely excited to be in 6th Grade and "rule the school" as he says!

The Professor - ready to become part of the "virtual world" and start his online academy!

Bubba - first day of Kindergarten - that smile says it all!

OTG Boy and Bubba headed off for the bus...

The Professor worked all day on his projects...

He's attending the Arizona Connections Academy -

if you'd like to learn more about it click here.

Oquirrh Mountain

It's already time to start heading south towards home, but we have a few more stops to make.

After our late night at the rodeo, we were up only a few hours later to start packing up the truck.

Our first stop along the way...

Uncle L & Aunt H2's house!

We were excited to see all of them, but mostly to see the little guy in the orange...

he's my newest nephew and he was born while we were on our vacation, so it was perfect timing!

Glad you made it cute little Cousin C!

After a quick visit - we were on the road again...

headed here -

The Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open House.

It was the last day, so it was pretty crowded. We spent quite a bit of time waiting in a tent to watch the welcome video. As we waited Handsome Hubby was going over a pamphlet about the temple with Bubba. When Bubba saw the picture of the baptismal font he asked, "Why is the baptismal font sitting on the back of a bunch of water buffalo?"

A little while later, I asked Bubba to tell me about the pictures, when he got to the picture of one of the sealing rooms he said, "And of course, this is the Upside Down Room." "What?" I asked in confusion. Bubba pointed up towards the roof of the tent we were sitting in... "You know, Mom," with a tone of exasperation, "the ceiling room."

At least we know a couple of good topics for some upcoming Family Home Evenings ;)

The boys all enjoyed going to the temple - OTG Boy seemed especially excited to have the opportunity to see what it is like inside a temple.

After the temple we stopped for a visit with my Grandpa and Grandma. It was a good visit and it was a great opportunity to introduce them to Junior. The boys especially enjoyed the ice cream cones! That's one thing you can always count on at my grandparents house - an ice cream cone. My kids always talk about the ice cream cones - and think they're the best they've had!

We spent the night in Richfield, again, and then it was all about driving home. As we were driving Bubba recognized some mountains by the Grand Canyon, he looked at me with concern, “these look like mountains in our desert.” “They are,” I said, “we’re going home.” “What?!?” he said, “I thought we were going back to Grandpa’s House!” Then through tears he softly said, “I had so much more I wanted Grandpa to teach me.”

I think we all feel a little bit like Bubba - it was a wonderful vacation - we enjoyed grandparents and cousins so much. We love Arizona, but we miss our family and love all of you more than we can say!

Family Time

I must admit - I let the picture taking get away from me but we continued to have a very fun vacation. After the cabin we headed to Uncle A2 and Aunt W's house. Bubba and Cousin J had fun playing and it was fun to see where our Utah cousins live!

Next, it was back to the farm where the kids enjoyed time with Grandpa!

Everyone took turns horse riding and going out on the tractor. However, I think the boys were a little sad... we'd planned so many extra activities this time around they didn't get to go out and help with as many chores as they usually do... hopefully next time!

Here's Bubba on Maverick with Handsome Hubby. At first he was really scared, but in the end he hopped down, ran over and said, "Mom, did you see me driving the horse?" "Yes," I said laughing. He said, "Now I'm a real cowboy since I can drive my horse all by myself!"

Here's The Professor - he wants to be a cowboy now, too. He says all he needs are some cowboy boots, a hat and a piece of straw to chew on!

Don't Handsome Hubby and his brother Uncle W look cute in their matching shirts?

And here's OTG Boy - he's a good hard worker on the farm - he even went out to help move pipe!


Bubba loves Chip!

While we were in Preston we were able to visit with one of Handsome Hubby's best friends. We had a BBQ, delicious dessert with fresh raspberry jam, all of our kids had fun playing together... and the best part... watching the video of Preston High School's "Mr. Manly" contest the year Handsome Hubby won the title! Yes girls, don't be jealous... I'm married to a former Mr. Manly! That video was so fun - I think we laughed for an hour straight...

and yes, I have requested a copy.

Our last night of fun was at The Famous Preston Night Rodeo!

The boys loved it - and amazingly lasted the entire time - it ended at 11pm!

Our entire family...

Grandpa & Grandma

Handsome Hubby, HaHa, OTG Boy, The Professor, Bubba & Junior

Uncle W, Aunt K & Cousin B

Uncle A2, Aunt W, Cousin J and Cousin A

and

Aunt S

...were all able to go to the parade and rodeo.

We had so much fun!

I didn't get any good rodeo pictures but Handsome Hubby did take a few of the kids... and me!

OTG Boy and The Professor

Bubba

Aunt S, HaHa & Junior

(sporting his wranglers - couldn't take him to the rodeo without 'em)

The Cabin

Handsome Hubby had a lot of fun taking us to stay in a cabin that his Grandpa and Great Grandpa had built. He has a lot of great memories of this place and was very excited to make some with his own boys.

Here is Handsome Hubby's family minus His Dad and beautiful wife :)

The kids loved playing in the creek!

It was perfect, only a few inches deep. The Logan River was just down the hill, but it was moving a little too fast for us desert dwellers, so we stuck with the creek.

Here's cousin J

Cousin B - from Arizona

Cousin A

OTG Boy

The Professor

Bubba


Grandma and Junior

Handsome Hubby says this flag has hung here as long as he can remember. His Grandpa was a member of the military and an executive in the Boy Scouting program.

The Flag meant a lot to his Grandpa.

There is a story behind this bag. When Handsome Hubby was a Varsity Scout he went to the Sawtooth Mountains, near Mackay Idaho (High Adventure), to ride horses and fish. Handsome Hubby did not have any fishing equipment, so his Grandpa loaned him a fishing pole and this bag. Handsome Hubby used this bag to carry his bait and the fish he caught. He was very excited to see the bag at the cabin and show his kids this piece of his history.



Visiting the cabin was very special for Handsome Hubby. His grandfather passed away a few days after he got home from his mission and his grandmother a little over two years ago - it's nice to have this place with so many special memories.

Also, his uncle and cousins have been working on the cabin for several years now, fixing and remodeling - it looks spectacular!

Little side note: we rented a car for our trip (the old van's just not that reliable anymore). Originally, we had selected a Dodge Durango, but when we arrived at the pick-up counter they informed us that there were no standard size SUV's available, so they'd have to give us a free upgrade. The Expedition was great! We had all the room we needed!

A few last moments at the creek and then it was time to go!

Goodbye Cabin - we had so much fun!

P.S. OTG Boy and The Professor were both working on their Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award and decided to take some pictures as part of one of the requirements. So, if you'd like to see their pictures of nature click HERE.

Preston & Rockets

After staying the night in Nibley we headed up to the other end of the Valley for Handsome Hubby's family reunion in Preston, Idaho (before you ask, yes that is the town of Napoleon Dynamite fame, no he was not in the movie - his high school locker was, yes he grew up on a dairy farm, but no... his dad is not the guy who shot the cow in front of the school bus kids. I thought I'd let you know since everyone who finds out Handsome Hubby is from the Preston area, or as we like to say the suburbs of Preston - his town is much smaller :) - wants to know about Napoleon Dynamite. All we can say is, that boy did put Preston on the map.).

It was a fun reunion - so fun, in fact, I forgot about taking pictures. Actually, I spent most of my time holding Junior - so I didn't really get a chance. However, the food was delicious, company was great, OTG Boy and The Professor spent hours going down the water slide and Handsome Hubby enjoyed playing in the pool with Bubba. You know Handsome Hubby enjoyed himself because he didn't realize he was getting the sunburn of his life - he was red for about a week... yikes!

6-4+1-1=2

What does this mean?

The boys were very excited about launching rockets at Grandpa & Grandma's House.

We arrived with 6 rockets.

4 disappeared - never to be seen again.

Everyone and their dog tried to find this one - never did.

Had so much fun, Handsome Hubby bought 1 more fancy rocket to play with.

Grandpa had so much fun he found out Handsome Hubby could buy more engines in town - so he did.

We had 1 last rocket break.

In the end

2 rockets survived.

OTG Boy and Handsome Hubby both have rockets they can take back next year!

Here's OTG Boy during one of his launches.

(sorry it's sideways, but I don't have software to switch it around right now)

Here's The Professor launching his rocket.

Everyone had a lot of fun!

Nibley

After Manti we made it to Provo... the boys liked eating at Chuck-A-Rama. In fact, Bubba said it was almost like being in heaven - he likes places that let him choose his own food and lucky for us he's a healthy eater... out of all of the food choices he was most excited about the cantaloupe and honeydew. Don't worry, he's still a little boy... you should've seen the sundaes the boys created for dessert... in one word...

huge!

By the time we made it to Brigham City Junior was starving! So we stopped at the park, the boys played, but as you can see a couple of them decided to join Dad for an afternoon nap. Who could pass up that beautiful shade and soft grass? Two things we definitely don't have in Arizona.

After the nap everyone piled back in the car for the last leg of our journey. A quick trip through Sardine Canyon and we soon found ourselves in Nibley and pulling up in front of Uncle A1 and Aunt H1's house (sounds like the flu, but we have two Uncle A's and two Aunt H's so it will have to do). We were so excited to be at our destination for the night!

It's especially fun to visit with my brother because all of our kids have a match - we both have four boys and each one has someone their age to play with - can't get better than that!

We had a BBQ that night, so here are some more picture of us eating!

(I must've inherited that take pictures of people eating gene from my Dad!)

After dinner, and a little more playing, Uncle A1 and Aunt H1 took us to the 24th of July (Pioneer Day) Fireworks at Willow Park. They showed us their secret to getting the best spot - right where they are being launched - the best part? You don't have to go early, you don't have to save spots... you just park and walk (not even that far) and you get the best view in town!

It was great!

The kids were excited when we all pulled out light sticks to play with while we were waiting. And of course, they immediately became wands and the next thing you know Harry Potter spells were flying back and forth.

It was so much fun other kids joined in too - it made the time fly.

Isn't this an amazing scene? You can almost see Hogwarts in the background - I think imaginations were working overtime here.

And then the fireworks started. Junior didn't even cry, which frankly, was a shocker - we were literally right under the fireworks.

Thanks for a great time A1 and H1 we miss you and hope to see you again soon!

And if Handsome Hubby ever gets a job in Cache Valley - Nibley here we come!

P.S. I had a great time going to the yard sales!

Manti

After spending the night in Richfield we meandered up through Central Utah and stopped here...

The Manti Temple!

It is one of my most favorite places in all the world...

a beautiful fairy tale temple standing out in the middle of nowhere.

What makes it even more "cool" is it's history...

"Part of the little we know of his [Moroni's] travels derives from an account of an incident that occurred on April 25, 1877, the day the Manti Temple site was dedicated. Early that morning, President Brigham Young is reported to have gone to the site and said, “Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot.”" (Ensign 1978, "Moroni", by W. Cole Durham, Jr.)

My boys thought that was amazing!

After walking around the grounds we drove across the street to the cemetery. I sat in the car, parked in the shade to feed Junior... the cool breeze was perfect and the boys had the fun of exploring the cemetery. One of their favorite finds... the headstone of a man who translated the Book of Mormon into Danish and OTG Boy found a few (headstones) belonging to some of our ancestors... very fun!

The Grand Canyon

The first stop on our summer vacation was

here!

My boys have been asking for the last five years,

"How can we live in the Grand Canyon State when we've never even seen it?!?"

So, since we pass the turn-off every time we go to Idaho, we decided it was time to stop and take a look!

It was beautiful!

We took a hike out to Bright Angel Point.

Everyone who saw us said that Junior had the

Best View!

Here we are at Bright Angel Point.

See the clouds in the background?

As we were hiking a thunderstorm was rolling in...

it was amazing!

You could hear the thunder rumbling through the canyon and see lightening in the distance.

For those of you feeling nervous go ahead...

parts of this trail had drop-offs down both sides, but my boys behaved very well... no one wanted to fall into the deepest hole they'd ever seen.

The North Rim Visitor's Guide it says to "Avoid Shocking Experiences," lightening strikes are apparently very common on the North Rim. The Guide says, "hair standing on end is a warning. It is a signal that an electrical charge is building near you and that lightning may strike. Move away from the rim immediately!"

Nothing like little boys checking their arm hairs to see if they're standing on end ;)

We felt lucky that we were able to hike and see this amazing view before the storm rumbled our way.

Yes, that's me... last one out!

Hiking around with a 6 month old strapped to your front is not the easiest thing to do... but it was some amazing exercise!

After our hike we went to the Lodge for lunch.

Junior tried out his first high chair...

with my purse shoved behind his back and a little help from Dad it was a successful venture (for a little while).

My Dad always takes pictures of our family eating...

So, this one is for you Dad!

We had an excellent meal...

Watched the storm come in through the giant lodge windows...

and the boys were very interested to hear the stories I had to tell about the summer Grandpa (my dad) worked at the Grand Canyon as a teenager.

We had a great time!

Maybe next year...

The South Rim!