Summertime! (warning - this is long)

We just got back from our family vacation in Utah. We go to Utah for the Fourth of July because it is SO fun. This year was especially fun with all the activities my big bro planned. We got in late Tuesday and on Wednesday we hit the ground running. I visited with my sister in Spanish Fork and we took the kids to Jumping Jacks (a bounce house). We had a great time and even wrestled a spider. :( Well, she actually wrestled the spider I watched from the top of a bounce slide. After our exciting morning we went back to her house and watched the kids play in the water. They loved it. On Thursday Geret took time off from work and took us up to Timp Cave. It was our first time there and we really enjoyed it. We hiked 1 and 1/2 miles up hill to the cave. Inside the cave it was dark and very cold. Ellie had a hard time with the darkness, but was quick to tell us how much fun she had AFTER we were out of the cave. After our 3 hour adventure in the caves Brandon took us all to Tango house, Argentine Cuisine. It was AWESOME!!! The empanadas were great and the Sausage sandwich kicked booty. :) I'm sure it was called something more impressive than just sausage. Doesn't really matter. It was great!!! We hustled back home and headed to the water park for some water fun. There were more single wards than I can count (which was a scary thought). We had the whole park to ourselves, pretty cool, and crowded. We were all very tired. On the fourth we went to go see the balloons launch and then back to the house for some sleepy time. The rest of the sibs arrived by dinner time and we ate some great food. Over the next couple of days we ate, layed out on the back lawn, and played lots of soccer.

My brothers Jabe and Buck came from Washington to visit as well. It was nice having them around. Jabe is leaving for Iraq in the next couple of months. He serves with the Army National Guard. I am grateful to him. Buck is turning in his papers for his mission. To say the least it was a nice time to meet and say adios for a while. In addition, my adorable (sorry it's an aunt thing) nephew Jordan is also leaving on his mission to Alaska this month. We were able to go with him to take out his endowments. We love you Jordan.

It was a great trip. We created memories I will always remember. Love you all . .

Where has the time gone?

I can not believe that Tay is one years old!!! I still think of her as my tiny baby. We had such a fun day with her. We woke her up by singing "Happy Birthday" and she got to open a couple of presents. Later that day we had a family swim party. Everyone turned out to see Tay eat all that cake and of course open her presents.

She truly has been an angel in our house and we are looking forward to getting to know her spunky personality. Love you Tay!!

All that Glitters is Gold!

Ellie had her dance recital over the weekend. She danced to two numbers "Babyface" and "Teddy Bear". One was tap and the other ballet. She has been SO excited to dance on stage and to wear her adorable costume. (yea, ask how adorable it was to my wallet?) She did such a great job. She knew all the dance moves and sang so we could hear her. I'm not sure how she can be so confident at such a young age. We had such a great time watching her. Good job, gorgeous! Ellie and her dad right before the concert.
Ellie waiting back stage.

This made me chuckle.

Parker and Brandon went on a Father's and Son's camp out. As you can see this is where they planned on sleeping. It made me chuckle at his creativity. He is always thinking outside of the box. It turns out that they slept really well. If you don't understand the picture, he put a twin mattress in the back of our tahoe. That's my big bad camper. :)

I really liked it!

Okay, I have to tell you all that I just finished the book The Host! I know there has been some skepticism as to whether or not this was going to be good, too much si-fi, and even a little creepy. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. You won't find Edward here, but that's okay. I found it entertaining, exciting, intense, and deep. If you are a Stephenie Meyer fan I think you will really enjoy this book, and if you are not you may fall in love with her ability to paint vivid pictures of the scenes in the book.

Congrats Ellie!!

Well, this is a little premature, since Ellie has one more year of preschool. But, her teacher does this with all the students, so . . . Congrats Ellie!! Ellie isn't really graduating preschool just moving on to the next grade. The ceremony was great. As you can see they all wore caps and gowns and even marched in to "Pomp and Circumstance". Pretty cute. Ellie has done SO well this year. She has started to read and even write simple words. She has a knack for phonograms. She is already ahead of the game, good job baby!!

Ladies Night!!!

Can I get a woo woo?! That's right the boys had Father's and Son's last weekend, so the girls and I decided to have some fun of our own. After we went and helped out at the New Dojo (check it out on www.gotthenak.com bottom of the home page.) we went out for dinner at one of my favorite places, Rumbi Island Grill. Yummyy!!! Love those sweet potato fries! Anyhoo, we had a great time. It was so fun!! I love my sweet girls.