Drumroll please......

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun but very tiring! The weekend of July 10th we went camping with my dads family to Pineview Reservoir. I have never been there and it is only an hour away from here!! The water was PERFECT and the beaches were so SANDY and FUN! I love going camping on my birthday and it has happened a lot in my lifetime! We had fun swimming, boating, playing volleyball, and visiting...so much fun that I only got a couple of pictures!!


On Monday, July 14th, I got to go to the American Idol concert with my mom, brother, and his girlfriend. This was such a fun concert and I loved seeing the top 10 perform live!! David Archuleta was so cute and he was so overwhelmed by the support that he started to cry. He is a very humble kid! And if you ever have the chance to see David Cook live...DO IT!! He is SO amazing live....I got the chills several times but mostly during his guitar solo!! We were nearly deaf when the concert was over but it was well worth it!

On Tuesday is when we started going downhill. Ava came down with the stomach flu and the poor thing didn't move off of our couch for eight hours unless I was changing her diaper or cleaning up her throw up. I came down with this on Thursday and it WAS NOT pleasant!! Then on Thursday night Christian caught the bug!! All in all about 20 people in our family got the stomach flu...it is a nasty bug and I hope you are all spared of it!!

This last weekend we headed south! We had a family reunion at Kodachrome State Park which is near Escalante. It was VERY HOT but we found some cool escapes and really enjoyed ourselves. We did the funnest slot canyon called Round Valley Draw. It was really tricky climbing in and out but we figured it out with just a few bumps and bruises! It was beautiful with red rock on both sides of us! I liked this slot canyon a lot because there were so many obstacles that we had to get through!

We also did a small hike, Willis Creek, that is a smaller slot canyon. It was fun to have most of the family (extended family too) there to enjoy the hike!

There you have it...my reason for being a slacker on updating my blog! That's A LOT of stuff to fit into a little less than two weeks but we did it and we had a lot of fun! I was also able to take Ava swimming with some friends a couple of times and she had a blast...I just need to remember to take pictures when we do small stuff like that! Well this post took me FOREVER to do so I better get on with my day!

Coming Soon....

I promise I'm still alive!!!! I have been so busy that I haven't had time to update my blog! I am going to try my hardest to update this week so you can all see how much fun we have had lately!!

Fourth of July Weekend

I love any weekend that I get to spend with my family...especially when there is a holiday! We had such a fun Fourth of July weekend! On Friday morning we had my family over for breakfast. We let the kids do some fireworks, played croquet, and rocked out on Guitar Hero! It was lots of fun!


That night we went to Stadium of Fire with my Brother and his family. I LOVE Stadium of Fire because it is so patriotic. Glenn Beck was great and he brought tears to my eyes as he talked about this great place we live in and the freedoms we enjoy! It was really neat to have families of soldiers there too and a few women were lucky enough to get to talk to their husbands! The perfomers were the Blue Man Group and Miley Cyrus and they did a great job! My neices were especially excited for Miley! My favorite part was the fireworks...they were so awesome and just kept going and going! They were choreographed to music and I had chills as we watched! Ava even enjoyed them but they went for so long that she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and she fell ASLEEP during the fireworks!!!


The next day we did some of our own fireworks with friends and on Sunday we went up Little Cottonwood Canyon and had a cookout with our friends Andy and Brittany. It is so beautiful up there...we definitely need to get up there more often! We were lucky enough to see a moose...kind of creepy being so close but it was cool nonetheless. Oh and we saw a few deer...but they were like 5 miles away and we could only see them through Andy's scope...Christian and Andy were amused though!!

We had a really fun weekend and I'm sad it's over but we have some fun weekends planned this month and lots to look forward to!

Cami the Cat

My sister-in-law, Cydnee, moved to Las Vegas with her family a few weeks ago for her husbands job. They left behind their cute cat, Cami, because she ran away a couple of weeks before and never came back. Well just after they left Cami decided to show up at home but to her dismay they were gone. Cami got to stay at our house and then we got to drive her to her new home in Las Vegas!! We had a ton of fun down there and I wish we could have stayed longer...even though I thought I would die from the heat!

The first thing we did when we got there was go to Hoover Dam. They are building a bridge there so that you won't drive over the dam anymore. This bridge will be a sight to behold! Not only will people go to Hoover Dam to see the dam but to also see the dam bridge!! It was fun to be there but by the time we got to the car I was SOOOOO ready for the air conditioner!

When we got home we decided to ESCAPE from the heat and go swimming. Swimming has never felt so GOOD! We all had so much fun in the water...especially the kids. This was Ava's first time swimming this summer and I am happy to say that she LOVED it. She more than loved it...she was the happiest baby on the planet! It was so funny to watch her try and walk in the water...she would keep walking no matter how deep it was!

That night we took the kids to Circus Circus so they could ride the carousel. Ava was amazed with it. The only way I can explain her reaction is by comparing to what she does when I tickle her legs and tummy...she just stares into space like she is totally and completely enjoying it. When I tried to get her off she wouldn't let go of the bar on the horse and she just kept signing horse! I love seeing her enjoy stuff like this!

Cyd and Eric were nice enough to take Ava home with them so Christian and I could walk the strip. Las Vegas has CHANGED dramatically since the last time I visited four years ago. When Christian and I passed through four years ago Vegas was more family friendly and now it is definitely Sin City! But it is fun to walk the strip every once in a while and see the changes that have come about...there are a bunch of new buildings going up down there and the new city center being built is HUGE!!!

After all this we had to come back to our busy lives but it was a much needed vacation...oh we stopped at the Las Vegas temple on our way out because I had never been there! It is very pretty.

Ava was an absolute Angel on the drive there and back...she didn't cry once in the 14 hours we drove!! Now we'll see if that was just coincidence when we go on our camping trips this month!

Thanks Cyd and Eric for letting us stay at your place...we can't wait to visit again!