July the Fourth!!

This 4th of July was different than it has been... It was an off year.. but I think it was almost more fun!! We had all planned on going to the AMAZING Kaysville Water Parade... but Amy ended up getting a tonsil abcess.. yes one week after her baby was born.. :(  So they weren't really in the mood for a crazy parade..  Brent and Cindy went golfing.. ? Melanie and Cody decided to stay and go to the North Salt Lake events.. and Kris and Abby were at Lake Powell.. So that leaves Joni and I who slept through the 5k.. we aren't lazy or anything.  So nobody ended up going to the parade because lets face it.. you look creepy grabbing candy from kids.. that is why we take Alana!!  So instead we went down to put tile in my uncles house!!  YEA!! It actually was a lot of fun!!  I can't say that me or Joni helped out a ton.. but we did stand and encourage the efforts and hand them tiles.. Then we went to Uncle Phillip and Aunt Diane's for swimming!! This is becoming an annual thing and we all look forward to it!!  After that we had dinner and set off fireworks!!  It was a really laid back and casual year.. which was just perfect!!

 Brian... they got pretty creative..

 Yeah don't you want us helping!!  At least we look good doing it!

 My dad thought it would be easiest to sit inside the shower.. no idea how he got back out...

 Grandpa

 Ellie has NO FEAR of the water... she is really a FISH!!  Her and Alana could swim all day and never be bored!

 Apparently Brent doesn't want to get a bad tan line... :)

Cute new parents!!

 Apparently Cody has been making Ellie eat at the table... well it worked because she couldn't fathom eating just at a chair.. so she got herself all set up at the serving table.

When I say she set herself up... I mean with the luxury of having your feet up of course!

 Ellie just really wanted to hold "Avery baby" (that's what she calls her)  So grandma helped her... and she wouldn't put her down.  It was pretty cute!!  She just held and held her.. and would lean down and whisper to her!!

 Alana was REALLY excited to launch off the fireworks!!

 Brent got roped into chalk drawing with Ellie!!

This was the set up for the firework show..  We did it at Cindy's house.. so we wouldn't have to clean up.. haha just kidding!  Alana was in charge of picking the line up for the show and let everyone pick out a firework to set off and then she would walk it up to Grandpa to set off!!  It was definitely a 4th to remember!  I am so grateful to live in a country where we are free!!  And I am so grateful that everyone still lives so close.. so glad that Cody got into the UofU, otherwise they would probably be moving over the 4th!!

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer!

Wow!!  It has been quite the summer already!!  I'm not even sure where to start!!  I have always looked forward to summer because it is the closest to having no responsibility as I ever get!!!  It is nice to just go on your own pace and do whatever you feel like!!  Well... not so much this summer!  I think the trouble is.. the older you get, the more you have circling around you!  But it has still been a really great summer and lots of fun!!  To start with I went to Flaming Gorge last second with Kris and his buddies!!  I love having a brother that is more social than I am... it means I bum off of his plans!!  hehe :)  It was so much fun, and really the break from my strenuous work schedule of 3 days a week that I needed!!  Haha I am such a wimp!!  We had a lot of fun.. and unfortunately my camera is not that good at taking pictures... especially far away.. so you might just have to use your imagination on this one!!

Haha... looking into the sun.. Joni, Justin and Emily Carrigan (our bishop from the 10th ward and his family came too.. yeah apparently we are the ones left of the ward who haven't gotten married yet... :)

 As depressing as it is.. this is the best picture I got of the group... I am NOT good at documenting events..  Heather, Stacey and Kris

 The lovely ladies... Emily and Joni

 Yep.. thats what I look like when I smile

 Travis (I think?) going off the rope swing, a tradition in Flaming Gorge... yep it is a scary as it looks!

 Amazing how ugly it is around the lake.. but how beautiful it is up close.. I guess that is Utah for you!

 This is how you climb up to the rope swing... I believe it is Mitch, Colby and Travis on the rock

 Poor Emily... right before they left to drive up she crashed a ATV... had to get stitches and therefore could not get in the lake at all!!  And let me tell you it was stinking hot.. so sitting on a boat was no fun!!  However, I think she survived after she shoved me into the ice cold water... and I mean ICE COLD... I saw glaciers floating past!  Lets just say it was hard not to be able to retaliate!!

 More of the rope swing victims.. at least we had no casualties this time!

This is what I look like after camping... Funny thing happened... the first night we got there pretty late.  So in the dark we set up our tents out on the sand/dirt mixture.  The check in lady had mentioned something about watching out for sprinklers.. but we figured they weren't in our area.. because there was literally nothing alive for miles...  Well everyone else decided that they would rather just sleep on the concrete, but me and Joni had brought "Ed" our trusty tent. (he's been through a lot with us!) So we climbing in and fell right to sleep..... UNTIL at 5AM when the sprinklers came on US!!  We had left the windows all down since it was 5000 degrees outside.. and guess what?! The sprinkler came right up in front of the tent... making the front door window a perfect place to dose us!!  Joni hadn't woken up from the first phase so I yelled "JONI GET UP THE SPRINKLERS!! AHHHHH" However.. the sprinkler was coming around again.. so all we could do was dive under our sleeping bags and get soaked...  Luckily Joni had the sense of mind to jump out and point the sprinkler away from the tent.. while I crazily jumped around saving all my possessions...(I am definitely NOT a morning person anymore... that is what working graveyards does to you..) luckily Kris, Travis and Colby moved our tent into the non sprinkler section... which by the way was the road... I dunno why they were letting us on the campsite, because apparently they were hydro-seeding grass and it needed to be watered like 20 times a day... meaning our tent stayed in the road.. :)

As of Late...

Alana came to stay the weekend with Joni and I.. in the cool house!!  While she was here we went to an outdoor movie... gotta love how many activities that Kaysville hosts!!  Unfortunately for us... it was FREEZING!!  But Alana was determined to stick it out until the movie was over... so we snuggled up really tight in the 2 blankets that we brought and chattered our teeth!!  Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of our sleepover.  But the next day Joni, Alana and I went to regional conference down at the Conference Center.  While we were downtown Alana really really wanted to see Temple Square.. we've tried to take her a few times but they have ended up in slightly ugly meltdowns.. :)  So Joni was sweet and went home to get the car (we had carpooled with a friend) and me and Alana spent Sunday afternoon exploring temple square!!

 This is Alana "holding" up the temple... sorry my picture taking skills are not so good so I didn't do Alana justice!

 Haha.. this describes Alana's personality to a T!!  I'm not even sure what she is doing...

 Alana was baptized 2 weeks after we took these pictures, so she really wanted a bunch!!

 Believe it or not.. it was Alana's idea to take this artistic picture... she is way more creative than me!

 We had to touch every single fountain...

 I was trying really hard to get a picture of Alana and the temple... finally got it!

 These little blue flowers are forget-me-nots!!

It was a lot of fun, and amazing to see how much Alana can soak up all at once!!  She really is a smarty pants!!  So glad they are staying in Utah for at least the next 4 years!!! Love this girl!

We CAN be crafty!!!

I was looking through Joni's camera today and noticed that lately, we have been VERY crafty!!! This picture is the cute presents Joni handed out at work. I hate to take all the credit, but it was my idea to do the cute bows on the handles... I am SOOO good. Joni actually didn't like they way they looked, but I thought they were pretty darn cute!!





This project has been my latests adventure... Since I missed the last country barn boutique.. I haven't had any post Christmas decorations... :( So I went to Ben Franklin and bought these letters. The problem I have is that they are naked and need to be cutsied up.. and I have no talent in this area. BUT I bought some paint and paper... and this is definately not what I expected it to turn out looking like, which is half the fun!! When you change your mind as often as I do... things end up looking like the start of every single one of my ideas... so bad. This however turned out pretty good.

This picture is to show you the glitter on the side.

This is the finished product.

AND this is what it looks like on the shelf!! WOW!! I am soo cool!


Next, is me and Joni's project entitled.. Paint Your Soul Night- inspired by our institute teacher. The idea is to buy all the cool artist stuff and paint what is in your soul. So we bought some oil paints, canvas, and even a painter pallat thingy (official word). This first picture is Joni's soul... my mom described it as turmoil...

This picture is mine... I can't remember the descriptive word my mom gave it... but I prefer to think of it as inner peace and wisdom... Pretty sure that isn't how it was described.

Well we have pretty much met our quota for being cool for the whole year!!