Lake Powell

Last week we got to go to Lake Powell in Utah/Arizona. We went with Andy's parents and his older brother and family. The weather was pretty decent, the heat pretty bearable. There was only one monsoon on the last day.





We had lots of fun toys to play on. Cameron, Emma, and Briley (we had to bribe her with cookies) all rode the inflatable toy behind the boat.











Bob's jetski provided hours of entertainment. Bob and Andy took
turns wakeboarding behind it; each of the kids took turns riding
the jetski with Andy. Even Briley got on, but we had to bribe
her with cookies again. I see a pattern developing!




Here are two of my favorite pictures of Grandmere and Papa with the kids. Grandmere's lap is always very popular with the kids and they all tried to sit in her lap at once. Only a couple were successful! Papa is always the one driving boat entertaining everyone else, and here he takes a break to lounge on the boat and Emma saw the perfect opportunity to jump in his lap!

The Fair

We went to the fair last week and we had a great time. The kids got to play games and ride a couple of the rides. They also got to choose between riding an elephant or a pony. The elephant was by far more popular. Andy said it was a strange thing to ride an elephant-like you were riding on something hard, like a spine. Um, aren't you on it's spine?! It teetered a lot more than a horse, but they all had a great time.Briley chose the pony ride and surprised us a ll by having a great time. She is so fearful of everything that I was certain she would hate it. But she came off the pony asking for horseback riding lessons! So I guess she enjoyed herself (as if you can't tell by the grin on her face!)
Cameron was so at home in this dune buggy, racing along and having fun.
Logan and the girls had so much fun on the helicopters. The girls are tall enough to go alone so I rode with Logan. He was rather disappointed when his ride ended all too soon.
Andy hates the rides that go in circles so he lounged in the wagon while he waited!

Happy Birthday

This time of year is birthday central around our house. Logan celebrated his 2nd birthday in May. We had a BBQ with some friends in honor of Logan's big day. He was all excited about his cake until we started singing to him. This picture is a little blurry but you can still make out the pouty expression. When we started to sing and he was suddenly the center of attention, he got a little nervous. Still a step up from last year (we had to turn his chair all the way around so he couldn't see anyone looking at him!)

Emma celebrated her 5th birthday while we were at beach camp last week. She had a great time having her party at the beach! She really wanted her ears pierced this year and so it was done for her birthday. She did great only crying for a couple of minutes until I distracted her by letting her pick something out at the store-so easily distracted! Now she finally has her pretty pink sparkles in her ears!

Andy celebrated his 32nd birthday a few days ago. I tried so many ways and so many days to surprise him with a party but with friend's brithdays and other obligations I just could not come up with anything. So he got a brownie pie when he came home from work and then we went to the fair the next day. Not too bad...better luck next year.

Sun Kissed Perfection

The most anticipated event of the year: Beach camp 2008!


We go every year with a bunch Andy's extended family that come from Arizona and Utah. We also had some friends come along. The kids look forward to this event as soon as we start packing up to go home. Cameron actually cried this year and yelled at us all the way home because he did not want to leave the beach!







It was really painful to select only a few pictures (I took over 300!) of our trip.

Trips to the beach must include kiteboarding and this was his only opportunity!

Cameron discovered boogie boarding and he had a blast!


The weather was great, getting only a little chilly in the evenings and mornings.


Cousins are so much fun at the beach!


My grandpa was visiting from Hawaii and stopped in with my uncle to say hello. It was a fun and unexpected visit!

Happy Mother's Day!

At church this morning the men gave roses to the women, a small token of their appreciation. The roses were beautiful. I love the colors of this rose. The inside of the petals was red while the outside was yellow. The beauty of the rose and what it represented really struck me. I wanted to share it with you, the women in my life. I hope you each know the place you hold in my heart and how grateful I am for your examples. Enjoy the rose!


Andy and the kids decided to make me breakfast in bed this morning. I didn't eat it in bed but I got to stay in bed while they made it. That counts, right?!

It was so yummy! Since church is early they didn't have time to make their own yummy breakfast and so they shared mine! Isn't it beautiful? Makes me hungry all over again!

girls night out

Do these look like the faces of a bunch of moms desperate for a girls night? Well, maybe not desperate, but it sure was needed! While the dads took the boys camping, we decided to take advantage of freedom and have a girls night. We piled into one car and headed out to the movies
(to see a chick flick of course!)


And then off to Coldstone for a little ice cream treat! It was so much fun that we are already beginning to plan the next one!

boys night

Andy organized a father/son campout with the guys from church. Cameron and Logan got to go camping with their daddy and I think it was the highlight of their little lives! They had a 3 man tent that they slept in. The air mattress took up the entire floor of the tent!

They camped on a local lake. The dads took the boys fishing the next morning.
Cameron got this fishing pole for his birthday last year from some friends and he has been dying to use it. He finally got his chance and was quite at home!
He caught a 10 inch bass! (well, Andy landed it and helped him reel it in-but if you ask Cameron it was his fish!)
Andy said that he got a little nervous as the fish came out of the water but quickly got over it. Logan on the other hand, hated everything about that fish once it came out of the water. He screamed hysterically until they threw it back in!

Girls night in

This weekend while the boys got to go camping, we had a girls night in. Briley and Emma helped me make strawberry pancakes. Briley did a great job making Mickey pancakes (I flipped them for her).

And with strawberry Mickey Mouse pancakes, you just have to have a little whipped cream.
(so it already melted by the time I got a picture!)

But who can have a little whipped cream on their pancakes without first sampling some?


(the girls insisted that I try some too!)
So maybe it wasn't just a little bit of whipped cream!

After dinner we headed upstairs for a double feature of Nancy Drew and Mr. Magorium's Toy Emporium. I left for girls night out and their friend Ann came to babysit. But during intermission they got to have neopolitan ice cream sandwiches! It was a fun night!