Disney bound

 Oh man, were we excited for this Disney trip!  We went with my parents Ryan & Verlene, Ryan & Shannon's family, and Joe & Tiah Wright's family.  It was such a fun trip...here are the highlights:

We left on Friday and drove to Las Vegas for the night.  Danny & my dad wanted to do the indoor skydiving Friday night.  It was so cool and looked so fun-I was totally jealous!  I told Danny we gotta come back & do it again when I am not preggo :)

We spent Sunday at the beach...what a gang!

Reese and Brinley Wright making a sand castle.  I thought it was too cold to play in the sand and water...but the kids disagreed.

Adee wanted to be buried

Averee the mermaid

The whole gang at Disneyland on Monday

Averee, Adee & Reese with Ariel.  This was Reese's first encounter with a Princess and she was so cute.  She just stared at Ariel the whole time-never said a word-just gazed at her :)

Joe & Danny couldn't wait to sink their teeth into a redneck turkey leg

The kids had been saving their chore money for months so they could buy whatever they wanted at Disneyland.  The girls were very excited to pick out these stylish Minnie ears.   Adee, Owen & Reese also got into the pin collecting and trading-it was pretty fun for all of us.

Everyone was excited to see Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates.  He was pretty funny and played tricks on the kids.

Reese wasn't a fan of very many rides but of course she loved the carousel...round and round we go.  Over and over and over again :)

 

 

 

 

We had such a fun & relaxing time.  We got rained on a little but we were prepared with umbrellas and raincoats.  The rain just added an element of adventure for the kids :) Until next time...see ya later Disneyland!

Salt Lake Trip

 Every other year we try to make the trek up to Salt Lake at Christmas time to see the lights at Temple Square...we are never disappointed!  The lights are always gorgeous & take my breath away.  This year we took my sister Alesha with us too.  She is such a sport to hangout with us and all the craziness we bring with us wherever we go :)

 We also took a tour of the Conference Center-the kids couldn't believe how big it was.  They kept asking the tour guide when we would see President Monson :)

 The next day we went to the 'This is the Place' park.  It was pretty cool, but nothing was open.  So we just took the little train ride around the grounds & went in the only open building: Brigham Young's Farm House.

It was a great trip with decent weather...what more can you ask?!

Yankee Meadow

We took the kids & went camping up at Yankee Meadow with Danny's brother Ryan & his family. We love hanging out with these guys-never a dull moment!

After trying for about 10 minutes, Reese finally figured out how to blow bubbles. Then she didn't ever want to stop. What determination!

The kids spent most of the time making forts & playing in the trees...and getting dirty of course!

We ate at a cute little diner-the food was delish & the portions were huge! An older German couple came over & told us how cute all our kids were & that we needed to stop telling them to be quiet :0) Then he started singing really REALLY loud-it was hilarious! The kids thought it was the highlight of the trip.

The whole gang-from left to right around the table: Danny, Shannon, Ryan, Stockton, Megan, Cam, Brecken, Averee, Adelyn, Owen & Reese. ( I am taking the picture)

Reese is a very early riser-no matter how late she goes to bed. The only way we could keep her quiet was to let her listen to primary songs on the iPod. It was pretty cute to hear her sing along. She thinks she is SO big!

It was a great trip, with great food & great company! Thanks Ryan, Shannon, Megan, Stockton, Brecken & Camden!

Panguitch

The weekend after we got back from San Diego we went up to a friends cabin in Panguitch. Chris Gunn was super nice to let us stay & we had a great time! We invited the Ryan & Shannon Jones family, Glen & Rachel Page family, & Joel & Brenda Andrus family to come along. It was great for the kids to have so many playmates to chose from. Here are some of the highlights from the weekend:

The girls loved playing 'restaurant' in the yard using some old dishes we found in the bushes. They made some delicious things for us :0)

While we were there a rodeo was going on, so we went over to watch that for awhile. Reese was quite entertained by the calf roping. The rest of the kids seemed a little disturbed :0)

At the rodeo- Cam Jones, Owen, Brecken Jones, & Reese Reese & Sara Page playing houseThe favorite past time for the kids was playing in a huge tube. The kids did this ALL day long. They would push each other all over the yard. Stockton even rode the little motorcycle thru it-crazy!

Reese with Aunt Shannon. She finally found the way to Reese's heart-candy of course!

Adelyn found a grasshopper (with a broken leg) and she carried it around for over an hour!On the way to the cabin-aren't they so sweet when they are asleep?

We also did a couple little hikes in Bryce Canyon, played games, went fishing, & ate yummy food. It was a great weekend thanks to some great company!

San Diego (Trip for Taytam)

The Monday after Taytam passed away we left for a week long family trip to San Diego. We felt like we just needed to get away from everything & try to be a 'normal' family for awhile. It felt very strange at first to be doing all this without Taytam. We thought & talked about her A LOT! It was a great trip-the kids had so much fun! We did pretty much everything there is to do: SeaWorld, LegoLand, LegoLand WaterPark, LegoLand Aquarium, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Safari Park, & the Mormon Battalion Historical Site. And of course we also spent alot of time at the beach. Here are some of the highlights:

The Mormon Battalion Historical Site was awesome!

After the presentation the kids got to pan for gold, pump water, wash clothes & make bricks.

LegoLand-everything is made of Lego's-it is crazy!

Danny, Averee & Adelyn had a blast body boarding. Adee was really good at it & never wanted to stop! Even in the middle of the Zoo she asked if we could just leave & go to the beach! :0)

The water was a little cold for most of us-so we had fun on the beach playing in the sand

Owen at LegoLand

We were on the go the whole time-I think we wore Reese out!

Averee & Adelyn at LegoLand

The LegoLand Aquarium was really cool- Danny liked it better than SeaWorld. But I had to remind him that SeaWorld had Shamu :0)

We stopped by the San Diego Temple-it is one of my favorites. So gorgeous! Unfortunately it was closed for maintenance & cleaning, so this is as close as we could get.

The San Diego Wild Safari Park-quite an adventure!

SeaWorld-getting ready to get up close and personal with some sea stars

Now we will have to head home & back to reality. This trip helped us get used to Taytam not being around, but now we have to get used to her not being around at home too. School starts in about a week so that should keep us busy!

24th of July

We went up to Pine Valley for the 24th of July this year. It was nice and cool-a welcome change from 100+ degree weather in St. George! They served breakfast & then had a short program, followed by relays & games. The kids had a great time-I think we have found a new tradition!