Goblin Valley

We went tent camping (yikes!) with children (double yikes!) in Goblin Valley a couple weeks ago. Justin & Mandi dared brave this venture with us that some would consider absolute lunacy! I had gone earlier this year to Goblin Valley with a youth group & really wanted to go again. September is supposed to be prime time to camp because the weather has cooled off a bit, but is still warm enough to make tent camping worth it. Even though naps & bedtime got just a bit scary, we had a WONDERFUL time camping. Marley (who was afraid of sand a few months ago) was practically rolling around in the dirt with Sadie! Mandi had the genius incite to bring a pack-n-play (and lots of toys) that we managed to corral the kids in when we needed a break! Even though the forecast predicted rain well after we should have been packed up & gone, we got a little surprise the day we were leaving. We woke up to rain & had to scramble to pack everything in the rain! Rain aside, this trip created fabulous memories that we hope to create again sometime!

Justin made his grandpa's awesome dutch oven stew (what is it with camping & dutch oven dinners being the best thing you've ever eaten?)


Sadie is always so sweet & willing to play with Marley's & hold her hand! So cute!


Justin wanted some nice flagstones for his yard...whether or not it was kosher, he got some really nice stones! The sky & landscape are gorgeous & almost seem surreal!

I had to take pictures of Sadie messing around in the tent. These make me laugh every time I see them!

The views are incredible!

Kinley & Sadie ready to make their decent into the Valley of the Goblins! (Marley was napping & didn't quite make it.)

Labor Day

For Labor Day this year we convinced the Larsens & my brother, Seth, & my sister, Alece, to go to Huntsville, UT. Several people at work told me to go check out Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity monastery. I bought some of the honey that they are famous for (which is actually pretty good). We tried to see the monks in action, but timed it wrong & missed the chanting they do in the church (which I have also been told is really cool).

We also stopped by the house Pres. David O. McKay was born in, but sadly missed the tour by one week. They close for the winter September 1st! The house was really pretty & in a beautiful area...maybe next time!

I was really impressed by how beautiful Huntsville is and that it's considered a Park City with a lake. Hopefully it will stay small & not become another Park City!

Is it worth it?

My absolutely wonderful friend in Phoenix, Chantae, was kind enough to make these absolutely lovely pettiskirts!! Mandi & I took our daughters to Thanksgiving Point to take a few photos here & a few photos there. Sounds easy, in theory, right? Not quite. First, meeting up was this huge deal because we were waiting up for each other on opposite ends of Thanksgiving Point wondering where the other one was. After a couple text/phone calls, we finally met up. BUT, we weren't allowed to go in this certain area to take what they call "portrait" photos. So we packed everything back up & drove to a different location in Thanksgiving Point--to an apparently "portrait" photos-appropriate area. So now it'd be downhill from there, right? Again, not quite. After getting the kids all decked out, I started to take some pictures, but of course no one wanted to cooperate at the same time. Sometimes one would be good and the others would fuss or one would start to fuss & it would cause a cascade of emotions. Mandi even had huge lollipops as a bribe, which, you guessed it, did not work. Two adults is just not enough man power for getting three little girls to cooperate for the camera. Out of the HUNDREDS of photos taken, only about ten percent actually turned out decent enough to actually display. It was seriously stressful, time consuming, & draining! Next time we will prepare better & bring an extra set or two of hands, or pay someone else to deal with it!


I love Sadie in action! She looks so funny twirling in her skirt & running down the path!

These are some of my very favorite photos of Sadie. The stars were in line and everything fell in to place!!

Sadie looks adorable here as well!!

These pictures were a little more difficult as she didn't cooperate as well!

Marley was being an absolute pill during this! I really don't like what I did with the black & white one, but I was kind of stuck with it. Ugh!

These are a little better...

I think that these are the best ones of Marley. I really think that they turned out well. It's weird that I had more turn out of Sadie than anyone else...at the time I was taking the pictures, I definitely wouldn't have guessed that!

Kinley did really well when we first started taking pictures. I love her little smile & especially love the one where she's looking up at the camera.

As sad as it may be, these are the best shots I had of all of the girls together. I can't even express how tough it was to get pictures like these. And they are mediocre at best!!

What she's been getting into...

I'm sure that anyone who has children can relate to the fact that if you have makeup, they will get into it. Marley is no exception. I have a little case that has several different kinds of lipstick/lipgloss which she got into & proceeded to put on. Although she got lipstick on her chest & cheeks, she did manage to get some on her lips!


She's also really been into her little baby dolls. We caught her sitting all by herself caring for her doll. She likes to hug them & kiss them & feed them their bottles. Watching her grow & learn new things is just so much fun!!!!

Love Your Body 10k

I've been training for a half-marathon & since I've never actually run any sort of race, I thought I'd get my feet wet by running a 10k. I managed to convince a friend, Jodi, to do it with me (and hopefully it means that she will want to do another again sometime!) Kevin & Marley were going to go to cheer me on but Marley didn't wake up early enough & I didn't want to be that mean & wake her up...maybe next time!! The run started in Sugar House Park and through the cute neighborhoods in Sugar House. It was a really nice run & was glad to say I finished it!!! Hopefully this means that I'm getting close to becoming ready for a half-marathon!

Horses & Water Balloon Volleyball

Some of my mom's family came to visit from Ohio during the month of July. Two of my cousins, Carly & Jacob spent the night at my house. Carly & I made bracelets and Jacob did the classic boy thing and played the wii. I managed to tear them away to go ride horses. Noelle was nice enough to meet us at the barn & get the horse all ready for them to ride. I loved the helmet look and, since we arrived totally unprepared wearing flip-flops, they had to wear old cowboy boots Noelle dug out of some storage box in the barn without socks! Hopefully it was worth it!! I tried to put Marley on the horse, but she wasn't having any of that.

Since it was the last night my mom's family would be visiting us, we turned to the classic picnic in the park & played some water balloon volleyball. My Aunt Susan got some great action shots.

Tina & Jono, and Carly & her cousin, were actually really good. Don't Kevin and my cousin Jacob look like they are well matched?

There's always a weakest link...in this case it was my own mother! Sorry, mom! My Aunt Linda practically had to drag my mom all over in an attempt to catch the balloon which proved to be unsuccessful!

Park City

It had been a REALLY long time since I'd been to the Homestead. So when asked by my family if I wanted to go and check out the volcano, I thought, alright, sounds good since I'd never seen it before when I'd visited the Homestead in the past. I hiked these really steep stairs and when I got to the top I was...disappointed...wah, wah, wah! It was ugly looking rock with rusted out chicken wire in the middle. At least the view from the top was nice.


We took as stroll up and down Park City's main street. I love doing that, no matter how many times I've done it before. I like the feel of main street and all the little shops and eateries. Marley got a special treat from her Aunt Linda...a ride on the carousel!! Marley absolutely loves them!!


To make the visit Park City complete, we took a ride down the Alpine Slide, and surprisingly, everyone came off uninjured. I thought for sure someone would take a header trying to go to fast!!

Family Photo

We had some family from my mom's side of the family come and visit. This photo doesn't have everyone on her side in it as there are a few people missing, but this is as close as it gets for us. Maybe some day we'll have a family photo with everyone in it!!

Pioneer Day

Our stake was supposed work together on a float but it ended up only being a few people who actually put it together. Some of the ladies of the stake made the quilts that covered the float. Considering it was the efforts of only a few people working on the float, it didn't turn out too bad. Plus, all the quilts will be donated! The guy with the bagpipes is our Bish! He can actually play them! Go Harding!




Some of the people take their roles in the parade very seriously (i.e. the leaders of the marching bands). Some of the people have the worst job possible (i.e. pooper scoopers). Some of the people in the parade surprised me (Utah actually has a good black choir?) And some of the people shame themselves by running around with socks and sandals and a BYU cape attached to the their back.

We didn't have many fireworks for the 24th because I'm not sure how much they would entertain Marley, but we had a few sparklers, which she seemed to enjoy.

Baby Bootie

Just before bath time one night, Marley grabbed her purse and modeled it for us. She absolutely adores carrying purses around and I just thought this was so cute!

Baseball & Fireworks

We spent this year's Fourth July at a Bee's Baseball game with my bro, Jono, and his lovely wifey, Tina. Marley could actually appreciate the fireworks this year but we waited FOREVER to see them. After 10 loooong innings it was a tie and we were at the point of not caring who won as long as someone did! We thought about leaving but had waited this long and we thought we could stick it out for a bit longer (during an inning toward the end of the game, a fight DID break out, which was pretty entertaining)! Finally, the opposing team, Tacoma, won! WHAHOO! Let the fireworks begin!

It was really hard to get a photo of all of us actually looking at the camera and, sadly, this is the best one!


To show some patriotism, a man sang the national anthem with a Bald Eagle in the stadium. It's hard to tell, but if you look closely, through the netting, you can see all is calm with the bird until the man singing starts to use his old man vibrato....the eagle went nuts thereafter!


As always, it's so adorable when little kids wear over-sized adult hats!

We had to wait for all the fans in the outfield area to file into the baseball diamond before we could watch the fireworks. I tried to take pictures of the fireworks, but they didn't turn out so well!

"30 Sucks"!

My friend, Necia, from all the way back to elementary school, turned the big 3-0 this year, along with her twin bro, Clint. A big surprise birthday party was thrown in their honor. They pitted Necia's friends against Clint's friends in a Pros vs Joes battle royal which involved layups, dribbling, and slam dunks. In the end, the teams were tied 71-71! Happy birthday Necia!

Each of their birthday cakes had 30 candles on them...they both about passed out trying to blow them out!

"30 Sucks"! Necia's sister-in-law made these cute little 'sucker' cookies...what a clever idea!

Picture Time

I convinced Mandi to bring her kids up so we could try and take photos again. Fortunately, for me, she's nice enough to go along with it, being as I'm still quite the amateur photographer! I don't practice nearly enough to be really good at it. But it's fun to practice when I can. I still can't decide if these pictures of the girls are worse, better, or about the same as the tutu ones...and the kids weren't really any more cooperative than the last time and it took a little bit of bribing!

I love the one on the bottom far right hand corner...Kinely's face is so sad but so adorable!

I love that Sadie gave Kinley kisses!

I tried to add Marley to the mix but she wasn't having any of it! The first few photos probably would've turned out if Marley wouldn't have been screaming her head off! After I changed her outfit and gave Marley time to cool down, it got a little better!

I love Sadie's smile in the bottom far left picture because it's so sweet and genuine! I also got Sadie to do the pageant wave!

How can you not think this little baby girl is not the cutest thing ever!! Kinley actually was the most well behave throughout the photo shoot!

I looove the face that Kinley is making in the top right hand photo...doesn't it make you want to give her a hug and kiss?

A Case of the Wiggles

I was fortunate enough to borrow lighting equipment from Meriann again! A good friend, Chantae, made the most ADORABLE little pink skirt for Marley. So, of course, I had to get her picture in it. However, it was more difficult to get any sort of picture because Marley would not sit still! She was up, down, and all over the place!! Ack!

She kept wanting to get up on this chair...it looks as though she wants to do some 'light reading'!

We got her to sit in the chair for all of two second before she was up and running again!

My sister got this dress for her in New York's China Town. I wish that she was sitting still more so I would have been able to get a better picture! Sigh!

Babywood

Our friend's adorable little twins turned one! I was so excited for their party because, of course, Amie went ALL out! I thought her idea of "babywood" and having the twins be the stars of the show was so original and so cute! Loved the red carpet, the velvet ropes, and the "babywood" sign! Happy birthday Avery & Court!