Summer Vacation 2009

Be ready for the marathon of pictures and details from our road trip. We spent 2 weeks in July travelling to Yellowstone and back, with many stops in between. It was AMAZING! Hope you enjoy our pictures. Feel free to scan through and not read it all! But remember to click on pictures (especially the collages) to see them larger.


Well, here is our new motorhome!
We decided to really test its abilities by taking it on a road trip.


Our first day we left home and drove straight to Zion National Park. We were here for Spring Break but it was cold, raining & snowing. We really wanted to hike the Narrows, so we decided to come back when the weather was nicer. What better time than while on our way to Yellowstone? So glad we did! I think this was my favorite event of the whole trip! This is how the kids looked that first morning of our adventure...in the motorhome. Zzzzzz!!


Once we finally got everyone up and going, we headed out for our hike. We took the shuttle to this path, the first part of the hike that takes you to the water.


Here is where we stopped last time we were here. The weather was much nicer this time so we forged ahead. We were prepared with water shoes and swimsuits on. What's a little ankle deep water??


We quickly realized the water here doesn't stay ankle deep. No biggie. We didn't come all this way again to wimp out!


This was beautiful and we loved it! I love the picture of Ryan on the right, up to his armpits in the water!


My greatest blessings!


At one point, Blake decided he'd had enough. The younger 3 kids and I turned back while Daddy & Darren went ahead to hike further into the canyon. They loved it and said it was amazing! The kids and I got an ice cream and swam at the campground pool while we waited.




After dinner that night we did a little rafting in the river next to the campground. It was just a few feet away from our site. This is one of our favorite camping activites also, depending on where we are of course.



Here's the view from our campsite. Amazing!


The next morning we packed up and were off to spend the day at Bryce Canyon National Park. This is the first time we visited Bryce, and the boys earned another Jr. Ranger badge here!


Well, here it is. This is Bryce Canyon. The formations are called hoodoos. Yes, that's hoo-doos, just like it's spelled. We got many a laugh out of that. Still do. I'm always in awe of God's beautiful creations when I'm in a place like this.







One hike we went on while here was the Navajo Loop. We took this switchback path down, down, down, and down some more... the pictures just don't do it justice. I never thought I'd make it back up in my flip flops, but it all worked out. Blake was our super hiker this time and was first one to the top. I was impressed.




Aahhh.. they DO love each other!

We left Bryce that evening and headed to Salt Lake. On the way there Mom drove the motorhome for the first time. I got pulled over in Beaver, UT around 10pm because I didn't move into the fast lane while passing a police officer who was pulled off the side of the freeway. Are you kidding me?? He was so RUDE! But it's ok - when I got home and called the court the judge answered the phone and told me to have my bishop sign a note stating that I had done 15-20 hours of community service recently and all fees and record were erased. Whew!! Thank you to Scout Day Camp in June! I worked 40 hours! Anyway.. back to the vacation... we spent a quick night in SLC and headed out first thing to get to Yellowstone... it took us that whole day to get there.


YELLOWSTONE

We're here! We made it! It's amazing!

Our first day we started out just following the hi-lited areas on the park map. Mud Holes were our first Yellowstone adventure. Our favorite was the Dragon's Mouth, as it really looks and sounds like a dragon must be in this cave, spewing out water while roaring. Kind of creepy, but cool! We also saw our first bison here. He was just cruising along, taking a walk. Little did we know... there would be hundreds more to see over the next couple days.


This was at either upper falls or lower falls. Can't remember which. Oops! Still pretty!


Here we were at Mountain Hot Springs. They had a hotel, visitor center, gift shop, etc. Also a few tourist spots. We enjoyed the view of elk sitting in the grass next to our motorhome.



More pics at Hot Springs... my favorite is Blake holding a horn to his head... reminds me of the dog on "The Grinch!" I giggle every time I see this pic. hee hee


This was another stop along the way. There were many beautiful hot springs here.





Old Faithful! Here's the big one we were looking forward to. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain on us the entire way there, and for about an hour once we arrived. Finally it let up a bit, enough for us to walk around and wait for the next explosion.

And thar she blows!!! 120 feet



GRAND TETON NAT'L PARK

This was our favorite campground of our trip. It was just beautiful here!


The first thing we did was get our bikes out and ride around. We were on the go so much that this was the first chance we had to ride, something we usually do a lot while camping. We all missed it and were thrilled to finally be doing so. Here we are in front of the Marina, with the beautiful Grand Teton behind us!


The kids enjoyed splashing in the water at Swim Beach that evening.


This is Jason out by the buoy... crazy!!!


Daddy & Alli - so cute!



The second day we rented a motorboat. Darren was skipper as he just earned his motorboating merit badge this summer at Scout Camp. Good thing we went when we did, as it started to POUR rain when we got back in to dock. Whew!!



Have you ever seen such gorgeous scenery?


Gone Fishin! - Well, they tried anyway. They had no luck but enjoyed the attempt. Even Alli gave it a try with a perfectly shaped stick she found, and pretended with. We were glad the rain cleared up enough for them to give it a try.


Here are some fun pics - Blake caught dancing with his baby sister, the boys receiving their Grand Teton Jr. Ranger Badge (7th in their collection), Dad fixing lines on the fishing poles which is about all he did while fishing, pat-a-cake with daddy




CHERRY HILL, UT

After leaving Grand Teton, we camped here a couple nights on our way home. It was really nice. We hooked up with some friends, the Byers, who live down the road. The kids loved the water park and other activities in the campground too:
"Fun slides!"


Daddy & Alli coming down!



Lazy River - this was a blast! I think Alli enjoyed it most as she had the freedom to float around with her floaties on as the water slowly pushed her through the course. It was great!




Cherry Hill also had a miniature golf course. It was a fun evening activity, after the water park was closed.




BOONDOCKS
Here we met up with dear friends, Heather Carlson and Amy Gotcher. Heather's son Logan was having a bday party here and wanted Darren to come. It was a great place to beat the Utah heat for a few hours on our way to Salt Lake!






SALT LAKE CITY

TEMPLE SQUARE
The three youngest of our children have not yet been to Temple Square. I was so excited to bring them here!


A view from above:



Here's a view of the top of the Conference Center - it was a first for all of us.









We enjoyed an organ recital in the beautiful Tabernacle. I'm still always in awe of this building!


The next day we started our drive home. We stopped to stay at the Circus Circus campground in Las Vegas, and then home the next day. It was an amazing trip that we will never forget! Thanks for taking the time to view our pictures!

Allison turns 3!

A friend of a friend has just started up a photography business, and was looking for practice subjects. We were happy to oblige! Here are some of Allison's 3 year shots that were taken. I had shots of all the kids which I'll post later. Here's for the birthday girl!

Camp Fiesta Island

Darren was so excited to go to Scout Camp with his troop 706. It was in San Diego at Fiesta Island. They had a great set up and he was able to earn 8 merit badges! He really loves scouting and truly enjoyed his week here. It was even more fun that his Dad was able to be with him for the week!


One of his merit badges was motorboating! He loved it!

Another merit badge earned was canoeing. How cool!

 

One Wednesday, they had a free day to do whatever they wanted. The group picked going to the USS Midway for a tour. Darren was in heaven! Another fun thing they were able to do was canoe out into the water at night and watch the fireworks from SeaWorld.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Well, the little Princess turned 3 yesterday and for months she has asked for a "PINK" birthday party! After all the boy-themed parties I have hosted for the past 11 years, I was THRILLED to have a pink party. She wanted pink balloons, pink cake, pink presents and pink games. How funny her mind is! She got all but the games because she IS only 3, and we only had our family and the grandparents here. But she didn't mind. She had a great day and a great PINK party!

 

Build-A-Bear

 

Alli turned 3 today! Happy Birthday baby girl!
Daddy & Darren are out of town so we're having her birthday celebration tomorrow. But we didn't want the day to go by without some kind of hoopla! So Grammy & I took her to Build-a-Bear for her very first time. Boy did she have a blast, and boy did her Grammy spoil her! (Sorry for the obnoxious color in the pictures but that's just the way the store is! Obnoxious!)

Allison came away with a black dog named Fluffy and a brown bear named Cinnamon, or as Alli says, "Cimmanon." CUTE! We let Alli pick from all the animals (after all, it is HER birthday) and she really wanted the dog. Grammy kept trying to get her to choose a bear because the outfits work better on the bears. So to appease Grammy and Alli, she got both! And accessories for each.

We had so much fun watching her go all through the store. First she got to pick a sound and kiss a heart to add to the stuffing in her bear. The girl gave Alli a sticker to wear announcing her as the birthday girl. Then she told Allison to take her animals over to the "bathtub" to clean them. Allison promptly asked, "do you have towels?" I thought that was pretty clever of her. The bathtub is actually a place where you brush the animals and blow air on them. No real water. But Alli didn't know that. She just wanted to make sure her new animals weren't going to stay wet. After that she had to name them. Now this was tough. We through a lot of ideas at her but I could tell she just wasn't into it. Although, she definitely had an opinion of what she did NOT like. She would say, "NO... her name isn't Molly." and so on. She also chose some cute outfits and accessories and I was surprised at how much she loved this. It was absolutely adorable to watch her through this process and see her joy! Happy Birthday sweet Princess! After our shopping we grabbed dinner and ice cream to finish her special day. (If you want to see her happy face more clearly, just click on the photos to zoom in)

4th of July

 

We spent 4th of July at the Schimelpfenings this year. We were there for the week prior and had a great time as always! On the 4th we swam, played, ate, and did fireworks! (which are LEGAL where they live!)

 

It was so much fun! When I grew up that's exactly how my Independence Day celebrations were spent, and it was fun for me to share that experience with my kids! They got to do sparklers, flowers, piccolo petes, fountains, snakes, etc. They had a lot of fun! And thanks to the Schimelpfenings for hosting yet another fantastic get-together!!!

 

Cub Scouts

When Blake & Ryan turned 8 this month, it allowed them the opportunity to join Cub Scouts! They are so excited because they have watched Darren the past few years and are very eager to participate in activities they've watched him do all this time.

Their first week they got to go on a field trip to the Chumash Indian Museum with their den. Here are a couple pics of the event. We hiked to a cave that still had cool pictographs. It was lots of fun!

 

Then they had their first Pack Night were they were inducted as Bobcats. They had to 'bob' for cats in a bucket of water while everyone cheered them on.

 

They are also very eager for Cub Day Camp coming up in June!

Imagymnation

 

I foresee a gymnist in the making! Allison loved her field trip to Imagymnation!! It was her first time here and I can't wait to take her back. She has so much energy in her little body, that I can't imagine a better place for her to burn some of it off! She was all smiles the entire time! It was so fun to watch.

It's Great to be Eight!!

The boys have been so excited for this special day, the day they get baptized!
They were so excited to have all their family and many friends there to help share this special event in their lives. Thank you to everyone who travelled to be with us, participated in the program, or just gave love and support. We love you!

Happy 8th Birthday!

What? When did this happen? When did my little boys turn 8? Well, today!
The time has really flown by! Blake & Ryan had a busy day starting with a baseball game (which they won!) and then on to a fun birthday party with a few friends.
They chose to go to LazerStar!
They had a blast as you can see! They played video games, ate pizza & cake, and played two rounds of lazer tag. What more could 8 year old boys want??


Happy Birthday my sweet boys! Tomorrow is your baptism day. I can't wait!