1st day of School 2012

Here we go starting another year of school for these two cute kiddos.  After staying up late with fireworks on the 24th...the kids had school bright and early then next day on the 25th.  To my surprise the kids were up early at 6am by themselves getting ready.  They were both excited and nervous to meet their new teachers and see their school friends again.  They both have great teachers that fit their very different personalities. It should be another great year!   
 

 

13 years and home plate seats

Matt and I have started a tradition that since we both enjoy baseball and our anniversary is during the baseball season that we attend a Baseball game for our anniversary.  So, that is what we did again this year.  We had a great time at the game having seats behind home plate again.  This year Matt went to check out the Bee's store for a hat..I was watching people throw out the first pitches of the game.  (They have people around the community throw out the first pitches).  So, as I was hearing the names be called I saw this girl I recognized and then they announced her name as Mrs. Utah...I was..wait is that her...and it was.  It was old friends of Matt and I's from Boise.  I immediately was calling Matt on his cell phone to tell him so he could talk with them.  Since, we were behind home plate we were able to talk with them after she threw her pitch.  What a neat surprise to see and chat with them.  Matt also got to see one of his favorite players that plays for the Angels but has been injured and was playing with Bees before he can play again for the Angels.  He was so funny trying to get a picture with him.  It was a fun night to celebrate 13 years together!     

Pioneer Day

The state of Utah celebrates Pioneer Day on July 24th where we recognize those that walked across the plains and settled in the surrounding areas.  I love to read and learn about their adventures and how they all over came many physical and mental trials to get to the West.  But because of them we can enjoy this beautiful land we live in today.  We celebrated with yummy BBQ food with friends and neighbors and ended the night with a spectacular firework show in our culdasac.  We only had one mishap were a firework landed on its side and started shooting at us.  We all flew out of our chairs and took cover.  After that one everyone enjoyed the rest of them standing up and was ready for anything.  It was a fun night!     

 

Girls Camp at Bear Lake

Girls camp was at Bear Lake this year and we all had a great time.  There is always lots of fun and laughing going on when you get a few teenage girls together with some crazy leaders too.  The theme of camp went along with the movie "The Wizard of Oz".   The leaders slept in a cabin and the girls camped in tents.  It was great!

We toured the Minnetonka cave.  This was a first for me and I was a little nervous to be trapped under ground for the 90 minute tour.  And to make it even more nerve racking, they were testing the generators and so the lights kept going out.  There were lots of stairs to take you through the cave with a tour guide.  It was actually really neat inside with all the cave drippings.  You would even get little 'cave kisses' (drops of water) on you as you walked through.    

The camp directors did a great job with all planning of this camp for the girls.  We all got matching sweatshirts, flip flops (as our ruby slippers) and lots of fun craft projects took place too.  Since, we were so close to the lake boating was on schedule too.  What a great experience to bond with all the girls.    

Lagoon-a-Beach

Ashlynn finally hit the height requirement this year to ride all the slides at Lagoon-a-Beach.  So, this is her first time riding all the slides there.  She was a bit hesitant at first, but then the hesitation was short lived...she wanted to go again and again...

Ashlynn on the body slide.

Carter relaxing on his tube.

Ashlynn coming off the tube slide.  This is her favorite slide..she will get back in line and ride this one a few times in a row.

Carter splashing down the tube slide too.

Lagoon Days

We love to spend time at Lagoon.  We just have a great time every time we go.  We always plan to only stay for a short time, but the time just gets away from us and we end of staying longer.  But, that is OK because that is what Summer days are all about...Having fun and enjoying our time together.  And we only have one more week off from school so we have to fit in as much daytime summer fun as we can.

 I love Ashlynn's new "missing her two front teeth" smile.  She has a little lisp with some of her words because of those two teeth missing.  She pulled them out with in a week of each other.  What a cutie! 

Carter was the only one in our group that could ride this Ferris Wheel because they don't not allow open toed shoes.  He was the only one that was not wearing flip flops.  So, he had the whole ride to himself.

Carter and his friend Gage getting off the "Hydro Luge".  They were soaked!

Going under the water fall on Rattle Snake Rapids.  Watch out..!

Ashlynn joined in on the fun too. 

 

It is nice to get cooled off during a hot day at Lagoon.

Scout Space Derby

Carter had his Scout Troop Space Derby and his space car won 3rd the first race and then 1st his second race. 

Posing with his Space Car.

Getting the Space cars set on the track.

A proud Scout with his Space car.

Celebrating the 4th

We started our 4th of July celebration with an early morning All-Star baseball game that Carter played in.  I love watching baseball so it was the perfect all-American activity to begin the Holiday.  It was a close game, but our boys didn't come out with win.  We lost by one run, but they had fun!   

 

It was really neat to have an announcer at the game.  He announced all the players names and would give play by play comments.  It made the game just a little more special to be part of the Layton Minor League All-Star team.  Matt even got his named announced because he was part of the coaching staff and he was the 3rd base coach.  It was kind of sad moment to say that baseball season is over for Carter this year.  Then, that thought was short lived because they are putting together a Competition baseball league and try-outs are at the end of the month.  Carter is very eager to try-out for the team.  So, we will see if he is going to play year round baseball or start football in the fall. 

 

Then after the game we walked over to the parade to find our spot that we saved from the night before still available.  We basked in the hot sun (Noting to Matt's picture in collage above) to enjoy some good ol' American parade fun.  The kids and I left Matt behind to sit with some friends of ours and Matt chose to stay behind.  So, I captured this picture of him melting in the sun.  He is so funny! 
Then, we headed home to relax and enjoy some cool air
.  I then worked the night of 4th at the hospital.  We got to sneak out to view the fireworks over the Salt Lake Valley since the hospital sits on top of the East Bench hill.  We could see about 7-8 different firework shows going off.  It was great!  The kids were back home watching our cities fireworks on our house roof.  They had a blast too! 
How blessed we are to live in this country and I am very grateful and proud to be an American!

Cousins came to visit...

We were so excited to have our family from the East Coast stop and spend a few days with us in Utah during their move to the West Coast.  These kids just love to be with each other. 

We toured Temple Square and the new visitors center.

Just can't take enough pictures of these fun kids.

In front of the Salt Lake Temple.  I love this reflection pool.

 

We also spend some time at the new City Creek mall that just opened in March of this year.  It is an outdoor mall that has fun landscaping of small creeks with fish in them, fountains and nature like structures. 

The kids got a kick out of this picture board in one of the kids stores.  Their faces were hilarious!



We played at one of our favorite parks in Fruit Heights. It is called castle park.

It was once again hard to say good-bye, but the good news is that these cousins are now going to live closer and we should be able to see them more often through out the years.  We had a awesome visit with all of you and can't wait to together soon.

Adam's Canyon

We enjoyed our time hiking around Moab, so our little family took on another moderate adventure and hiked up Adam's Canyon.  The trailhead is about 15 mintues from our house.  It is a about a 7 mile hike round trip that included getting around large rocks, dirt hills and trying to stay on the right trail.  The trail runs along a small creek that put off a small cool breeze to take away some of the heat.  The best part of this trail is that it leads to a really neat waterfall. 

Hiking back down the hill was much faster that going up, but Ashlynn found it was easier to slide on her bottom because she was falling so much on the way down.  The poor girl had dirt in about every spot on her body.  She even had a dirt mustache, but she didn't care.  It was much harder going down then up because of the slick rocks and dirt.  But, we had a great time!  We completed the hike in less than 3 hours.  It is so nice to live in a place where we can explore and not have to travel far from home.

 

Our little family in front of the Adam's Canyon waterfall.