Family BBQ at Jana's house befere Chris went back to Oregon. Don't they look like the cutest bunch of cousins together?

All the girls (minus Jayde) hanging out in the back yard.

All the boys playing with Bella.

Zions

We stayed in St George for a couple of days with JoAnn and her girls, Chris, Mom and Dad and even Nikki came to join the fun. Everyone had a great time swimming, Olivia didn't get out of the pool unless she had to.
On Monday Dean and I took the older kids into the narrows for a hike.

It was the first time any of them had ever been there, and the third time for the two of us. We all had an awesome time. Luckily I didn't fall untill I put the camera away, I think Dean was the only one who didn't fall on the way in.

It was so beautiful hiking, what a wonderful place to be on a hot summer day.

We stopped about 2 1/2 hours into the hike at a place called orderville canyon, ate lunch and played around a little.

Max found a hiking stick when we started, and kept hold of it the whole time. I think it really helped him to have since he was a bit nervous going through parts of the water that were deeper than his knees.

This area was fun. Kenya and I tried to swim through up stream, while everyone else walked around on shore. It didn't work to well though. Then on our way back out we all swam through, some of us went through about six or seven times, it was so deep we had to float through.

We also met Jaba the rock while we were hiking.

What a great experience to share with the kids. Everyone loved it and nobody had any major injuries, just some bumps and bruises. We can't wait to take the kids again in a few years when the girls are big enough.

California here we come!

Time to hit the road...... Our first night we stayed in Primm Nevada, while there that night Dean and I took Nate, Max and Olivia on the Desperado roller coaster. It is the biggest one I have ever been on, and I think it freaked out Max and Liv because they were nervous to go on the bigger rides at Disneyland.

On Friday when we got to California we headed straight to the beach (a few years earlier we found this great one called Crystal Cove State Park). It was a little overcast that day so it made it a little cold in the water, but we still had a fun time playing in the waves. There were squirrels wandering around so the kids shared their chips and bread. We made sand castles and they helped bury each other in the sand.

Yeah Disneyland!! We would come here every month if we lived closer. It was fun to take Zoe and Olivia on new rides this time, they both loved Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, Olivia and Max loved Indiana Jones and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Of course all of our favorites were Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Everyone had fun taking turns going on the rides with Grandma and Nikki.

Zoe loved getting her picture with Minnie and seeing the other characters walking around.

It was nice to relax in the condo on Sunday and make a nice dinner and watch movies. Then we headed up to the roof to watch the fireworks from Disneyland.

California Adventures was a lot of fun, we took Zoe on the Tower of Terror, even though Max and Olivia were to chicken to go on since they knew what it was like. Nate loved the big rides like the roller coaster and the Maliboomer. We all loved Soarin' over California and the silly symphony swings, Bugs Life and the Muppet's movies are also favorites.

Universal Studios was a blast. The boys loved all the cool rides, the girls loved all the characters and everyone loved all the movie sets, including the set of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 that was taking place during our tram ride.

We always have to take a picture of ourselves in our special spot by Snow Whites grotto. 11 1/2 years earlier when Dean purposed to me there is what has made it so special.

Our last day in California was spent at Seaworld, the kids had a great time watching the different shows they have, getting wet from all the splashing whales and getting to feel the starfish, rays and dolphins. What a wonderful way to spend time together with family to create memories to last forever.

The next day we left our wonderful condo and headed to Las Vegas to stay with cousins. We went to dinner and played with the kids until bed time. They don't get to see each other as much, so when they get together they all have a great time. After breakfast it was time to finally come home.

Thank you to Grandma for making this trip possible, we all had a great time and enjoy going on these fun adventures with you and Nikki.

silly boys....

The boys walked over to Allens with a few quarters.....

this is how they came home!

yes...... my boys can be very silly at times, well most times.

Merry old land of OZ

This year the girls did the Wizard of OZ ballet again playing new parts.

Olivia's class were Jewels and got to sparkle all over the stage.
She has such good form and loves dancing.

Zoe's class were the poisonous poppies to put Dorthy to sleep.

She loves to show off her poses where ever she is.




Miss Amber is an amazing teacher and the girls love being in her class. I am so proud of my girls and the hard work they put in to this performance, I love you very much Olivia and Zophia.

WILLY WONKA KIDS

This year both boys were in the school play of Willy Wonka Kids. The cast was about thirty kids and they all did such a great job, and had alot of fun. This was my third year of helping with costumes and set design for the wonderful productions put on at our school by our friends the Ricci's. The kids all have fun helping and watching it all come together.

Nathan played Grandpa George and was part of the everlasting gobstopper machine. Max played one of the candyman kids and was also a squirrel.
Nate loves the fact that he gets to keep these old man pajama's bought at DI.
( I think they were tired of having their pictures taken backstage, since no one was allowed to take pictures of any kind during the production)


This is a picture from after the show with their friend Jacob Ricci as an oompa loompa.
Nathan was in Sleeping Beauty the year before, so he didn't get nervous, but this was the first year Max has done anything like this and he was nervous, but as soon as the first of the three shows was done he couldn't wait to do it again. What a wonderful experience for the boys to have, they really enjoyed it, and we are so proud of them.

A new and better way of eating.......
A couple of weeks ago Nathan decided he wanted to become a vegetarian, and since Dean had been thinking about it for a while, they decided to do it together. For the past four months or so we have all been eating a lot healthier by eating more fresh produce, juicing fresh produce and cutting out the fast food, so now we are cutting back on the meat for most of the family and cutting it completly for Dean and Nate. I think it is important to have the kids eating healthy now and learn to try new things, so that they will be used to eating healthy as they grow up. Dean and I have also joined a gym so that we can continue to stay healthy and lose weight, now we just got to make sure and get there as much as we can, but so far so good.