So my super exciting vacations this year were to visit cousins down south and visit family and friends up north! Nothing exotic like Hawaii-- I even took homework on my little trips! Here are pics from up north! I got to see Kathy & Andrew, who have been in Florida for a few years! It was so good to spend time with them! I did get my hair cut and ate lunch with Coley! I stayed with Aunt Annette and Family- just love them! And Cami and I went to the Jordan River Temple, it was my first time doing a session there-loved it! I saw Julie and her cute kids! And ate lunch with Shandra on the way home in Provo! It was a fast, jam packed 3 days! :) I love all the people that are in my life! Kathy & Andrew took me to Cherry Hill! It was so fun because I had been there years ago when I was a little one! It made me feel like I was 8 again! So fun! Easton even loved the lazy river and I loved all the water slides! :)
This is the new addition to the Family! My sister Andee had baby Dylann on July 5th! She is so cute! It has been so much fun to have a newborn around! Steve and Andee now have a cute little girl to be wrapped around their fingers! I just love to hold her and cuddle with her! Ethan is going to be such a great big brother!
Since the 4th was on Sunday this year, I went to Las Vegas on Saturday with Grandma Bev to go to my cousin, Elyssa's Bridal Shower for the day. I then watched fireworks with the friends that night back home. Then on Monday, Richfield, was having their festivities and Grandma Bev wanted to go, so Dad and I tagged along for the day! We went to the Parade and the Park for all of the fun! Grandma grew up in Richfield and when my dad was little and when I was little we used to go there for every 4th of July and play with the family! I have some really fond memories of playing with the cousins and enjoying all the fun things for the 4th. This is our picture of 3 generations. Grandma Bev is my Dad's mom and she is my grandma who I simply adore! I love living close to her and getting to see her often. My first few years of teaching, she would come to school and sing with my kids! I love my Grandma Beverly so much!
My Hero! I was planning on writing a post about him around Father's Day, but life has been way to busy! I am officially done with homework for the summer! Yeah! Well now I have 2 weeks til we are back to school! But My dad is such an amazing example in my life! He has always been my rock and my strength--he is my constant! I love his example of always willing to give. He is always unselfish, and willing to do anything for anyone. I love his example of service in my life. I love his devotion to the gospel. He has been so many more things to me but most of all he has been my Dad! His wisdom and advice is always perfect, he is a very wise man. He is so great with the grandchildren, I love these pictures of him with Ethan and Paige! So cute! This picture on the bottom is one of his from high school, yes he did have hair! :) He has taught Graphic Arts in high school for the past about 20 years and this summer he got the job as Career & Technology Director at the District Office. I am so proud of him! The kids will definitely miss him, but he will do so many great things! He always encourages me to accomplish more! Thanks Dad for being the best ever!
Anilee planned this awesome trip to the Grand Canyon to hike the Thunder River Trail and she invited me along! We went on June 11th and 12th. It ended up being, Anilee, Deon, Lance, and I. We were planning on it taking 3 days, but we did it in 2 days! I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into, but Anilee believed I could do it! It was in a way my mini marathon. It was down 10 miles in one day from the rim to the bottom and then back out 10 miles (5, 000 vertical feet from top to bottom). It was such an amazing experience. The Grand Canyon has a beauty I simply can't put into words and pictures don't even begin to capture. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. I learned a lot about myself. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done (physically). I am so proud of myself and feel quite accomplished. I had great company and the weather was great! If we hadn't had the cloud cover that we did, I don't think we could have done it as fast as we did. Thunder River is an underground river that flows out into an amazing waterfall and then flows into a creek. It is one of the only rivers that flows into something smaller than it. A friend told me that it is one of the top 10 hikes in North America, you have to have a permit to even hike it. I am so grateful I got to experience it!
We started early- This is the sunrise from the top of the rim.
This is from the rim down, our first decent. Then we hit the slick rock before we got to the next set of switch backs.
A cool spiders web.
Looking down our next decent.. switch backs here we come!
These are the types of trail the whole way! It is pretty much like a country trail, nothing too smooth. The first sight of Thunder River!
The water was so so nice! It was the most refreshing thing ever! (We had to stick our heads in). We ate lunch here the first day.
I love waterfalls!
This picture is on the way back out! Right before we hit the waterfall.
At our campground, we had this little rock cave that helped us out greatly when it rained! That night I heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life-- it was awesome!
The toilet by the campground gave a lot of privacy... not! (A three-sided box)
Lance's Makeshift tent to keep dry!
On the way out this was while hiking through one of the big switch backs. Right when we got to the top it started to down pour. We found these two little trees and thanks to Anilee and her preparedness threw up her tarp and we hung out and ate lunch and luckily stayed pretty much dry ( I wish I would have got a picture of the set up). The weather and temperature change can be pretty fast and drastic. We used many layers of clothing.
After the storm these were the flat rocks that were completely dry before, it was cool to see all the water on them. This is a Century plant ( I really liked them- we saw lots). When the bottom part of the plant is 100 years old it shoots up the center part and then it dies.
Sunsets are my favorite!
We all survived! And it was right before sundown! :) We made it!
These top 2 pics are from One Memory at a Time Photography and the other ones are just snapshots I took :) My cousin Scotty got married to his beautiful bride Tess on May 29th. They are such an adorable couple! I had fun helping Middle Aisle Wedding Planning with the decor and set up! It is so fun to help family out, especially on their special day! Good times! :) Check out more cute pictures of the beautiful couple and wedding on both websites :)
So my super exciting vacations this year were to visit cousins down south and visit family and friends up north! Nothing exotic like Hawaii-- I even took homework on my little trips! Here are pics from up north! I got to see Kathy & Andrew, who have been in Florida for a few years! It was so good to spend time with them! I did get my hair cut and ate lunch with Coley! I stayed with Aunt Annette and Family- just love them! And Cami and I went to the Jordan River Temple, it was my first time doing a session there-loved it! I saw Julie and her cute kids! And ate lunch with Shandra on the way home in Provo! It was a fast, jam packed 3 days! :) I love all the people that are in my life!
Kathy & Andrew took me to Cherry Hill! It was so fun because I had been there years ago when I was a little one! It made me feel like I was 8 again! So fun! Easton even loved the lazy river and I loved all the water slides! :)
