Fall Family Pictures

For my Mom's birthday we decided to get her family pictures because the last time we took pictures as a family I had puffy bangs and we all wore denim head to toe (not really but you get the point)! We were going to have a professional do it but with my brother having to fly out from CA it wasn't quite working out. Good thing my Dad likes photography and invests in lots of good camera equipment. We went up to AF canyon and it was kinda hard to find good spots because the sun but we found one and I think they turned out pretty for a bunch of armatures! It's always fun when the whole family gets together. Sean was out all weekend and Nick and Rachel came up from SLC. We played games every night at our house which is fun because we never have people over. We played Catch Phrase ( if you haven't pulled it out in a while you should...it's fun!), Colosseum, and Balderdash. I always forget how much I love playing board games and how competitive I get (which isn't a good thing!) On Sunday night we had Teppanyaki at our house. Steve was flipping eggs and flipped on right at Sean, then the next one he made in Sean's drink! It was a fun weekend! Can't wait till we all can get together again!

You're Going Camping?!?

Steve is now the 11 yr old scoutmaster and this past weekend was his first scout campout. They had been talking about it and planning it for weeks and the boys were so excited. The week before the campout we started watching the weather to make sure it would be ok and they kept saying it was going to SNOW!! We didn't quite believe them because it was so nice outside so we went up and found a nice campsite.

The night before the campout Steve called all the boys to tell them the trip was a GO! Just like the weather people said a storm came in that night. Luckily they didn't get rained on but it was super cold! Steve said that it wasn't that bad because everyone was prepared to be cold so they packed warm. Saturday morning the snow just kept coming down. Steve still wanted to stay and make breakfast, but the other leaders decided to pack up and go home. That night we got the first real snow in the valleys. We got about 2 inches. It was so pretty to look outside and see all the snow. I'm not sure I'm ready for winter to come yet, but it was fun for at least one day.

(Our house on Thrusday)

(Sunday Morning - It melted a bit because I was too big of a wuss to go outside)

(Mindee just wanted to stay inside and snuggle in the warm blankets!)

Lake Powell

We have been talking about taking a family Lake Powell trip for years now and finally succeeded! My parents and my cousins have never been there before and I absoutley love it so we decided to take a long weekend and go have fun. My parents went up early to pick the spot and we met up with them later. We just camped in the primitive camping at Bullfrog. When we got there it was so dark that getting to our campsite was quite a challenge, plus some of the roads were not too good for towing. The next day we took the boat out and went down this one canal. Steve thought it would be cool to get some wakesurfing pictures at the end of a canyon so we all decided to go. On my last run we ended up hitting a stick in the water and bent our prop!! We tried to find a boat shop to buy a new one, but the closest one was in SLC! (You would think they would have extra props everywhere at Lake Powell!) So we had no boat for the rest of the trip. It turned out ok though. We just hung out all day and floated in the lake. We played a little beach volleyball and lots of board games. Luckly our friends let us borrow their toy hawler so we had a place to get out of the sun! (It was really a trip saver!!) All in all it was fun! We should have brought an extra prop...lesson learned! I'm sure we'll go again next year.

Puppy Dinner

(He really looked like this...almost)

Today Steve and I were looking out his office window and guess what strolled by...a wolf! It was right across the street in the empty lot and then in crossed the street right next to our house. The only thing I could think of was puppy food! What if I was out there with the dogs and they started barking and chased him (which they would have). He could have gobbled them up in one bite! Now I'm scared to take them outside because I think they are gonna get eaten for dinner! I am always amazed at the wildlife that we see from our house here. We are not even that close to the mountains, but there are always wild animals strolling our neighborhood! Scary!

4th of July

We had a pretty good 4th this year. Steve started the day off at 7am for a dirt bike ride with Dave Andrus. I think it's so great that he has a good friend that will go riding with him! When he got home, around 11ish, I was rolling out of bed ready to hit the lake! We went out with my dad, grandpa, cousins Kevin and Nick, and his girlfriend, Rachel.


It was kinda a monumental day for my dad. After losing about 85 pounds he was finally able to get up on a wake surf. He was so excited! He has tried for the past 2 years and could never get up.

Rachel had never been before so it was cool to see her get up. She did really good too! We even got Kevin up on the wake surf (with a little help from Steve).

After the lake we went over to my parents house for a BBQ and just hung out for a while. Then Steve and I went and found a nice place to watch the Thanksgiving Point fireworks.

It was fun just hanging out waiting. We brought the dogs and that was a mistake because they barked at every single person walking by. Roxy almost got in a fight with a dog that was 10x her size! We played a little Uno and lit up some sparklers.


The fireworks were cool, but the steeple on the church blocked a lot of them. We'll have to find a better place next year!

Nice blog

Wow this is a super nice blog. Looks expensive!!

Happy Birthday Mom

Here is your family blog. I hope you have a very happy birthday. I love you!! Thanks for always being such a wonderful Mom. You're the best.
Love,