Hike at Albion Basin

After being reunited from our girls camping trip we decided Saturday would be a good day for a hike.  It was a cooler day than we've had in the past and so it would be nice hiking weather.  We ended up going up Little Cottenwood Canyon and exploring the ski area of the Albion basin.  It was so beautiful.  It was about 65 degrees and the wildflowers were all out and the sky was blue and it was just picture perfect the whole afternoon!

We hiked along the trails and up some rocks and explored all around.  We even spotted a moose in the distance while we were taking this "couples" photo.  It was amazing!

We were surrounded by many many rodents and they were super quick, but we were able to snap a picture of one who was nice enough to pose for us!

I'm so grateful we live in such a beautiful part of the country.  The mountains really are so pretty and the scenery that surrounds me every day looks like a post card.  Sometimes it's great to get out and enjoy nature a little closer.  I'm glad we were able to share this with our two younger kids and spend the day together!

Stoddard Creek Camping!

This year we decided to meet in the middle between grandma and us at Stoddard Creek campground in Idaho.  It was a place that we had driven past many times and never stopped.  Vicky had always wanted to see what was there and so this year we made it our destination for camping.

The campground there was beautiful.  There were lots of wildflowers and trees all around.  There was a lot of space between each campsite and only 8 sites in the upper loop where we stayed, so it was very quiet!  Such a peaceful, beautiful part of the country.

Like any vacation there was a lot of good food involved!  We relaxed, played, ate and ate again!  We did some of the cooking over the open fire and some of the cooking inside the campers, but it was all yummy!

We played games and chatted and took walks and bikerides.  It was a good time for all of us and hope we do it again!

Fathers Day 2015

Happy Father's day to my dad, Dave, and Dave's dad!

McKinley wrote Dave a cute note and sealed it with a hug and kiss!  She sure loves her dad!

After a nice family day of church, dinner, and playing games, we headed over next door to visit with Grandad and a few of the siblings that came over as well.  Overall it was a nice Sunday and Father's Day.

Manti Pageant experience!

Back in the spring I made plans (reservations) for our family to attend the Manti Miracle Pageant in Manti on June 19th.  It was something that I've never done and it had been years since David had gone.  We have fond memories of taking Austin and Ethan to the Palmyra pageant so I thought we should take McKinley and Evan to one too!

We actually left town on time about 4:30pm on Thursday to make our way to our campsite, get settled, and then attend the pageant.  Well, things didn't go as planned.  About 1 hour into our 2 hour journey we felt a tire go out on the trailer.  We pulled over and discovered that it was not just a flat tire...the tire and rim and everything was gone!  Somehow the tire bolts (all 5 of them) had broken clean off and the tire had ripped off and gone flying somewhere (we never found it!).  

Luckily we were able to pull over quickly and get off the road.  Also, we don't think we affected anyone else driving behind or to the side of us when the wheel came off.  We were just stuck at the side of the road.

After calling our Good Sam roadside assistance and finding out that it expired 3 days before we made some calls to local mobile mechanics and finally found one that was open (6pm on Thursday??) and could come.  So we waited, and waited...and they finally came.  At this point we'd been at the side of the road for 2 hours!

The mechanic made it and assessed the situation and determined that it could be fixed.  They started to jack up the trailer and get the assembly off.  Somewhere along the line the mechanic determined that he didn't have all the parts he needed and he had to go and get some.  He thought he would be gone 30 minutes...so we decided to go and get some dinner in nearby Nephi.  We had a quick dinner and rushed back to meet the mechanic on the side of the road (nearest exit was 10 miles when we had to turn around!).  And then we waited and waited some more.  By now it was 9pm and we'd been at the side of the road (minus our quick dinner trip) for 3.5 hours!

Well the mechanic was not back yet, so we waited and he finally arrived, made the repair (another 2 hours) and we were on our way about 11:45pm!  Phew...

So we missed the pageant that night and just set up the trailer and went to sleep.  The next day we explored around Manti, venturing up a dirt road in Manti La Sal national forest to a cute little lake.  We hiked around it a noticed some koi fish and some dead fish in the lake.

After our hike and exploring it was really heating up and we decided the Manti pool looked like a great place to cool down...and it was.  We enjoyed the pool, slide, and lazy river for a couple hours until we got hungy and headed back to our campsite for some lunch and a nap!

After a nice nap in the air conditioned camper, we headed out to get our seats at the Pageant.  We went early (about 6pm) to make sure we could get decent seats and it was easy.  We were middle, 6th row and had a great view.

After saving our seats we walked around the craft fair, got some lunch and ice cream, and then played hearts in the city park until the show was about to start.  We really enjoyed the pageant and walked back to our campsite after for our final evening.  The next morning we headed home and had a very nice, uneventful ride home!  It was a fun get away with the two younger kids!

McKinley's Happy Birthday new room!

For her birthday McKinley asked that we redo her room.  I love doing things like that, so I was ready and willing to oblige.  Dave and I planned and browsed and talked it over and finally went to work the night before her birthday.  Things took a little longer than we thought, so we had to make her wait the entire day of her birthday for the big reveal that night.  But it was worth it.  She loves it!

5th grade promotion for McKinley

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is moving on from elementary school.  I won't have any kids in elementary school next year and that's just a strange thing.  But I'm embracing it and wishing McKinley the best  as she moves on to Jr. High.

Her class did little snippets of "Let's take a selfie" and she had fun time with Harrison and Becca creating a fun little memory of fifth grade.

Afterwards we took a few pictures, got her stuff, and said goodbye to her elementary school and hello to summer! That we are ready for!

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Ashlee's shower

When Ashlee announced that she was getting married I was so excited and told her that I wanted to do a shower for her.  I love parties!!  I used a lot of ideas of ideas from Pinterest and a lot of help from all of the family to put on a fun, dinner shower.  It was such a fun night and a beautiful shower for Ashlee.

The food was yummy and pretty and everyone that helped did such a fabulous job.

I had a lot of fun with decorations and cute ideas to make it special.

We had a great turnout of family members and such fun gifts to help Ashlee and Brenden get a great household set up.