2nd Annual Trip To Lake Powell.

I calling this trip our 2nd Annual in hopes that it becomes an annual trip. Our fabulous friends the Jessops have so graciously invited us on there family trip the last two years and we have so much fun with them that we hope that it continues for a long time. We go for a week and it is a week of so much fun. We drive down with our friend Jodi and Tyler Jessop and there three kids Maddi, Devin and Coleman. Yes we all fit it one car. But not for long! We try to leave really early, Brent gets up and 4:30 to help them load the cars and trailers and then when they are finished he comes and picks us up at around 5:30 - 6:00 which gives us a little extra time to sleep. Then we make long fun trip to Lake Powell. There houseboat is in Wah Weep (I have no idea how to spell it and I am sure that is wrong!) This year we got to the boat dock around 12:30 and by the time we get the boat loaded with all of our stuff we are headed out around 2:30. This year was better than last finding a spot to camp. We found a spot before it got dark, around 4:30. So the first day is not the best day because your sitting in the car for half the day and the other half your sitting on a hot boat.

Yes these are the drinks it take to keep all 20 of us hydrated for a week.

And this is only half of the stuff on the boat.

This is one of Hayden's best friends Maddi. She is nine years old and is so cute with Hayden.

(Gosh is hair was really short.)

Daddy and Hayden.

Brent, Hayden and I put up a tent just on the beach with all of our stuff. There is not enough room for us on the boat but we would rather sleep in the tent. It is hot no matter where you are but believe it or not I think it is cooler in the tent at night. Throughout the week we played in the sand, wait let me rephrase that. Everyone but Hayden played in the sand. The kid would not touch the sand at all. Not even with shoes on. He refused. So we spent a lot of time in the water and on the boat, but not in the sand. Last year he loved the sand, this wants nothing to do with it. Crazy kid! Brent did a lot of fishing. He got fairly large bass with Blake. He was so excited. Then throughout the week he helped every kid on the boat catch a fish just of the side of the boat. We would throw pretzel and cheese into the water and the fish loved it.

Hayden and I in the kayak. Brent with his fish.

We also went tubing as a family. Hayden loved, he got to go on it twice. Of coarse we did not go wild on it because of Hayden but just fast enough for him to enjoy. The guys also made a water slide in the sand for us to go down into the water. Same as last year. We had so much fun.

The last night on the boat was a little rough. The day before we head for home we pack up all of the stuff on to the boat and we drive into the boat dock and all of stay the night on the boat attached to the bouye That night on the boat was rough, literally. There was a huge rain, lightning, thunder storm. The boat was rocking back an forth, back and forth. It made me so sick and I was already sick to begin with being 13 weeks pregnant at the time. I felt ill. I did not think I was going to make it through the night. Then in the middle of the night it started to rain. Which would of been fine except we were on the top of the boat. Brent Hayden and I were under the canopy but it still rained through it. So there we were all three of us huddled together under the sleeping bag. It was miserable. Brent loved it cause the lighting storm was awesome, but since I was so sick I did not enjoy it as much as he did. Overall the trip was great, and we want to go again next year.

Summer Trip to Midway

In July we took a weekend an went up to Midway with Brents family. His brother Tyler and our sister-law Lyndsay got a nice condo for a us to stay in for the weekend. We went up Wednesday and stayed until Saturday. We had a really great time staying together as a family. It had been a while since we had gone a trip together so we had a blast. There was an indoor pool, so of coarse we did a lot of swimming. Haydens loves swimming, however he enjoys it much more outside than inside. I guess in an indoor pool it is a little bit louder with all of the echos and for some reason that bothers him. Plus he would rather swim by himself and since it starts at 3 feet deep and he is only two, one of us has to still hold him until he completely swim by himself.

On Saturday on our way home, some of us, went to Park City and w rode the Alpine Coaster and the the Alpine Slide. The Coaster is a blast, I prefer it over the slide. As we were driving home we decided to go home through Guardsman. On our way home we saw two bull moose sitting at the bottom of the grassy hill. It was great because Brent had been wanting to see one all summer and we did not get to see one when we were in Island Park, so he was thrilled. And Hayden was pretty excited as well.

One of the days we drove over to American Fork Canyon and went walking around the the Crystal Springs there. It is a nice easy walk, especially on a hot day, but it is very beautiful.

This is a picture of Brent, Hayden, our niece Bethany and Uncle Tyler (Brent's brother).

One of the nights at the condo there was an awesome lightning storm. It was so incredible. I could of stayed up all night watching it but I did not. I would of been too grumpy the next day. We had a blast and can't wait to have many more fun vacations through the years with his family.

6th Annual Trip to Island Park

One our favorite vacations each year is our trip up to Island Park, in Idaho. We go with our friends the Yospe's. This is our sixth year going up with them to their families cabin and each year we have gone it has gotten more and more fun! This year we took a couple days to go into Yellowstone, rode four wheelers went hiking and played games. This is a vacation that is actually relaxing. (Doesn't sound like it but we are able to do as we please.)

We saw some wildlife this year. Things we had not seen up here before. We saw a fox who had her den in the sage brush and she had four little babies. They were adorable. Then up at a place called Big Springs we saw a muskrat. They are kind of creepy looking but cute at the same time There were people next to us feeding the fish in the water some bagels and the muskrat got some and he laid on his back and ate the bagel. It was kind of cute.

" Mini Darth-Vader"

This year we got to take Hayden on the four wheelers for a long ride. There had been so much rain that most of the trails were like rivers and there were no rivers big mud puddles. So put a big garbage sack around Hayden he looked so adorable. We all laughed for a few minutes.

Lincoln, Hayden and Spider-man (aka Calder)

One of our day trips to Yellowstone we went to the Artist Pots (I think they were called that.) The boys had fun running around.

"Don't I look so awesome".

We love four wheeling. There are so many trails to explore up in Island Park. This particular part of the trail was all water. So much fun. There is something so thrilling about going through a big pile of water and mud. Except if you fall in the mud. All of us were together on a trail and our intentions were to be gone an hour or two. It turned into a four hour trip. We got twisted around, so as we were taking a trail it came to some more water which did not seem like a big deal because we had been going in and out of water all day. Brent was driving and Hay and I were on the back. I was already so tired and hurting from holding Hayden while he slept for and hour on the four wheeler that I was so ready to get back to the cabin. Brent proceeded through the water and .......yep he hit a sink hole and we all immediately fell off and in to the cold muddy (who knows what animals have been through) water. I am trying to keep Hayden above the water while my feet are stuck in the mud and Brent is try to save the four wheeler. All in all it we survived and so did the four wheeler. Once we got our the mud on the other side of the trail there was a sign that said NO ATV through here. Whoops! They should probably have the sign on both side of the trail. 45 minutes later we found our way back to the cabin.

We went for a hike in Yellowstone to a place called Fairy Falls. The funny thing to me is that I did not know their were too many hikes in Yellowstone because as a kid we were stuck in the car the whole time. This hike was fairly easy, (well for me because I did not have a Hayden on my back in a backpack.) but the end results were great. We had a such fun time as we always do. Thank you Yopse's.

Floods in Murray Park

I think it was the first summer we moved to Murray, 2004 that I remember walking the park one day and noticing that water was getting really high. Soon enough the water was so high that it covered the walkway on the bridges. I thought wow that is a lot of water for the river. My mind has changed now since the small flood in Murray park at the first of June. I had been at the park the Thursday before it flooded and I saw how fast it was going and saw how much snow was still in the mountain and I immediately thought of the time when it covered the bridges. I had a feeling that it might happen again but had no idea it would be this much.

You can't tell in the picture but one of the benches that is by the river is mostly covered.

Here is a bridge by the Murray Pool.

This is parking lot by the outdoor Murray Pool.

This is the part by Parkside Elementary. Part of field at Parkside was flooded as well. Sunday night Brent received an email from our Stake President letting him know that people in the community were going to start sandbagging because their were homes at risk. So Brent went out as soon as could. I know that a lot of people showed up to help out. Brent did not get home until 2 a.m. I know that they got a lot done and helped out a lot of people. This little event made me think about what a great community we live. Even though their are wars going on, and people fighting wickedness all over the world, the one thing that I realized is that if someone or something was in trouble it is good to know that people will come together and help out.

Hayden's 2nd Birthday

May 14th (yes I know that was two months ago) was Hayden's 2nd birthday. I know everyone says that time goes by really fast but they were not kidding. WOW! Two years old I can't believe it. Before I know it he will going to kindergarten, then driving, then dating and .................I don't want to think about the rest.

So I was not going to throw hayden a big birthday party because I figured he is two and he is not going to remember it any way, but the closer it got the more I wanted to throw a party. Hayden is a big ELMO fan so I made him and Elmo cupcake cake and cookie monster cupcakes.

He also got some Elmo ballons and Elmo party favors for his cousins. Not to big of deal but fun enough and not too much work for me. We had his party outside with more grass in the backyard then we ever have had. In October we got a sprinkler system put in and put grass in the back. And if you have ever seen my backyard you know that we had a lot of dirt and a lot of weeds and thank goodness we don't have that problem anymore. A week or so before Haydens birthday we also purchased a playset for the backyard. It was quite the chore putting the things together. (That will be blog post for another day).

For the Haymans birthday he recieved a three wheeler bike from his cousins and Aunts and Uncles on my side, a wagon and some clothes from Grandma and Grandpa, a mower, Elmo microphone and clothes from Grandma Funk and from cousins and Aunts and Uncles on Brents side he got a alot of sand toys. Oh yeah and from his Uncle Ty and Aunt Lyndsay he got Donald Duck stuffed animal that talks. (He also is very hooked on Donald and now Donald sleeps with him every night.)

Brent and I are very lucky to have such a great loving happy little boy in our family. We thank our Heavenly Father daily for the wonderful blessing he is in our lives. We love you Hay!

REDEMPTION

Alright it has been almost a year since I last posted a blog. I never had much success with journal writing so I started to blog a little bit. Then decided as I read other peoples blog I am just not a creative writer, so I stopped blogging. Well now it has almost been a whole year and I have not written down anything about life in the last year. SAD! So here I am making my redemption and I am going to try to be better about the important things in life and that is not catching up on missed episodes of GLEE and the BACHORLETTE.

Here is my disclaimer: my blog will not be a creative blog, funny in anyway to anybody else but myself. So nobody feel like to you have to read my blog I am just going to try be better at writing my personal history. So here we go.................

Kappa Reunion - Lambda Delta Sigma

During college I was a part of an LDS sorority called Lambda Delta Sigma. Within Labda Delt there were 16 chapters and I was a part of the KAPPA chapter. Being part of my sorority was one of the most rewarding expereinces of my college life. (If not for sorority I would not of married my hubby).

Some of my best friends came from Kappa.

It had been almost 9 years since I had seen some of these gals. I decided it was time for a reunion. We got together, but only 20 girls showed up but I am glad they did. Hopefully
the next time we have a reunion more will be able to come.

Love all my Kappa girls!