Last weekend we had a fun family campout with family. We camped out in Logan Canyon and then we went to Bear Lake the next day. It was a little bit cold, but we still had fun!
Luckily my sister-in-law had some wet suits for us to wear while we were riding the waverunners. We would have frozen otherwise!
We had SO much fun riding the waverunners! Steve had the cutest smile after he finished, because he was having so much fun! Steve is a crazy, fast driver. Since the water was really choppy, we hit so many waves. I was really sore the next day!
I’ve ridden on a wave runner before, but it was my first time driving one. When I was driving, Steve would get so nervous. It was hilarious, because I was not a crazy, speedy driver at all. He just likes being in control of what’s going on around him!
I love this picture! Steve was taking my nephew out in the water to wave “good-bye” to everyone riding the wave runners. We had to hide my sister’s dog! There were no dogs allowed on the beach, but we didn’t have anywhere to leave her. Luckily she didn’t bark very much. I don’t think our dog Maggie would have survived being hidden. Luckily, my sister and brother in law were able to watch her for the overnight trip.
We had a great Fourth of July celebration with my family. We started out by going to a waterpark with my whole family. It was so much fun! We spent most of the time going down our favorite waterslide “Cardiac Canyon.” This waterslide has several pools along the way down, so we tried to stay on the waterslide as long as possible!
Then we decided to have a Family Olympics. Each couple was responsible to come up with an Olympic Event. Each of us chose our favorite country to represent. Steve and I chose Brazil (okay, well I chose Brazil). I taught him a few Portuguese words for our team cheer! Everyone was really creative and came up with some great events.
Badmitton
Fear Factor (with Baby Food)
I didn’t realize that Baby Food is so disgusting, but apparently there are several brands and flavors that are terrible. I’m not sure why babies like it. Steve gagged a few times and got half of the bottle down before he had to stop or throw up! Good thing both partners didn’t have to participate in that challenge.
Steal the Flag Tag
We didn’t get any pictures, we were all running to steal each others flags! We only played a couple of rounds because this game about killed all of us! We were so tired from running!
Relay with a puzzle
We had to race to get the puzzle pieces and then put the puzzle together.
Relay to fill up a cup of water
We had to fill up a cup of water one spoonful at a time. I was surprised, but Steve and I actually won this challenge! Of course this challenge ended up in a small water fight.
My sister, Andrea and her husband Kenny, were the Olympic Champions! However, Steve and I will be preparing for a comeback next year!!
We finished off the Olympic Games with dessert. We’d worked so hard we definately could afford to eat a few more calories.
Afterwards we did a few fireworks. My nephew had fun with the sparklers.
It was a great day! I love spending time with family!
Sometimes when I just stop and pay attention to life, I have one of those moments where I realize how lucky and blessed I am. This last weekend, I had a few of those moments. Steve and I decided at the last minute to go to Wyoming for the weekend. My grandparents have property there, so we always have a place to stay. When we are there, we can hike, ride four wheelers, sit outside and just relax.
One of my favorite “little moments” was riding the four-wheelers. I decided to just ride on the same four wheeler as Steve, and we took a drive up a dirt road close to our property. While we were riding, I was enjoying the beautiful green landscape, and spending time with my sweet husband, when I just realized all over again how blessed and lucky I am! I love life!
We had a lot of fun riding the four wheelers, taking Maggie on rides, and letting her chase the four-wheelers. It was great exercise for her, because we can’t run fast enough for her! She was exhausted when we came home.
Since I am out of school for the summer, I’ve been able to do a lot of fun things! Here are a few of my summer adventures!
In June I went to a Girl’s Camp for our church. We took girls that were ages 12-18 and a few adults to supervise. We had a great time camping–we sang songs by the fire, roasted marshmallows, and played games! Even though we were camping, we still found time to do hair and nails–all the fun girl stuff!
I also had the chance to go to breakfast with some of my college friends. We all went through the Elementary Education program together at BYU. Then we all finished our student teaching in Washington DC together. We had so many fun times. It was so good to catch up! We all laughed that we were all still teaching when we thought we’d only be teaching for a couple of years. Life plans never work quite the way you expect!
Then last week, I went with my mom, my niece, and nephew to the Dinosaur Park. The kids loved seeing the Dinosaurs, especially the ones that moved around and made noises.
I loved this picture! “World’s Most Dangerous Creature”
You can see they were really thrilled about taking a picture with me!
“Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance.”
-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Our road to have children has been a challenging one. It seems like a rollercoaster. Some days I do really well, and other days it is a struggle. However in the past few months, I have felt a lot of hope. I still don’t know when the baby that is meant for our family will arrive, but I do know that it will happen. I know that there is a plan for us, a special birthmom, and for a baby that is meant to be in our family.
In the spirit of this hope, I wanted to do something special for Steve on Father’s Day. With the help of my sister-in-law, I created these little shirts. I don’t know whether we will have a boy or a girl so I created one for each.
Steve of course loved the shirts. He is so excited to be a dad! I know he’s going to be an incredible one!
Since it was Steve’s birthday last week, I made a list of 29 reasons I’m glad he was born!
1. I love to laugh with you! You can make me laugh so hard I cry!
2. You are a hard worker and provide for our family.
3. You are great with money and keep us on track.
4. You will make a great daddy! I love watching you with other kids, because I can see how great of a dad you will be for our kids!
5. You are a great priesthood leader.
6. You’re always willing to help me out!
7. You are very smart!
8. It’s great to always have someone help me out with computer stuff.
9. You are a very motivated person and keep me motivated!
10. You do the laundry for me each week!
11. You are always willing to hold my hand.
12. You give great back scratches!
13. You are always willing to cuddle with me.
14. I know that you are always willing to listen to me!
15. I love watching you in your calling. You do an excellent job!
16. You support me in everything!
17. I appreciate all the encouragement you give me.
18. I’m glad that you are always worthy to give me priesthood blessings.
19. I love going on our yearly vacations with you! It’s so fun to spend uninterrupted time together.
20. You’re always willing to give me quality time, because you know it’s important to me!
21. I am grateful that you’re willing to always take care of the little details of all the things we do.
22. You always make sure our bills get paid on time!
23. You are always good at figuring out the details of anything we’re involved in!
24. I appreciate your patience with me…even when I’m not a patient person!
25. You have a strong testimony!
26. I love talking to you! We have some great discussions!
27. You are always willing to do something romantic for our anniversary or my birthday.
28. I love when you leave little notes (like when you left for San Francisco).
29. The top reason that I’m glad Steve was born is so that he could be my husband! I couldn’t ask for anyone better!
Today I decided that Maggie needed to learn a new trick. It’s been awhile since we’ve taught her anything new. So today I taught her how to shake. Steve has informed me that I taught her the wrong hand, but it’s still pretty fun!
Today was a funny day at school. We had a mountain man come and present to our fourth grade. Well, he points and me and says, “I don’t know what she is…is she a head volunteer or something?” Then just an hour later a parent comes up to me and asks who I was. When I told her, she said, “You don’t look like a teacher!” I just had to laugh…twice in a matter of hours. So now my question is what does a teacher look like? Just for fun, I googled teacher images to see what came up.
So maybe I need glasses and my hair in a bun??
However, even though it’s funny that people don’t think I could be a teacher, I actually enjoy it–because most of the time I think it’s that I don’t look “old” enough to be a teacher. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t ever want to look “old enough!”
Last weekend we had a cousin craft night. We had a great time learning to make cute hair flowers. I am glad that I have so many crafty people in my family. It’s fun to learn new crafts and hang out with my family!
Me and my mom and sisters have a tradition (well it just started last year, but we’re planning on continuing every year), to run the Race for the Cure. Three years ago my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We are so blessed that with surgery and treatments, they were able to get rid of the cancer! We are so proud of our mom for being so strong during such a difficult time, and we enjoy running the Race for the Cure to celebrate her! It’s a really fun race, but always a bit emotional too! This year they had cheerleaders all along the way. One group of cheerleaders would shout out “survivor” and then cheer whenever they saw someone with a survivor shirt running the race. When they did that for my mom, all of us were in tears. We are so grateful to have our mother with us! She is so amazing and wonderful! I don’t know what I’d do without her!
There were 20,000 people in the Race for the Cure
Even though I hadn’t trained, I actually ran most of the 5K
Finished with the race! Yay for fruit and water!
One of my sisters had to be out of town this year, but we’re looking forward to running it with her next year! :)
We had to hide my sister’s dog! There were no dogs allowed on the beach, but we didn’t have anywhere to leave her. Luckily she didn’t bark very much. I don’t think our dog Maggie would have survived being hidden. Luckily, my sister and brother in law were able to watch her for the overnight trip.
