Strong Family Reunion

We were so glad to get up to my Dad's house for our family reunion. Traditionally, we have held these reunions over New Years' but with everyone being so spread out, we all concurred that summer would be better. We gathered for some good old fashioned relaxing and chit-chat...catching up was fun! We missed my brother Bryan and his family, who couldn't make it from Colorado Springs. The girls especially missed the only boy cousins in the family!

Here are all the girls! We had Chad's girlfriend, Lynn and her daughter, Kaiah, too and it was fun to get to know them as well. This picture was actually taken at my grandparents in Holden, but it is a nice one!

Here's my dad, trying to get a smile out of baby Myka...got one out of Erin...but I think Myka just hid!

Can't make a trip up north without stopping at Scott's favorite store...the Hobby Hut...he found some good bargains on train cars.

Our Baker Fishing Trip

We have been a busy family over the past couple weeks! We had a great time up at the Baker Dam Campground with our friends, the Terry's and the Sabaitis's. We had never been fishing as a family, though I had gone several times as a kid with my Grandpa Heath, and the girls were dying to try it. So we bought some poles and a tackle box...forgot bait though...and headed up to the lake. Dallin brought a boat for us to ride in but most of the time was spent swimming, rolling on logs, catching weeds and rocks, and having a great time!

We barbecued, built a fire and roasted marshmallows...only later to find that the lake closes at dusk and no fires allowed...oh well, who knew? We had such fun we didn't even mind getting in trouble.

Kaitlan caught the only fish...she waited patiently in the middle of the lake floating in her life jacket....a nice little rainbow trout and the kids all gathered around to watch Dallin clean it. I never heard such screams of delight and disgust. What a riot!

Thanks to our great friends for making this outing so memorable!

I have always loved AVATAR: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon...I was so sad when the show ended...and don't even get me started about Aang and Katara!!! But I'm so excited about the live action movie coming out next summer...this is the first trailer out! It looks VERY promising! M. Night Shymalan is the director and Jasper from Twilight is playing Sokka...so those are two great reasons to be excited!!!

Playing in the Sprinklers

Scott decided to turn on the sprinklers today and about a dozen little birds decided to come play. They were zooming in and out of the spray and taking little baths in the gutter at the front of the house. It was fun to watch!

A Work in Progress

I am proud of myself and the changes I've made over the past few months. I've lost over 40 lbs., new glasses, new hair...I'm working on getting my outer-self to match the person I feel I am on the inside. I think I'm getting closer.

When this Christmas photo was taken in December, I thought it was pretty good, but my pictures always surprise me, because I never look "familiar" to myself. Does that make sense? By March, I had had enough...time to make some changes.


It's only been recently that photos I see have started to look like ME! So, Yay Me! I'm not finished yet. I still have about a hundred pounds to go and I might be blonde before I'm done...but I'm totally happy with my progress! Maybe by the time I'm 40, I'll have my stuff together. You gotta have a goal right?

Our 2009 Lagoon Trip

We had such a great time at Lagoon this year! We knew it would be rainy before we went, but we stayed pretty dry...a little damp and muddy at times, but it didn't take away from any of the fun we had. The slide show below shows most of our fun adventures. You can definitely see the changeable weather in the pics...some are full sun and others are dark and stormy.

We went with two of Taylor's bffs Shaylee Sabaitis & Kaitlan Terry. I'm so glad their families let us "borrow" them for a couple days. They were so much fun to have along and we love them lots! My brother Chad and his daughter, Bella, and my sister Anissa and her daughter, Anje-looby-nette Noel Olivas de Fuerte ;) and my mom, Grandma Dawn came along as well. We had a regular tent city set up and it kept us pretty dry throughout. While we were at Lagoon, the girls bedding got pretty wet though, which sent Chad and I on a GPS driven Laundromat search all over the Salt Lake valley in the middle of the night...unfortunately, each place we found had just closed minutes before we arrived...but it worked out all right. By the time we got back, the girls were all tucked up asleep in scrounged blankets and all was well. Chad and I had fun in the dry, warm car for a few hours. We were all glad to pack up camp and head home to the dry, sunny, warm south.

Lagoon was fun as ever...hope you enjoy sharing our adventure with us!

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Taylor's Flight

One of the highlights of our Lagoon trip was seeing Taylor ride on the SkyCoaster. If you've been to Lagoon or driven past, you've no doubt seen this ride. Flyers are hooked to a cable and hoisted 150 feet in the air where they pull a rip cord and free fall into a huge swinging arc over the park. We have often marvelled at the people who dared to ride it and the last time we went, Taylor begged us to let her try but there was no way I could let her. I guess it took a couple of years for me to get used to the idea! She said she wasn't even nervous and I believe her. She is such a DareDevil...I'm sure this is just the first of many extreme moments in Taylor's life. I'm so proud of her!

Here she is getting rigged out.

I LOVE the determined look on her face in this picture! This is SO Taylor.

Getting some last minute instructions on the rip cord.

She said the scariest part was walking out to this platform. It dropped out from under her and she was hanging in midair, waiting to be hauled high into the sky.

Here is the video of the Lift Off and Drop...it's not as good as I hoped. I lost her for a minute, but you can get the idea. We were all very excited!

This is the video of Taylor walking back after her flight. I love her swagger....she deserves to be proud.