**4th of July Festivities**

Well - another 4th has come and gone. We stayed true to our recent traditions. On the third we went to Lagoon w/ my brother Steve & his family and my Sister Melanie & Her family. Fun was had by all. I particularly enjoyed floating on the lazy river (as that was the only "ride" I could go on)

Here the gang's just gearing up to hit all the rides
Hailey's favorite thing at Lagoon are all the games that you play & can win stuffed animals. She won 1 by herself, and Dave helped her score two more! Go team!!
Derek braved the Dino-Drop. It's like a mini version of the rocket. He did great on it - didn't even cry, although he did look very concerned when it dropped him!
This was more his style - driving the cars w/ cousin Abbey.

THE 4th ACTVITIES...
This is the 3rd year we've participated in the Kaysville 5k/10k run. Hailey was our family's representative - there was no way I was running! She had a good walk/run, and finished in about 50 minutes. She especially enjoyed all the otter pops she got after completing the race (she had at least 20)!
.... thankfully she shared otter pops w/ me - it was HOT! It was about 90 degrees at 9am when the race was over - thank goodness for an overcast morning!
After the race, we always head over to the Kaysville parade. They do a great job there, and end the parade w/ a water parade - all the water trucks & floats come through and just soak the people. It's a great way to stay cool! Above are my niece Brittanie, nephews Ben & Matt.
Here are all the other nieces & nephews waiting to score on the treats being hucked into the crowd by the floats.
Our family!

After the parade we went back to Steve & Jenny's house for some delicious bbq - brats, varieties of steak, hotdogs & the works! We ate a ton, then played some wiffle ball. It was so much fun! I dominated at catching everyone's ball! Nothing like getting your young nephews out! :)


Here's derek - about to crash after a long day... He was admiring the fireworks. My brother in law Bill scored a bunch of "wyoming" fireworks... Dave added in all the legals to that, and it was a great firework show - until someone's bottle rocket went array and hit me in the belly & arm! Yikes! Thankfully it didn't explode until after it bounced off my wonder-tummy! Phew!
Dave & I being patriotic!
Our yummy dessert that my niece made - Fruit pizza, it was SO good!
Dave stirring the pot - post smoke bomb ... I thought it looked like a good witches cauldron.

We had a great time playing w/ the family. The kids had so much fun! We love getting together & spending time w/ our family! Another successful 4th of July!

The Creek!

Today was HOT!! So, Derek and I went over to this fun little creek that's over in Cedar Hills by my sister's house. It's really shallow, but perfect for little people to float down. We had a great system - Michele (my sis) was launching the kids up river, and Jenny (SIL) & I were catching kids down stream. They LOVED it! It was so fun. The water, however, was COLD! It took about 6 or 7 minutes to adjust to having my feet in the water before the numbness took over & the pain passed.... seriously!

This is so classic of Derek - whenever water sports are involved, he's found laying out on blankets or towels!
Derek's first float down the river. Cute!
Jon-Jon - working the shades! He had fun
Rachie-Roo
Eli-bug!

I wish I'd have gotten more pictures of Michele's kids, but they were doing the long float - from further up to further down stream. It's a great little place. I'll be sure to hit it up a few more times before the summer passes. It's a total hit with the kids.

Our drive into the mountains

Yesterday Dave & I decided to take a drive to scout out a good camping spot for our family camping trip in July. We had a few places in mind and drove up toward Kamas. We drove up Mirror Lake Hwy and made a few stops along the way - like at the Upper Provo River falls (very pretty!). Then, we ended up at Mirror Lake. I had never been up there, but it was absolutely beautiful!! As you can see in the picture, there was still some snow piles on the ground that hadn't melted yet. It was so perfect up there - maybe 68 degrees and sunny. There were tons of people up there fishing, and canoeing on the lake. It looked pretty inviting... I wanted to stay!

Here Dave is trying to point out to Derek where some fish are
Derek - hanging out on a lone rock, gearing up for throwing pebbles into the water.
Derek was on a roll - he wanted to throw sticks into the water. What is the deal with little boys wanting to throw stuff into water? Anyway - he had a great time, and hopefully it didn't drive all the fish away (since he would only throw stuff in right near the fishermen - oops!)

Yee-HaW!

We went to the rodeo in Lehi last night (or radio as Derek called it). It was really fun, and we loved it! We met up w/ Jon, Amber & Cambrie down there.

Derek & Dave sporting the pink hats (no they are not really theirs)

Cheese much!?
Derek was feeding Cambrie his slushie - ah, feel the love.

So - The video is Derek rocking out (with Dave) to the music -- sadly - you mostly just hear the announcer.

We all had such a ball at the rodeo - who knew they could be so fun. This was my first, and I'm sure I'll come back next year for another batch of hee-haw fun!

Jam Packed weekend

We've had such a fun weekend! Sadly - no pics, but I thought I'd type up a little anyway.

Friday I took the kids along w/ Amber & Cambrie to Seven Peaks. It was a nice HOT day, perfect for lounging in the water. The little kids had fun laying out on the tubes & floating in the water. Hailey had fun in all the water parts & the obstacle course. She mastered the lilly pads :). Sadly, poor Derek got a sunburn, despite my best efforts to reapply sunscreen multiple times. So sad! Later that night, Dave & I went w/ Amber & Jon up Provo canyon. We picked up some yummy food from goodwood & took it to go. We ate at Nunn's park, then walked up to Bridal Veil Falls. We had a nice evening.

Saturday: Dave was working all day at Saratoga Splash, so he was off bright & early to get set up. Derek & I had a leisurly morning before running some errands in town. Then, we picked up Dave's folks & went to the festivities. There were tons of cute booths set up along w/ food, blow up jumping toys for the kids & more. Derek didn't last too long before it was time to eat lunch. So we grabbed some yummy lunch at Bajio before nap time. In the evening it was our ward bbq, so we headed down to the park & at tons of good food & Derek got to try out for his first real time - slip & slides! He LOVED them. He was rallying all over the place, totally cutting in line - ugh! I got shot with the water hose right before we left. It was a hot day, so it felt pretty refreshing.
After - we picked up some food for Dave & his brother who were still working, and went to play on the jumping toys at Saratoga Splash. We brought our blanket & chair to map out a spot for the concert - Ryan Shupe & the Rubberbands. Derek did great - he just laid & rolled around on the blanket the whole time, then there were fireworks. It was a great show - especially considering it was just for our little city. We had a really fun weekend!

Father's Day

This morning Dave got a nice breakfast in bed. Derek & Hailey had made hime a cute candybar card. Derek was excited to give his daddy the card :)

We had a nice day at church. Afterward we went over to Dave's folks house & ate dinner, and had a huge water fight. It was great. Derek had so much fun running around throwing balloons at everyone. He screamed like a girl when he got shot with the water hose :). Dave's dad tried to sneak out of the fun, but the hose ended up in the house dousing him. It was a fun time.

As you can see here, Derek was fully tuckered out :) He fell asleep watching Toy Story (at 6:45!!) It's been a great day. We're glad to have celebrated with Dave... He is really a great dad, and is so wonderful with the kids. I couldn't ask for a better spouse :)

Girl's Camp

Girl's camp was this past week. I was able to go up on Thursday for our ward day. I had a great time! The girls did service (coloring pictures for kindergarteners and an Amazing Service Race), cleaning (bathrooms, yeah!), then our ward had some free time before dinner.

As you can see here - the free time was well used. Lots of the girls got pedicures, and many others did manicures.
Here, Jill gave me some rockin' orange nails - w/ glitter of course :)
Here, our two older girls who came up w/ me (Ausia & Brittney) are decorating their pillow cases.

I wish I had more pictures from the day. It was great to see the girls so pumped about being there (even 4 days in!). They were great helpers, and had such positive attitudes. I was able to be their for the testimony meeting which was amazing. These girls really are gaining testimonies, and it's awesome to see first hand. I'm really glad to have a calling in the young women. After how I was in YW, it's great to come back to be a leader of great girls :)