Girls Camp

This year we were lucky and had girls camp the end of July. No Snow YAY!

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures because we were having such a great time.

We had a large group of awesome girls, and leaders of course ;)

I had seen on a friends blog a cool hairdo she had done at her girls camp so we had to try it out. I think it looked pretty cool. What do you think?

Boating

Boating is for sure one of our favorite things to do in the summer.

Marshmallow Animals - Watermelon

We enjoyed eating a lot of watermelon this summer and yummy strawberry shortcake. Yum!

We also made marshmallow animals. It was so much fun and they turned out so cute we didn't want to eat them.

Remembering June

Just catching up on a few things from June I didn't want to miss blogging about:

BBQ

We had one our first BBQ's of the summer which was accompanied by rain. 

We sat on my parents patio and enjoyed watching the storm roll through. Once it was over there was a beautiful rainbow that filled the sky.

Puppies

Both sets of parents (well actually both mine and Aaron's youngest sisters) got puppies. Now no matter what house we go to there is a puppy for the kids to enjoy. No need for us to get one :)

Father's Day

We spent the afternoon outside at my parents house, it was a beautiful day.  I have some fantastic father figures in my life.

Scott's Birthday

My brother let us celebrate his birthday with him. Josh was so excited for Scott to open all of his presents and Rachael enjoyed cuddles with my mom. 

Youth Conference

I had the privilege to go with our youth on the Stake Pioneer Trek Youth Conference at This is The Place. It was a great experience and also a hard one. We had some great youth and awesome leaders of course ;) Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures as we were constantly busy but I will never forget it. For a couple days afterwards I was so sore from pulling the handcart up and down that steep mountain. The women's pull just about killed me. It was such a different experience this time now being a wife and mother as it was when I was a youth. Both times were definitely life changing experiences. 

Swimming

We love swimming and Josh took two sessions of swimming lessons this year. 

Fictional Characters

Some of my favorite fictional movie characters (in no particular order)

As my mother-in-law would say these guys are 'rather dishy' but it's their characters that I enjoy the most. I shouldn't have to explain if you ladies have watched these shows at all:

Now some similarities:

Two of them are from a completely different era.

Two of them are English (all four of them are English born in real life)

They are all very respectful and quite romantic
More concerned about the welfare of their loved ones
The list could go on and on

Now it wouldn't be any question as to why I like these characters because I have my own favorite that incorporated qualities from all four of the above.


AARON

No wonder I first fell in love... He's English :) Now a citizen but true English at heart.

He carries that 'old fashioned' tradition but is balanced by the modern day.  He is a romantic as well. 

My true love forever and always! Love you honey!

Twilight Saga

I am not a reader, never have been and so I swore I was never going to read these books. Just looking at them was enough to pass them up. Those books are HUGE. Everyone around me was constantly talking about how wonderful they were and I struggled to understand how a book could be so exciting.

Well I got a call one day from my aunt who invited me to go see the premier of Eclipse. She had one extra ticket and all my teenage cousins and my sister were going. I thought it would be so much fun to go with them so I agreed. Knowing that there were two movies before this one I knew I had to watch them so I knew what was going on (or at least have an idea). Well that did it for me. Even though the first movie was a serious under budget film I still really enjoyed it. The second was a bit of a downer for the most part but I loved it even more. Then Eclipse… I’ve already seen it three times. I LOVE it! I went to the premier, Aaron went to see it with me and then Nichole was dying to see it and I offered to go with her.
I really enjoyed the music in this one as well, especially the ending song (as why it’s on my blog)!

It was after I had seen the movies I was asking my sister 100 questions. I think this is one reason I have a hard time reading because I need answers to questions I have. I like to know details. So that’s when I decided I should try reading the books. Well that did it for sure. I read all four books (2500 pages or so) in two weeks. Crazy I know but I loved them! New Moon was probably my least favorite but I helped to explain things. My favorite for sure was Breaking Dawn. I loved it and can’t wait for the movies. The second half of the book is awesome so the last movie better be incredible!

So here I am – and I said I never would be…   A TWILIGHT FAN!

Oh and I know some of you may ask… I am….. TEAM EDWARD all the way!

What a Day

After spending most the week at girls camp I was so excited to see my family again. Yesterday we got back in the early afternoon and the rest of the day I spent with my kids. We had a blast outside and I just can't believe how hilarious Rachael is with the water. She hates the bath but loves the shower and the hose. Explain that one...

Today we spend most the day at Lagoon. We had such a blast there.

There was this building at Lagoon called Rock Chapel that was most fascinating to me. This building was originally located in Coalville and was built in 1863. It was used as a fort against Indians, a courthouse, jail, and schoolhouse until 1869. That year Brigham Young dedicated it as and LDS church. Inside it has so many neat things. We spent some time going through all the things on the walls and marveling at it's beauty.

Right before we left the park, Aaron won both the kids a cute stuffed animal by shooting a certain number of 3 pointers. We were so proud of him and the kids were so excited to pick out the prizes.

We decided to leave at just the right time as some dark clouds were rolling in. As we got home and ate dinner a serious storm came in. Unfortunately I had opened the windows in my room and in just a matter of minutes my bathroom floor was soaked. I couldn't believe how hard the rain and hail came down and the thunder shook our house a few times. Creepy!

Once the storm had passed Aaron took the kids out to sort out the damage from garbage cans tipping over and things flying away. They ended up having way too much fun out there splashing in puddles and playing with wet chalk. They were wrestling on the trampoline and as I went out to take some photos this is what I captured. 

LOVE IT!

Today was a wonderful day!

Gardening

I love gardening and as strange as this may sound pulling weeds is somewhat therapeutic for me. Now i'm not talking about the weeds as seen in the picture below, those are a nightmare. I am talking about the small (easy to pull out) ones that pop up in my flower beds. I am not saying I like weeds, not in any way, but when I do get a moment outside to enjoy the weather and pull out those stragglers it feels nice. On the other hand I can't stand it when they get out of control and then it becomes a project rather than a little chore.
On another not I cannot stand the other things that come with gardening. Such as grasshoppers snakes and spiders.
Too many times I will be in deep thought gardening when one of those jumping hoppers scares the life out of me. Ahhhh I hate things making me jump. But then I think those creepy crawlers are the worst. The spider in the picture is called a Daring Jumping Spider. That certain picture is not one I took but is of a creature I came in contact with. It was not funny. The thing looks huge but is really only the size of a penny but I about died. As I came within an inch of that I then cut my gardening to an end. I was not going into that things territory. 
That snake was not far from my front door. A nice neighbor kid took it off for me so I didn't have to deal with it.

Onto to better things:


STRAWBERRIES!!!
My strawberry plants did amazingly well this year. I got bowls and bowls off my plants and the kids loved picking them. I ended up making strawberry jam and taught Josh how to do it. He was so helpful and had a blast helping me with every step. Now he enjoys eating the jam we made. 

PEAS!!!
Back on March 24th I planted my first peas. Unfortunately I didn't get my garden area ready in time so I had to settle for one item this year. I am dying to get a large garden going with numerous vegetables but that will have to wait until next year. So Josh helped me plan these peas and we patiently waited for 3 months to get the return. I watched in excitement as the plants began to grow and the little white flowers bloomed. Then it seemed as if the peas just popped out of no where. I had planted two different types and the sugar snap peas are my favorite.

FLOWERS!!!
I also loved watching my purple iris' bloom and my red poppies.

Battle Creek Waterfalls

Saturday afternoon we had a delicious BBQ at our house. Grilled Bruschetta Chicken. YUM!

Once we were stuffed to the rim we headed out to hike up to the Battle Creek Waterfall.

I was beautiful up there and so peaceful. There were huge dragonflies, beautiful yellow canaries, hummingbirds and bumble bees everywhere. 

Unfortunately half of us turned around after seeing the first small falls while the others continued on a short distance to the large 40 ft falls. I guess we will have to go hike it again.

It's a great short hike for young kids. Not hard and not a long distance. 

We will definitely be going again. Rachael is an outdoorsy girl like me and was in her element being there. She never complained once :)

LAGOON

Back on May 31st we went to Lagoon for Aaron's work party.

Mum, Beth and Jennica joined us for a beautiful day. 

It wasn't too hot or too cold, just right for a day at lagoon.

60 Days of Summer Fun

I saw this cute idea on another blog and decide to create my own.

We've already managed to do a number of the items listed and can't wait to do more. It's a great way to get excited about this summer and it's fun for the kids to have some things to look forward to.

I printed a 12x18 size that is hanging on my fridge. 

Hawaii - Day 6

Thursday May 27th,2010

Waking up to our last day in Hawaii was a little saddening but we didn't waist any time. We went straight to Pearl Harbor and spent a few hours there. It was a new experience being in a place where great tragedy happened. I stood there imagining the horror that happened there back in December 1942.

My great grandfather was in Pearl Harbor just before the tragedy but he was sent home to California for Christmas right before it happened. My grandma (his daughter) was in grade school when this happened.

The rest of the day me and Aaron drove to Kailua beach. Rate the #1 beach in the USA and rightly so. The place was paradise. We didn't have much time there and I wish we would have spent a day there.
We headed back to Waikiki where we were hoping to para-sail but ran out of time. Bummer.

Before heading to the airport we watched the sunset one last time from the beach at our resort. It was sad.

We had such a great time in Oahu and can't wait for the day we can go back. There were so many things we missed out on doing. We'll just have to go back to do them all... :)

Hawaii - Day 5

Wednesday May 26, 2010

Today was the big day. We had purchased tickets to go on a snorkeling adventure with turtles, dolphins and other fish. I was so giddy with excitement.
We woke up at 5:30am to get ourselves together and be down at the marina for 6:15. The walk was only 5 minutes from the resort. We had a light breakfast and then had a briefing from the captain. We were then soon on our way.

On our way out to our first stop we saw a small pod of spinner dolphins. It was unreal seeing these wild dolphins in this crystal clear water.

Our first stop we swam with these HUGE sea turtles. No kidding they were huge and came so close. We were given some fish food and whenever I put some into the water I would be engulfed by fish. It was amazing.

Our second stop was near Electric Beach where we had been the day before. There was a place of some serious tropical fish and even a shark.

Our last stop was an attempt to swim with the wild spinner dolphins. The pod was a lot smaller than normal and very young. They easily got scared and swam away quickly but I did get into the water quick enough to see them dive and swim away. The rest of the trip we watched them from the boat. They were very playful and put on a show for us.

Back to the marina we then had lunch. After that we all took a nice long needed nap.

Then off to Waikiki for the evening. Stuck in traffic for a long time we missed the sunset :( But we had a romantic dinner at Dukes right on Waikiki beach. Romantic + Beautiful is a perfect way to spend our last night.

Hawaii - Day 4

Tuesday May 25, 2010

This morning we headed straight out to the bay where we relaxed and I had my very first experience swimming in the ocean. Yep, very first! I had seen the ocean several times but never actually swam in it. I then went straight into my first snorkeling experience. AWESOME! I loved it and couldn't believe how many fish (including seriously large ones) were swimming right under me. So cool!

We had so much fun there we quickly got a bite to eat and then drove a short distance to Electric Beach. There I learned a bit about the large crashing waves and strong current. The bay at our resort is protected so there aren't larges waves coming in. Here there was no protection. I got a little carried away snorkeling I wasn't paying attention to how far out I had gone. I really wasn't far from the shore but I started freaking out when I tried swimming for the shore and couldn't. I was kicking as hard as I could and was only being pulled backwards. I soon remembered to swim diagonally towards the shore and soon enough I was back. Whew! :)

All dressed up we then headed up to the PCC again for our Luau first stopping off at the Laie Temple. This time we drove our awesome KIA. HA. Unfortunately the temple has been closed but we still got to admire it's outward beauty and we even met Elder Mark Eubank there. He was awesome and gave us a little tour and taught us some cool things about the temple, BYU Hawaii and the PCC.

Our Luau at the PCC was perfect. Food was delicious and the entertainment exciting. We even got these enormous delicious smoothies that came in hollowed out pineapples. So cool!
Afterwards we went to see the show 'HA'. Call me emotional but it moved me. I loved it!

Hawaii - Day 3

Monday May 24, 2010

Today we headed up to the North Shore in the convertible :)
It took a lot longer to get up there than we thought it would but enjoyed the beautiful drive.

We ate lunch at the Grass Skirt Grill (as seen on Rachel Ray's show). The food was delicious!

There were some stands nearby with loads of souvenirs so we picked up a few things to take home. The guy was very friendly and asked us all sorts of questions and then asked if we were Mormons. He cracked a few jokes and then gave me some free jewelry.

We got to the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) just in time to see the island boat parade. We wandered around, watched the guys learn some dances :) and it down poured on us just before we got a picture with the Fiji tribe. So fun!

On our way back we stopped by the famous Matsumotos to get some shaved ice. They were indescribably delicious. Unlike any snow-cone I've ever had!

We stopped off at sunset beach where we wrote in the sand and took some pictures and then made our way back to the resort. The guys snorkeled in the bay while me and Tawny admired the sunset. The sun sets around 7 pm so once it was down we got ourselves cleaned up and ate dinner at Chucks. A 'posh' restaurant on the resort overlooking the ocean. I decided to be daring and tried king crab legs, mahi-mahi, and scallops for the first time. We had a great time dining and laughing with our good friends.