New Do

Miranda and I couldn't wait for our hair appointment since it had been quite a while since we had visited the beauty shoppe (I know some of you noticed....don't lie)
Anyway... Miranda didn't want too much taken off and as usual, Debbie did a fabulous job! I just had to snap a few pics (not of me because I was in foil and it wouldn't have been a pretty sight)

Sorry they are a little blurred there was a big glare coming from the window through the mirror.

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

I thought this was such a beautiful and encouraging message from Elder Holland.
I know all mothers can use a lift and small pat on the back to let us know we are doing just fine.
Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

A Mad Birthday Celebration!

I can't believe Miranda is 15! She really wanted to have a big party this year and she wanted to plan it all by herself. She came up with the Invitations, theme, decor, food and guest list...(I just helped carry them out)
The girls had a fantabulous time!
Enjoy the slideshow of the Mad Celebration!!!

Last Minute Fun

Last week Ryan informed me that he had reserved a RV spot at Lake Powell and we were going to go with the Websters to spend the weekend.

Yes I was willing, yes I was excited, yes I was a tad stressed and yes I had to reschedule my hair appointment that I'd been waiting for since April, BUT....did I mention I was willing?!

We had to cut our Cedar trip a little short and came home Tuesday afternoon. I grocery shopped, did laundry, went to the office, cleaned house and packed the trailer and was ready to go by Wednesday evening...whew!

We arrived at Lake Powell around midnight and boy did we start out with an adventure! Ryan tried to remember the road that Mark told him to turn on in order to find the RV park and unfortunately he took the wrong road and we ended up stuck, hub cap deep, in the softest sand ever! We had to wake Mark to help us escape the red sand of doom... He hooked onto the back of our trailer and began to pull while Ryan drove in reverse. It moved!!!

Parker walked along side the trailer helping guide Ryan the entire way...I swear it was at least a mile! (ok, maybe not, but it was quite a way)

Finally we made it to camp and climed in bed around 2am. Good times :)

The next morning we packed lunches and headed out on Mark's boat for a day on the beach. We found a great spot and unloaded extra kids and supplies and let the kids explore for a bit. It was a beautiful beach except for the "spider tree" Seriously, this tree is full of webs and spiders... all the dark spots hanging off the leaves and giant icky spiders... yes... we kept our distance! We inflated a "relaxation station" for the smaller kids to hang out on by the beach......while the older kids got to go thrill riding on tubes behind the boat!
They could have gone all afternoon! After a little lunch break, Ryan and I decided to try our hand at tubin'So who do you think fell off?......Let's just say... I didn't even get my hair wet...he he he
In fact.. I went out again against a couple of the kids... Even with cheating (notice Miranda trying to push me off below) I hung on and never fell off! Exhausted and a lot sunburned we headed back to the trailer for a good dinner and rest.
Friday we took a long boat ride to see Rainbow Arch. It was so majestic and beautiful... well worth the short, but hot hike!

After the hike we did a little more boat riding, lunch, ice cream treat and back to trailer where we hung out and enjoyed the food and company again!
On Saturday, we took a quick ride out on the lake to do a little knee boarding. I forgot my camera that day so Heidi took a couple shots for me. (I will get her to email me the pics then add them later). We loaded up the trailer and headed home.

Yes, it was a lot of work getting ready, yes I complained once or twice, yes I got crazy sunburned but YES we had a blast!

Happy USA Day!

This year we stayed true to tradition and went to Cedar City for the fun 4th of July festivities...(except this year they were on Monday the 5th)
We left after church on Sunday and headed to Cedar then early the next morning we headed to the parade. The Cedar Parade has many fond memories for our family. Starting when the kids were babies we would bring them to see the parade and go to the park for the fun activities. Then once the kids were old enough, they would decorate their bikes and ride in the parade with all the other kids. They looked forward to it and always had so much fun.

Now that the kids are older, they are content to just watch and hang out with us on the sidelines. We always park a truck to save our spot and set out chairs. This year Sophie was able to come along with us to the festivities...she was so excited (and hot)I think Sophie got her hair from Miranda...he heThe parade was full of the usual floats, bands, dance teams and fire trucks...so nothing really new there, but hey... it's tradition to go right?

The weather was great and the company was Perfect! We decided to skip the activities at the park this year. The kids don't seem to find "fishing" for a plastic toy entertaining anymore (strange) So instead we just enjoyed relaxing under the shade of the tree in the front of the house. We had Pizza Factory for lunch, Snow Cones for treats, and even got in a bit of shopping before having a family BBQ and enjoying the Fireworks.
It was a fun, relaxing 4th (or 5th) Celebration.

A Very Merry Birthday...to me!

This year for my birthday I joined 6 teenage girls and my good friend Nicki for a whirlwind trip to Disneyland! We left Friday afternoon and arrived in California just in time to see the 10 pm showing of Eclipse. Then we all piled into one hotel room for a giant slumber party...and believe me we did make the girls slumber because bright and early the next morning (7:30am) we were in Disneyland!

I was super nervous that it would be crazy crowded because it was 4th of July weekend, but it was sooo perfect! No crowds, 75 degree weather and fabulous company! We were able to get in all the rides we wanted to do at least once and some even twice before we left at 6pm.... unbelieveable

I share a birthday with Nicki's oldest daughter Cassi so we picked up Birthday pins and wore them all day. I've never had so many birthday wishes...so fun!

Lots of laughs, joking and a little screaming by everyone! I'm definitely thinking about another girls trip to Disneyland for my birthday next year!

Enjoy a little slide show of our fun trip!

It's a Long Story...

... but I will try to make it short and sweet!

When Miranda went on the 4th year hike the first of the month, she came back missing a couple items... her jacket, her new digital camera, and her glasses. She swore she had them with her and remembered seeing them in the car, but they were missing none the less.

Flash forward 3 weeks.

When we came home from Disneyland her eye started bugging her and her right eye was red and itchy. Since she is leaving for Girls Camp soon and she is due for her annual eye exam anyway, I scheduled an appointment to get it checked out.

The Doctor informed that she had an ulcer on her eye and she would need antibiotics and not to wear her contacts for the next week. Hummm... that's going to be tricky because remember..she lost her glasses on the hike.

So we needed new glasses ASAP!!!

We went to a place that we can get glasses in 1hour and started the hunt.

She narrowed it down to 3 -4 then 2 that were exactly the same frame just different colors.

Black & White and the other one Red

She really wanted the red ones, but chose the black since it was more versitile and would go with more things. We went shopping while we waited the hour and I could tell Miranda was having second thoughts about her decision (humm, I wonder where she gets that from)

So when we went back to pick them up we had them switch the lenses into the red frames

Miranda loves her new glasses and they just show off her fun bright personality!

And after following Dr's orders (even during girls camp) the ulcer is all gone.

(Just an update.... we found Miranda's old glasses a few days ago so now she has a back up to her back up)