The 4th in St. George

The final step in our journey was St. George! We met up with my brothers and my parents and had a fun couple of days swimming and celebrating the 4th.

We stayed at the Courtyard and they had an awesome pool with rock that you could climb and jump in off of. The kids had a ball.

Maggie has become a little fish and just loves to be in the water. She is also the most daring of our three which is kind of a scary combination. But hey, she's just like her dad:).

Happy 4th!! We had a yummy enchilada dinner that Maki made at my brother Matt's house and then we went outside for fireworks!! We went to an actual fireworks stand and got a bunch of fireworks. The kids have not ever had fireworks since we can't really have them in Cali.


Of course they loved the sparklers after the initial adjustment of you won't get hurt.

Maki and Maggie enjoying the show.

Sam just thought the whole firework action was so cool and was our official lighter. He wants fireworks every night.

Mags doing a perfect cannonball!

My brother Andy co-owns the Vic Braden Tennis College in Green Valley so he got us all in to the pools there. They have a diving board and everyone took turns doing crazy and not so crazy things off the board.

Sophie doing a dive.


Matt doing a jackknife thing. It was so entertaining...Matt was there with his girlfriend, Jenny and her brother Derek and their cousin Ian. They were doing some wild jumps and dives. I wish I had more pics, they were awesome.

Some mostly just walked off of it, but here is a rare flip.

What an exhausting but wonderful trip, when do we get to take off again?

Hanging out in Denver

We got to Denver Sunday night and stayed the week while Chris was at work. I love living in hotels! It's so nice to have a kitchen and have the room cleaned and just nice to have a change. We've come to like Denver and found some fun places to go.

We love those shows like "Unwrapped" and "How It's Made" so we thought it would be fun to go to a real candy factory where they have tours. It's called Hammond's Candy Factory where they mostly made candy canes and suckers in all different flavors.

The girls on the tour. We got to see how they make candy canes and where they package them up to ship them off. We also got samples of freshly made lemon drops that were still warm-mmmm good.

No tour is complete without going to the factory store. How to decide? Actually it smelled so sweet that it kind of made Sam and I a little sick and he had to go outside for some fresh air:). But it was a fun experience.

After sweets we headed for the Downtown Aquarium. It was one of the coolest aquariums we had ever been to. Imagine in Denver! It's the perfect size and really well put together. The kids had a ball.


Sam getting watched in the tank.


Maggie found some interesting fish.

Sam is a deep sea diver!

Sophie found a bud.

The girl's favorite part. Petting the Manta Rays.

And Sam was stoked that you could climb a coconut tree.

Maggie was fascinated by the octopus.

Taking a break with Dippin' Dots.

The rest of our days in Denver were spent swimming, shopping, having lunch with Dad, and seeing movies. That's the life right? We saw Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda and Kit Kitteridge. We actually liked Kung Fu the best!

On the Road...

Chris flew home on Thursday for his hand surgery (everything went well) and then flew back to Phoenix on Friday. The kids and I checked out of Sedona that morning and then picked him up at the airport. We decided to spend the night in Scottsdale. We did a little shopping and of course, swimming! ( It's just a little hot there in the summer.)

We left Scottsdale Saturday bound for Albuquerque en route to Denver. We got to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's beautiful home and go to church with them the next morning. Then we got a yummy Sunday dinner with them and Kellie and KC. Wish we could have stayed longer, but Chris had to be to work on Monday.


Grandma with her grandsons, Isaac and Sam.

Mags, dad and Grandpa enjoying popsicles.

Sedona '08

The day after school got out we were off on a two week vacation-whooo hooo!! It started with a Roberts reunion in Sedona, AZ courtesy of Grandma & Grandpa (thank you!). Sedona is one of our favorite places. We would get a second home there if we could (I guess you need a first home first?:). It was a wonderful, relaxing time and fun too!

The days were spent on a major hike and then back to the condo for a much deserved swim! Since I was pregnant and sicky, Chris let me sit out the hikes and I got to relax and have alone time. A rarity since he's gone during the week. It was so nice, I even went and had a pedicure. Now that's a vacation for me:).

The kids favortie part is cousin time. Here hiking with Isaac and Cambria.


Grandma and Grandpa did an awesome FHE on ancestors and gave each of us family history notebooks. And reminded their grandchildren that they are GRAND children with these cute shirts! They say I am a Grand Child.


Slide rock is always a favorite. There is a nature-made water slide and great cliff diving action. Our kids spent a typical day there for each of them.

Sophie the nature girl spent the day catching fish and tadpoles.

Sam was hesitant about trying anything and just hung out most of the day. Until he finally saw that it might be fun and decided to try things out. Then he just LOVED it and didn't want to leave.


Maggie was up for it all and wanted to jump in and try everything! The girl just wants to have fun.


Chris as usual did things he really should not do. But is that going to stop him- no! Here is a huge jump a day before he had to have surgery on his hand for a mountain biking accident. Oi vey.

Maggie chillin' with the girls....Eliza, Maya and Aryn.
It was a great trip and so nice to be with everybody, we miss you!! Love you!!!

Dance Recitals

The last week of school also included 3 dance rehearsals and 3 dance recitals! It was a bit of a stressful week, but it all came out okay and the girls were beautiful!

The first night was Maggie's ballet performance.

Maggie striking poses.

Sophie and Lainey Westfall

The next night was Sophie's first performance and a tap dance to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". The crowd loved it.

The last night was Sophie's ballet performance.

Sophie and her friends, Sara Jayne Affleck, Chloe Posner, Amanda Miller, and Lainey Westfall.

Last Day of School

The last day of school was a crazy one! First stop to Maggie's preschool graduation. This is Mags with her favorite teacher helper, Mrs. Nixon. She had even named a stuffed animal after her.

Next stop, the second grade had field day! I was out taking pics of Sophie and her friends on a very hot day.


This was Sophie's best friend this year, Maddi.

And Sophie's awesome teacher, Mrs. Laroche. It was a great year.


Last stop, Sam had a 5th grade "advancement ceremony". They all got an elementary school advancement certificate into middle school. Man, that's a hard one for me.

Sam's fantastic teacher, Mrs. McManigal.