One Crazy Summer Part Deux

Well, we landed in St. George for a while and thought while we were here we would take advantage of some of the local things to do! The first thing we did was the Gunlock Rodeo!

We thought the kids might enjoy a rodeo and this one was as small town as they get. It was "Steak 'n Taters" night and I'll tell you that was some good steak and potatoes!

The bonus is that we ran into Chris's cousin and my friend Katie Fowler Smith with her family and sister Besty. It was a nice spontaneous reunion. We had a great night. Yee Haw!!

Mom, Charlotte, Sam, Sophie, Andy, Ellie & Dad enjoying the ro-day-o!

Charlotte love her shave ice (it was just ice)!

Miss Maggie Rose


Sam & Sophie went out on the field at "half-time" to try to catch chickens with the other kids. (Maggie was just too chicken.)

Jenny and I took pictures of each other taking a picture. I think it's a cute picture of taking a picture.;)

4th of July!

Charlotte & Uncle Andy

Matt, Sandy, Andy

The next day was the fourth, my brother Matt's favorite holiday. They took a ride on their Harleys and we all met up later at Matt's house for burgers and fireworks.

Maki & Charlotte

Me and my honey

We've had a lot of fun hanging out at Matt & Jenny's. They have the party house, we are always celebrating over there. And it's been so nice to be able to get to know Jenny better-love her! And of course her two awesome kids, Scout and Gage.

Matty and his honey, Jenny

Jenny beautiful sister, Margo and her son, Justice. Jenny's mom & dad were also there, but I didn't get any picts:(.

My girlies, Charlotte and Maggie

Sophie & Maggie, ready for trouble!


Later we lit fireworks in the street and everyone danced around them. Her is my dad at 80 doing his dance.:)


After our own fireworks we went into town and enjoyed the St. George firework display. We caught some grass on Bluff St. It was our third year in a row to be in St. George on the 4th.

The Wildlife Museum

Chris, Charlotte, Sophie, Maggie & Maki

We'd always been curious about the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum, so we thought we'd check it out. It is pretty cool. There is actually over 300 species of wildlife to view. They give you this little black wands that have all of the information on them to listen to and you can choose to listen or not and go at your own pace.

Sam & Papa

Sandy & Roy looking like they really are on safari.
They also have a cool bug and butterfly exhibit that Sophie really enjoyed.

Swimming!


Of course the kids favorite thing to do, especially in the heat is go swimming! We've been lucky to have had a few fun places to choose from: Green Valley, my cousin Meg's and my Aunt Mary's. The kids never tire of it.

Charlotte enjoying the pool lounger.

Pine Valley Hike

Eating lunch at Pine Valley Lodge

We hadn't been up to Pine Valley in years so we decided to take a little day trip. It's such a pretty little valley and it shaves a few degrees off the weather which is a bonus too.


Sophie, Sam, (again holding Charlotte in the Bjorn, so cute!), Maggie and Chris

Charlotte quickly figured out the Camelback and loved getting drinks.

Sophie is in heaven outdoors. She caught a bunch of creatures, as usual:).

Love this picture of Maggie in the Meadow.


After our little hike we took a tour of the historic Pine Valley Chapel that's still in use!
It was another fun family day.
And before we hear anything about how lucky we are to be able to do all these things together with Chris (though we totally know we are), just remember how long we had to live without him!

Brigham Young & Jacob Hamblin

We visited the homes of Brigham Young and Jacob Hamblin. Both fascinating in their own way. It's nice to sneak in a little church history that's visual and fun. The kids especially liked the Jacob Hamblin home. He was a cool dude.

Charlotte

Charlotte bathing in my mom's sink.

Little miss Charlotte is just growing up too fast! I want her to wait so I can enjoy it more but she just won't stop. She is such a little rascal and wants to be involved and is just so aware of everything going on around her. She is a total momma's girl and can't be away from her for too long or she kind of freaks out. It's hard for mom, but totally worth it.

At this point she was doing the G.I. "Jane" crawl and getting up on all fours just trying to figure out the crawling thing.


Her two bottom teeth budded! She was getting kinda fussy and had a little runny nose and I couldn't figure out why....duh. Poor punkin.

Signal Peak

Chris took Sophie and Sam on a hike up to Signal Peak which is basically the other side of Pine Valley through Leeds. They were hoping to get to the top but it proved to be a much longer hike than they thought it would be and it was pretty darn hot for the kids.

At the time they may not have appreciated it, but someday they will look back and be grateful for the time they got to spend with their dad and they did see some pretty cool views.

One Crazy Summer Part 1!

In June we packed up our home of 6 years. The new tenants were moving in and we were supposed to be out on Saturday the 6th and headed to Sedona, AZ for a family vacation. But it took us a lot longer than we thought it would, it was pretty rough going. We had to decide what we needed to put into storage, what we needed to pack for our trip and what we would need to bring with us for we didn't know how long!

The girls in their bed on the last night in their room.

Sam saying goodbye to his room.


We took the kids out of school a couple of weeks early for a family vacation and move. This is Maggie with her best friend at school, Caroline.

Sophie with Amanda Miller, BFFs!!


Chris celebrated his birthday on Sunday, June 7th on a crazy packing day. My friend Rachel was nice enough to make cupcakes so we could have a mini celebration.
Bye bye Nantucket Lane!

We finally got everything into the storage unit and the car packed to the hilts and creeped away on Monday just as the painters were coming to paint the house. It was hard to say goodbye to our home and our friends but we couldn't wait to see where our adventure was going to take us.

The girls on our drive.


It was so nice to land in Sedona for our annual Roberts' family vacation. We were exhausted and still in recovering from our move. It was just so nice to be able to relax and be with family. Chris's mom had made him a delicious birthday cake and we were able to have a nice little party for him.

The girls on our first hike.

Sedona is filled with family, beautiful hikes, fun creatures, good food, lively conversation, swimming, gorgeous accommodations, relaxation and lots of love. Who could ask for more?

Charlotte loved hiking with Chris.


Grandma brought fun crafts for the kids. And she and Sophie put together a cute puzzle.


We took our annual Sedona family pictures. Just love to see how the family has grown!


Mom and Dad, beautiful couple and roll models. Thank you for an awesome trip!


Charlotte loved entertaining the other kids with her "air swim".


Once again, Sophie used her skills to catch all kinds of creatures. Frogs for her and Sam and a dragonfly. I don't know how she does it.


We had a wonderful trip, it was hard to say goodbye. But we had plans to spend the next week in Albuquerque! Mom and Dad were heading to Houston for Mom's surgery so they were nice enough to let us crash at their house for a week.


They have such a lovely home and we loved having the space! Chris got to the job hunt and I got to work on some sewing projects. The kids had room to play and just chillax.


Charlotte was doing really well despite everything and eating good food, I'm very excited. If I can just get my DH to stop giving her junk! Every time I turn around he's giving her something that she shouldn't have. Ho hum.... I also cannot get that girl to sleep! She does not like to nap. She sleeps about 20 minutes at a time if I'm lucky and is up a lot all through the night. She just likes to be where the action is. I'm sure not having a place just for her and a better schedule doesn't help. She did hit a milestone while we were there. She started sitting up!

Dad feeding her Grandma's yummy chicken pot pie. She was diving for it!

My three little divas.


The best part about the trip was being able to hang out with KC, Kellie, Isaac and Eliza! Kellie is such a good hostess. She and KC took us on some great hikes, cooked awesome dinners for us and just made us feel so at home. And Kellie and Chris were able to keep things civil despite major political differences;).


We took a hike up the backside of the Sandias. It was so lush and green. Kellie wanted to make sure that Sam smiled:).


We also went to the Museum of Nature History and Science. Always a fun day. We left Charlotte's stroller in Sedona so Sam offered to carry her around in the Bjorn. How cute is that?


Looking at animal skull bones, fascinating!

The kids loved hanging out with their cousins.

Another fun part of the week was finding more creatures! Sophie found baby jack rabbits in the empty lot next door. They were so cute! We ended up learning a lot about them and took them to the animal rescue. Kellie came running in the house one day saying there was a snake outside! We had to see that! Chris ended up catching it and the kids had fun examining it.

Love my girls!


Next hike- Tent Rocks. It's a slot canyon and really interesting. It actually started to rain so it got a little scary for the little ones but we got to take cover in a cave, and we made it through.

Maggie and Eliza were hiking buddies in their rock seat.

Good little hikers and such cool topography.

After the hike it was time to cool off in the lake!

Thanks KC and Kellie, it was a fun week!


Chris had to be in Abu Dhabi for a week for an interview and to get all the rest of his stuff. He was flying out of Vegas, so we left Albuquerque and headed for St. George where the kids and I would stay while he was gone. We stayed the night in Flagstaff (we love that little town!) . The kids love being in hotels and the best part-free hotel breakfasts! It's always a bonus when they have Belgium waffles for Sam. And this was Charlotte's first time in a high chair!


We decided to take a little side trip to see the Grand Canyon! The kids had never been there and we hadn't seen it since we were kids. It is a pretty amazing sight.

And Charlotte started doing a new little "Charlotte-ism" during this trip. Here it is: