Pioneer Day

I didn't think that the 24th of July would really be celebrated by our family since we were not in Utah anymore. Needless to say I was very wrong. Our Primary was able to walk in a parade that Saturday morning put on by three stakes combined. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up being very well attended and the the girls had a great time being part of a parade.

The theme for our ward was trains. I wished I would have taken a few pictures of some of the fantastic cardboard trains made by many of our ward members. They were sooo cute. When I mentioned making trains or decorating scooters the girls all opted for the scooters which turned out great too.

The ward provided these cute train whistles, hats, and scarfs. With Micah and I pulling Aliza in her wagon we were given some too. The funny thing is that I put the hat on thinking it would just be for a few minutes in the parade. But after sweating for an hour in it I was stuck with really bad hat hair. I felt really silly wearing it for the rest of the afternoon, but I think it was my best option.

After the parade they had a lot of fun pioneer food, games and crafts for the kids. We walked around making pioneer yo yo's, walked on ice to see what it was like for the pioneers, cut logs, and lots more. Even Aliza wanted to participate.

I guess it is a tradition that the fire department sprays the whole park with water. The kids were going crazy and of course were drenched within seconds. Where we were sitting (the adults) we had a nice sprinkle but after quite a few minutes we even felt soaked. The water just kept coming and coming. It did feel good with it being such a hot day. Even the missionaries in the area were all getting soaked.

When we moved to Vegas there was a friend in our old ward who had lived here for some time with her kids. Bethany Cory was so kind to make a whole list of fun things for us to do in Vegas. She gave me names of doctors, fun things to do and instructed me on all the do's and don'ts with the kids. I have been so grateful for her taking the time to do that for us and have used the list often. As I was walking back from one of the games there she was. She was in Vegas visiting with some of their family because they were moving. It was so fun to see a familiar face from "home."

Silly Lizzie loved being part of all the festivities.

We stood in line for a long time for face painting. This just seemed so silly considering we were planning to go swimming right when we got home. But, we did it anyway.

We had such a great day and were so grateful to have such fun things to do to celebrate Pioneer Day.

Great American Challenge

We were able to attend Abbie's Great American Challenge award ceremony last Friday. They have been working all school year to accomplish the goals set for this challenge. Below is a picture of the whole group. They combine two 3rd grade classes for the award assembly. They sang a few songs, took turns telling about each state and it's capitol, and of course awarded the students either a bronze, silver, or gold medal according to their accomplishments. This picture is so funny because Abbie is the only one turned talking to her friend above her--so typical of Abbie's personality.

Below is Abbie receiving her well deserved gold medal. They had to memorize all states and capitals, memorize and write the Pledge of Allegiance and say or sing the Star Spangled Banner. We are so proud of her for passing off all three.

This is Abbie's fantastic teacher Mrs. Striblen. We feel so blessed to have had such great teachers for each of our girls this year.

Friends are so important to Abbie. Here are a few of her faves.

This is a clip of Abbie's part for the program. She talked about Oklahoma and Ohio. I thought grandmas and grandpas may want to see what they missed.

Our Weekend

This past weekend has been a long one. After living in this house for eight months we are finally getting the new carpet it so desperately needed. If fact we had plans of re-carpeting even before we moved in because it needed it so badly, but the timing just didn't work out. We have finally painted every room, bathroom, closet and hall. Yeah! We will finally feel like we can kick off our shoes and feel right at home.

While Micah and I moved every piece of furniture and pulled up all the old carpet and pad the girls got a new bedroom for the weekend (in the family room). They thought it was great, but mom and dad are pulling their hair out trying to get everything ready for Monday morning. They have watched way too much TV this weekend as Micah and I have been slaving away upstairs. They also thought this was great considering that during a normal week they really don't watch much TV.

This is the way our house looks in every room downstairs. It feels like we have boxed up and moved all over again. The next week will be interesting putting everything back together again. There is a guest bedroom in there somewhere.

This is what happens when your doing construction work all weekend. I don't even dare open the overflowing laundry chute. Just add it to my list of things to do this week. On the bright side the carpet is scheduled for tomorrow. YEAH!

Bear Lake 2010

Our annual trip to Bear Lake is something we look forward to all year. Now living in Vegas we ended up making this trip a nine day adventure to break up the long drive. First we went camping (last post), then spent a few fun days with my parents seeing Toy Story 3 and eating lots of yummy food. Then we were off to Bear Lake.

Our first night at Bear Lake we decided it would be fun to try the Pickle Ville Playhouse. We have driven past it for so many years, but have never actually been there. Micah looks thrilled waiting for the play. It turned out to be such a fun experience. I think all of us really enjoyed it. The girls are still talking about how fun it was to this day.

This is Avery with her cousin Taylor. I think that phone was attached to her ear most of the trip (boyfriend he he).

During intermission Abbie and Avery couldn't pass up eating a giant pickle at the Pickleville. Aliza settled on a snow cone which they did have a pickle flavoring for. Yuck!

Our days at the beach this year were fewer due to the cold weather. In fact I didn't even get very many pictures this year simply because we were not out playing a lot. We still managed to have a great time without really getting in the water. Abbie made this mermaid sand sculpture with a little help from her uncle Mark.

Aliza had a great time with her cousins taking turns getting buried in this sand pile.

Amidst all the fun activities planned we were able to celebrate a late birthday for Avery with Micah's side of the family while there. She had fun blowing out the candles and opening her gifts.

Avery was in heaven with this beautiful night gown she had fallen in love with the day before at a little shop in Garden City. What a spoiled little girl.

We held our annual talent show which turned out to be a great success. Abbie loves being the announcer and takes her job very seriously. She starts worrying about the talent show right after Christmas. We had many great acts from comedian's to star wars sword fighting. It is always very entertaining.

The wonderful women of the family did their annual talent show dance. We always look silly, but get a good laugh out of choreographing it. Lots of giggles are always involved.

After a treasure hunt, miniature golf, piniata, and swimming at the beach and pools we had a great time being together with our family. Considering we don't see them as often anymore it was so great to spend time with them.

We ended our trip with making t-shirts. We had such a great time, and can't wait until next year.

Camping with the Bass family

When Micah and I were first married we bought a small little town home in West Jordan Utah. As Newlyweds we were anxious to meet friends in our new ward together. The second week of church in our new ward there was a couple sitting not to far from us in Sunday School who looked about our age. I leaned over to Micah and said "I am going to meet her today." I went right over and introduced myself to Lana Bass and we have been the greatest friends ever since. In fact she is one of those friends that when you see them you can just chat and chat for hours on end (in fact we did almost do an all nighter one night without even realizing it). After all these years we treasure those great friends we met in our first ward together, and will never forget all the fun memories. When the Bass family extended an invitation to meet them at Palisades by Manti we did everything we could to be there. In fact we were already headed to Utah for our annual trip to Bear Lake so Palisades was a perfect stop on our way. We were able to spend two nights and three days with our dear friends.

It wouldn't be camping without roasting hot dogs and making smores!

We did a lot of camping with the Bass family the first few years of our marriage. In fact the last time we camped together I was just barely pregnant with Abbie (crazy). We even camped at Palisades together which had to of been over 10 years ago. Now we each have three girls who had such a great time playing together.

Lizzie enjoying some time cooking with her dad. It's so nice that our kids are getting to the stage that camping is becoming fun again. For awhile it was just too much work with such young babies. They are at the perfect ages to head out camping more often.

The beach was rocky rather than sand, but the kids still had a blast. In fact we spent one whole day just sitting at the beach enjoying the company while the kids played and played.

There were a lot of cute little fish that the girls enjoyed catching. The funniest was when they used a sand bucket to hold one of these cute fish and before realizing it Aliza had filled the bucket up with rocks. Poor fish must have had a huge headache if he did survive. Oops.

They were so tiny and cute.

The water was perfect for the kids to play in. Not far from the beach there was a floating dock that they would swim to and jump off--keeping their life jackets on at all times of course.

How we ended up with so many cute girls I don't know. They had such a great time together.

The Bass's were even kind enough to share their four wheelers with us. Abbie was old enough to drive this little one on her own. She, of course, had a blast.

Unfortunately, I came home with absolutely no pictures of the adults on this camping trip. That means that we will just have to do it again sometime. hehehe Thank heavens for life long fantastic friends. I sure wish we could see more of you more often.