Monday, October 8, 2012

Provo 2012 Part 1

While we were in St. George Mike took Carson and Jack on a vacation within our vacation.  They flew out to New York City to see Monster Jam.  It was a dream come true for Carson, Jack & Mike.  They had a blast together and now I have to hear about Monster Jam 24/7.  I now have a bunch of red-necked truck lovers on my hands.  

After 2 weeks in St. George we were ready for the next leg of our U.S. adventure!  My dad (g-pa) went all the way to Provo to get us a good deal on a rental car and drove it back from St. George for us, where we quickly jumped in and drove it back to Provo.  It was an orange minivan.  It was hilarious because I never lost the car in the Target parking lot.

We were so fortunate to stay in the home of some old friends of ours, the Oylers.  They were in Beijing for the summer so their house was open.  That was an awesome set-up because we were in and out of Provo all the time so we didn't have to check-in and out of hotels, etc.  I'm so grateful for a large network of generous friends.  The Stevens and Freedmans fams completely take us in when we're in Provo.

The Oylers had a beautiful yard so we tried to spend the evenings outside on the porch as much as possible.  The kids went through a lot of popsicles and ice cream sandwiches in the evenings.  It was pretty dreamy for me.  Wish I'd taken some photos. 

While in Provo Carson attended BYU football camp and baseball camp, Sammy BYU basketball camp and Bailey BYU soccer camp: 


Everyday when I picked up Carson from football camp he had two popsicles in his hand: one for himself and one for Jack.  Glad I got a photo because Carson is a great big brother to Jack!

 This is one of my very favorite photos from summer break.  When I picked up Sammy from her last
day of basketball camp I forced her to pose for a photo.  I didn't notice Sky in the back until later.  Look at little sister looking up to big sister.  I love it!
Best BYU camp supporter right here!
Sammy went to her first ever EFY and was roommates with her cousin Jessica.  They attended EFY University of Utah.  These are the types of boys they hung out with...not to worry 'cuz they are from Bountiful! (Family joke!)

The other family who is so good to us in the summer is the Ozz & Lindsey Daynes fam.  They live in Farmington so we see a lot of them in the summer when we stay in Utah.  This summer we spent an entire day with them at LAGOON:  I think it was the happiest I've seen Jack since the last time he went to Legoland.

Scotty & Drew


Bailey with Kate & Drew.

Carson, Becky, Skylar, Jack & Scotty.

Scotty & Jack.


Don't mess with these tough dudes!

Really fun day with the cousins.

Even Bailey had fun without any other tweenies there!

Shaved ice on a hot, summers day is so good in Utah!

These guys were hilarious!  They went on the MouseTrap ride 90 times in a row.
 
The next day we played at the local pool in Farmington with the cousins.  What an awesome group of kids!







                          Went on a fun little hike in Pleasant Grove with our friends the Stevens.

Sky enjoyed the ice cream at The Purple Turtle afterwards.
                                         While in Provo we went to the 4th of July parade:

It was HOT!

Mike is not a fan of parades.  He wouldn't have liked this one.
 



Sunday, October 7, 2012

June in St. George

Visiting my parents includes a lot of swimming and a lot of golf.  June in St. George is warm so the kids spend a lot of time in the fun pools where G-ma & G-pa live.


Glad that Bailey & Sammy are not too old to goof around in the pool!


Skylar loves to swim.




This is the clubhouse at Entrada; where my parents live and play golf.
Does it look familiar?  (Hint:  It was in a Disney Movie)


 Grandpa thought the kids should all take a golf lesson.  Here they are working on their skills:
                        Jack started the lesson but after about 30 minutes he was ready to bail.
                  Jack loves to play golf but riding in the golf cart with grandpa is even more fun.

Jack was a pro at cleaning the sand traps.

He is always a pro at tantrums.

I see a lot of golf in this kids' future.

This kid likes the outfits.

This girl is trying to please the grandparents!

 Another favorite thing to do in St. George is to see shows at Tuacahn.  This summer we saw two great shows:  Aladdin and Hair Spray.  Both shows were awesome.


                                                      Aladdin and his 3 buddies:



I love this photo of my kids with Aladdin, Jasmine & Genie!

St. George, UTAH hike to the Petroglyphs

Summer started out in St. George this year.  We had layovers in Tokyo, L.A., flew to Las Vegas, then  picked up our rental car and drove to St. George.  This whole process took a mere 28 hours or so. We were exhausted when we arrived but soon recovered and had a blast exploring the beauty of the desert!

One of our favorite activities this summer was this fun hike.  Grandma & Grandpa's friend showed us a sweet hike to the petroglyphs, along the Anasazi trail.  It is near The Biggest Loser camp, for those familiar with the St. George area.
We got up early and headed out to beat the heat.  You can tell it's still pretty hot though!

Grandma and her friend Kathy led the way.



Even Sky hiked.




Best buddies.

Mom "trying to be best buddies" with Bailey












Mike, Carson & Jack got pretty adventurous on the rocks.

Here's Mike taking a photo of a snake they saw.

My favorite way to spend the morning: hiking with my favorite people!