Thanks for such a GREAT time!

We had so much fun staying with mom and dad. I wish it could've been longer, but with more family coming to our house the next week we had to get home. My mom willingly (crazy I know) volunteered to help me drive home (Travis had to fly home early to be at work). It is great to visit and allow my kids to have a taste of how I grew up. They loved feeding the chickens and gathering eggs, feeding the horses with grandpa and chaseing after the baby goat.

Brett really took to Grandpa and whenever my dad would come around Brett's face would light up. I think it is just what any Grandpa needs!

Riding Shooter

Shane's going to take the reigns next time


Jace was all smiles


This picture was after the fight for who was going to be in front. At least they smiled!


Brett wasn't so sure about the horse, but he will love it more next time (perhaps it was because Shane kept "holding" him so tight :).

This was my horse when I was 10 years old; he is like 30 years old. For a horse that is ancient. He is great for the kids though because he likes to go nice and slow. Last year when we visited Jace wanted nothing to do with the whole riding experience but this time, he kept saying, "Yee-haw, I'm a big boy now." Shane has always loved riding whenever he gets the chance so he hopped right up.

I wish my kids could have the chance to ride more often. It was such a HUGE part of my growing up I feel bad that they don't have that same opportunity (I don't remember ever being taught how to ride). It is my dream someday to live somewhere where we can have a couple of horses, but until that time I hope that Shooter lives a bit longer.

More of Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's house

Aunt Toni, me, Aunt Kristi, mom


Tawni and the boys


Jace enjoying the pool


My little fish (Shane)

Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's House

Shane, Grandpa Dahl, me, Jace


Me and Aunt Toni (AT)

Look at that face (the baby's not mine :))


Jace got the hang of Shane's scooter and you couldn't get him off it.

I didn't want to do a collage because I wanted to see the pictures up close this time. We had so much fun at my mom and dad's house. Because it was sooooo HOT the boys had a great time swimming in the blow up pool every day. It was great because it would get warmed up in the morning and then towards the afternoon we were in the shade.

My mom's sisters Toni and Kristi came to visit and it was great to see them. While I was going to school in Denver I lived with Aunt Toni (AT) so I always enjoy seeing her and having her give me a hard time. Aunt Kritsi brought her granddaughter Tawni with her from Washington and the boys LOVED playing with her. She was such a great sport and went along with whatever the boys wanted to do. I know as a 10 year old playing with a bunch of little kids might be considered boring but she was great.

Sand Mountain

After driving for what seemed like an eternity (it is soooo much better to drive with small children during the night), we arrived at my mom and dad's house in Fallon. We relaxed for the remainder of Sunday and decided to make plans to visit Sand Mountain the next day. Considering the fact that it was extremely hot at my parents house, we figured that Sand Mountain would be an inferno. We decided to head up there for dinner (a little hot dog and marshmallow roast), and climb Sand Mountain.

When we arrived we were the ONLY ones there. It was rather eerie. I have never been out there without some sort of dune buggie or 4-wheeler tearing up the side of the mountain. We built our fire and roasted sandy (due to the wind) hot dogs (yes the grit definately added to the flavor), and roasted marshmallows. Jace, of course, would have nothing to do with the processed meat but of course took to the s'mores.

After feasting we decided to see how far up the mountain we could make it before darkness really set in. The kids chose the course for the tallest peak and about halfway up we were questioning our sanity. It was tough but even tougher carrying a HEAVY 2-year old on your back. Travis and I took turns carrying the boxes (which were to be used as our sleds for the way down) and carrying Jace. Luckily Shane was a real trooper and made it the whole way by himself. For brief stints of time Jace would climb himself. I use the word "climb" loosely because the entire time he was on his hands and knees crawling all the while saying, "I'm dying, I got a stitch in my side." I wonder where he heard that from?

We finally reached the summit and it is so disappointing that the pictures really aren't that great because it was really beautiful from the top. My mom kept Brett (thankfully) at the bottom and took pictures of our progress from the bottom. In the last picture of the collage (bottom right) you can make out our little figures on the top. We tried using the boxes that we had hauled all the way to the top as our sleds but they were a bust. We ended up running all the way down. It is always so frustating that you can make it down in like an 8th of the time that you made it up. Thank goodness for that though because I was TIRED. Hiking in sand is very TIRING, hence Jace's comments about being DEAD. We had a blast though and are greatful that there are such great things like this to do with our kids at Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's house.

Salt Flats

Has anyone ever driven on the salt flats separating Salt Lake and Wendover? I have driven this stretch of I-80 many times and have often wanted to stop and draw my name with rocks on the salt flat, but never have. Well when nature called and we needed to stop we figured this was a great time to let the boys wander around. Of course my boys will find a rock within a 20 mile radius and be forced to either throw it or collect it for thier "special rock collection". Needless to say we put their rock finding skills to good use, and I got to accomplish something I have always wanted to do. We did do one of Trav and my name but Shane wasn't the greatest of picture takers.

Do you like Jace's mult-colored legs? This picture is after Trav took him into the bathroom and attempted to scrub it off. I had given each of the boys a pencil box filled with markers and crayons that they could color pictures along the trip. I looked back at Jace and every portion of both legs, both palms of his hands, and even his teeth were covered with blue markers. What a stinker! An idle mind and markers is such a dangerous thing with Jace.

The hotel

We were going to trudge on with our travels but since we had already paid for the hotel room we decided to stay for the night and continue onto Nevada the next morning. We had such luck though because right up the road from our hotel was a Nielsen's Frozen Custard. If anyone is to chance by one of the stores you must immediately stop and get some because it is AWESOME! The boys had a blast swimming in the pool and I was greatful to not be driving through the night again.

Chase and the boys

I had to post this separately because I just loved these pictures. Chase is one of my boys favorite people. Shane ADORES him! In fact I was looking through alot of the pictures that were taken outside the temple and Shane got ahold of the camera and was snapping pictures of random things (hence the HUGE picture of David in the previous post). There were tons of random shots of Chase taken by Shane.

Chase is such a great kid. Shane and he have had such a special bond ever since Shane was just a baby. As kids get older playing with such a little kid like Shane could've been considered such a drag, but Chase was always so good with the boys. Thank you Chase for being such a great example for my boys!

The Harman Wedding

After the fireworks on the 4th in Alamo we climbed in the car and drove through the night for wedding of Josh Harman. They are a great family that became our family while we lived in Alaka. We arrived in Bountiful around 5:00am and thankfully were able to find a hotel where we could catch a few hours of sleep before the 10:00 sealing. Amazingly enough the kids slept until 8:30 (I think that it was all the prayers Travis offered as he was exiting I-25).

What a beautiful wedding and it was so amazing to see everyone. We were able to see Jessica and Tyler Mitchell (our backyard neighbors who have since moved to Arizona), Tisha and Ryan Saunders (living in San Diego), and the Jerue's (living also in Arizona). It was a bit of an Alaska reunion. What a great time and my boys couldn't stop talking about how much they loved seeing everyone. It was well worth the loss of sleep!

A VERY busy July

Where did July go? I think we figured out that we were home about a week out of the month, and of that week we still had visitors here. What a FUN whirlwind of a month it has been. Travis knew that I have been wanting to visit Alamo (where I grew up) for a really long time and this year was my 10 year (I am getting old) high school reunion. He scheduled a trip to Las Vegas to inspect a project he has at Lake Mead so we were able to get most of our gas paid for which was a true blessing considering the fact that gas is WAY out of control.

We drove all night and got there in time to check into our hotel (early) and for Travis to head to work at the Lake. My great friend from high school, Lynette, picked us up and we headed for lunch at McDonalds. It was so great to reconnect and let the kids play with eachother. She has two boys with one more on the way. I am kicking myself because I only have ONE picture of that entire time...what was I thinking. We were able to meet up in Mesquite with Trav's grandparents (Grandma and Grandpa Healey) and have dinner and visit with them. They are such fun people and we always have a great time visiting with them. Once again we didn't get any pictures!

The next day,Lynette picked the boys and me up again and we headed for a great water park not far from where we were staying. I must admit that I really don't miss that HOT Nevada summer heat. It is exhausting! That night we were able to meet her husband Chris and have a great pizza dinner at their house. The boys ran around like crazy people, but what can you expect right? When you want to make a great impression with how well behaved your children are....they never are.

The next day we decided that we would visit a couple of the casinos. Man the strip sure has changed since we were there last. They are tearing down so much and replacing it with something bigger. We gave each other $1 to gamble however we chose so Trav placed all his on one spin of a wheel....he lost. I on the other hand put my dollar into the slot that I thought was producing the most positive energy (ya right:)) and won $10. I can see how people can get so addicted though because even though I only won a measly $10 I wanted MORE.

That night we headed for Alamo where we staying with the mother of one of my best friends, Summer. I got up and ran the 5K the next morning which was a great way for me to see the changes that occurred to the small town where I grew up. People kept saying that things really hadn't changed, but considering the fact that I hadn't been back for so long there was a lot of changes. The kids got stocked up on candy from the parade, ran in the races, jumped in the bouncy house, and watched the fireworks. They started a new event for the kids a couple of years ago where they throw money out onto the parking lot and then turn the kids lose according to age meanwhile being sprayed with water from a fire hose. Jace was not to keen on getting wet, but Shane jumped right in there. Travis told Shane ahead of time to ignore anything that wasn't silver, and Shane did just that. I think he collected a little over $2. It was so much fun to see and visit people that I hadn't seen in so long. Travis kept giving me a hard time because I would go to get something from the car and I would get stopped a couple of times to visit with someone. He ended up going to the car himself alot of the time. It made me want to go back...sometime. Well more to follow....