My New Haircut...

I thought I would post a picture of me with my new haircut for all my friends and family that are out of state. I have been wanting to cut my hair this short for a while now. However, Donovan wasn't too keen on the idea. So, this past week Victoria Beckham decided to cut her hair. It used to be the A-line and just gorgeous. Now it is short and she still looks great! Donovan has always been of fan of her and Allissa Malono, so when I told him what I was going to do and who I was going to look like he didn't have much argument. Thanks to my Sister-in-law Talara I now have the style I have been wanting! Thank you!

Cheer for the Home Team...

"The Three Amigos!" Katie, Meagan and Ember.

Ember had a great opportunity to be able to get involved in a Cheer Leading Camp at the local High School. So this week has been on the go. We went straight from school to Cheer practice, from Cheer Practice to Dance, and that was just what Ember was doing, not including Kenzie, myself and Donovan's schedule. I have to say I now know why they say the term "Soccer Mom." It was a lot of fun. At the end of the week Ember was able to Cheer for the local High School Football team. The girls for having only a week to prepare did great. Meagan and Ember dropped one of the girls they lifted...OOPS! This was all caught on tape as well. Hope you enjoy as much as we did. It was also fun for me since a friend of mine had her two girls involved as well. So we were able to hang out a lot. Thanks Jami, I had a lot of fun. Your girls did very well, and so cute...like they always are.

Sorry in advance. There are a couple of places in the video that Ashlynn moves and so does the camera. I was a little upset, there were a ton of parents trying to get video and pictures of their kids, I didn't know Ember was going to be on the complete opposite side dancing. So I took the best video I could, again I apologize.

Ribbon Cutting at Ember's New School...

Noah and Kenzie posing with the Leo the Lion on loan from The Real soccer team.

We had the opportunity to have Maddi come with us to celebrate the opening of her school as well.

Ember getting ready to sing.

The beautiful Lana Dansie behind Ashlynn. Thanks for spending your night with my family.

Ember started a brand-new school this year. When I say brand-new, I mean a couple of weeks before school started they were finishing last touches on the inside of the school. The playground they were finishing up filling all the bark the day before school started. Well they had a ribbon cutting there. It was a lot of fun and we were able to watch the 5th grade (Ember) sing for the event and best of all we were able to have free dinner and hang out with Lana Dansie and her family.

Cousins on a Mary-Go-Round and Life Size Checkers Game...

Donovan was getting pretty sick going around and around. At least it was him and not me.

Watching the little ones trying to play checkers was really fun. Branson my little nephew wanted all the action. He kept running out there to makes moves for his Daddy, not knowing he was just getting in the way.

Ashlynn, Kenzie and Maddi thought it would be fun carrying all the Chess pieces around. They soon found that there were a little heavier then they had thought. Very cute!

This is where the men got into it. When Uncle Mark beat Ember all of her pieces to one of his gone. Sorry sweetie, we need to work on Checkers with you. Next time we will take him!

We had an opportunity to head up to the Zerrmatt with Mark, Talara and my niece and nephews a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures from that day. The kids had a lot of fun, I think the men did too.

We had a lot of fun, thank you Mark and Talara for asking us to come with you. Sorry we couldn't make Vegas. I am pretty bummed.

The Goofy Things Kids Do When You're Not Looking...

Ashlynn is my crazy, goofy child. I could hear her in the hallway saying "Mommy Gook! Mommy! Mommy Gook!" (Gook is Ashlynn's way of saying Look). So I stop what I was doing and head down the hall to find this. It was so funny that I had to get the camera. I asked her if she wanted me to take picture and she said "Yes, Dod dit adin." (Which means, Do it again). How cute is that?

1st Day of Preschool...

Kenzie on her 1st day of Preschool. The last couple of weeks with her have been interesting. She has really reverted back into a younger version of herself. I think that it was the stress of doing something different, being away from Mommy and Ashlynn (they are joined at the hip). All of this because of Preschool. So I thought she would have an issue with meeting her teacher and with her first day. I was wrong, she has really loved it. She has really liked it and talks about what she does right after. I am so glad she liking school and making friends. She has really grown up. She is also back to the same Kenzie she was a couple of months ago. We are proud of you Kenzie you are such a big girls. We love you!

Big Rock Candy Mountain...

'Big Rock Candy Mountain has always been one of Donovan's favorite songs to sing with our girls. So when we heard that there was an actual place here in Utah we just had to go and see it. All I have to say is that it was a fun place for us and the kids. It was very pretty and we can't wait to go back. What we planned on doing next trip is renting or bring our own 4-wheeler to ride on the trails. There are so many ATV trails out there with just hundreds of miles of gorgeous country to be discovered. We missed you Ember and the next trip will be on the trails! We love you.

Red Rock Canyon...

I had to add these pictures. This canyon is as you are heading out to Bryce Canyon you go through Red Rock Canyon. It is just absolutely gorgeous! Too bad a camera cannot capture the pure beauty. If you have a chance to stop there is a little pull of, I would highly suggest. It was amazing!

Setting up Camp and Old Bryce Town...

We we arrived in at Bryce Canyonn we decided to set up camp first and then wander around Old Bryce Town before the storms came through. We set up camp and headed back to Ruby's Inn and had dinner at the local fast food place since the buffet ran about $25 a plate! No thank you! After dinner we ran accross the street to Old Bryce Town. They have made the old buildings into little gift stores. All I have to say it I have never seen so many Rocks for sale in my life. They had the old jail cell, so we as the crazy family we are decided it would be fun and cute to get pictures of us inside. I love Ashlynn's face. Clouds were rolling in so Donovan and I packed the girls up and headed back to camp to build a fire and lay the Girls down for the night. Crazy how at home they will NOT go to sleep and out camping they crash, if only they were like this at home!

Morning in the Clouds and Navajo Trail....

I had to add the picture of Ashlynn sleeping, she was the hardest to wake up! At home it is about 9:30-10:00am that she wakes up. So sleeping in the mountains was no different except we had places to go and things to see! It took me about 20 minutes to wake her up. It was well worth it since we woke up to clouds all around us. It was amazing how pretty it truly was. The pictures didn't capture how breathtaking it was. So we ate breakfast, got in the car and headed of to Sunset Point for a hike. This morning we chose to hike Navajo Trail and maybe other hikes as well. Well, the Lord had other plans for us. We started on our hike and it was looking like rain, so smart me put all our jackets and rain gear on. Yes, since we were all nice and warm it started raining, not just a sprinkle but sometimes a steady pour. We were getting soaked, muddy and the trail was getting really slippery. A little back ground on the hike is that it is a total of 1.7 miles, 547 ft elevation change going on switchbacks down and then hiking back up. Then add the Navajo sand that gets wet on top of it all. It turned out to be a really pretty and one of the best hikes I have ever been on. I highly recommend it.

A Little Road Trip through Bryce Canyon and to Escalante...

After hiking the Navajo Trail we decided due to the rain we would just drive around Bryce Canyon and really see the sights. We started off and realized that we might not be able to see anything still due to being up in the clouds. We would pull off at the turn offs and be able to see only about 50 feet in front of us. The Canyon (what we could see of it) was still gorgeous. I took pictures at all the stops we did. When we were up at Rainbow Point that is really when the clouds started rolling in. Donovan and thought this would be the best place to take a break, let the kids out and make some lunch. It was actually really cool, there were so many people around that were from other countries that they would all stop and look at us and talk about how cool it was we were cooking from the back of our van. Since the rain hadn't let up once we finished lunch we thought we would head out to the Boulder Mountains. We started out and realized neither Donovan or I knew how to get there. We finally found the road out to Hells Backbone. We turned down and started up the canyon. This is where we saw a lot of wild turkeys and some on a fence post. What a great picture! We saw a sign for a lake and Donovan being the Fisherman that he is wanted to take a look at it and maybe fish some. Well, the lake was pretty nasty and that is where we saw the vultures. Another great picture opportunity. After I got the picture they started flying everywhere, most landed in a nearby tree except one. The one that kept flying near me and darting pretty close. I was ready to defend myself, while Donovan and the girls were back in the van. Donovan said it was pretty funny to watch and was sure the vulture was going to swoop down at me. Crazy time! We then headed back up the canyon and due to all the rain there was a lot of flash flooding that had gone across the road, our van is not 4-wheel drive so we turned around and headed back. By this time the day had really turned out to be very beautiful that we chose to do another hike. See next post.

Rim Trail, Two Bridges and The Queens Garden Hikes...

After getting back to Bryce Canyon we headed back to Sunrise Point, this was the start of the Rim Trail. We started off just thinking it would be a short little hike and then heading back, we were wrong. We were also happy we continued! It was breath taking. As we finished the Rim Trail we came to the the fork were we could either go hike Navajo Trail again (1.7 miles) or we could continue on through Two Bridges and the Queens Gardens. You got it, we chose the Two Bridges and Queens Garden Hike. It was about a little less then a 4 mile hike. So this day we hike a total of 5.3 miles. It was so worth the thought of hurting legs by the end of the day. Kenzie was an amazing Hiker we are so proud of her. She did all the hikes and more with no complaining. She wanted to keep going. We really wished that Ember could have been there. We will be taking her back sometime in the next year so she can be apart of the beautiful scenery and share with the family. We love you Ember and can't wait for our next adventure with you!

Meeting Kenzie's Preschool Teacher...

It was so cute, as Kenzie was getting ready to meet her teacher and see her classroom, Ashlynn thought she would be getting ready to do the same thing. We (Kenzie, Aslynn and I) head over to UVU where Kenzie is enrolled in Preschool, she wasn't excited until the day before and then it was all she talked about. Well Ashlynn being the youngest and the only one not in school started to feel left out. After we arrived at Kenzie's preschool we walked into the classroom and all the kids had to write their name and answer the question on the white board. Well...Kenzie did it and so did Ashlynn. The next thing for all the kids to do was get their name tag and cubby, well you guessed it, Ashlynn wanted to join in. This whole morning was very cute. Then they had to wash their hands and Ashlynn was in between all the Preschoolers not realizing this was not for her just yet. Finally they were able to play with what ever they wanted. So both girls sat and did puzzles together. The whole time Kenzie was saying to me "You can go now Mommy." When are you leaving?" HMMM, to me I think she was growing up just a little too fast. I am glad she is excited for Preschool.