And then there were two.....

They're gone!

Yay! Girls Camp - Finally!

These two nuts were so ready for camp. Amanda had her suitcases packed by the door for two days. Last night when I came home Amanda was indexing all the items in her suitcases so she would know where to find them. Alaina had the car packed by 7:00pm last night, the dishes done, & the trash was out. We spent about $80 on snacks for the week & who knows how much on travel size necessities and extra hair items for makeovers.

And its all worth it.

They're gonna have a great time!

(Hee Hee)

And so will Kirt and I!

We're gonna have take out every night, watch movies,

run around in our underwear if we want to.

HA!

We're gonna miss those girls! (wink wink)

Our Vacation 2009

We had the best time on our vacation this year. Alaina decided to stay home but we took Kari's friend Natalie with us & had alot of fun.

We loaded up and headed out on the 4th of July right after the parade. Well, about 5 hours after the parade..LOL. Two cars, a camp trailer, a boat, a dozen beach towels, and two walkie-talkies later we found ourselves at Lake Powell.

We had a great time tubing, wake-boarding, and knee-boarding!
One day we had to get rescued by a boat full of like 14 guys - Natalie said they looked "Fine" but Kari was staying true to Jake & didn't act interested. It made for a fun time though!


One day we drove the boat 93 miles up to Hall's Crossing for Ice Cream. We gassed up & drove the 93 miles back. LOL We are nuts! Another day we drove 50 miles up to Rainbow Bridge. We took some great pictures and was so glad to see it was still there. We saw a dinosaur footprint too.

On our way back we stopped at Dangling Rope Marina for Ice Cream & Fuel and ran into our Home Teachers the Sherwoods. They were happy to be able to get their home teaching done while on vacation but we forgot to have closing prayer so we searched Canyon Creek until we found them jumping off some rocks. We had a blast hanging out with them for the afternoon. The kids got to play on the jet skis and jump off the rocks. The water was nice and Judy taught Amanda how to drive. We never did say that closing prayer...LOL!

Another of our favorite things was finding Horseshoe Bend. It is just a couple miles from Page and about a half mile hike - but WOW it was breathtaking. I think we found our Christmas Card Picture!

After spending 6 days on the Lake & nearly dying 3 times (a story for another day) we headed back to Flagstaff & then to the Grand Canyon.

Natalie had never been to the Grand Canyon before - so it was fun to show her how amazing it was. We took our usual family group shots too!

It was all fun until the girls started fighting on the edge & Kirt fell!

JUST KIDDING!

We decided to have a little fun with the camera so don't panic - these pictures are posed! LOL

We spent our last night at the Lowell Observatory looking at the stars. We saw Saturn & some double stars. We even had dinner at the Galaxy Diner. It was great & we made alot of good memories together. We also took over a 1000+ pictures between us and I even got to do a little shopping in Flagstaff before we came home.

I wish vacations could always be as awesome as this one was!

On a side note - Jake was transferred to Yellowstone this week and was made a District Leader. His district covers parts of Idaho, Wyoming, & Montana. He even gets to fish a little. We are so proud of his missionary efforts & excited to someday have him a part of family. We will have to take this trip again because he would love it!

Father's Day 2009

So I decided I'd better do a little catching up since our vacation.

This year on Father's Day we met my Mom & Dad at the Park in Payson. Kari's work schedule didn't allow her to come to Show Low so we decided to meet her half way. We are two saps when it comes to being with our kids. Mom & Kelsey were coming up for Volleyball Camp so it was convenient for everyone.

We had a nice picnic lunch and Dad & Kirt opened some gifts we had brought. It was nice also to have Aunt Judy & Uncle Audrey come by the park.

(Me & My Dad - Max)

(Kari, Kirt, & Amanda)

I have always been my dad's favorite - I am sure my siblings think they are too. LOL

Its all good - it just means he's an awesome father.

Whether he likes it or not.

Kirt is an awesome dad too - he is really busy during the summer months but always seems to find the time to have those good one-on-one talks with the girls.
Our visit seemed all too short and then Dad & Kari headed back to Mesa.

It was fun to Have Mom, Kelsey, AND Elijah here for a few days too. I really needed my mom after the stressful week before. I had so much to do - We moved our office to a less expensive, larger, & quieter place. We are loving it now
& greatful to have a vacation to look forward to.