Zions National Park - Hiking The Narrows!

We went to Zions National Park for a day and hiked The Narrows. It's always fun and a great place to hike (in the middle of a river) on a hot July day!
A family portrait taken on the trail.

The squirrels are NOT afraid of people. There were 4 of them that kept trying to get Casey's food!

Brady and I in the river.

Carter and Gibson with their "walking sticks"!

The water was really deep this year. I don't think I've ever had it this deep when I've been there.

He he! Even my dad had to get wet!!! (which he doesn't like).

Brady and Gibson and Carter resting their backs on the waterfall!

This waterfall is beautiful! I love Zions because there is so much greenery right in the middle of a desert!

Even I put my back up against the waterfall! It was freezing, but it did feel good on such a hot day!

Gibson did not like going through the deep part!

My friend told me about this great place in the river where you could stop to play!

Paige found a great place to sit!

Gibson would jump down from the top of the waterfall!

Brady just sat right in the waterfall!

Hi mom!!!

Hi Dad!!!

Vegas, Baby!

Brady and I spent 3 days in Vegas together to celebrate our 12th anniversary. My parents picked up Gibson and took himm back to St. George with them (thanks!).

Gibson was with us for about an hour and got to visit all the animals at our hotel, The Flamingo.

Brady and I in front of the Bellagio water show. Brady's getting pretty good at the self-picture taking (thank goodness for long arms!).

We visited The Conservatory at The Bellagio. They had all sorts of animals fashioned from plants - this frog was my favorite!

The Love Birds were SO cute all cuddled together!

A ball of water (oooh, wow!) at The Conservatory.

We waited 30 minutes to see the new, improved volcano at the Mirage. I have to say - that after a makeover that took almost 2 years I think, I was not impressed. We both thought the old volcano show was a little better (plus they played it more often so you didn't have to wait).

The Hoover Dam!

The First stop on our vacation was the Hoover Dam! None of us had ever been there before and we had a day to kill in Vegas with Gibson and thought he would enjoy this the most. And, other than the 120+ degree heat, he did! (It was 127 degrees the day before!) We timed our visit well. We went early in the morning and did not have any traffic problems. As we were leaving, the traffic was backed up over 2 hours to get across the dam! Yuck!

A family photo in front of the dam.

Gibson, acting goofy, in front of the tunnel. We rode an elevator 500+ feet down into the ground!

Looking straight down the wall of the dam.

This is the new bridge they are building - it is AWESOME! It will be open in a few years and it will even have a pedestrian walkway on it. I don't know if I could even THINK about walking across that thing!

Brady eating his HUGE sandwich in the car.

It Arrived!

So much to blog, so little time!

So we came home from our WONDERFUL, RELAXING, FUN vacation to complete and utter CHAOS!!! AHHHH!

The big dumpster is coming tomorrow and we get it for 3 days, so Brady has to completely finish the kitchen demolition by Wednesday at the latest. He definitely got a good start today. He just needs to knock out the pantry area and rerun some wiring and a few other miscellaneous things. But he was able to get all of the cabinets and countertops out and the boxes cut out of the ceiling.

Look at that pile of insulation that fell from the attic when Brady took the boxes off the ceiling.

WHAT A MESS!!!!

p.s. I'll try to get vaca pictures up sometime this century..... ahhhh.... too much to do. And I don't operate well when the house is a disaster.

p.s.s. I totally give kudos to Brady. He is working so hard. He's doing all this kitchen stuff and still has 2 weeks of school left. Can't wait until that school is done....!!! (Oh, and he's out mowing the lawn and fixing sprinklers right now - what a SUPERMAN!)

p.s.s.s. I'm going to bed.

Mayor of Midvale!

It's official. Brady registered to run for the office of Mayor of Midvale! Yay Brady!

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12847231?source=rss

More Baseball '09

Gibson had this great hit at his baseball game yesterday. It's so cute, because once they hit the ball, they get so excited that they forget to run!

Coach Brady with his awesome baseball team!!! Go Bees!

Gibson and his Treasures

Gibson loves his "treasures". They range from pinecones to 'jewels' to coins to rocks. He's got it all. Tonight he made this nice arrangement in his room with the marti gras beads that he got in Disneyland, his seashells from Bear Lake (in the white glass container) and his new, cool yellow margarita glass (yes, I've been cleaning out kitchen cupboards).

This is his pinecone collection.

My baby turns one!!!

Squeakers, my beautiful black, yellow-eyed kitty, turned one today! Where did time go? It seems like just yesterday that I brought him home (note the 'I', not 'we') and he was so tiny! (He's a big boy now, but he's still my smallest cat).

No, this is not the same picture I posted 10 days ago.... we had another birthday party with wet food today! I need to watch out, they are going to start expecting wet food every 10 days!

Listen and you will find out how Squeakers got his name! He's such a talker. He is freaking out in this video - trying to figure out how to get to the wet food that I am preparing.

To this day, he still lets out a big "squeak" if he can't find us. Then we just call his name and he comes running.

We love you, Squeakers! Happy Birthday!

Love My New Shoes!

I absolutely love my new shoes! Anyone that knows me, knows that I live in crocs during warm weather (and even sometimes in the winter). So I was glad that they made a style that is actually cute! You wouldn't even know these are Crocs!

Yes, Yard Pictures

These daisies are just absolutely beautiful! And I love the "perfectness" of this plant. It's got a nice round shape and it's not too tall that the flowers fall over.
My favorite daylily (and it's hard to choose - I have so many beautiful ones!)

Fushia, my love!

The pots are getting more full!

It has begun!

We started kitchen demolition this weekend!

Happy [insert day here] of July!

We are NEVER in town for the fourth of July (we are usually in Bear Lake), so it was unusual for us to be able to celebrate it this year. North Salt Lake celebrates on the 3rd of July, so Courtney and Daryl hosted a THIRD of July party. We had a lot of fun! And we could see the fireworks right from their front lawn - great view! Thanks Courtney & Daryl!
Daryl, Brady, Darwin and dad (Bob) playing foosball.

Lukas is such a cutie! He was walking around all over the place!

Gibson - eating what was probably his 10th cream puff!

Gibson and Carter had a ball on the waterslide! They are inseparable when they are together - they have so much fun!

Courtney and Lukas!

Me and Brady

Corbin, Casey, Paige, Grandma, Carter and Gibson - Watching fireworks.

A family portrait: red, white & blue!

Dad and Corbin lit all the fireworks.