Cowabunga Bay

My kids and I are suckers for a Water Park so when we heard about a new one in Draper, we knew we must go and check it out. It ended up meeting our expectations. Mandy and her kids went with us, as did Albanie, Vicki, Carson, Kieran, and Kendall. We all had a great, wet day!! Kaisley wasn't super impressed with the slides but she loved this toy.

Kaisley loved the "cat pool" we couldnt figure out what she was talking about but I soon realized it was the kiddie pool she meant.

Vicki and Carson in the Lazy River

More of the "cat pool"

Trying to sneak Mamas caffeine.

What better thing to do on a hot summer day??

My TIKI girl!!

Kort and his "friend" Albanie

The whole place is just so cute and bright. You just can't help but smile!!

Kort, Albanie, Mandy, Kambree and Jayse are up there.Jayse shot out of this slide like a cannon Albanie came out with a lot more grace but was holding onto that suit for dear life.

Such a fun place !

Kort and Albanie racing

Kort about went right out the end

Just want everyone to know that this is what I'll be driving when I move to Maui (water coming out the back and all)

Kaisleys new Candy Land towel kept her well entertained.
This is my Super Brave Girl, last year she was kind of a chicken...this year she is a ROCK STAR!!!

A bunch of pretty cool kids!

You know that I can't go anywhere without doing at least a little bit of shopping so here we are checking out the outlet mall that is right behind Cowabunga Bay. It's a pretty sorry excuse for a mall I think it has two stores and one is going out of buisness.
It was time for dinner so the kids all voted that we go to the Mayan. They love that place and I have to admit that I do too. Heres Kendall learning to do a bird thing.

This was Vicki and Carsons first trip to the Mayan experience. I think Carson may have been more impressed with this than he was the Water Park.

We all had such a great day. Summer is so much fun and spending it with Family and Friends makes it even better, I feel so blessed to have so many great people in my life to enjoy this journey with. This sign was at the water park and I couldn't agree more.....

Bear Lake Round 2

We went back to Bear Lake on Tuesday and had some more "SUN FUN". The day was beautiful and the kids had a ball!! Kaisley was quite content right her. After all, what's better than a big "ol mud hole to play in?? Her's Grandma taking the kids ot for some floaty fun.

Awww a foot soak feels so good on a hot day.

Grandma is supervising the sand castle situation.

How it all began...

Bear Lake is just so much fun in the Summer. This is actually my kids third time because Grandma and Mandy took them while I was at Girls Camp. I'm pretty sure that this is far from our last Bear Lake trip of the summer.

Fun on the Fourth

Our Fourth of July wasn't super exciting this year but that's OK. Mandy had an early morning yard sale at her house and this was Kaisleys favorite part of the day. She spent quite some time playing with all of the yard sale treasures. We finally made it to the Lewiston parade for the very first time. Quite impressive I must say.

Hey the bearded lady's suppose to be in the circus not the parade.

Some people are just soooo talented!!

That afternoon Chad and I enoyed a nice, long ride on the bike. We went over to St. Charles and visited with Brent and Jolene, then went down to North Beach and visited with Vicki. There was a sand castle contest going on which was fun to see. On our way home we stopped at Emigration and hung out with the Burbanks for a bit. That night we took the kids to Lewiston for the fireworks. Oh how I love summer, bikes, parades, my kids, and my hubby!!!

Heber Valley Girls Camp 09

Last year we put our name on the waiting list for Heber Valley Girls Camp, we had heard that this place was amazing and so we thought that we would try and get in. A few months later we found out that we had been invited. We were so excited but wasn't sure that it was going to work out, when you decide to go here it's a pretty big commitment. All leaders and girls must stay the full 5 days (no coming and going) ...anyway to make a long story short everything ended up working out and we were able to accept the invitation. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this place is. The Girls just kept saying "there is no way you can describe this place to someone" That is the honest truth and it was seriously one the most spiritual experiences of my life. This is the first thing you see upon entering.

These are the cabins that we stayed in. Each Cabin will sleep 16. We put the girls in one and the leaders took the other, we did this thinking that the leaders would be able to get some sleep.. I seemed to notice that the Girls lights weren't usually the last ones out!! We had a great time staying up and visiting.
Our whole Gang!!

We had no idea when we got there what a treat was in store for us. We stayed in the Marjory Paye Hinkley campground which was personally dedicated by President Hinkley. For months our Young Women have been learning about the life of Sister Hinkley. We were thrilled to have President and Sister Hinkleys daughter, Kathy Walker, come and talk to us and share some great stories about her parents.

The fearless leaders.... Jan you're the best, Thanks again for everything!!

These pics aren't in very good order but this is me all geared up for the Challenge course.

An after-hike foot soak (we hiked 4 hours at about 8500 feet elevation)

Here are a few pics of the Challenge Course. we had to climb up a telephone pole, shimmy across a little wire, using nothing but ropes that were hanging above our heads till we made it to a platform, then we got to zip line down!!

Every single one of our Young Women were able to do this. It was incredible to hear them cheer each other on.

OK for real it was WAY higher than it looks in this picture.
We had 11 girls and they were all GREAT. They all stuck together the whole time, never excluding anyone. we had so many compliments on their behavior.

We were able to canoe and Paddle Boat on the Legacy Lake. While we were out there we had 2 minutes of silence and thought about this scripture and all of our many blessings.

Jan and Becca at the Heber Overlook on our hike. It was beautiful!
Legacy Lake

This was a long, hard hike and there wasn't one complaint!!

MUCH better than a tent! Plus we had showers and super nice bathrooms.

I feel so bleesed to have had this experience. We were told that you will find Heber Valley under "temples" on the Church's website because they refer to it as "the Temple on the Mountain" I believe this because there is a spirit there that is undeniable. The whole place has been dedicated and they say that you can literally watch a wild animal become tame as it steps over that dedicated line, we had deer walk right through our camp. President Hinkley had a big part in this place coming to be, his Daughter said that the first time she came up to see it she went back and said to him that she couldn't even imagine the cost that went into it (the road alone was 60 million dollars) his response was "The Young Women of this church are worth every dime."

Chad's Bike Trip

Chad went on a Bike trip a few weeks ago with his Dad, Brother Jeff, and some other guys. They went down through Southern Utah, over to the Grand Canyon and back home through Colorado. They were gone 5 days and rode a total of about 1800 miles. Here are a few pics of the trip. Here's a pic of Biker Dad and his Biker Boys!!
The whole Gang!

Some Sweet Bikes!

He had a lot of fun getting away but had a sore toosh for a few days.