State fair

State Fair, the Rogers and Hamerstein movie, has been my favorite movie for most of my life.  The fun family values, driving across the state in that little pickup with their big hog, all just look so fun on the TV screen.  Then there was the entertainment, the exciting carnival and everlasting romance.  

Growing up I always wanted to go to a state fair, but it was during school and as my parents would say 'it's to far away'.

This year, being the parent, I decided that I could go.  We looked at the calendar and debated a little on dates and times, trying I go when the crowd would be down.  It couldn't be done, and so Macey and I, along with 4 of our friends went to the date fair on opening day!

My favorite things to look at are the quilts and scrapbooks.  This t-shirt quilt was so much fun!

Maceys favorite thing to see was the animals.  Particularly the baby goats, some were so tiny.

There was so many things to see and the kids had so much fun (we never let them see the carnival).  This is Macey, Nathanial Page, and Julia Evans.

Can you see Macey in the space suit?  She's in there.  

We had a wonderful time and while it may not have been the 1940's fair, it was still great.  Remember, "Our state fair is a great state fair, don't miss it don't even be late!"

It's a Bike Day

Abby has been avoiding the topic of daddy saying she needs to learn how to ride her bike!  Finally this weekend she gave in and gave it a try.

John said she needs lots of practice and planned to assist her again the next day, well.... she practiced alone all day while he was at work.  And, tada she is an avid bike rider now!!!

Camping

John and I decided that if John could sale his 1980 CJ-7 jeep, we could buy a small camper. The jeep was up for sale for quite a while and we had almost given up when it finally sold.  Yeah!  Right away john started his search for the perfect camper.  He wanted something so the girls would have a bed that folded out on one end and us the other end. 

Yet, he didn't want to big of a camper so that it could fit by our house.  We found one on KSL classifieds and it was just right for our family!  

Our first camp out was diamond fork canyon  in July.

The girls loved playing cards, hanging out around a campfire and just being little girls!

Our next camp out was to Vernal, Utah.  We went here the weekend before school started as our final summer activity.

Macey absolutely loves camping and exploring with her sister!

Here are some pictures at Dinosaur National Park.

Hailey in the quarry.

She the dinosaur bones in the rocks behind the girls.  The quarry was really cool.

Their were petroglyphs all over on rocks form te ancient native Americans.

Lots of hiking and hot weather meant tired girls!

And mommies!

See this petroglyph

Cabin of Josie Morris in dinosaur national park.

And after a long day walking around the parks, everyone was happy to come bak to the camper an have a relaxing,  yet fun, evening. 

We can't wait til next summer when we can you hang out today go camping again!

Summer fun

We had such a fun summer!  Let's start out with pictures of the freedom festival.  Here is Abby tossing hoops at a game.

Alyssa being hung for treason

And Hailey dressing up as a knight in shiny armer.

We hiked up rock canyon

Had ice cream at bYU creamery multiple times

  Visited old faithful in Yellowstone during our family reunion

Walked aroun in canyonlands 

Toured Mesa Verde

Enjoyed the carnival at Manassa pioneer days

Played at the park with a cold drink

Took swimming lessons

Played in the waterparks and more

 Rode the grass hopper

Visited thanksgiving Point

And all out had a wonderful summer!

Sand dunes

Last week after our trip to Alaska, my mom took me and the three youngest girls home with her.  Hailey had 5th grade camp and John couldn't miss anymore work so we had a fun week with just 4 of us.  Brooke, my younger sister, just had a sweet little girl the beginning of May that I had yet to see.  I spent the week holding her and playing with her older sister Kamry.  She calls me her aunt 'We'.  My brother Brandon and his wife Michelle also had a baby a few months ago and so there was lots of sweet little ones and even more big noisy ones.  

This time of year is a great time to go to he sand dunes national park, because the river is still running.  So, we planned a day and went their with a few of our cousins, my mom and Brooke.

Here is Abby, Macey and Kamry 

Alyssa had me make her into a mermaid, as did Kip's daughter Olivia.

Parker wanted to be the king of the sea and a merman ;)

The girls had lots of fun and came home with lots of sand!

We stayed there for almost 2 1/2 hours when a storm came up, you can see the clouds below.  It sent us all running for cars and scrambling to collect everything that was blowing away.

It turned out we had a wonderful week.  John and Hailey joined us Friday night so they could be there for Kaisley's baby blessing and tote the rest of us back to Utah.  Now back to the real world after two weeks of vacation.