Tayler is 12...

I can't believe it our sweet little baby Tayler... who used to look like this... is 12 years old!! Moving on to bigger and better things like YW's... and Girls Camp that starts tomorrow!

Looking back it might be harder sending her to Girls Camp than it was to send her to Kindergarten!!

We couldn't believe when she turned 8!

But seeing her with all of her friends at her Birthday Party... acting crazy like only "19"... 12 years old can... sort of hit home... there were lots of girls with cell phones... texting boys... and the boys came... and came back again several times even when we sent them home... and they CALL her... and tell her they "like her"... and worse yet tell ME they "like her"... Pretty much wishing I could push her back in time a little... Like maybe back to that first picture and start over again!!

We love you Tayler! And are so proud of the beautiful young lady you are becoming! Have a great time at Girls' Camp... and never forget we love you!!

Ward Campout...

Wow... what a crazy week last week was for our family!! But in the end everything turned out great (thanks to friends who took over part of the campout... realizing I was walking a tight line nearing a breakdown!!)

We arrived home from our fun vacation to Brianhead to 30 messages full of vinyl for me and work for Shane... plus all the other joys which come from cleaning up after a vacation... Mostly last week was one of those normal run the kids everywhere weeks... fit in vinyl where I could... but throw in our biggest activity of the year that I am in charge of... the Ward Campout... with an awesome turn out of 200 people (4 stores/shopping carts later I had all the stuff for that! Plus a billion calls that week!)

Plan and throw a friend birthday party for Kenna.

A Birthday Party for Tayler and her 18 closest friends!!

And then top it off with the Bishop asking our entire family to speak that week... which meant I wrote 4 talks... let's just say I was not very excited about the whole experience!! (The bishop did apologize later saying, "I think I might have given you too much this week."... Um yeah... maybe...!)

Now that I am writing this though... It really doesn't seem like that much... it was just a comical week of... "Could anybody else ask us to do anything else." Such as... it was also our week to clean the church, Shane was asked to sub in nursery... then forgot... so accepted to sub in priesthood... I was called to take dinner to a family in the ward... I THOUGHT about doing Visiting Teaching... but decided to save that for another week!!!!!!

All in all everything turned out great... truly a big thanks to everyone who helped make the campout a success... I could NEVER have done it by myself... and I was especially thankful for a lazy Monday of this week to recover!

The campout was a blast and the weather was perfect... (unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until the next morning when we were cleaning up...)

But I did get some awesome videos of our "talent show" from the night before... we use that word lightly... variety show is more like it... but oh it is fun!!

Tayler, Saige and Deon Heaps taught the Primary/YW girls the "Hoedown" from the "Hannah Montana Movie". They did great, and had a fun time too!

These boots were made for walking...

Not sure what the name of our number was... but we got a few laughs!!

Elder Kesler and Elder Green...

and a condensed version of our awesome "Ward Synchronized Swimming Team". (I had to cut it down to fit on here.) Definitely one to remember!

There were other fabulous ones too... but posting videos takes... a long... long... time. So I had to just sprinkle you with a taste of what it is like in our awesome ward. Wouldn't change it for the world!!

Stadium of Fire....

Have you ever wondered what a whole bunch of girls sound like at a Jonas Brother's Concert???? It sounds something like this...

The girls had a blast... and were so happy that their cousins Paige and Tara got to join them. Tara was SOOOO excited to be going... Paige thought it would be fun, "but wasn't going to be one of those girls that screams..." Ha! She lost her voice! She said when those boys came out... something happened... and she just couldn't help but scream! We had a blast the weather was perfect... we parked like 3 miles closer than last year :)! And we didn't even camp in our enclosed trailer! We opted for a hotel... but did HAVE the trailer since we were on our way home from Southern Utah!

Our girls loved this year so much more than last... She Daisy sang and did a great job... Glen Beck hosted the whole event... The girls screamed through the ENTIRE JoBro Concert (and sang along!) The military flyover is always awesome. The show was great and the fireworks were fabulous. Such a great patriotic night... I always tear up... but then I'm a sap... what can I say!!
Jadyn looks pleased here... but this is how she felt about the fireworks...

And this is what she thought about the concert and her sisters singing/screaming!

Don't hurt yourselves girls!!

The Jonas Brothers...

And some very pleased girls!!

Happy Birthday America!!

Brian Head... Bryce Canyon... and Zions...

Last week we spent an entire week enjoying the beauties that Southern Utah has to offer. Together Shane and I have never done the typical "Southern Utah" stuff. We decided it was time... and time to share it with our kids as well. We headed off for a weeks' stay at the Cedar Breaks Lodge in Brian Head Utah. The Carlsen's joined us for most of the trip... we love traveling together... we ALL get along so well. They had no idea what our plans were going to be... they just follow along and say they are happy to have me as their travel agent to see the world!! The first day we drove to Kolob Canyon and went on our first short hike on the "Timber Creek Trail". At the beginning their was a sign talking about "Mountain Lions" and how they are rarely seen... but what to do if you see one. Kenna carried a rock most of the way... just in case!
The week before I helped all the girls (including the Carlsen's) make water bottle carriers. A perfect way to get your kids to carry their OWN water bottles. For a tutorial go here. But... now that Shane and I (and we gave one to Tayler for her birthday) have camelbacks... I'm never carrying a water bottle again!! That is a GREAT invention!
Pretty much the whole week we drove... and drove... and drove. Good thing we have great car travelers!
We spent a fabulous day in Bryce Canyon... Absolutely glorious!! I had done my research and decided on the "Queens Garden Trail" for our hike that day... supposed the mildest... easiest hike. We were surprised at how steep it was though and were glad that we didn't opt for a tougher one. We all feel quite fit... maybe wrongly so... but Rusty was certain that some people on that trail were going to have a heart attack before they made it back up (not us of course!)... good thing he has medical skills!!

We were all ready for a picnic at the end of the trail... but I don't think that Kyler was very impressed that we had hiked all that way to see a "likeness of Queen Victoria" in the rock!! He didn't complain of course just said, "Wow... I'm glad I got to see that."

We should have left these girls here... It would have been a lot quieter without all of their giggling!!

Jadyn's favorite part of the whole trip was probably playing on the slide at the resort... she loved it!

About two miles up the road from our condo was a fabulous view of Cedar Breaks Monument... beautiful!

We did an awful lot of 4-wheeling... definitely more than my growing pregnant body should have done! I declined going the last few times... I think my 4-wheeling days are over for a few months...

Poor Jadyn's eyes were always getting dust in them... we tried goggles... it didn't last for too long... but it made us laugh.

We took another drive down to Zions for the day... It was the perfect day for Zions... we were dreading the heat that is associated with Zions. But it was overcast and never got above 80 degrees!! Just as we were leaving there was a major down-pour! We couldn't have planned the day better if we had tried!

In Zions we took the "Riverside Walk Trail" and the "Lower Emerald Pools Trail". By the end of these two hikes the kids were DONE with hiking! I personally LOVED it! I reminisced of Grandma Floris telling jokes on the trails... to complete strangers years ago... I never thought about it then... but I think she was just tired and wanted a break!!

It was a wonderful week!!