Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day is always a big event in Snowflake. With the usual parade, fair, rodeo and fireworks. The kids really had fun at the parade this year. They always look forward to the candy, the horses, and the fire trucks. It was especially exciting this year when the huge fire truck at the end of the parade let out a huge fountain of water in the air spraying both sides of the street and crowds of kids ended up running into the road getting soaked. Great for a hot day! The adults all went fleeing for cover. Dave had a booth set-up at the fair to sell his artwork. He was pleasantly surprised at how successful it was. Amy and I planned a fun activity for our kids by dressing them up in the pioneer outfits Nana made, building a covered wagon (it only survived one trip around the yard), having a pioneer picnic, and reading pioneer stories. They all had great fun!

Horseshoe Lake Camping

I took the kids, while Dave traveled to speak at EFY, to Horseshoe Lake to go camping with my mom and the Durfees. This is one of my favorite places to camp. We have so many memories of camping their. The kids just love to run around and explore in the forest, catch crawdads at the lake and get dirty. I actually had time to relax and read a book. It was great. Even Lydia was content to play in Nana's trailer or climb up on logs. Baylee was so brave and decided to set-up her own popup tent and sleep in it all by herself - she felt so big. I was so proud of Kami for not giving up on our steep hike up the mountain at Ditchcamp. We always find the fort that Amy, Melanie, Dallan, and I built when we were kids and it is still standing. We have a treasure hole in the rock that holds a penny for each year we visit it. On our way down the mountain it was pouring rain and Joycelyn was the hero who rescued the little kids by carrying them down.

The make-shift band.

I love it when kids get together and use their creative imaginations to have fun. While we stayed at Nana's house for a couple days my kids and Bobbbi's kids got to play alot together. They got this great idea to make a band. Only there was only 2 real instruments. So the kids found anything that would make noise. JD got the marbles and Mark found the dress-up shoes to bang together. Elzya was the cheer leader. They marched around the house making noise. Too fun!

Grandma Nulls 90th birthday

We went to the valley to Grandma Null's 90th birthday party. It was good to get to see some of Dave's relatives and the girls loved getting to help blow out the 90 candles. Grandma was so happy and she was given a poster "90 things we love about grandma".

4th of July

We spent our first 4th of July home in Snowflake. We had a tasty BBQ in the backyard with a couple families from the ward. The girls made up their own parade. Then in the evening we went to the Rodeo and Firworks. It felt so patriotic, so American. During the fireworks Kambria couldn't stop ooohing ! & Ahhhing! at the top of her lungs. I love this country!

Cuties in the Creek

Amy took this picture with her new camera while we were camping at the Black River. It is such a cute pic of my girls and cousin Lacey. My girls just love water and take any chance they get to play in it.

on to Telluride for more fun!

...then we traveled to Telluride, CO which was kind of a half from point from UT back to Snowflake. We were so amazed out how beautiful it was when we arrived at this quaint village in a valley of the tallest Rocky Mountains. An awesome sight with two large water falls visible. We spent the next 2 days hiking, riding the free Gondola up the mountian to our Condo and catching fish in the free kids fishing pond. Dave had arranged for a great Condo that housed all 13 of us and was cheap rate because of the off season.

at the Ocquire Mtn Temple

...we went to the open house at the Ocquire Mtn Temple. In the morning before the reunion we decided to take all the kids to the temple open house. We had a little opposition first being a rainy and cold day in our sunday dresses, then Kambria refused to go in the temple because she wanted a waterbottle. We had just sat through a short introduction video in one of the white tents outside the temple. So while everyone else went inside, Dave ran back to the car parked far away to get the water. Then the next misshap just before walking in the Celestial room was Kami stubbing her toe and making it bleed.(panic) So ofcourse we are trying to keep her from crying too loud and blood from getting on the floor. I pulled out a wipe and a bandaid and she was happy. Overall it was a really special experience and Kami said "I love the Celestial room" and Baylee said she wanted to go in it again. So all the effor was worth it. I am so grateful for temples and to have an eternal family...

at the Bevell Reunion

...This was a reunion gathering the descendents of my great-great-great Grandpa John Wesley. Even though there was a lot of Bevell relatives I didn't know, it was good that we went and got to support Sheri, who helped plan it, and Grandpa John Bevell was so proud that he had family to brag about. I found it interesting hearing stories and learning about the line the my grandpa came through. There was probably about 250 attendies...

Temple Christus

...We always love getting to go see the Christus statue at temple square. The girls always find it so amazing and Lydia loved looking up at him...

a random barn mural

...We saw this mural in Aunt Verna's neighborhood when we stayed with them. A father did the mural of his daughter harvesting the fields. When I have a big red barn someday I am going to have Dave do one of these for me...

Cherry Hill Water Park

...our next destination on this trip was Cherry Hill a little water park up next to the wasatch mountains and just right for the kids to enjoy. It was close to Aunt Verna Pearl's house so we went their before the reunion. Verna Pearl was so sweet to let us stay at her house. All three couples had a room and the kids slept on the basement floor. Friday morning she made a wonderful breakfast with quiche and homemade juices and fruit from her trees. Her husband is an amazing gardner. We were really spoiled their. We all loved the 3 bags of lettuce they gave us from the garden to use for the rest of our trip...

A Fun Filled Trip

Well Dave planned us a great trip for the Summer. I did all the packing and he researched and planned the details of the travel. With my Mom & Dad, Dallan & Bobbi and kids we headed to Utah for an extended Bevell family reunion. We wanted to make the most out of the long drive so we planned stops along the way there and back, not to mention both vehicles were stocked with snacks and ready food for our week long trip. We were so frugal! Our first stop was MOAB where we found a great huge park for the kids to runaround and eat lunch. Then we headed to Salt Lake and we all stayed with my Aunt Verna Pearl for the next 3 days. We really packed in the fun going to the Oquire Mountain Temple open house ( so special, expect Kambria stubbed her toe and almost bled on the temple floor. luckily I whipped out a bandaid), Cherry Hill water park (eveyone loved the lazy river), Temple Square (awesome flowers), and the Bevell Reunion (grandpa Bevell was beaming). It was fun hanging out at the Bennetts house and playing games. The girls loved cousin Sydneys jillions of Petshops. The only downside was Lydia threw-up and great Uncle Curtis helped clean it up. It was a bonding experience, haha. Aunt Kathy and Nana planned a cute cowboy skit that all the cousins did for the reunion. fun memories...

Cooking Class with Auntie Nattie

It's always fun being an Aunt. This summer I have had fun giving cooking classes every Tuesday with Amy's kids, my kids, and Braelyn Brimhall. Somehow they all fit around the table. This time we made homemade cheese crackers. They were tasty. The dough was really easy to make and the kids loved cutting out all different shapes in addition to spreading the flour all over the place mat. Then we made Jello milkshakes and everyone got to mix their own. What fun and what a mess!

The Headless Chicken

This is catching one of those funny but sad moments when our poor old hen is at the tale end of her life. She decided to tuck her head way back under her wing for her last and final sleep. I guess she was tired of holding it up. Dave insisted on getting a picture of this because it was so funny looking. It took us a while to figure out where its head actually was and that it was dying standing up. Poor old Hen!

Tippy and Fanny

This is our not so little puppy anymore, Tippy, and we are trying to get him used to the new kitty "Fanny" (originally Phantom becuase she has a half black, half white face).