Over The Weekend

This weekend was fabulous. We traded in our TrailBlazer for a Nissan Titan and we are loving it. The cab is spacious and there is plenty of room for our "someday" 4 wheeler. Paul has been wanting a truck for a long time and I was never convinced I was a truck person--well move over "Grave Digger" I am ready to rally our Titan through a flaming hoop and over 20 cars! This bad boy will make for some fun camping adventures. But I don't want to see any scratches or dirt on my new baby, so that could pose a problem!
Saturday night we went to the Harvest Days fireworks. We were sitting, chatting, waiting for the show....and all of the sudden it was a war zone! We all screamed and kind of ducked for cover as the fireworks were being launched about 20 yards from us. The fiery boom was enough to make my nieces and nephews huddle up together and Knuckles climb up my face. With a scratched forehead, I winced at the brightness of the fireworks directly over my head. BOOM! POW! BAM! Like old school Batman! This went on for what seemed like forever, none of us sure how much "fun" it really was to be so close...and then for the grand finale, a nearby tree caught fire and the show was stopped early.

On Sunday, we headed up to Echo Lake with family and spent all day in the mud and water. Knuckles was waste deep in mud having the best time. We got to go out on the boat and soaked up the sun -literally- because our smart selves didn't bring sun screen. We towed the tube around and everyone took turns flying off. It was a really fun day; I need to remember to bring my camera on these outings.

One HOT 4th of July

Our plane was empty as we flew to Phoenix over the 4th of July Weekend. Most people were leaving the heat for the long weekend. We embraced it and landed at 10pm with the temperature at 105 degrees. Normally, the camera is not allowed anywhere near a pool...

who really wants to see tons of scary swimming suit pictures? But we spent the majority of the time in the pool and a las, the rule was broken.

We swam all day.
And All Night!

We had a great weekend filled with playing our favorite card game, Grouch. Although the name almost got changed to something much stronger due to the easily moody Merrie when Krust E Pup (Krystle) was taking all of the good cards. There was only one blow out with a re-deal... so we all survived!! We also saw Eclipse and everyone enjoyed it and we went to a Diamond Backs baseball game and they lost horribly... 14 to 1...but we stayed for the fireworks show afterward. Unfortunately, our seats were on the upper deck and we couldn't see but just a corner of the fireworks, but we could hear the music and the "booms" so we were ok. The girls all got their toe nails done and we had a BBQ. Dad took half the fam on an early morning desert hike, before the heat really set in. I am glad I slept in for that adventure!! Let's just say the heat really set in, another hiker forced his water on the inexperienced group and Dad came home limping. I think it was overall a neat thing with awesome views...but m0re preparation and maybe a 4 wheeler would have been better!!

We also pulled together for an ultimate frisbee game for a good 20 mins before we got too hot. My parents have an awesome park right across from their house...too bad it's too hot out to fully enjoy the dry, green grass and the smoking hot metal play ground!
We also visited our favorite 4 star restaurants: In and Out and
Jack In The Box

Bottom line, we had an awesome weekend with the family. it was great to be together, just hang out and relax and get in some good pranks. Mom has a doll from her childhood that stands almost 3 feet tall with a red wig and summer dress.... it is quite a creepy thing. We kept hiding it in various places to scare each other. We'd put it on the other side of a closed door, in each other's bed, in Katelyn's suite case, under the bed with a creepy little hand sticking out. It was always a surprise where that thing would end up!!


Thanks everyone for a fabulous weekend and some great memories.

Happy 4th to all.

We survived the heat....barely...it took lots of Peachy Shakes!!!!

Camp Lopez

We camped at Rockport over the weekend for the 2nd time already this year. The weather was warm and Paul caught a fish. He promptly put it in the freezer and the size kept getting bigger and bigger as he talked about it. I started to tease him about his tiny fish so he pulled it from the freezer to show me it was at least a foot long as he set it on the bench next to his own foot to compare. It was coming up a little short...he said it curled up because of the freezer, but laying flat it was a good 12 inches!!

Paul's parents brought Redneck Horse Shoes; a game where you throw 2 tennis balls tied together to score points on a PVC pipe ladder. I promptly flung the tennis balls out of control and into a tree branch that was way higher than ever expected to be an issue in the game! So the new game was throwing a log with a rope attached to it- tryng to free the dangling tennis balls from the tree. After dozens of throws and a hot dog break, Paul and his dad were able to make the tennis ball rescue and we continued our game.

My niece and nephew became JR Rangers and were in charge of litter patrol.

Knuckles is now an official camper and loves the out doors and getting tangled up in his own leash. He is also a JR Ranger survivor!! (see below!!)

BFFS, River Rafting and a Dog Cake--Oh My!!!!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Lindsay and Devin came to visit from Washington. We jam packed our time with a trip to Moab where we slept in our old (but new to us) tent trailer...we survived the night after getting told to "Shut it down!!" by the not so friendly biker man-camping neighbor. The trailer stayed up and Lindsay finally tucked her legs up in the bed instead of dangling them down for support in fear of the bed snapping! We hit up the Colorado river for a half day rafting trip and hit one REEEAALLLY GOOD rapid that practically bent the raft in half and got everyone drenched!

We got back to Salt Lake Saturday night and went to El Chihuahua's (our favorite Mexican restaurant) and had Katelyn and Jessi over for a Grouch tournament. It's a fun, progressive card game like rummy that can make for grouchy moods if people become card hogs and "trash bins!"

We also went to the Melting Pot where we had cheese fondue, lobster, shrimp and lots of tasty things to dip in chocolate for dessert! It was the richest foods and most expensive dinner I have ever had (thanks for the gift card, Krystle!!)
Then I was surprised when we went to Jessi's house and the back yard was set up for a surprise Birthday party for me. There were balloons, decorations and tiki torches! They went above and beyond and had Jessi's sister make me a cake in the form of Knuckles! It was an exact replica-down to the one bent ear! I didn't want to cut it up and serve it! Quite a few friends and family came and I was just so surprised by each guest that continued to show up.

Thank you Katelyn & Jessi, for an awesome B-day Surprise and thanks Linds and Dev for coming to SLC and making it the best Memorial Day weekend ever!
I can't wait to have another BFF weekend somewhere fun with Kreesh and Paul too where we can all kick back and relax with friends we enjoy most...each other!!

Latest & Greatest

OH OH OH OH! OMG by Usher is my hot new song right now. It's makes me and Paul get our dance on instantly when it comes on the radio!

Below is the video of the latest web sensation playing Lady Gaga. I can’t get enough of this kid!

I saw The Last Song with my mother in law last week. The story was a bit dramatic with lots of crisis and quick fixes, but "what's his name" was cute enough to keep it somewhat entertaining!

We saw Robin Hood over the weekend and enjoyed every minute of Russel Crow! Then we went home and watched Gladiator, our other Russel favorite.

Usher featuring will.i.am - OMG

Greyson Chance Singing Paparazzi