Steel Days Fun Run! by Melissa

We had a great time on our vacation at Grandma and Papa's house or as Kate would say, "My friend's howsh." One of my favorite memories was the Steel Days Fun Run. We've been running in the race since Parker was a toddler and the kids have run in the race every year since then. This year was the first time that all three of the kids ran in the race together. They are all awesome competitors and never quit! CONGRATULATIONS!

Happy 11th Anniversary

During the week of July 17, 2008 we celebrated our 11th anniversary. Wow! That's a pretty long time. Each year we try to go somewhere alone to reconnect and  refill our love tanks. And each year gets better and better. This year was a special one because we revisited our honeymoon destination at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We had a great time adding onto the memories that began 11 years ago and an even funner time starting new ones.

This year we stayed in a little condo on the edge of the Teton Mountains. The area was beautiful and just out of the town. The resort had a lift that took us to the top of one of the mountains for lunch. The whole thing was picture perfect!

On our honeymoon, we went on a white river rafting expedition down the snake river and stopped in the middle for a delicious steak dinner. Eleven years later we found the same river trip and went on the very same expedition. It was a blast! But, for some reason the food wasn't as good as we remembered it the first time. We've come a long way!

One thing hasn't changed. We still look great in wet suits! (grin) Cheers to another 11 years and many, many more!

Steel Days... More Fun!

While Wing and I were away for our anniversary, the kids got to enjoy the carnival at American Fork's Steel Days. Steel Days is one of our favorite things to participate in. We make the trip to Utah every July just for the festivities. It helps that the city is practically owned by Durant's and that Amanda gives the kids her free city tickets to the carnival. Free is always sweet! I just love the grins on the kids faces. Priceless.

Our little sweetheart on the Merry-Go-Round.

The caterpillar roller coaster that Parker and Grace said they were too big to ride, but would do it for Kate anyway. Wow! Those two are really suffering. NOT!

This is their favorite ride.... the potato sack down the bumpy hill ride. I get scared just climbing the steps. It's a good thing that Parker is here to keep everyone safe.

My two favorite girls after the movie in the park party. AF provides a ton of free booths for the little ones to enjoy and they always leave happy. This year, Granny Diane took the girls and they got their faces painted. And I thought they couldn't get any cuter!

Amanda's Birthday Gift

Amanda choose to make the most of her 30th birthday by receiving her living endowments at the Mt Timpanogos temple. It was a fun and refreshing experience for me. I loved seeing her happy face when she made those sacred covenants. It put the gospel in a whole new perspective for me. I'm so glad that she shared her special day with me!

Amanda wrote about her experience on her blog:

My temple experience was ABSOLUTELY-AWESOMELY-AMAZING!!!!! I loved every bit of it!! I’ll admit, it was different…..but SO SO SO C-O-O-L!!! All of the cute workers, along with my family and friends, said that they have never seen anyone so excited to go through the temple!!! I’m sure they have, but they just thought it was fun seeing someone so excited. Apparently I was glowing and just happy as a lark! Little Miss Sunshine was definitely in the building!! I wasn’t nervous one bit which is actually quite unlike me. I just felt so prepared and ready for it that I could hardly contain myself!!!

My favorite was the washing and anointing and the beautiful blessings I received. Wow!!! It was pretty much the COOLEST THING EVER!!! Can you tell I’m still so excited?!! I’m so appreciative of all the love and support that everyone gave me. It felt really great and the fact that I actually accepted the love open-heartedly was even better. I just went around hugging everyone in sight!! The temple workers, my family, my bishop and his wife, and my cute little friends! I loved seeing everyone in their “white dress”. Wow! I loved it!! But I was a little worried that I may have been irreverent or something. I definitely still need to learn my temple etiquette. Especially what you can and cannot share outside of the temple. I wish I could just tell everyone everything so they could know what they are missing out on!!!! I just don’t get why people wouldn’t want to go to the temple every chance they can get. Sigh……

Anyway…most importantly, I felt my Heavenly Father’s love for me! It’s hard to describe other than it just felt SOOOO GOOD!!! My “ROAR” is louder than it has ever been in my life!!! Seriously. I’m not making it up. The temple is just so dang awesome!! I can’t wait to go back again and again and again!! My stake president just told me to enjoy the moment and not to think about it too much the first time, so that’s what I did. But now….it has opened up a whole can of worms into my little questioning mind. There is so much to learn and I can’t wait to increase my knowledge!!!! Any recommendations on where to start? I guess just going to the temple as much as I can is the way to go….especially since I’m a beginner.

Kate's First Haircut, by Melissa & Kate

Hogle Zoo, by Melissa

We went to Hogle Zoo in Utah today and had a blast! The kids wanted pictures of all the different animals... so I did my best to satisfy them. We also wanted to share our adventure with Daddy because he is being such a big boy and stayed home to fulfill his work responsibilities. We really miss him. Love you Daddy!

Kate loved the elephant because he turned his back-side to us and made a huge pee-pee and poo-poo. It's all that she talks about. Pee-whew! I guess that's a major part of her life right now because she is newly potty-trained. It's kind of a big deal for her... and her Mother ... and her diapers.

Parker really liked the cheetah interaction with the trainer. We saw the cheetah find his hunk of meat and gnaw on his bone. Sick! (FYI: Sick is the new slang word for COOL!) 

Grace loved the penguins. We even got to see them eat some fish and dive in the water. Grace says that they are cute little wobbly guys.

We hope you enjoy our little outing. I don't know about you, but I'm pooped! (Sorry elephant, no pun intended.)