Saturday, July 30, 2011

Vacation 2011

I thought I'd better get some of this year's vacation documented here or I'd never get it done...I'm slacking on the family blogging!:)

Caution:  Very long vacation post...read or just look at pictures or skip the entire thing...at your discretion!:)

Anyway, we had a wonderful vacation this year!  We started off at Grandpa and Grandma Miramontes' house for Tony's birthday!  We spent the 4th at the parade and then had Tony's birthday party and fireworks!
Grandpa with Anastasia, Kyla, & Tyler watching fireworks!

The Grandkids at the Parade: Back row: Anastasia, Eli, Bodey, Caleb, & Kyla
Front row: Rhett, Jaxon, Xavier, & Tyler 

Cousins...if Tony & I can make it work, so can they!:)

Tony's 35th Birthday Party...I think it was around 11:00 by the time we had his party...it was a long but wonderful day!!:)  He got some clothes, a headlamp, a new mitt, and Rockies tickets!

We also went up to the Payson Pool (a yearly tradition now...it's so much fun!!), and did some shopping and Tony & I were able to do a session at the Manti Temple...it had been WAY TOO LONG since we'd been back to the temple we were married in!!

We then headed down to the cabin to have our annual "Double K Retreat" with the Wilson clan!  I actually didn't even get the camera out once that weekend...I knew Mom would take care of that...now I just need to get copies of the pictures from her!:)  It was such good times...GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!  Nothing better than that!

Next we headed to Parowan.  We went to the aquatic center in Cedar City and had a lot of fun (agian NO PICTURES...I really need to be better!).  And just had fun with Jared & Candy & family.  We had a pizza party with Candy's homemade pizza's...she's the queen...she make the best pizza's, and played more games!!

Friday, the 15th was my 15 year class reunion.  I ended up changing what we were doing because we only had a few people respond that they were coming.  So instead of having fun at the Lion's Park and having Cafe Rio cater, we just met at The Pizza Factory and ate and visited.  It was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs!! 
 The Gang (who showed up...there are a lot of classmates that still live in the area that didn't even bother to show up...I came all the way from Colorado, of course I got to set the date to fit my schedule!:))
 Left to right: Tanner Adams, Valerie Vincent Evans, Jake Hulet & wife Sandy, Mike Adams & wife LeeAnn
Krysten Ball Reynold & husband Whitney, Becky Crisp Merrill & husband...his name escapes me! oops!:)

We went to Cedar to watch Ben shoot up some pretty awesome rockets with Jamie and her kiddo's.  The rockets were amazing!  We then went to the St. George Temple with Jared & Candy to do a session.  When the session was over Jared checked his phone and had gotten a text from Dad  (who is in Kentucky with Mom taking care of Grandma Potter) that said that Uncle Russell had passed away.  We knew it was coming and that Dad would probably miss it, but he was able to visit with Russell earlier in the week before they left.  So glad for the gospel and the temple sealings!!!

After the Temple we ate at Five Guys and then went to Tai Pan (much to the boys' dismay...but I have to say they were troopers!).  I got some awesome stuff, I wish they had one here!! 
We went to church with Jamie & Ben the next morning and then spent the night with them so the kiddo's could play.  Jamie taught me how to make ebleskivers for breakfast monday morning...they were so much fun to make & were delicious.  As soon as I get me a pan I'm going to share that one on my blog!!:)

We were planning on heading home Monday morning, but decided to stick around a little longer so we could attend Uncle Russell's funeral.  And I'm so glad we did.  It was such a great service.  I know a lot of people don't like funerals, but I've always loved them...the spirit is so strong and the messages are so powerful!!  This funeral was no exception!  We had a little comic relief when I held Isaac...I'd had him for probably around a minute and Rhett was playing with him and he spewed all over Rhett!  Rhett's face was priceless...he was so disgusted!!  I was laughing so hard (without making any noise!:))

So since we were already around we decided we'd stay an extra weekend.  Jared planned a fun hike up on Brian Head for us.  It was the twisted forest trail, I believe.  It was pretty cool.  The pine that grows there is some of the oldest trees in the world and they only grow in certain climates and only over certain elevations, so it was a lot fun...we got some great pictures!!
 Caleb's a little monkey...he climbed pretty much every tree he found!:)
 Kyla with a pretty awesome lookin' tree!
 Here's the view from the top of our trail...looking right into Cedar Breaks!  And just so you know...just off that edge is a sheer drop off!!  I had Rhett's hand really tight because he kept wanting to go closer and look...scared me to death (and Elyse...haha!)!  But it was beautiful!
 Rhett posing!  What a photogenic little boy!
Tony with Rhett...two pretty handsome men!!
Eli...I was lucky to get this picture...that kid was all over the place!!  He really needed to get out!:)
Rhett, Kyla and cousin Kylynd.

Then that weekend we headed out to the cabin.  I absolutely LOVE that place...I wish we lived closer so we could use it more often!!  Lots of fun at the water slide, gaming with family, hiking, & 4-wheeler riding!!
Hiking Marble Mountain...Tony with the kiddo's!
Who is that stud of a man standing over there???:)
Looking down at the cabin & pond...this is only about the halfway point to where we hiked!  It was so beautiful!
Mom with Rhett & Kyla
 Tony & the boys...this is another one of those sheer drop edges...they sure made me nervous!
 Tony helping Rhett hike down...it was pretty steep & slippery
 Caleb
 Rhett
Kyla 
Eli
 THE WATER SLIDE...what a blast, and we had perfect weather for it!  Here's Kyla!
Caleb 
 Rhett...that kid absolutely LOVEd the slide...he looked scared to death everytime he went down, but just kept on going...from the very top no less!
 Eli's turn!
The kiddo's & a friend going down in Aunt Elyse's boat!

What a great trip...we love spending time with our family.  It's always hard to leave and we always want to stay longer, but life must go on...:)