The End of Summer

I can't believe Summer Break is already over. School started today here in Dixie. Donna and I are welcoming the start of school as the kids have started to drive us nuts! I used to hear parents say that they couldn't wait for the start of school each year. Now I know why. Here are some of the activities we enjoyed during the summer.

Each August we throw an End of Summer Party where the kids get to stay up late and watch movies while they munch on yummy treats and have a slumber party in the family room. They looked forward to it all week long and thought it was pretty fun to stay up way until 11PM and eat treats all night.
A party isn't complete without Papa Murphey Pizza, Root Beer, powdered doughnuts, sour patch kids, Peanut Butter Cups and Cookies. It felt like we were at Lake Powell. We had lots of fun.

During the Pioneer Day weekend we traveled to the Wasatch Front to enjoy time with Family. It was fun to see Nicole in the parade. I had co-workers here in St George asking me the following week if a relative of mine was in the royalty. They saw her on TV and heard her name and figured we were related. It was good to meet her beau, Jordan. He is a great addition to the family. We had an awesome BBQ at Bri's cabin at Sundance. That place is heaven.

The cousins enjoy the pond in front of the cabin.

We have nicknamed Kortney "Chubs". That girl gets fatter by the week. Her cheeks billow out and are very kissable....and I aint talkin' about the ones on her face! She is so much fun right now at 6 months old. Her chubby smile and cute giggle brighten my day.

We took the girls to Zion Park in June and enjoyed the hike to Weaping Rock.

We found an Ostrich Farm just outside Zion and had the girls feed them.

I loved catching the polywogs in Zion as a kid so naturally I introduced this little activity to my girls. They each caught one and put them in their water bottles to bring back home.

They were very proud of thier "Loot" Thankfully the polywogs were belly up the next morning. We did not want frogs hopping all over our house for the summer.

Kortney wore her pink bonnet for Zion.

Fourth of July Fun

Before I begin with our activties for the 4th of July, I need to deliver some crazy news. Cedar City has a Beach! Yep, thats right......Forget St. Thomas (angie), forget Kauai (ashley), forget Maui (sharla), forget even the beach of Tibble Fork (sydna).....you have not lived until you've felt the grainy sand between your toes at the Beach on the Leigh Hill!!! The proof is in the picture...

Now, on to the fourth. I love going to Cedar for the 4th of July. So many fun memories during that time in Cedar City. Its fun to watch my girls experience those same traditions. We had tons of fun with family at Grandma's house, the parade, the festival at the park, and now the Beach. I'm still in shock about that last one. You gotta see it to believe it....

Jay Ray strikin' a pose. I think he actually may be tooting in this photo. Poor Sheri

Megs and Trey enjoying the barbecue

The older kids got the best seat in the house for the dinner.

Nate and Alisha put on a great Barbecue for all of us. I'm still thinking of that yummy pink salad with Marshmellows. It was a hit.

The newest member of the Triple Deuce Artilary Battalion. Trev just returned from AIT training and told us some fun stories from Boot Camp.

Ole' Crusher Himself enjoying the Barbecue. (See Sharla's Blog for explanation)

Sleeping at Grandma's with all the cousins is like one big slumber party. Lots of fun.

Here we are all lined up for the big parade on the 4th.

Main Street in Cedar City

We love to go to the park after the parade and the first place we hit is the "Fishing Pond"

My favorite 5 women in the world. Megan Fox comes in a close 6th. Oh wait, my mom takes the 6th spot....Megan comes in a close 7th. (I'm just joking Donna, tee hee)

The fourth of july wouldn't be complete without cotton candy.

That stuff is so dang hard to eat. But its so fun to try!

We ran into Huddy and Amalia working the Cotton Candy booth at the park. Huddy was covered in fluffy pink strands of cotton candy. Amalia kept saying he was extra sweet for her!

We painted Kortney's chubby toes red for the fourth.

And by the end of the day, this is how it ended. Nicole passed out in the Middle of eating one of her parade candies. I guess thats why they call them 'Now and Laters'! Look at those Rosy Candy Lips. Classic!

Build and Grow Project

The other day we went to Lowes to buy a lawn mower. As we walked out of the store we noticed a sign that said, "saturday, Saturday, SATURDAY.....MONSTER TRUCK SATURDAY!" featuring a fun building project for kids. In a house full of girls, this manly project called out my name. Oh baby...I needed to sign up my 4 girls to build....MONSTER TRUCKS.

We arrived at the store at 10 AM Saturday morning all decked out with pink pony tails and red finger nail polish. The girls quickly strapped on their Lowes building aprons, grabbed their miniature hammers, and began building their wooden trucks. We ran into Lori Chamblerlain (Brent's daughter who now lives in St. George) and used the same work table as her family.

After a noisy 25 minutes of 50 kids pounding away with their hammers, our monster trucks were built. The building kits even came with paper cars that the trucks could 'crush'.

The kids enjoyed putting stickers on their completed trucks and even received a cool certificate that stated they were, "Certified Monster Truck Builders" as well as a free frosty at Wendy's. The girls had a blast and thanks to Lowes I received a nice dose of masculinity for a change.

Angel's Landing

While exploring Zion in 1916, LDS pioneer Frederick Fisher looked up at the great monolith and exclaimed, "Only an Angel could land on it."


Last week was National Park week which meant free admission to any NP in the country. I took advantage of the freebie and drove to Zion Canyon on Saturday to hike Angel's Landing. It was a perfect 80 degrees and blue skies the whole day.

The First 2 miles are deceivingly easy and safe. The hike is very fast in this first section.

The Great White Throne is the looming White Sandstone Mountain directly to the East of Angel's.

This is where the hike gets exciting. The narrow fin of sandstone leading out to the top of Angels.

Hiking up the Sandstone fin. A woman stumbled and fell to her death just last month on this part of the hike. The shadows of the canyon appear as black voids of space in this picture. In person, this was an Awesome view looking deep into the canyons below. I wish I had Angie Harding's camera to really do it justice.

The views of Zion Canyon are breathtaking from high up on the cliffs. I noticed most hikers just kept their head down and trudged along staring at their feet the whole time...I kept thinking, "My gosh, stop for a second and LOOK UP to enjoy the amazing views along the way!"

This is the famous "Step of Faith" on Angel's. My camera did not capture the horror of this particular rock. Many hikers have stopped and turned around at this very spot; refusing to go any further. The East (left) side of the rock is a 1200 ft drop to the canyon bottom below.

I voted this as my favorite spot for a chain. The shadows of the canyon messed up this photo but take my word for it, you definitely would not want to have a misstep on this section!

Finally made it to the top. As I stood for this picture, one woman passing by told me I was crazy.....all I could think was "Ah... my dad would be so proud right now!...and my mom would be freaking out." I can't count how many times I have hiked in Zion and heard my dad utter the phrase, "Whatever you do, don't tell mom!"

Looking way down at the main road from the top.

A couple other "crazy" hikers inching their way out to the edge. Fortunately it was not windy on Saturday. A gust of wind on the edge could really ruin your day

The view as I started my descent from off the top.

The virgin river from 900 feet up.

Can't wait to hike it again!

The Forbidden Fruit

I'm convinced that Eve's forbidden fruit was actually little DQ blizzards dangling from the limbs of the tree. Those tasty little treats are devilishly delicious! They also happen to be BOGO $.25 cents this week to celebrate their anniversary at your local Dairy Queen. Happy Birthday Blizzard! We're happy you were born 25 delicious years ago. For FHE tonight we decided we better join in on the festivities and wish this cold dessert a big Happy B-day.


I wanted to line up the girls with their Blizzards for a fun picture. However, after I snapped the photo I realized that Kaitlyn was experiencing a blizzard brain freeze the very moment I pushed the button. I got a little frustrated and told her to smile through the pain. I really needed this shot because my blizzard was quickly melting in the other room. The following picture shows Kaitlyn attempting to smile through her tears!

Finally Mom came to the rescue and told the girls a silly joke to get their cute smiles below. Colie and Jessy's eyes close into little crecent moon shapes when they smile big just like their moms'. I think its darling!

So...one 'Hawaiian', one 'Banana Cream Pie' and one 'Oooey Gooey Carmel Brownie' Blizzard later and they were all cold, happy, campers.