Twenty Years Ago

This week was the 20th anniversary of the day Chris flew home from his mission. The first Friday after he got home he went to a young adult dance and met a beautiful young lady named Elaine . . . . Its hard to believe there's now been more years as an RM than there ever were as a prospective M.

Northgate Peaks Hike

Chris picked up a Zion and Bryce hiking trails book at the Zion Lodge and needed to try it out. So on Monday, Chris, Scott, Dallin and Righteous Brent went on a quick morning hike to the Northgate Peaks. The trailhead was just a short drive from the cabin on the Kolob Reservoir road. We saw other hikers that started at the same trailhead but then took a different route to hike the subway, wearing drysuits and wetsuits. We were glad we weren't doing that on this particular day since we'd stood in that same river upstream on our camping trip and it was cooooold. It was a nice cool day for a hike and we even got snowed on for a few minutes which was pretty unusual for Memorial Day, so that was fun.

More Memorial Weekend Camping pictures

The river right next to our campsite.
Can you guess who took a shower.
Arts and crafts.

Backpacking in Zion.

Memorial Day Weekend Zion Camping Trip

We had a great camping trip, with our tent site right next to the river. Our good Bishop tested out some trek Dutch oven recipes on us. Those kids are going to eat well. When it was our family's turn to cook we bought pizza, so you can definitely tell which family does this every year and which family was trying it out for the first time. Lucky for us we had experienced campers right next door to keep us from perishing.
A picnic at the river walk where the narrows trail ends.
Who says the rides in the National Parks aren't just as fun as Disneyland. The kids loved sliding up and down this rock.
Ethan's favorite activity was making mud angels.
And his favorite thing about sleeping in a tent was the doggy-door.

Scott's Track Awards Banquet

Unlike Cross-country, where the parents get to attend the awards banquet, the track banquet was held right after school last week so we didn't get the details out of Scott for a little while. He lettered in Track again and also got a couple of Athlete-Scholar certificates for maintaining such good grades while running track. The Cross-country banquet, where we get to attend and cheer and get all the details, is a lot more fun, at least for the parents.

Dallin's Band Concert

Dallin had his Middle School Band Concert on May 21, 2008. He plays the French Horn in the Symphonic Band. He played Peter Gun and Secret Agent Man with the Concert and Symphonic Bands and Brazil, Pop Culture and Palladio with the Symphonic Band. The Symphonic Band also played a number their instructor gave them for the first time that evening as a sight reading exercise. Dallin did great and also got special recognition as one of the members of the Bank with a 3.9 or above gpa.

Allison's Piano Recital

Allison had her second official piano recital this week. She memorized and played "Dance," Scarf Dance," and "Boogie on Broadway," (a duet with her teacher, Lauren Farrimond.) We are so proud of her and her ability to play beautiful music. We love you Allison!

Dallin's Middle School Award Night

Dallin got to attend his school's award night and received a Certificate for receiving Straight As the last two semesters.

Mother's Day

Our Beautiful Mom a few weeks before Mother's day.

The boys have previously gotten mom breakfast in bed, but this year the girls woke up earlier and got to do the honors. Seems when the kids hit the teen years, it gets harder to wake up early on a Sunday morning. The girls also provided oversized homemade cards and a special Happy Mother's day dance and song routine.
Happy Mother's Day to Grandma.
Ethan's grandma-kissed forehead.

Rachel's Eighth

Rachel turned eight yesterday and we celebrated with a family get together. She wanted a hawaiian theme so we got out the leis and enjoyed a Cold Stone ice cream cake. When she was born I remember being in the hospital on my birthday thinking she was the best birthday present I could ever have. We have enjoyed her bubbly, curious, enthusiatic personality and her sweet, comforting, thoughtful ways. We look forward to her baptism the end of this month.

Wicked Trip

To celebrate their wives' 39th Birthdays (yes, it really is their 39th, and the first time too) Don and Chris drove them down to L.A. to see Wicked. We had a great trip, stopped at the Santa Monica Pier and the L.A. Temple and saw a lot of the sights of Hollywood. In all the times we've vacationed in Southern California, we've never done the Hollywood thing before, so it was fun to see the Hollywood sign and the Stars on the sidewalk and the footprints and handprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We loved the play Wicked and bought the soundtrack in Barstow on our way home and listened to all the songs again. We were glad none of us knew the details of the story so we were able to just enjoy the clever retelling of the Wizard of Oz plot as it unfolded and we really loved the music and the acting and the sets. It was a great quick trip. Thank you to Heather and Brett and to Dave and Leslie for watching our kids so we could go.

More Photos from our Wicked Trip