Home Means Nevada

If you are of the opinion that Nevada doesn't have much to offer in the area of beauty, you probably aren't alone and I might have been in agreement with you prior to this past week that we spent traveling the state! This was Justin's first official vacation since obtaininghis job at UPS, and since times are tough everywhere we decided to try and keep our costs low but our fun level high. So we opted for a family "camping" trip.

We started our adventure in Sunnyside, a very small town about 2 hours outside Las Vegas. My Aunt Sherri and Uncle Tom have a house out there, so we hung out with them for a few days. Lincoln loved everything about Sunnyside!!

Here is with the snake that Sherri and Tom caught for him on their property before we arrived.

And here he is fishing at the lake. He did really good for a 3 year old stuck on a boat out in the middle of a lake.

Look at the fish Daddy caught!

Lincoln loved the "motorcycles"!! Once he had his first ride, it was hard to pry him off. He was nothing but smiles the entire time. He loved the hills, and would scream "Yee Haw"and always wanted to go faster and faster.

After leaving Sunnyside we headed further north towards Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in Nevada. It is part of the Great Basin National Park, home of Lehman Caves, which I had never been to before. And it was pretty cool!! On our way there we stopped in Ely and rode the Ghost train.

Here is Lincoln enjoying his first steam engine train ride. We were pretty happy to be inside the passenger car, as the open car got pretty sooty.

Here is Lincoln and his Daddy at our campground at the top of Mt. Wheeler. Our campsite made us feel like we were the only ones there.

What a big helper!

He's got a little bit longer to go before he fit's in his Daddy's gloves! :)

Lehman Caves was pretty dark, at least from Lincoln's perspective! And he was very interested in touching everything the Rangers told us not to touch!

After leaving Great Basin National Park we made our way up to Elko and got our first glimpse at the Ruby Mountains. We stayed in a hotel in Elko the first night before heading up to Lamoille Canyon. (And I feel sorry for those that live in Elko, we didn't have many dinner options while in town) After a quick dip in the pool and a hot shower we were ready for another round of camping. And what a beautiful place it was!

Our campsite was in a campground called Fletcher Canyon, and it was right next to a swiftly running stream. The sound of running water was so soothing at night! And look at the view! :)

As we traveled back home, we headed down a new road to check out some other parts of our state. We saw some little towns, including Eureka, Pioche, Panaca, and a few others that you will miss if you blink. But just outside Panaca we found a hidden gem. The Cathedral Gorge State Park. This place is pretty cool. Lincoln loved walking up into the crevices. And once we were inside it really did remind me of the tall cathedral walls I saw while in Europe, but made of mud instead of stone.

Overall, we had a great trip. And it reminded me that I really do like camping, but I am still not a huge fan of bugs. And I despise bug spray and love hot showers and flushing toilets!

Success!

Have you ever feared taking your one of two or maybe even three kids to a portrait studio to take pictures, hoping that they can all smile long enough to get one good picture. Well, then you my be able to understand a little bit of what we went through yesterday when we took my Mom's 10 grandchildren to get pictures taken! Try getting 10 children ranging from 10 to 6 months to all look at the camera at the same time and be happy and smiling when they do. It is not a task to take lightly, but luckily our photographer was up to the challenge and I think we got some great pictures! (By the way my Mom made the girls dresses and the boy's ties! Isn't she amazing!)

Happy Birthday America!

I have always loved the 4th of July. i don't know if it's the Historian in me or what, but I love this Holiday. I might even say it is my favorite, although there are many others I also enjoy. But between the smiles and excitement that the fireworks bring to my little man, and the food the generally goes along with a hot summer day, I just love the feeling this day brings. We are so truly blessed!

4th of July Parade...a day Early!

Since the 4th of July falls on a Sunday this year many of the celebrations are occurring a day early. Which is nice for those of us who might not want to go full party mode on Sunday. We started the day at the Summerlin Parade, and it was pretty fun. We have never been before, although Rachel has been multiple times, this is the first time we opted to wake up early enough to join the festivities! We arrived early enough to get some great seats at near the start of the parade, which is nice because you have to wait less time for the parade to actually get to you and all the performers are still fresh. Not to mention that the end gets to you sooner as well, which means you get to leave before the heat is too overwhelming!

The kids had a good time showing off their homemade 4th of July T-shirts (they made Eagles using different parts of their hands), collecting candy, eating donuts, craning their necks to see what was coming next, and hanging out with friends and family. Overall, they had a great time!

After the parade most of us ended up back at Nana's house where the kids and most of the adults cooled off in the pool. After which we headed over to a friends house for some more merriment, a few fireworks, and fun. By the time the day was over Lincoln was exhausted and we all slept very well!

Adventure at the Shark Reef

Brian and Ann and the kids came down last week just in time for Lincoln's birthday. So it has been fun to let all the cousins spend some time together. Today we took the kids on an adventure to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. They all had a great time, and the fun started before we even got to the exhibit. They have an interactive "wall" as you are nearing the entrance that reacts to your movements, as if you were disturbing the water. Come to think of it we probably could have called it a day there and then! :)

But then we wouldn't have been able to see their excitement at the different exhibits inside. Or this fun picture of all of them wearing their 10 year anniversary hats! They were all so excited it was hard to wait their turn in the line. But the wait was worth it when they got to see a Komodo Dragon up close and personal, as well as an octopus on the move. And most of them were brave enough to touch the Manta Ray's.

I think the reason Lincoln liked to touch them was that he loved the fact that he got to wash his hands after! Everything was automatic so he thought he was so cool getting the soap himself and pulling off his own paper towel.

The kids also enjoyed the Jelly Fish and the shark room. My mom even treated all the kids to a small item from the gift shop, so they thought they were pretty cool stuff.

A "Super" Party for a super kid

For those of you who are unaware, Lincoln is pretty much obsessed with everything Mario. He loves to play the games on the Wii (Super Mario Brothers and Mario Kart), he would wear a Mario shirt every day if he owned that many, and he can spot Mario from very far away. So when I started thinking about his birthday, I knew it needed to be revolved around his love for Mario. Sadly, there isn't a lot out there right now in terms of Mario, and even a search online doesn't bring up much. (Enough to get the creative juices flowing and allow for some purchases of items, but no all in one stop for ideas and supplies)

The first thing we had to do was put together an invitation, so I used some images I found online and some Photoshop magic to put a little something together.

There has to be party games of course, but since its 100+ degrees outside, we didn't want to spend the whole time out there unless it was in the pool. And the inside of the house is a little small for the large number of family and friends t

hat would be joining us. So we kept them to a minimal, but I still think the kids had fun. Here are the games we played-

Yoshi Egg Hunt- I found some plastic Easter Eggs in April that reminded me of the Yoshi eggs on the game, so we filled them up with candy and coins and hid them in the yard. We limited the kids to how many they could find to keep it fair, and then also gave a prize to the person who hadthe most coins inside the eggs they found.

Goomba Stomp: We bought brown balloons and added plastic coins inside of them in different amounts prior to blowing them up. Once they were inflated, I added a printed out image of the Goomba to the balloon. For the game, we had all the kids stand in a circle and then dumped them all out into the center . They had a great time trying to break ope

n the balloons by stomping on them. Once again the person who collected the most coins received a small prize.

Chain Chomper Pinata: With a little pain and some paper we turned a soccer ball pinata into a chain chomper,

chain and all. Justin did an awesome job putting this guy together and the kids had a great time trying to break him open!

We also put together some pretty fun party favors if I do say so myself. I wanted to make boxes that looked like the question mark boxes on the game, but found some awesome yellow colored chinese food cartons at Party City that I think turned out great. Not exactly square, but so much less work!

I then found some inexpensive water bottles that I personalized with a variety of Mario Brothers characters.

As well as some funny straws that I did the same thing with. But I think the hit of the party was the life size Mario that my Mother made for us. It turned out great!!

I didn't make the cake myself, with just coming back form camp and preparing to leave again for my tech conference, I took the easy way out and ordered the cake instead. I did create the image that we used to print and place on the cake, but I let some one else do the baking. I feel a little guilty about that, but I don't think he will hold it against me in the long run.

Girls Camp

Wow! I can't believe it's over! Thankfully, the week went great. The weather was nice overall, a little chilly the first night (okay it was downright cold) and a bit of wind on Tuesday (okay it blew a few tents over), but we all come out of it fine. We all stayed dry and that is the best blessing of all, because in my mind camping in the rain is the worst.

It was a pretty nonstop week, from the Stake Activity to the Hikes and the Certification Relay, we kept the girls going. Which I think is a great way to have peaceful nights! :)

I was in charge of creating the after camp video, which turned ou

t good I think. It is about 20 minutes long though so I am not going to post it here, but I think it showcased the week pretty well if I do say so myself!

It was our first really big event as the new Young Women's Stake Presidency. We had a great time getting to know the girls and each other.