Thankful for Family....

Ryan and I were so excited to have ALL our kids here for Thanksgiving this year.  We hadn't all been together since our wedding in June.  We had been looking forward to this day for so long.  We were a little worried on the Tuesday before when the "biggest blizzard in seven years" was supposed to hit SLC and the boys flight from Las Vegas was also supposed to fly in.  Ryan and I got half way to SLC when we got a text message from Southwest telling us the boys flight was cancelled.  Ryan was soooo disappointed.  He wanted to spend the whole next day just with the boys playing the xbox kinect while I had to go back to SLC to get Briyana and my Mom.  But, we just got them on a flight for Wednesday and they came in a hour before Briyana so it all worked out!



Waiting for Briyana at the airport....

 We got back to Vernal late on Wednesday and the kids were excited to get their  early Christmas Present....the Xbox Kinect!  They stayed up until 1am playing. 

Thanksgiving Day my Mom, Step-Dad, Step-Brother and Sister and Grandma came to spend the day with us!  We had fun playing games and of course stuffing ourselves. 



Kids playing games.....





Ryan also got to carve his very first Turkey....he did a awesome job!!!

After the company left we had a family Xbox bowling competition.....here is a little video of some of the evening fun!

Friday we decided to participate in some of the Holly Days activities.  The kids got to go ice skating and drive some go carts.  It was packed but I think the kids had a great time and it gave us something to do.  We also took advantage of a special photo session since we had the whole family together. 

Saturday we got invited to go Tubing at the Tubing Park in Park City with all my brothers and their families.  It was perfect tubing weather and we all had so much fun.



Ryan and I with Grandma Esther



Ryan and I have talked about starting a family tradition with our kids every holiday season and we decided that we wanted to take our family each year to Temple Square to see the lights.  We did that Saturday night before the kids left on Sunday.  It was such a great experience and I always get such a peaceful feeling each time we go to Temple Square.  I think the kids all had a great time too!  We got hot chocolate, went to the Joseph Smith Film and after we spent some time walking around and enjoying all the beautiful lights.

We stayed the night at the Little America and of course all the kids wanted to swim so we ended up going back and swimming.  The crazy kids were getting out of the pool and having snowball fights and then jumping back in the pool!  It was a great weekend and we loved every minute with our whole family together!!

YEE HAW...

Well I guess it was about time Ryan introduced us to some Cowboy living.  In the last few weeks Rhett has rode a horse.  We all helped round up the calfs on Diamond Mountain and last night Ryan took Briyana to the Father/Daughter activity Western Style.  I guess you could say we are seeing what country living is all about. 

Now...bring on those cows........

Looking forward to next year.....YEE HAW!!!

Denver, Colorado....

Okay so we got in one last little weekend trip before the end of Summer and we had a great opportunity to do some really fun things together. We first went to the Dodgers/Rockies game and had really good seats right behind the Dodgers dugout.

After the game we rode back in one of these peddle bikes. We actually rode down in one also. It was actually pretty scarry because these guys are CRAZY drivers!

The next day we just relaxed and then we headed to the Denver Broncos/Pittsburgh Steelers game. Ryan of course cheered for his Broncos and Brandi cheered for her Steelers. Ryan got the last laugh though in a Broncos blowout! ;-) We sat on the 5th row right behind the Steelers and it was so crazy to be that close! I don't know how much of the game Ryan actually saw because he was watching the cheerleaders alot more than I think he would ever want to admit!

We are lucky to be able to do these fun trips and feel blessed and are thanksful for the people who help us out while we are gone. Thanks to you all and we love you!

July....

Just thought I would add some pictures from some our July events......the first is my favorite video of all the boys lighting off fireworks on the 4th.  Thanks to Ryan, they were lighting these fireworks off like sparklers but they were really suppose to be stuck in the ground and lit.  They had a great time!!

We were very happy to get to spend some time with Briyana before she started back to school.  She started 3rd grade on July 26th.  She is currently in AZ and her school is a modified year round calendar so she starts quite a bit earlier than Utah.  We had a great time at Lagoon.  I have realized I am now officially OLD!  I can't believe that I get sick on almost every ride.  When we first got to Lagoon Briyana didn't want to go on any rides and would actually cry when we tried to make her, but after a little bribeing from Ryan she decided that as long as Ryan was sitting right next to her she could go on any ride!!  It was so cute to see them so close.

Since it was almost the 24th of July and we had left over fireworks, we also decided to light off a few....that was until our neighbors across the street  came out and gave us the look that we were being a little too loud.  oops!!

Beaver Creek, CO

Well, I missed all of July but I will hopefully get some pictures of our time with the kids up here shortly. 


It has been a very busy month as always with lots of things going on.  Ryan decided that he needed some R & R with just his wife in Beautiful Beaver Creek, CO.  I have to say, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I look forward to going back again.  Ryan and I had a wonderful time and we returned feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world!!

We woke up early on Sunday and decided to walk to a popular Bakery.  As we started walking we realized that we probably wouldn't want to walk back since it would be completely up hill and over 2 miles.  Guess we are getting old and out of shape!  It was such a beautiful walk and we enjoyed just holding hands and looking at all the scenery.

After our morning hike, we decided to take the chair lift up to the top of the ski resort and have lunch.  Again, it was amazing views and made you realize we were in God's Country!

After lunch, Ryan had a chance to Golf at the Beaver Creek Country Club. I think that was my most favorite part of the trip.  Watching Ryan golf and how well he did on an extremely difficult course and not ever golfing it before.  So many golfers would compliment him on his great drives!!

After doing so many things on Sunday we decided we better wait and not go into Vail until Monday.  Here are a few pictures of Vail Village where we walked around and enjoyed lunch before we headed back to Vernal.