Our Summer Staycation!

WOW!!! What a week we've had!! We did not plan things to happen like they did, but EVERYTHING happened all in one week! It all started with my last post (which was Monday of last week) when we got together for a barbecue with our friends from Korea. This is how the rest of our week went: (I'm warning you now, this is going to be a long post with lots of pictures!)


Tuesday, July 21, 2009


My Aunt Tami, who was more like my sister/best friend growing up, and her family came to Utah for a short visit. They live in Apple Valley, California and don't make it this way very often. We're hoping they get to move back sometime in the near future because the cousins have sooo much fun together!! Tami's kids are actually MY cousins, but they call me Aunt Jennie. They're closer in age to my kids and all the cousins here in Utah. There are 20 years in between my mom and Tami, with four brothers in between, so that's why we're so close in age. Anyway, they all came up to our house for a barbecue. We had so much fun in the few hours they were able to stay. Hopefully next time they come, we will be able to spend more time together.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009



Chris' brother, Todd, and his family flew in from Florida. We were really bummed when we found out that they had scheduled their trip to Utah for the same week that we would be on our annual camp out with my side of the family, so in order to spend as much time with them as possible, we went to Chris' mom's house in Bountiful for ANOTHER barbecue. I only took one picture that night.....


Thursday, July 23, 2009


How we got all packed up and up to the campsite by 1:30 in the afternoon is beyond me. Usually we take our time and pack a day or two in advance, but since we were gone EVERY night before hand, we did most of the packing the morning we left.

We had a GREAT time with my family. We always look so forward to these camping trips and usually have them planned a year in advance. All of the cousins get along so well and love the time they can spend together. Every year they make a chipmunk trap in hopes of catching one. I'm not sure that they've ever been successful, but they got close this year! We ALWAYS take a traditional cousin picture with the kids sitting in order from oldest to youngest (or youngest to oldest, which ever)! One of these days, I'm going to go through all of my pictures and make a little book from the very beginning of our cousin pics!

We went to a campground (Granite Flats up AF canyon) we'd never been to before and I have to say, we (me and Chris, anyway) didn't like it much. (sorry, J) The elevation was waaaay too low and there was no cool mountain air, which is part of what we look so forward to. It was SO HOT and miserable!! There was really no need for a fire, other than to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, but the kids enjoyed it. I kept my distance because it was just too warm. We even slept without sleeping bags! That was a first!! Other than that though, I had no complaints. Tibble Fork reservoir was just a short drive down the road, so we were able to go play in the water for a bit. Unfortunately, we discovered that there are leeches in the reservoir...YUCK!!!!...and didn't stay for long. And, of course, IT RAINED!! Never have we been camping without rain. BUT...we did escape without a single puking episode!!! That was also a first!!!!! How grateful I was :)


We ended up leaving a day early so that we could get as much time with Todd and Pam as possible, so we packed up and came home Saturday morning. From the sound of how things went Saturday night, we missed out on some great fun! My little brother (who is a big, burly poly) was really goosey of the dark and his wife and my sister really took advantage of it!!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

We just had to take Todd, Pam, Kyla and Chandler hiking to our very favorite place in Utah....Albion Basin, just above Alta Ski Resort! The wild flowers are absolutely breath taking for a very short span of time from late July to early August, so this was the perfect time to have them here! Pam and Ky opted to stay home, but Todd and Chandler loved it. They even got to see snow...just a little bit, but still, it's almost August!! I will never get tired of the scenery on the Cecret Lake hike. I wish I could live there. You can't help but be taken aback by the beauty of God's creation!! The mountain sides are covered with wild flowers. Ahhhhhh.......

Monday, July 27, 2009

My two nephews, Jordan and Corbin, are both life guards at Centennial Pool in West Valley. The perks of that are that we were able to reserve the ENTIRE pool all to ourselves for the night! (Actually anyone can do that...for a price) We had a GREAT time and an awesome poolside barbecue. The big water slide was a hit with everyone! Dylan was being chicken, as usual, and refused to go on it. We wanted him to see how much fun it was, so Chris took him kicking and screaming the first time. That's all it took though. He absolutely LOVED it, so Chris did a victory dance with him in the water! We couldn't get him off it after that!! We swam until about 10:30. It was the perfect end to a perfect (but VERY busy) week. We were sad to have to say good-bye to Todd, Pam, Kyla and Chandler when we left. We don't get to see them very often, but cherish the time we do get. Hopefully next time they come, Heather and Mike can come from Michigan, CC will be home from his mission and Chelsea can also come from Florida...or maybe she'll still be in Utah, who knows!

How one girl can be so blessed with such AWESOME family all around her is beyond me! I am seriously so blessed to have a sweet little family of my own, great extended family and the BEST in-laws on the face of the earth!!!! THANK YOU to all for blessing my life with so much love and happiness and for helping to create such a fun filled, exciting week!! THIS is what life is all about :)