Cherry Hill

 I have always wanted to go to a fun place in Kaysville, Utah called Cherry Hill.

We went on Friday!  

We went with our Kingman made friends the Alberts.

They recently moved to Kaysville and left a huge hole in Kingman, and our hearts.

Doug is a life flight pilot.

He got a job in Utah, where they wanted to be.

Notice the sky!

Luckily, it cleared up and we had a great time!

 

I loved the lazy river the most.

I had a slight "wardrobe malfunction" on the rapids slide.

As I shot out the bottom of a slide where everyone lines up for the ride,

the swift current took one side of the top of my suit down.

HORROR!

The kids!

Good times....more being had!

July 24TH Utah Style

The State Holiday for Utah is the 24TH of July.

Since I grew up in Salt Lake,  I kinda thought 

it was a national holiday, until I learned it wasn't

We got to come to Salt Lake and celebrate today

This is Talmage's message to Jared this morning!

My Sister Stacy and me!

We left the house at 6:30 in the morning to get a good spot!  

I wonder what we will do next...

Bryce....

After Alyssa's wedding...

all of Jared's Family who came to the wedding stayed at  Ruby's Inn.

Great Place...

No bed bugs! 

(Before we ever bring luggage out,  Jared and I do a thorough investigation for bed bugs. I worry about that kind of stuff! Ever since we saw something on Dateline (or the likes of it) on  the epidemic bed bugs have become!)  Ha ha. Yikes!

I even do a once over with Lysol of the bathroom fixtures and such...(Good Grief right?)

I sound like a blast to travel with!

We stayed in a room next to Jared's Parents.

The rooms had adjoining doors that opened into the other room if we wanted them to.

We did!

His Parents brought three of his Nieces.

My three boys adore the Nieces and their Grandparents.

Jared with his AMAZING Parents (they are going straight to Heaven)

We were hungry after the wedding!

My friend Kali, grew up in Panguitch and recommended this place!

The Pines Restaurant 

  So.... good!  Homemade everything!  Loafs of bread to die for!

Homemade Ranch too!

Carroll my Mother-In Law. 

 She is my Idol.

 The hotel pool!

Crazy!  We hiked the Navajo Loop. We heard so many European tourists along the trail . 

Kind  of  embarrassing that I grew up in Utah and have never been to this beautiful place.???

We have such amazing places to visit!

My boys!

Here's the thing...  

If Jared and I could just go to a quiet dinner...

we promise to come back and get them!

Instead...

The two youngest had  Poor Jared doing "hard time" in the bathrooms helping them

 one right after the other...

Uhhggg...

Not my favorite past time....

The dreaded words from our children in public places, right?!!!!

I cannot wait to go back and spend more time...

In Bryce that is... not the bathrooms

Maybe with our little old camper!

Can't wait to come and play more Alyssa!

Thanks for getting married and living in such a neat place!

Bryce Canyon!

We went to Jared's Brothers daughter, Alysa's Wedding on Friday! 

She married a Cowboy!

She has been the Rodeo Queen in St. George

They were married in a beautiful barn

The wedding started at six PM

We pulled in at six PM!

We drove from Kingman to Tropic Utah.

We did not allot ourselves very much time.

We got dressed into our nice clothes in the parking lot... or grass field.

Classy of us!

 More to come of the trip.....

I am not admitting defeat...

Jared walked into our room and said .."whoa..."

I said "it's every size 25 jeans the Buckle has ever sold"

he chuckled...maybe to keep from crying? (I know I did)

I woke early this morning.  Last night, I went to sleep with a heavy heart and mind.

A year ago, I was in such a different mind set...

This was about ten years ago.  I didn't eat 

very often.

I also felt so tired and hungry!

Look at my blond hair!  

I chose to go dark because being blond was 

too much up keep.

Since I am naturally dark, I had to be in the salon a lot to

maintain my regrowth.

Not to mention that I was up in arms for the week after

because my hair color never "lifted" enough, leaving 

it brassy...I thought.

My friend Kim and her boyfriend in New York years ago.

That was the version of myself for at least 10 years.

A blond!

Dark...different..but what works best for me now!

Even when I work really hard, the size that I am now, is my best me.

The fact that they do not even go past my thighs was confirmation that

this is the version of me now.  My best for me now.

I reminded myself this morning as I unloaded the  top of my closet

I am healthy!

My family is healthy!

I GET to help others!

I LOVE my HUSBAND!

I get to be a MOM!...

I sound like a wet blanket! Hehe

So, without further ado 

I have jeans for sale!  

Most are MEK

some MISS ME

Size 25 

I will sell ya at least eight pair for 

200.00!!!

P.S.  I realize how shallow this post is!

Sometimes shallow is good.

We need a break from deep every once in a while...

Three Brothers Reunited!

We picked Jacob up at the Las Vegas airport yesterday.  We were 45 min late to get him.

Not to worry, Southwest took great care of him!

We have to cross the Hoover Dam on our way from Kingman to Vegas.

There is a new bridge extremely HIGH above the Hoover Dam

We were at a dead standstill for a little over an hour because someone jumped to their death!!!

Details of what happened 

Tragic.

So happy to have our Jake back!

He hung out with his Best Friend Weston in Vegas before we headed back to Kingman.

Those two are like peanut butter and jelly.

They just are perfect together.

Home together!

How does your garden grow?

Cute Jared's birthday was on Sunday

Not quite ready!

Fritz, my 80 year old neighbor, turned 80 yesterday!  We had seven kids come over to play yesterday!  We went across the street to sing to him...he wasn't home...

We had a packed house yesterday.  One of my friends had a dentist apt.  Another had some other things going.  So we made it into a party! The boys had a BLAST!

Jake comes home tomorrow!!!

Dirt Races and Chocolate Milk

We woke up before 6 AM because Jared was running a 5k obstacle course.

The boys loved it!

So did I. We were so proud!

After our nap.

 Jonah asked for his Chocolate milk. 

(His constant choice in hydration)

 This struck me so funny

The text between my sister Stacy and I.

Friday Fav's

Birthstone Necklace

Cherry Chomper...pits your cherries!

I have a friend who loves

 this stuff!

My FAVORITE shirt!
Kelly Rippa wore this shirt on the Fourth of July on Kelly Live.
Sadly it is sold out in a lot of the sizes :(

Favorite necklace!

I bought this necklace with two additional leaf's for my friend who just lost her precious baby.
It can be close to her heart.

Hope you have a happy weekend!
Jared's birthday is this weekend and he is running in a "dirt race"
Should be fun!

"America's Birthday!"

 Fourth of July Cake Walk!
We won TWO cakes!
Talmage felt very reverent about the Fourth of July.
He felt that "going to the gym play room would make the day less special."
Jonah reminded me that it was "America's Birthday!" 

Glamorous, we know, The fireworks were right above us!
BRIGHT!

• After almost two months of no rain, The Fourth of July brought rain! It cleared in time for fun stuff that night.
• We had  friends who had a baby at 11:59 on the the third of July!  
• We had friends who had a baby on the 4TH of July.  Loved holding him!
• We spent the evening at Valle Vista golf course.  A fun little community here in Kingman. Their firework show is awesome!  No huge crowds.  Plenty of space for the kids to run around and play.
• They have cake walks, fun kids games, prizes, hamburgers and hot dogs! We did it last year and we will hope to do it again next year!

~For a girl who loves to shop.  My town offers VERY little shopping.(silver lining)  Boy, do I miss a great find.  I sure have a lot I would LOVE to put in "my cart"! Join me tomorrow for a mock shopping spree I would love to have. I love to see what others are loving. Maybe you want to peek at my heart throbs?...

Summer glimpses

Notice Barkley.  Seriously "Mans best friend"

This is how Jonah came into my room to wake me up!

The box is full of his most valuable treasures (certain Lego Guys)

The bag around his shoulder is his "money bag"  full of money.

Wish I had a money bag!

His hat he puts on right when he wakes up.

My kitchen window looks right at our brick wall.

I spiced up my view.

The birds are abundant now.  I love it!

Kids swimming.

Notice my patio. I stained it for hours one morning.

Only to discover that it would peel away because it had previously

been sealed.

So, I high pressure rinsed for hours.

Etched the entire patio.

Stain again.

and

It worked!

Talmage with his coach Amy on his last game.

On a deeply sad note~

I have a friend here in Kingman. She has two boys.  She was pregnant with her third baby boy. She was due in a month.

On Friday, after she had eaten chocolate, she didn't feel him move.  Chocolate always made him wiggle.

He had died.

She spent 24 hours delivering him.

He had a knot in his cord that as he grew got pulled tighter and tighter.

Her precious baby was over six pounds and had auburn hair.

My heart aches for her and her little family.

Makes little problems seem so little.

I understand a little bit more what mourning with those who mourn means.

We care so much about their empty arms and truly ache for them.

Their loss is tremendous.