Girl's Night Out

So July 1st was our Girls' Night Out with Curt's mom, Bev, and the girls that want to see Twilight: Eclipse. Bev always is so nice and always makes these little gift bags with such fun stuff in them. This time she found a necklace that said, "I love vampires" and a bunch of candy (can't go wrong with that!) It was so much fun!

Inside the theater they had the classic cardboard cutouts of the characters in the movie so we all took our pictures with them. I love these moments because it's a chance to stop being "mom" and you can feel like a teenager again...although sometimes I don't believe I'm as old as I am. It's always fun to see who can take the craziest pictures! I think I won!!!

Here's Brandy's. I thought hers was pretty good too.

This is us showing off our necklaces while so cute lady was brave enough to take our picture.

After the movie they had some more fun movie props to take good pictures on. "Argh...Matey! Land Ho!!!"

Girl's Camp 2010

Well I am the Young Women's 2nd Counselor so I was able to go to Girl's Camp, which I love. Since Shelby is 12 she was able to go too for her first year. It was July 20th through 23rd. We went to Camp Aerie up by Kamas. It was so pretty up there, but we were warned that it was bear country so we had to lock all of our food in the scout trailer every night...every SINGLE piece of food so that a bear wouldn't come looking. Some of the girls were very scared and needless to say some of the priesthood took advantage of it, mostly their dads. We had such a good time! Thanks to Curt and Grandma Moon and Grandma Nye for babysitting! Love you guys!

This is our whole group that went.

Shelby at 6:30 a.m.

They had Naturalist certification and they learned which plants are edible.

This is our friend Alex Smith. His wife was our camp director and he came up to talk about flying Apache Helicopters. We love their family. He was also our pyromaniac who got our dinner coals ready and was in charge of cooking our foil dinners. They were perfect...probably the best I've ever had. Thanks Alex!

Craft time!!!

This was one of the best Secret Sister Gifts EVER!!! Thanks Meagan! It's hilarious!

Happy 14th Anniversary!

So for our anniversary this year we wanted to go 4-wheeling again, just like last year and we went to the same place as last year which was up to Mantua. We love it at this time of year because the wild flowers are just starting to bloom and it's beautiful. This was where the wild flowers were going crazy last year but because it was so cold this spring it delayed the blooming. We were kind of disappointed until later on in the ride. You'll see why further down.

We wanted to see how far up toward Inspiration Point as we could but we didn't get too far. There was still quite a bit of snow up higher and this is as far as we got.

It was so pretty seeing the view of Willard Bay and all the salt out in the valley. It was awe-inspiring.

Here's my handsome husband..."The hills are alive with the Sound of Music!"

After the delay in the wild flowers we rode down further toward Avon and Liberty and there is where all the flowers were going crazy. See how green it is and all the flowers that are in bloom? So pretty!!!

This was my favorite spot of the ride. There was the green hills in the background, the rail fence and the little stream flowing through it. It made me feel like I was in Little House on the Prairie and there was no one around. I loved it!

And this just makes the spot even more perfect...add a handsome guy and you can never go wrong!

Austin Playing Baseball

So as I said earlier this year Shelby, Kaylee and Carson all played softball/baseball and Austin had, I mean GOT to go to all the games. Anyway, we were watching TV one night and Austin was playing while we were watching and suddenly it clicked what it was that he was playing. He had a football and a stick (don't know where he got it) but he would hit the ball, drop the stick and then run in a circle and occasionally he would slide into base! It was HILARIOUS! This was the best video we took of him but the best were the ones in the beginning before we were taping. Hope you like it as much as we did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5JaOugP2_Q

Softball Season 2010

So this year Shelby, Kaylee and Carson all played softball/baseball/t-ball. We have been quite the busy family since Shelby had practice on Mondays, Carson had games on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Shelby and Kaylee had games on Wednesdays and Fridays. So it was a five-day-a-week thing.

Shelby's team did really well this year. Her coach, Lenny Touchin, asked Curt to be his assistant coach so it was some good father/daughter time for them and they both had a great time. Her team only lost one game and that game was a heart breaker. They were so close to winning plus they had to play in a huge rainstorm. They lost it right at the very end. She is very good. She played almost all positions this year and did really well.

She's a great hitter. This one went foul but I love the intensity on her face as she hits it.

This one got her to first base. In her last game the balls were coming in really fast. She struck out twice before getting the timing of it right and then her last time up at bat she hit a triple. So that made up for it! It was so much fun to see her play.

Here is our beauty queen. She's more concerned with looking good than getting all sweaty and dirty but she has had fun as well. She was nervous at the beginning because she didn't know how to play but she's done really well. She has played first baseman quite a lot this year but she still has lots to learn like having to move to go get the ball when it doesn't come right to you. She's a pretty good hitter too! Her team's name is the Angels and I can't think of a better name for her team. They are the only all girl team so it was fun for her.

This is after her hit. It's machine pitch so it's a little bit more difficult than just t-ball but still t-ball rules.

Strike a pose!

This is Carson's first year...can you tell? Curt was asked to be assistant for his team as well and since it's the first year for most of the boys I think Curt put it best..."It's like herding cats." They don't listen and they're all over the place but it's still funny to watch them. Carson had lost his Astros hat so he is wearing his Yankees hat from last year. Oh well...makes for some good pictures.

Carson and another kid from his team, Mason, that would always fight over the ball if it came close to them. I thought it was hilarious!!!

He wasn't a bad hitter but he had trouble in realizing that once you hit the ball you need to run as fast as you can to get to the base. He would just jog there. Silly kid!

This is him, further back in the picture, running to second. Can you see his chicken legs? He's so skinny!

We had fun this year but this is our last week. We're wondering what we're going to do with all of our extra time! I guess we'll have to find something to do. Any ideas?

Shelby Turns 12 -- YIKES!!!

Well it's official...Shelby is now 12. She has been counting down the days. I don't think to her it could have come fast enough but we were hoping to slow them down a bit. We can't believe that we now have a 12 year old. She was so excited to graduate from Primary and move on to the next stage of her life which is Young Women's. I guess it helps that that's where I am and all her friends as well.

Well her birthday this year happened to fall on the last day of school which also ended up being her 6th grade graduation. So she had to dress up for her birthday. She looked very nice. We didn't quite know what to get her so we asked her what she wanted. She asked for a cell phone...we said no. She asked for a dog, again...we said no, again. She asked for make-up...we said, maybe. So that's what most of her birthday consisted of, make-up and the things that go along with moving to that stage. Also after her graduation Grandma Nye took her shopping since she also wanted clothes. Yea for Grandma!!!

She also got a gift card from Grandma Moon (she always loves those) and a HUGE Hershey bar (her favorite) and the big gift from us was an iPod Nano. Curt printed off a picture of it since it hadn't quite come yet and put it in the card. She had asked for one for a little while and I think she just decided to give up on that because when she opened the card she thought it was his sense of humor giving her an iPod...just the picture of the iPod because she didn't say anything about it. Curt had to tell her that it would be coming in the mail soon. Then she got WAY excited and was jumping around and saying, "I can't believe I'm getting an iPod!" It was cute.

We went kind of simple on her birthday. So for her birthday cake we made a strawberries and white chocolate cream cake. She loved it and so did the rest of the family...hey, you can't go wrong with strawberries at least that's what we think in our house.

The next day which was Saturday the 5th we gave her a birthday party at Classic. We decided we loved it because they could all entertain themselves doing whatever they wanted and we didn't have to set up or clean up after. All we had to do was bring the cake and that's it. We might have to do this more often! Here are the friends that she invited. There were only seven of them and two of them included our really good friends who had just moved the week before. Our families were all best buds so it was good to see them again.

So after it was all said and done she had a good birthday...and needless to say has had a great time playing with her iPod.

Love you Shelby!!!

Shelby's 6th Graduation

Well the last day of school, June 4th, Shelby graduated from 6th grade. We are now going to have a 7th grader in junior high. She is excited and nervous but I don't think as nervous as we are! When the kids first came in they sang a couple songs that one of the teachers had taught them. One was an African wedding song that said the words "Wee-wee" and one kid on the back row COULD NOT keep a straight face whenever those words came up. We had a good time laughing with him!

Shelby won one of the Presidential Gold Awards which meant that she kept all of her test scores above 90 percent and had good citizenship. We were so excited for her. This is her receiving her award.

Then they got their certificates for graduating 6th grade and being able to move on up to junior high. These are some of her classmates.

We are so proud of her. She has done very well in school so far and we hope that she continues to see the value of doing well in her education and how far it can take her.

Way to go Shelby!!!