Fun times in Utah!

For our vacation this summer, we went to Utah to visit with family. First, we went to Salt Lake and stayed with my nephew, Alma, his wife, Matti, and their 2 children, Bella and Oliver. We had a great time visiting with them.

Amanda and Bella

Sam and Oliver

Matti, Bella, Sam, Oliver and Amanda at the Gateway Mall. They had a good time playing in the water at the splash park.

Next we went to Cedar City, Utah and stayed with my niece, Marie, her husband, Joe, and their 5 children, Veronica, Tyler, Samantha, Brenna and Braelynn.
We love going to the Shakespearean Festival at the college. Every night they have a "Green Show", where they put on a 45 minute skit/play/musical, program. Everyone either brings a chair or a blanket to sit on in the grass.

Joe, Samantha, Samantha, Braelynn Veronica, Brenna, Tyler and Marie

Above: We went to a swimming pool, where Sam and Veronica had fun "throwing" Sam.

Below: Sam coming out of the twisty tube slide at the pool. Next we went to Bear Lake. My nephew, Loren, works at the Boy Scout camp there, so we stayed with him, his wife, Carolyn and their 4 children, Bradley, Jocelyn, Caleb and Seth. My sister, Karen, my Dad, my neice, Joanna, her husband, Shayler and my nephew, Jimmy, met up with us at Bear Lake, too.

The girls had a ton of fun playing with all the water toys. Carolyns brother had a jet ski there, so everyone had fun riding on it. Loren gave everyone lessons before "setting them loose" on the lake.

Above: Sam and Hannah "trying" to stand up on the body board. I had to take the picture quick, before they fell off again!

Jimmy, Sam, Amanda and Hannah
Amanda and Hannah on their little sail boat.

My Dad, taking his turn on the jet ski

Jimmy, Sam, Joanna, Bradley, Caleb and Hannah

After we left Bear Lake to head home, I had to stop and take pictures as we were going through Logan Canyon. It is so beautiful!

Looking like a true pioneer.....

The week we get home from vacation, the girls are going on a Pioneer Trek. (For those that don't know what that is - they are "dropped off" out in the middle of nowhere with other youth and adults to "trek" around for 3 days, like the pioneers did.) Anyway, my sister, Karen, found the clothes that Joanna, her daughter, wore when she went on trek. Sam was excited to get the clothes today and try them on. She can't wait to use them at trek.

Gotta love those pantaloons!

Fun in the Sun......finally!

For the past week or so, we've had amazing weather....finally! It's been sunny and in the 70's-80's, which (for the Pacific Northwest), is nice and toasty warm. The girls, their friend, Hannah, and I had time this afternoon, so we decided to go swimming at our favorite swimming pool. It's called Stewarts Height and it's a BLAST! There's a curvy water slide, a lazy river, zero depth pool and a regular pool for swimming and lots of fun! This was the first time this summer we've had both good weather and time to go to the pool. It was nice to relax and enjoy our warm, sunny weather.