Panning for gold

O.k. I am back tracking a little because I finally got the pictures I needed to do this post. When we were in California in the beginning of October, My sister Sara and my mom (Lori) took the kids to Caloma to pan for gold. It was such a fun day for the kids and I had to document there time there.

Cousins

Sean and Andrew are only 6 months apart in age. They love hangin out and are both very cool dudes.


My sister Sara and I


My mom Lori and sister Sara

Sara and my niece Ella

My Nephew Owen

Look at the serious concentration here. very serious stuff.

The kids were thrilled about their treasures. We had a great guide to help us get some real gold flakes and not fools gold. We had such a great time. Aunt Sara even bought all the kids candy and harmonicas from the gift shop, which they were all banned from using in the car on the way home. I highly recommend this place for kids and grown ups.

Update for August

August was a busy month for us. My little brother Well I would say Younger brother (not so little, he towers over me) graduated from BYU. Even though I am a full on Ute fan I decided i could go support him in his accomplishments. It was so great my whole family (accept my sister Rebekah and family) were able to come out. We had a busy week while they were here since my Mother in Law was still in the hospital. We managed to spend some time with my family though. Here are some photos of graduation..My mom, beautiful daughter Cali and I Cali, my beautiful niece Lila and I My mom (nina) and Cali
My nephew Davin, My niece gillian and Andrew my handsome son

Me, my mom and Lila
My sweet and loving sister in law Callie and my yopunger brother nathan the graduate

One of the days we all got together in park City. One of my favorite places to hang out. These were taken at the alpine slides. The kids got to ride with cousins and Cali also rode with her Aunt Krista on the roller coaster...

Nina and baby Lila

Nina and Cali

Cali, Lisa and Kea

My Sister in law Laura and I

Andrew, Austin, Davin and Josh (cousins)

Cali and aunt Dida (the kids call her Dida)

Kea and Cali (cousins)

My brother Brian and I

( I think we still look alike)

Austin and Andrew coming down the coaster

It was so awesome seeing everyone. people came all the way from California and tTexas to be here. What a fun time for the kids

Summer concert

I got so behind on blogging this summer so I thought I would catch up a little and back track to mid July. One of my favorite things I did tis summer was the Fray and Jack mannequin concert. I went with "My girls" Laura, Holly, Diana and myself. It was a lot of fun. My friend holly introduced us to the band Jacks mannequin and now they are one of my favs. My favorite song is called Swim off the glass passenger album. It's very inspirational and brings tears to my eyes when i hear it.

We all got matching T-shirts too



Thanks for the concert girls! It was a blast!

The Fourth

Fourth of July for us is filled with Food, Family, Fun and of course Fire works. This year we had a busy and amazing day. During the day we went to see my sister and her family visiting from California. We had lots of food and the kids got to play with the slip n slide and they got to roast hot dogs and smoores. It was great to get the cousins together again.Cali and Ella eating their popsicles


Cali, Andrew, Sean and Ella

After that we headed over to My sister in Laws parents house to do Fire works with the other cousins. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Sparklers were the hit although Cali burned her poor little finger on one.

This is me with my good friend Holly. She is the sister of my sister in Law Laura. Craig and his mom with her dog Molly Cousins and Fireworks

from L to R Hailey, Jacob, Andrew, Cali and Sydney. We were missing Laura nd Lindsey who went to stadium of fire to see the Jonas Brothers. They had a really good time and got to see amazing fireworks.

Beautiful Aunt Holly with the twins Sydney and Hailey

Cali with her"girls" as she calls them. She cannot tell them apart so rather than get it wrong thats what she calls them. They are inseperableOur little family

I Always try to reflect on this holiday and get a new appreciation for my country and my freedom and think about all the brave soldiers who continue to fight to protect our country and have died for it. i am so greatful to live in this country. I feel so blessed to have been born here.I am truly proud to be an American girl. It was a great family day. i really enjoyed all of it until we got home that night and saw that our dog got spooked by the fireworks and chewed up our wood blinds trying to get out. Oh yes the blinds that give us privacy from all the neighbors. Clearly a terrible mistake on our part. Something I wasn't ready for but I guess I will get those white plantation shutters I have been dreaming about. Won't do that again.