Beach Fun!

Maya enjoyed the sand much more than the surf!

Joel trying to play with the big boys.

Building sandcastles

Joel playing in the surf with Grandpa

Burying Grandpa in the sand.

Adventures in Montana

We enjoyed a weekend in Montana for the 4th of July with family. On the way up we went through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. It was a bit longer, but fun to see the parks. Maya's favorite part of the National Parks was not the bison or Old Faithful, but feeding the ants, yep you read that right, the ants!

Beautiful Tetons
Old Faithful after an eruption that we watched from the parking lot. :-)

Hot Pots!

Bike riding in Montana. It was perfect weather for a bike ride, especially the uphill part.

Dancing while waiting for fireworks

Our free river rafting adventure, it pays to go to church on vacation!

The kids both enjoyed it, Maya more once she got over wet feet.

Joel particularly enjoyed Grandpa holding him over the side to play in the water.

Ricky's first river trip.

What a great weekend vacation!

East Coast Adventures

We had a wonderful trip to the East Coast to visit my brother and his family. We started our trip in North Carolina where we spent one night before heading north.

With a drive through the beautiful state of Virginia, I wish we could have spent more time exploring there, but maybe next time.
Then onto 5 days in our nations capital. Washington DC was quite different from my previous trips, I credit that to 6 children in tow. Little ones don't have the interests that adults do and they get tired and cranky much quicker and don't know how to suck it up because it isn't every day you get to be in Washington DC.

Finally we enjoyed some fun filled days at the beach.

And ended with several days just playing with the cousins. We had a fantastic time and there will be lots more pictures of our fun to come!

Beach!

Can't beat a day at the beach, even if it was overcast and cold. We still enjoyed every minute of it!

My favorite pic!

My cute fam!

Building sandcastles. More like Poppy will build them and Maya will smash them.

My little beach bum with his toes in the sand.

Maya what did you see at Sea World?

If you were to ask her this question. She would quickly pull out her map of Sea World, that she has hauled everywhere for the last week including Joel's doctor appointment. She then proceed to tell you about what we saw.

Big Wheeels (Whales)

Sharks swimmin'

Dolphins jump in da water.

Penguins walkin'

Flamingo eatin mama's hair

Elmo dancin' (this one often comes with a display of Elmo's dance moves)

Oh the fun, especially through a child's eyes.

Where have we been?

Life has been busy lately, we've been enjoying some adventures as a family and working in the yard and house. Our fence is now 99.9% finished, we just need to remove some old posts and put up 1 small section of brace still, we've been working on cleaning out junk rooms and getting rid of old furniture since we got some new stuff (well new to us stuff).

Maya's been busy as ever, she gets into everything, wants what she wants and wants it NOW, is getting quite the opinion of what she likes and doesn't and is getting really good at expressing that opinion in a loud obnoxious way, and is growing like a weed. She has 5 teeth and some big bumps on her gums that look like they could be more. She says Mama, Dada, Up, and taa-taa (for turtle). She eats wants to eat almost everything, but has learned to love flavor, sometimes the only way I can get her to eat her veggies is to put Cesar dressing or parmesan cheese on them. She likes seven layer dip and loves tamales (yep she's definitely part Mexican). She's a busy girl and we love her lots!

Ricky's been busy with work and home. He is enjoying having Friday's off, although getting up int he morning is sometimes hard and often 10 hour days get really long. He leaves for work at 6am and doesn't get home until 6:30 pm, we miss him but also enjoy having him around on friday. He has started working out at a gym across the street on his lunch breaks and that is helping him get through the long days. I've been keeping him busy around the house with the huge list of projects I always have for him, infact he has lots to get done outside before it gets too cold and then he can start on all the inside projects.

I on the other hand have been enjoying taking care of Maya, finding a good bargain, and keeping busy with other various projects. Although I love being a stay at home mom, this week I accepted a part-time social work position. I start tomorrow and am super nervous about it, but know I will enjoy using my brain in a way that I haven't for quite a while. I will be working 20 hours (3 days) a week and I am hopeful that I can work, take care of the house, and still spend quality time with my husband and daughter! Wish me luck!

Well here's some pictures from all our recent adventures!

We took a trip up to visit with Maya's great-grandpa. They had so much fun playing together!
We spent a day at Bear Lake, the weather was beautiful, the water was warm and it was nice and relaxing.
Maya and Poppy playing in the water.
Maya and Poppy at Maya's corner.
One weekend we went up the canyon with our friends Emily and Trevor and Maya's buddy Lily. We enjoyed dutch oven dinner and s'mores around the campfire.
Lily enjoying her s'more
Maya and Lily playing.

Ricky had to go south for work one week, so Maya and I tagged along and then we spent a few days at the Grand Canyon. This was quite the week! The day we were getting ready to leave, infact the minute I was pulling Maya out of her high chair to put her in the car she started throwing up. Poor girl was puking everywhere. So we got her cleaned up and loaded in the car, we didn't have much time to spare, Ricky had to get to work. On our drive south we had to change Maya 4 times due to throw up or blow outs. Luckily the first few nights we had a hotel room because we had to do laundry and deal with a sick little girl. She was terribly ill and threw up every where we went. When we thought she was getting better she would throw up again. After 2 days of puking and one more day of blow outs she was finally starting to feel better and we were off to go camping at the Grand Canyon.

Our little cow girl, she wasn't feeling so hot, but she was a good sport to let mommy get a picture.

Horseshoe Bend

When we drove into the North Rim the temp droped 20 degrees to 55 and I was really glad I packed some warm clothes for Maya. She had a good time playing in the car while Poppy set up the tent in the rain.
A beautiful view from the North Rim.
Maya enjoyed being hauled around while we hiked, Thanks Emily and Trevor for loaning us the backpack, we might have to invest in one!
We stopped at Cedar Breaks on our way home, it was beautiful!

Moab

Ricky had to go to Moab Thurs. and Fri for work so Maya and I tagged along for a much needed vacation. We had a blast and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Thursday we went on a Off-Road Hummer Tour with some of Ricky's co-workers, it was AWESOME!! Maya screamed the first 10 min because she was exhausted and needed a nap, she then fell asleep and slept for about 30 min, and then laughed the rest of the time. She loved it!

Friday Maya and I hung out while Ricky worked and then we went to the park in the afternoon.

Saturday we enjoyed the car show in the morning and then spent the afternoon in Arches National Park. We hiked Delicate Arch and Sand Dune Arch and just enjoyed!

Sunday we went to Wilson Arch in the morning and then drove home.

It was a wonderful little get away. Maya didn't nap much, but did suprisingly well being on the go the whole time. She is a bit grumpy today, but not too bad!


The Hummer

Climbing the Mountain


The black tracks are where we went. Pretty Crazy Huh?

The View from the Top. It was beautiful!



Delicate Arch

Sand Dune Arch

Maya and Ricky under Delicate Arch

Wilson Arch, Ricky's one of those little guys up there.