Longhorn Days

Longhorn Days was celebrated on July 28th this year.  Meleena, Mia and I woke up early and participated in the 5K run / walk.  It was Mia's first race.  I finished the run in 27 minutes, and waited for Meleena and Mia to finish their 5K walk.  Mia loved it and I was really proud of her.

We ate breakfast at the park, then headed over to the parade route.

The Parade started with a helicopter entrance.  Impressive.

I love watching the two of them together!

Thanks to Uncle Marvin and Aunt Bernice, we had a spot on the parade route.  It was busy this year and the parade seemed longer than usual.

Dixie's sister Paula was in the parade, along with most of her kids on various floats.

I'm just waiting for the day they decide to tear this sign down, so I can snatch it up.  I've always loved this sign!

Luke's face is the best.  I think he's unsure of whether or not Uncle Marvin is trying to steal his candy.
He was just trying to fix the hole in his bag.

After the parade we had a Swasey / Jenkins reunion (always a highlight), then we headed back to the park for fireworks.

At the park they had the helicopter out and Ella decided she wanted to go for a ride.

Dave and Jaime hanging out with Ella.

We headed hom Monday morning.  It was so much fun!

Utah Summer 2012

July was a really fun month.  We spent the 4th of July at Lake Mead with some wonderful friends.  I didn't dare take my camera out of the ziplock bag that held it, because the wind was blowing sand all over the place.  I'm hoping my friend can get me a few photos of that fun day, which ended up turning scary with the weather.

At the end of July we went up to Utah for our annual trip to visit family.  We had so much fun visiting my sister Jill.  We were even able to go to Lagoon twice!

Here are a few photos of our 24th of July party.

Our first day at Lagoon was with Jill and her kids.  We had so much fun.  My kids look forward to it every year, like it's Christmas.

I just loved this photo of Whitney.  Check out the look on her face!!!

And of course we had to get ice cream in pioneer village.  I can see Jill's reflection in the window!

Then Jill and I decided to get a little crazy and do the Sky Coaster.  I was smiling, but really freaking out inside.  

It kind of scared me to death.  But I'm glad we did it.

The second day at Lagoon we spent the first half at Lagoona Beach.  I hadn't been there in years and it was a fun change.

Then we rode rides in the afternoon and ran into our friends the Aikeles.  It was great to ride a few rides with them.

We love the Petersons!

Altamont Summer 2012

We LOVE going to Altamont.  I always feel so at home and relaxed when I'm there, so it's a treat I look forward to all year long.

We had such a great time this year.  Luke learned how to fly a kite and did a great job at it.

And the kids practiced their fishing skills at Moon Lake.  Unfortunately Grandpa was the only one lucky enough to catch anything that day.

Holding up Grandpa's catch.

Drew and Dave took a few of the kids for a boat ride in the lake.

And Cole found this snake while standing by the shore.

One of the funniest parts of the trip was when Drew and Melvin decided it was time to cut a horn off one of the sheep in the field.  It's a big ram and one of it's horns was growing into it's chin, causing an infection, so it needed to be done.  Drew grabbed the rope and Melvin grabbed the saw.  I, of course, grabbed the camera!

Drew did a great job catching the thing, in one throw.  But handing onto the ram was a different story.

They pinned it up to the fence, but needed to get it on the ground to saw the horn properly.

The two got into a bit of a wrestling match, and the cleaver little beast wrapped the rope around Drew's legs.  Smartie!

 And down he went!

But they were finally able to get him on his back and successfully cut the horn off.