Lake Tahoe

For our family trip this year we went to Lake Tahoe with the

McCoy clan. I love Lake Tahoe! It is absolutely gorgeous and since it is where Matt and I went on our honeymoon it will always be special to us. We hiked down to Emerald Bay, fished for crawdads, celebrated John's 30th b-day, watched the Olympics, hung out in the back yard, the boys played park golf (Matt's new favorite thing), went to the beach, took nature walks, and went parasailing. It was fun to be together and we loved having Pat, Angie, and Colton for a few days!

 

Grandpa stretching at the rest stop. 

 

 

 

Looking for fish and crawdads.

 

 

 

Watching mom and dad in the sky.

It was strange because I didn't feel scared at all, it was so quiet and peacful up there.

 

Fremont Indian State Park and Paiute Trail

We went to Fremont Indian State Park for a family campout. It was a lot of work, but so fun!  It was Ellie's first time on a four wheeler.  You'd think she would be all excited and looking around but she fell asleep everytime.  How anyone could sleep on those loud bumpy things is beyond me!  Poor girl, I'm sure she was just so sleep deprived.  So since we were going four wheeling Matt and I decided to do the responsible thing and get Ellie a helmet.  These pictures are the only time she wore it (: I feel guilty admiting it but she was so much more comfy without it, strapped in my baby carrier.  The thing I love about this area is the diverstiy.  You can go up the canyon and it's lush and green with pine trees and aspen and then down the canyon it's desert with cactus and red rock.

   

Melissa was terrified!

 

There was a crazy rain storm while we were out on the quads, it was insane driving back to camp.  I swear I thought we were going to get hit by lightning.  Matt was driving so fast that the rain stung as it hit your skin.  This pic below was taken when we got back to camp, you can't tell but we were drenched!

Jim's signiture retarded face (:

Papa Lynn telling stories around our non-existent fire.

Looking at indian petroglyphs

An Indian "pantry"

 

It was so cute, all the kids climbed in to play with Ellie.

Summer Fun!

I am such a procrastinator! It would have been so easy to do a short weekly post of our summer activities in Utah, but I have to do it the hard way (:  So, this is going to be the longest post ever!!!

We have had so much fun spending time with our family and friends this summer! We've gone to amazing places and done alot of things but my favorite part of being here in Utah is having Ellie around so many people who love and adore her!  She's changed so much since we've been here.  To list a few she: started pulling herself up, feeding herself with a spoon (it's pretty funny!), doing pattie cake with Papa Lynn (including roll it, mark it, and throw it), pointing to everything she wants, babbaling to herself more and saying things that sound like "What's that", "Momma", "Hey, Matt", "No", "Woof, woof" and "Doggie."  It's crazy how fast she is growing up!  Here are a few of the fun things we've done this summer.

Silver Lake

One of the things that drew me to Matt was his love of the outdoors.  Hiking and camping is our favortie thing to do as a family!

 Concert at the Park

I swear I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! It was a polynesian concert and Lizzy danced like crazy the whole time! She has some sweet moves!

It was so fun having Mike and Lisa here for a few weeks!  Even if Michael looks like a psycho killer in this pic and Zaidee hasn't failed to notice (:

 Hanging out at Granny's

 4th of July

The 4th was so fun!  We got up early and walked over to a neighborhood breakfast and parade.  Later we visited my great uncle Lowell and Carey Jean and ate Cafe Rio with them.  The older folks there had such a sweet spirit and loved seeing the babies.

 Shakespeare Girls Trip

This picture doesn't do justice to how gorgeous this was!  We pulled over on the freeway to take this pic of a full double rainbow! 

I love going to the plays but this is my favorite part! I love going to the sand dunes!  Hanging out and looking up at the stars!

Ellie enjoying the green show.

The Pastry Pub, my favorite place to eat in Cedar City.

Millcreek Canyon

We've cooked dinner up the canyon a few times since we've been here.  Why is it that everything tastes better in the outdoors?

This picture cracks me up!

Silver Lake with the Fam

The boys tried to catch ducks with bread tied to the line.

 Ellie is 10 months!

Pioneer Day

When I was a kid we always slept out on my grandma's back lawn and had a big breakfast for pioneer day.  This is our failed attempt (: We are all lame-O old folk who would rather sleep in a bed when there is one near by. 



Waiting for the parade to start we ate bagels, O.J., and played golf.

This was taken during the parade (:

Impressive considering how loud it was

Julie: "It is so hot! I swear your not as hot as I am!"

After the parade we went to lunch with Grandma.

Pillowcase Dresses

 Shannon made these cute dresses for Zaidee, Ellie, and Cora.  After dinner at Andrew and Jancie's we had a photo shoot.