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.

Crawling, Camping, Crafts

Ellie started crawling on her hands and knees this past week.  It's funny because on Wednesday I was watching my friends baby who is 2 weeks older than Ellie and he was crawling all around our house and I was thinking "Ellie doesn't do this" and then the next day she was crawling all over the place.  It's so fun watching her learn and explore.  And of course, her favorite thing to explore is Hobbes.  He has been so patient with her thus far.  However, Ellie recently received her first of many battle wounds from Hobbes.  She was sticking her hands under the curtain to grab him. 

I moved her three times but she kept coming back for more and inevitably he got her.

 Camping

Last weekend Matt and I were bummed that we didn't camp out so we decided to have a re-do weekend.  We went back up to Hitchcock Nature Center and ate dinner with some friends and stayed the night.  I have to say the highlight of the meal was dessert.  I made blueberry crisp in our dutch oven and I will definitely be making it again! So delicious!  I got the recipe here:

http://barefootandbaking.blogspot.com/2011/07/blueberry-crisp.html

Jeramiah, Cameron, Dallin, Matt, and Ellie

Jeramiah and Rebecca

Travis and Krista

Happy campers!

I took this picture in the morning. I love how Ellie is all sprawled out.

Crafts

It's funny how I can go months without doing a single crafty thing and then I get the bug and have ten projects at once!  This past week I've been finding a million things I want to do and Hobbes has been helping me along the way (:

Hobbes wearing a tutu I made for Ellie

I've been wanting to make something to organize Ellie's hair bows for awhile now and I finally did it!

I bought this old window from an antique store (it was NASTY), the glass was broken on the top and bottom panes so I removed it, spray painted it white, stapled chicken wire to the back, taped patterned paper behind the glass and used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl letters.  Best part is I did it all within 24 hours of buying the window and I had everything on hand.  It usually takes me forever to finish projects! (I'll be honest I don't really love how the vinyl turned out but I can always take it off and re-do it.)

Could you sleep like this???

I went up to Ellie's room to grab something earlier and she was asleep like this!  Half sitting, half kneeling, with all her upper body weight pressing on her head.

Hitchcock Nature Center and Kiddie Pool

This past weekend we went to this beautiful nature area located about 20 minutes from our house.  When we first arrived it was sprinkling and cool and felt just like we were up the canyon.  How I miss those gorgeous Utah mountains!  It was so fun to get together with some friends and relax around a fire (and tell scary stories of course!).  I had this random idea to make pigs in a blanket over the fire and they turned out great!

I don't want to jinx myself but, Ellie was SO GOOD on our little cookout.  It's like she was made to camp (:

We kept her up til 10 and then she just passed out in our friends tent until we left at 1AM (we had no idea it was that late).  She was so easy!

Alisha, Katy, Britney, Me, Catherine, Krista

Brad and Catherine

Chris, Tani, and Brielle

Katy and Todd

Kiddie Pool

A few of my friends are going on a cruise (JEALOUS!) in a few weeks and they want to get tan before they go, so we laid out on the grass by my house and watched the babies in the kiddie pool.  

I could not get enough of Ellie in her bikini! I wish I looked that cute with my gut hanging over my swimsuit (:  PS: Do you see Hobbes sunbathing also

Jackson and Ellie splashing like crazies! 

Th