Flaming Gorge

Okay, if you haven't seen our pictures from Mexico yet, keep scrolling down. It's time to add a new post before I get way, way behind. My only hope is to get caught up in time for me to start school again. Then, I'll never post since I'll be working 1 1/2 jobs!

So, over the 4th of July my mom's side of the family always goes camping at Flaming Gorge. We camp close to the dam so we can raft the river whenever we want. This year we went down twice because Brooke brought the triplets and someone had to stay behind with them each time.

My dad, Sheree, Robert, and John were in heaven because they got to kayak for 2 days! They convinced Brian to try it out too. These are some videos of them rolling. Also, since we pretty much just went down the river, those are the only pictures I have. Enjoy!

Oh, I almost forgot. Once we got to Flaming Gorge, Robert notice that his truck was leaking. Well, come to find out that his water pump had gone out! We had to take a trip to Vernal to get a new one, and the tools needed to change it because they are special ones. Luckily, Robert knows how to do those things, plus Aaron is also a mechanic, so he helped out two. Thanks Aaron! We keep joking that we are not going to go on anymore vacations because they end up costing us too much!

Pictures from Mexico

Okay, I finally have a second to update. And, I'm going to be the first to post about Mexico because we all know that Emily is a bigger slacker than me! Just kidding, Em.
It definitely was an adventure. Robert didn't make it on the flight on the way down, so he showed up a day later than the rest of us. We just spent the day at the beach while we waited for him. The next day we went to Isla Mujeres. We took a boat ride that took us out to the island, around it, and snorkeling off the coast. My mom HATED the idea of riding the boat, but we made her go anyway. The "boat captain" brought food out to feed the fish, and so many came up when he would do that.
We went to two different Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza and Ek Balam. I liked Ek Balam better because you could climb up the ruins and see inside of them. It was way cool. It poured the day we were there, and we were soaked instantly. We took a tour of the sites from an LDS tour guide. It was way cool because he was able to connect things to the Book of Mormon. It was crazy being there and pretending we were Nephites or Lamanites.
We also went to Xcaret, which is basically a water park on the beach. We went down an underground river, snorkeled in the ocean, and watched a show depicting the history of Mexico.
In our free time, we hung out at the beach and pool. Our hotel was right on the beach, plus it had a ton of pools, plus each room had its own little "hot tub" that had cool water in it. That was a great place for the kids to play.
On the way back to the States, our buddy passes got cancelled, but we managed to get on another flight. Like I said, it was an adventure. I've put up two slideshows, one with pictures of the ruins and one with the rest of the pictures. That way it's not so long. I hope you enjoy them.

"Don't Die, Don't Die, Don't Die, Don't Die"

If you have ever seen Jerry Seinfeld's stand up, you'll know just how you're supposed to say that. My dad, Sheree, and Robert talked me in to going on their kayaking trip on Tuesday. Ironically, right as we were getting into the water, I was quoting Jerry. I was also doing everything I could to slow myself down, pretty much the whole time, but there wasn't much hope of that with how the river was.

So, there were a total of 7 of us kayaking and 3 of us were beginners. We were all doing pretty good and starting to feel comfortable when we reached the problem area. There were a whole bunch of rocks, which weren't really the problem, at least for me. The problem was a log sticking halfway across the river. My dad went down first, and I was second. I tried my hardest to get to the right side of the log, but the current pulled the back end of my boat into the log and flipped me. It was all pretty much a blur after that, but I ended up with my head above water on one side of the log and my leg pinned between the other side of the log and my kayak. Upstream, Robert turned around to see my boat upside down. He freaked out, bailed, and came to save me.

At the same time, the other beginners were getting flipped and all the experienced people were bailing trying to save us.

Once Robert saw that I was okay, he took off after our kayak and ended up running alongside the river for about 2 miles before he and my dad caught it. My dad, being downstream, was the only one still in a kayak and had to try and catch all the others as they came down the river without people in them.

Sheree and I started hiking down between the river and the road when a blue explorer pulled over by us. It was my brother-in-law John. He was on his way back from Rock Springs and he ended up giving those of us who never caught their boats rides to the bottom. Thanks John. My dad did manage to round up all the kayaks, just not until they were almost to where we get out. It was definitely very eventful and most of us got some pretty sweet battle wounds. Only Robert didn't because he was out of the water most of the time. Here's the picture of mine.

Off to Mexico

I know that you have all be anxiously awaiting another post from me, considering it's been a month. But, you'll just have to wait a little longer because we're leaving for Mexico tomorrow with my whole family! We'll be gone for a week, which means Happy First Anniversary in Mexico. Lucky us! Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures for me to add once we're back, and I'll have all the time in the world, since school is out.

I also wanted to give a shout out to those May birthdays. Robert and Me, haha. It was fun to celebrate together, even though I was initially against it. Also, Happy Birthday to Mike and Cindy. Finally, Happy Birthday to my grandpa. His birthday was June 2, but he turned 80, so I thought I'd include him too!

Catch Up!

Okay, so I'm just putting a bunch of pictures in one post so that I can catch up. We don't have the internet, so I don't have very many chances to get pictures up, but we take them like CRAZY!
Here are a couple from the tulip festival.









We went to dinner at Grandma Gravis' for my mom's birthday. Afterwards, Abbey helped with the dishes, she kept telling Grandma that they were too hot...gotta love those Grandma Hands!
The kids all took turns sitting next to

Grandpa. As always, taking turns for Abbey and Sophia was eventful.
Jack just sat with Papa, but it was still in the right chair!

This is a picture of the chair that my Grandpa is making for me and Robert. It was a wedding gift, but he was pretty sick a year ago. I'm just so happy that we will get one, because it's something I have looked forward to since I can remember.





And this is Dallas as she walked in on her surprise birthday party. Josh was so excited to throw the party for her, and she was completely surprised.

Two Funny Videos

Here's a glimpse of what it's like to work with Middle School students. Both are really funny, but the second one is not so much because I got a bloody nose and had to have it checked out by a doctor. No worries, just some bruising.

Happy 30th Anniversary, and 50th Birthday!!

My mom's birthday is April 5th, and her anniversary is the 7th. So we just celebrate a ton. This year, she turned 50! You know there was no escaping the teasing from her family. The night before her birthday, we were going to dinner to celebrate. She was expecting a nice dinner at Rooster's, instead, her sister's showed up with a lovely "50-year-old" outfit for her to wear and we took her to a party!Yia yia with her granddaughters, they were a little scared of her new clothes.
The ONLY place for a 50th birthday party!
My mom with all her sisters, who dressed up too.