Zion's National Park - Kolob Canyon

On my way home from the baseball tournament, I decided to drive through Kolob Canyon which is part of Zion's National Park.

It was really pretty! It is amazing to see how straight up and down the mountain cliffs are.

My brother Glen, his wife Kathy and their 2 oldest kids were in Paris so I was babysitting his youngest 3 kids for the weekend. So here they are with my 4 kids - minus Kaitlyn because she rode home with Jeff.

It is a 5 mile drive of canyon and you can just take it in your car or there are trails that you can hike through. We were all in flip flops so we just walked along the ridge.

If you have ever been boating in Lake Powell, the scenery is similar to that.

Color Country Classic Champs!

Our team went to Cedar City for a tournament last weekend and we played so good!

We played a couple teams from Las Vegas and Henderson and then some from St. George and Cedar. We won all of our games and went undefeated.

Jensy at bat.

On the last day it rained and rained. We ended up having a 2 hour game delay. The temperature dropped from a hot 97 to a cool 66 degrees in no time.

The rain finally let up and the sky graced us with this.....

And we ended up winning again and we became the tournament champions!

I am STILL a little freaked out.

Yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary of the day that I watched the movie I Am Legend. I am still scared of the dark a little. I still race up my stairs as quickly as possible thinking to myself, "Get to the light! Get to the light! Get to the light!!!" And I am now just starting to forget just exactly what it was that the "Dark Seekers" looked like. Chances are pretty good that I will never watch that movie again.

Jens' 12th Birthday Party - - FINALLY!!!

Well we finally celebrated Jens' birthday today. Never mind the fact that it is 3 MONTHS after his actual birthday. I rented this big water slide for his friends to slide on. It is such a fun slide and we always have a blast on it.

It is so long and you get going really fast!

I just bought some pizza and we ate it there and played on the water slide. It was the most simplest party I think I have ever put on but it was so much fun!

July 4th Weekend

On Saturday July 3rd, we went boating at Yuba with my family. We had a great time. I had not been there in 9 years to the day almost. We celebrated on July 4th with my family at Yuba 9 years ago. There was a terrible micro burst that came through. There was a lot of lightening and we barely made it off the lake to a beach in time. It was really scary. This same quick storm that hit us was the same storm that killed our friend Dev Duke. He was working in a fundraiser firework booth when the micro burst picked up the firework shack and dropped it back down on top of him. I'll never forget that storm that day because of that terrible accident. Thankfully this time we had beautiful weather.

Sidney and Jens' friend Keyne on the tube.

Kell - Kaitlyn - Jared

My brother Darren and some of the kids. Notice Alec - (the one on the right side in the blue tank top) he makes the most ridiculous facial expressions in every picture. I had to laugh when I downloaded these and found out just how many times he was in a picture - making some dorky face.

Apparently Jeff was not driving fast or crazy enough . They didn't seem too scared of falling off.

Brendan - Jens - Keyne

We drove across the lake to the other side away from most of the campers and found a nice sandy beachy spot for the day.

My little nephew Ethan just turned 1 year old last week. He could not get enough sand. He was completely content to sit and dig in the water and sand all day long. He also ate a ton of sand. My sister in law gave up trying to keep him from eating it after she had tried to stop him for a couple of hours.

My dad and step mom Nancy......and Alec in the background with one of his faces.

Little Miss Kaitlyn with Alec again!

Sunday we just BBQ'ed and let off fireworks with our neighbors Then on Monday we had a BBQ at Jeff's parents house and let off more fireworks. It was a great, long weekend!

Sugar Cookies

These are so soft and delicious!

2 sticks butter

8oz cream cheese

2 c sugar

*Mix well for a few minutes

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

*Add to mixture and blend well

1 tsp baking powder

3 1/2 c flour

*Sift together and add. Wrap well and chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Roll out to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, cut with cookie cutters and bake on 350 for 1o to 12 minutes. (Just when they start to crack on top)

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 stick butter

1 tsp vanilla

About 2 1/2 c powdered sugar

About 1/8 to 1/4 c milk

*Blend it all together and then add food coloring if desired.

Layered Cookie Bars

1 to 2 packages of Graham Crackers crumbled

1 stick butter - melted

*Mix these together and press onto the bottom of a cookie sheet

2 14oz cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk

*Pour evenly over top of cracker crumbs. (Now you may already have this recipe and it will only call for one can. If you want them to be ooey gooey good, use 2!)

Chocolate chips

Butterscotch chips

White chips

Coconut

Chopped walnuts (I never use walnuts. I don't like them on it, but you may)

*I usually use about half to a full bag of each for the chips and about half the bag of coconut. Sprinkle chips and coconut over top of milk and bake on 350 for about 25 minutes. Let cool and devour!