Bear Lake July 11-16, 2017

Our trip to Bear Lake was another success!  That is, if you ignore the fact that there were 31 of us sleeping in the same cabin with fire alarms going off every night.......... in the dead middle of the night....... and the fact that we had to load every truck to the brim to go to and from the beach every day, and the fact that Jessica had just delivered their 4th baby just 6 days prior!  It was nuts - but a fun nuts as always!

We had such an incredible winter last winter so the lake was super full!  I haven't seen it this full in at least 16 years.  It was great -- but beach space was really limited because the water was so high.  But I still loved it being super full.

Sidney was at Utah State for cheer camp the first couple days that we were at the lake.  But since its only like an hour drive, Jeff drove over and picked her up when it was over and brought her to the lake to spend the last few days with us.

Cade got up on the knee board for the first time!

Molly of course wanted to keep about 10,000 shells but instead I talked her into just taking a picture of her favorite!

We did facials at the cabin!

All the girls painted crafts at the craft center.  I went with Molly and Ellie so they are the only ones who got their picture taken!

Molly painted the pink and red owl and the pink and purple unicorn.  I painted the grey owl and Ellie painted the white and pink unicorn and the blue/pink/purple owl.

And of course we enjoyed our nights at Zipz getting milkshakes!

Gorgeous Night Shooting

July 21, 2017

We had the most fun shooting out on West Mountain.  Gunnar Gustin and I set up a date to shoot and invited everyone to come with us.  Sidney went shooting for the first time and she was a little unsure of herself but by the end she was getting the hang of it.  I taught her how to hold - load - aim and fire the gun.  She actually hit a lot of her targets.

On our drive over, the sky was MAGNIFICENT!  The clouds were simply amazing and the sun was creating the most beautiful rays.  I took these two pictures out the window as we were driving with my cell phone.  They are completely un-retouched.

This little Caden Man is a dead eye!  He takes after his mama!  

Not to toot my own horn but, TOOT TOOT!

The sky was just beautiful all night!

Best of Freinds

 These two can fight hard but they love each other even more.  We went up Loafer Canyon for the day and they had a ball finding butterflies, hanging out at the pond and jumping on Brumfield's tramp.

Great Grandma Higgy's dresses

Grandma LaVern and Grandpa Ralph

After grandma died, the parents went through all her things.  Each sibling took a turn taking home her engagement, wedding and other dresses.  The granddaughters dresses up in them and we did an impromptu photo shoot - in the backyard - with our cell phones!  But I couldn't let the opportunity pass by!

This is their engagement picture.

Sidney is in the green satin dress

Katelyn is in her wedding dress

Averi is in her black engagement dress that she is wearing in the top picture

Each dress is about 80 years old

10 year old Miss Molly in her great grandmother's wedding dress

Ellie is in a yellow dress that I think was her prom dress, Molly is in her wedding dress and Cade is wearing her fathers top hat - so basically he's wearing his great great grandfather, Chris Nelson's top hat.  Cade is just 13 in this picture and that hat was tiny.  It's sitting just on top of his head.  Chris must've been a smaller guy.

Panama!

June 1-6, 2017

Jeff, Sidney and I flew to Panama.  It was the first time that any of us had ever been there.  It was NOT what I expected.  It was a huge, bustling city.  I mean ~ after all, there one once a man named Manuel Noriega!  Drug money can build a lot of things!  Ha ha!

We stayed at Planet Hollywood.

Jeff was taking a new job for a company called Fuxion, which is based out of Peru.  This was their convention and he was going to be announced there.

Jeff had met with his prior assistant, Julie and offered her a job, never disclosing the name of the company or where it was located or what they would be doing.  She accepted still and even got on the plane to fly down there, still in the dark about what is was she'd be doing!

 

We saw a picture of this sign and we just had to find it and take a picture there!  I love it!

We went into Old Town.  It was more like what I thought the whole country would be like.  But I have to say, it was my favorite part.  Beautiful old buildings, cobblestone streets, little shops, I loved it!

Looking back at the city from Old Town ~ it was really pretty!

One thing that I wish I could've gotten a picture of were all the cats that were just wandering around all over the place in Old Town.  They were everywhere!  But it was just too dark to get them photographed.

We stopped for dinner in this little Italian place and had some delicious pizza!  This waiter was "super nice & friendly".  I'm SURE it's because he was after MY hot body!

Sidney and Julie were just there...... ha ha ha!

He even brought us complimentary drinks!  How sweet of him.  Then he wanted to take pictures with us......  After we told him thank you for the drinks but that we didn't drink and that Sidney was ONLY 17, that Julie and I were each married.  That Julie had 3 kids, I had 4, and that Sidney was my daughter.  His words were, "Oh my Go....."  He realized he wasn't going to end up with one of our numbers or a date afterwards and he wasn't so helpful after that and we became normal customers!  Ha Ha Ha!

We went to see the Panama Canal before heading to the airport.  It's one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It really is fascinating how it operates.  I'm glad we got to see it!

 I had to take a picture of these clouds on the plane ride home.  It looked like someone had spilled popcorn all over the sky.  I've never seen clouds like it before!