CAMPING

At the beginning of June we actually had a free weekend, so we packed everything up and headed up the mountains in central Utah and went camping. This is something both Nate and I enjoy and we haven't been able to do much of the last few years. I was suprised at how well the girls did. We were going to put them in their own beds, but it was so cold at night that we all had to sleep together just to stay warm. The girls had so much fun running around, picking flowers, hiking, and sleeping in the camper.

My parents came up on Saturday and just spent the day with us. We ate a yummy dutch oven dinner and made smores. That was definitely the girls favorite part.

Hopefully there will be many more camping weekends before the summer is over!

OUR GIRLS

June 2009. Ashlee 4 years old. Taylor 20 months. Big thanks to Becky for taking their pictures!!

PORTLAND

Last weekend we had the opportunity to travel to Portland to celebrate Nate's brother's (Ben) graduation from physical therapy school. We took the LONG drive to Portland with Nate's parents on Thursday. Friday we got to go to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL but very COLD. When we left Ben and Jessica's house to go to the beach it was 80 degrees, but 45 minutes later when we got to the beach it was in the 40's. I was amazed at how cold the coast was. We had a picnic there and did a little shopping.

We then met with Jessica's family and Nate's other brother Josh and his family for dinner at this AMAZING restaurant. I can't remember what it was called and my pictures didn't turn out but it was great!! There was a man that would go around the restaurant playing an acordian. He was awesome. He probably played 10 or more songs for us and know everything from disney princess songs, to Pink Panther, to Phantom of the Opera. We were throwing out requests like crazy and he knew them all. Besides the entertainment, the food was amazing!

I know this isn't the best picture but I had to put it in to prove that Nate danced with me once!

Saturday was the graduation and while Nate's parents were at the graduation we went to Multnomah Falls. (There weren't enough tickets for the graduation . . . . dang!) It was beautiful! We hiked to the top and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Pictures just don't do it justice.

That night we had a BBQ with all Ben's relatives and friends. It was so fun to just relax and visit with them. We don't get to see Nate's brothers often so it was great to catch up.

Jessica, Ben, Genavieve

The next day we flew home. Let me tell you I completely perfer a 2 hour flight to a 18 hour car ride! I wish we could have had a few more days to sightsee. It is beautiful there. I guess we will just have to go back and see the rest sometime!

YELLOWSTONE

The falls at Yellowstone

Old Faithful

The week after Nate got out of school and a couple of days after we started moving, Melissa and Kelly invited us to go to Yellowstone with them. Nate and I hadn't been since we were very young, so we thought it would be great. We had an awesome time.

The worst part was the drive. It was about a 10 hour drive for us. This for many wouldn't be a big deal, but our children do not travel well. They are getting better, but after about two hours they are done and want to get out!! The other bad thing about the drive is that we couldn't leave until Nate got off work so we started the drive at about 5:00 pm.

Well about 2:30 in the morning, we were about 30 miles from our destination, Nate got pulled over. The policeman had been following us for a few miles and, I guess, thought that Nate was swerving a bit too much. I am sure the policeman thought that Nate was either drunk or really tired. He decided on the really tired when he got to the car and shined his light on our sleeping kids in the back. All I know was that if he woke up my kids, he would have to put them back to sleep! He told us he just wanted to make sure we were awake and okay, and that we were close to our destination. He was really nice and just let us go. It did wake us up a bit though.

We were lucky to have a great condo to stay in, thanks to Melissa and Kelly. We had quite a big group which made it really fun. My parents were there, Bryan, Jenessa and Joshua too. We also were there with Kelly's parents and Mackey, and some friends of Melissa and Kelly.

Ashlee sight seeing


We wore out Joshua and Taylor

We spent the next two days driving through Yellowstone seeing some amazing scenery. Melissa and Kelly were there last year so they knew where all the good things to see were. They were great tour guides. We were lucky to see so many animals. We saw a grizzly bear, two black bears, elk, a fox, cyotes, lots of bison, and some different birds. Kelly and Melissa took their really nice camera, I will have to get some of their pictures.

One of the black bears

Taylor and Ashlee

The fox

One of the many bison

Ashlee and Jenessa had a great time riding with Melissa and Kelly. They might decide to rethink having kids after these two chatterboxes!

We also went to a place outside the park that had bears and Wolves. It was really cool to see them so close up. The wolves were beautiful.

We want to thank Melissa and Kelly for such a fun family trip! We had a great time.