Fam Reunion

This weekend was my family reunion on my dad's side.  I only took pictures during the car ride to and from Tushar Mountain (in Beaver) because it was way to cold to take pictures while we were camping.  I have never been so cold while camping up there.  Usually it's fine if we have a fire, but this year we weren't allowed to have a fire, so it was nippy.  Plus it rained and there was a wind/breeze (it switched on and off between a wind and a small breeze) that was freezing.  Most of us were bundled in huge blankets under a canopy.  My grandpa had a picture of the few of us sitting there in our cocoons, but I was one of those bundled up, so I didn't get a picture of it.  It was still fun though.  When the weather was alright (not raining), we played Frisbee golf or horseshoes.  Or card games.  But those were also played under the canopies if it was raining.

 Robert was on the freezing side of the car so he's warming himself underneath some pillows.

 I was on the hot side of the car so I stuck a cold water bottle in my shirt to keep me cool.

 Overlooking Junction.  Or some town next to it.

A random red mountain sandwiched in between white ones.

Arizona

This past weekend Robert and I went to Arizona for his mission president's homecoming.  It was a super long drive.  We broke it up, otherwise it would have been about 11 straight hours of driving.  We left Thursday after we both got off of work and headed down to St. George.  We stayed over at his aunt & uncle's house, then continued driving the rest of the way down to Scottsdale, where we stayed at a house (Robert's mission buddy's parent's house).

 A lot of Joshua Trees.

 An orchard (?) of Joshua Trees.  There was even a sign for it.

 Las Vegas on the way to Arizona.

 Lake Mead

 A pretty river going through dead mountains

 Lots of cacti

 A forest of cacti

 Weird skinny, long palm trees that remind me of trees in Dr. Seuss books lining the streets of I think Phoenix.

 Cardinals football stadium.

We finally arrived!  Friday night Robert and I, along with three of his mission buddies, ate at a Thai restaurant.  So good.  Then we rented "We Bought a Zoo" at RedBox.  I wasn't interested in watching it based on the previews, but I actually enjoyed it.  It was a pretty good movie.  And Matt Damon... he's getting old!  The next day, we got up and got ready to go to the Mesa temple.  It was a cool temple.  Don't mind the scaffolding.

 At the Mesa temple

After the temple, we went to the Big Surf water park.  7 Peaks is better, but Big Surf's wave pool was better than 7 Peaks'.  Plus, Big Surf wasn't as crowded.  So in their wave pool, tubes aren't allowed, but they have these raft/body boards, and every so often, a HUGE wave comes crashing out, so body surfing was the bomb diggity.  They didn't have a time period with constant little waves like 7 Peaks, just one huge one.  It was a little dangerous, but it was fun.  I was mowing over people as I washed out to shore.  One time I went right up over this little girl, and another time I went right up over this bigger man, and that one hurt.  Usually I couldn't feel as people went under me, but that time I could.  It was still fun though.  After we swam, we went to Golden Corral so everyone could get whatever they wanted.  I happily got 2 sticks of cotton candy (after my meal of course).  Mmm... I lub cotton candy :)  We went to a pre-homecoming party at the church after dinner.  Then, we went home and went to sleep.  We had to get up super early cuz their church was at 8:30.  After church, we headed back home to Utah.

 Robert kept pointing out the black pyramid, but I couldn't see it for the life of me.  I finally did.  There it is.  Barely noticeable.

 Las Vegas on the way back.

 Does this remind you of anything?... Provo maybe?  On the way up the canyon?  Ding ding ding!! You got it!  The fake tree!  Except in Las Vegas instead of Provo.

And look!  A fake Palm tree too!

We stayed overnight in St. George again, but this time at my cousin's house.  We ate dinner first at my aunt & uncle's house, and made some ice cream.  My uncle also gave us some tart apples growing in their backyard.  It was fun to see my cousin's babies all growing up too.  Brigham wanted us to leave at first (he kept saying: "Tell them not to look at me!  When are they going home?  I want them to go home."), but he got over it really fast and made Robert and me our own train tracks.  Leland walks now, and he is constantly eating.  This past weekend has been a fun one.  And this weekend will also be a good one.  I only work two days this week, then I'm off to Beaver to go camping for a family reunion on Thursday.  Yay!

4th of July

Well, to start out my 4th of July, I came home from work on Tuesday not feeling particularly well.  Awesome.  My sisters came to sleep over though, so that was fun.  We watched 3 movies ("Hot Chick", "Ace Ventura", and "Leap Year") and painted our toenails.  Robert was pretending to be my little cousin, Heidi, and wanted his nails done. Ha. I thought he was joking, but not really.  He let me paint them.

 Don't judge.  We were having fun.

The next day, we went to my parent's house and had a yummy barbeque with yummy hamburgers.  I ate one, even though I wasn't hungry.  By this point I had developed a stuffy nose and didn't have too much of an appetite.
After lunch, we headed over to my grandparent's house and pretty much chilled while we waited for my other cousins to arrive.  I finished reading The Message, which is a book I recommend by the way.  Robert then had to go to work and we had sandwiches and salads for dinner.  I wasn't hungry enough to eat a sandwich, so I had some pasta salad.  Cousins started arriving, so the games began.  The first game we played was croquet.  I don't know who ended up winning, but it sure wasn't me!  After, everyone played 4 square on the driveway.  Four people started out, and everyone else lined up to hop in when someone got out.  It was actually very fun, even though I am not ninja like and don't have fast enough reflexes.  I was this close to getting to the king's square.  So there I was, running around trying to hit a ball, while I was trying to breathe with my clogged nose, and it hurt to breathe in deeply with all the running around.  As my aunt Kathy was in the king's square, my aunt Karin, my dad, and my sister Kajsia were secretly plotting while they were in line.  They went up to the porch and grabbed water balloons and started throwing them at the current players of 4 square, mostly Kathy, since she was "king".  That caused everyone, especially the little kids, to run up and grab some water balloons, which resulted in a water balloon fight.  Luckily I didn't get anything on me.  Well, sort of.  I'm glad I just wasn't one of the unlucky people to have a bucket of water dumped onto them.  After the water balloon fight, it was almost time for fireworks!

First, we played with the poppers.

Robert was popping the poppers in his fingers, and he said they didn't hurt.  I was too scared to try (I thought it'd burn my fingertips off), but eventually popped them between my fingers.  You don't even feel a thing (besides the little rocks inside).  Then... it was sparkler time.

 Our attempted hearts turned out pretty good.

 The Declaration of Independence.  Not the real one of course.

The little kids signing their name with a quill pen, which I am glad we don't use because 1) it is hard and 2) I don't like the scratchy feeling/sound it makes when you write with it.

 Glowing balloons for Karin's birthday, which is actually today, but we celebrated it yesterday.

 A kid kept riding by with fireworks attached to his/her bike.

 My cousin, Heidi, with her green lips from her ring pop.

She wanted a picture of her hands and feet.  I didn't keep the feet picture though.

And today after work, Robert and I are headed to Arizona for his mission president's homecoming.  I wish I didn't have to come to work today (I had to cuz my boss was gone all week, and I have to cover the front desk).  I am not feeling to well.  Oh well.  Gotta push through till the end of the day.