We celebrated Great Grandma Shields birthday last Sunday. We had a big dinner and party to celebrate her 88th bday!
It was a fun night with cousins, aunts and uncles. Grandma is the coolest, she is up for anything, games, camping, trips etc.. She has a wonderful large, loving family and we all are so happy celebrate her big day! 

We had a lot of fun with Marcus, Natalie, and their cute kids in Utah for a few days.
We went to " Jump Around Utah " and the next day went bowling and had lunch at Cafe Rio.
They are so great to be around and we really miss having them living nearby. 

Cousin time = fun Time!!!

All the kids had fun in the Hurricane simulator. It's their favorite. 

Bowling was a lot of fun too! Hannah is an excellent bowler for a 2 year old!

Wednesday we went to Park City and finally meet cute cousin Skylar! She is the most adorable little baby, so happy and mellow! It was great to meet her and see Mike & Erin too.

Thurday we headed up to the Spruces Campground and went camping for two nights with the kids.
It was a lot of fun, and the canyon is so gorgeous right now, just full of wildflowers. The kids loved sleeping in tents and hammocks, cooking on the fire and being together.

We played in the river, went hiking, fishing, played card games, told stories & jokes, and just laughed and had fun together. It was a great few days together. 

We hiked into the Mary, Martha, Catherine Lakes. Lizzie did awesome on the hike and was exhausted afterwards.  She hiked about 5 miles, without complaining. 

We had a picnic lunch at the lake and the boys fished. We all thnought it was a lot of fun!

So scenic and beautiful!

View from the trail. 

These kids are the best! They make me so happy and I am grateful to be their mom!
We all loved s'mores around the fire. Even Isaac with all of his missing teeth. 

Saturday we headed home from camping, put everything away, showered, did laundry etc... and then headed to Park City to see Mike, Erin & Skylar.
We did the Alpine Slide and then had dinner at a pizza place on Main Street. The kids all adore Skylar, she's a doll!!!

Summer time is so much fun! We wish it would last forever!

Emily went to the Brown Reunion at the homestead in Az with G&G Shields. She had so much fun with cousins, aunts uncles etc.. She & Mary had a great weekend.

Taylor is doing a ukulele camp for kids in the neighborhood.
He's teaching them all about the ukulele and they each get an instrument as well.
Lizzie has had fun with her friends. They like to play in the kiddie pool and have water fights with each other.
Isaac went to the zoo with his friend Joshua.

We dressed up like cows and went to Chick Fil A for the free day! It was busy and crazy but the kids had fun and we all enjoyed a delicious free dinner at Chick Fil A- Thanks to Monica for telling us about this. 

We swam in Draper with cousins one day. Lizzie mastered this water slide by her self and we all had a lot of fun! 

Lizzie & Isaac went to a great camp by some girls in our neighborhood. They loved going and learning, playing with their friends and having snacks etc... 

Taylor spent the whole week at a scout trip. They went backpacking in Yellowstone for 3 days. It was rainy, tons of mosquitoes and a 22 mile hike.
Then they had a 28 mile bike ride in beautiful Jackson Hole.
The last day they did a while water river trip down the Snake River.
Taylor had so much fun, and came home dirty & tired. 

Friday night we went to the wedding reception for Marcie & Grant. It was in Lehi and we had fun seeing family and enjoying a windy night.

LAKE POWELL

We spent the last week at Lake Powell. It was such a great week, full of fun, new adventrues, laughing, and time with family. We were there over the 4th of July, and saw some fireworks in beautiful "Last Chance" canyon.
I took a lot of pictures so there's a lot to see.

The sunset scenes were my favorite - the water and sky were so gorgeous. The kids loved playing in the sand and rocks gathering shells, etc.. This kept them happy for along time. 

We left Friday and drove to Page. We all slept on the boat and then went out Saturday morning to find a place to park the houseboat.
We decided on Last Chance- and it as a perfect spot. Lots of morning shade, private with a nice cove for swimming etc...
Once we got settled the swimming and boating began.

Sunday we went back into Page to go to church. We attended the church at the Navajo ward, went to Denny's for lunch and then headed back out on the lake. The rest of the week was boating, water skiing, paddle boarding, napping, swimming, wake surfing, fishing, eating, laughing, tubing, knee boarding etc....
It was so much fun!
We had 2 boats this year which was really nice! The kids were busy doing all the water stuff and eating lots of yummy food and snacks in between! 

It was great to see Megan, Colton & Jack from AZ, Jack is the cutest little baby! 

The kids got up early to go on the boat, and then we stayed up late every night, this was fun but we all got tired. 

The weather was perfect. It was cooler than normal, and we even got some thunderstorms several times during the week. It was perfect for sleeping and cooled everyone off. 

We did two obstacle courses which were awesome! We divided into 2 teams and did different activites like swimming, canoeing, paddle boarding, throwing a tennis ball, running, going off the slide, jumping off the house boat etc... It's a competitive group and  it turned out great! So much fun!

The kids really liked fishing, Becca caught her first fish and she was thrilled! 

It was so much fun to have all the family together.
(we really missed Marcus & Natalie Kay)
There's lots of laughs and funny jokes and a little bit of annoying jokes too. 

Taylor & Jeffrey were learning how to drive the ski boat! They did great! It's fun to see them growing up and becoming more responsible.

Isaac lost his 2 from teeth on the trip. They were loose when we left and we pulled them out, he was happy and looks like a 2nd grader! 

The sky and all the scenery at Lake Powell is spectacular! The water and the sky are both so blue, green and vibrant colored. The water is the perfect temperature and felt so refreshing every time you dove in. 

Pics from the day we went to Rainbow Bridge.

The kids had tons of time to waterski, wake surf, knee board, wakeboard and go tubing.  They are all really improving at all of these and had fun learning and trying new things! Isaac wakeboarded and he did fabulous! 

Baby Jack was the BEST little baby on the trip!
He's so happy and smily. He loved the boat, and slept awesome. He's such an amazing little baby. We all loved spending time with jack! 

More pictures of the fun!

Love these ladies! 

On Wednesday we went to Rainbow Bridge. It was a long boat ride, but so worth it! It was fun to see the bridge and the kids really liked it. It was a nice cooler, cloudy day which was great because it's about a 1 mile hike into the bridge. 

It was so wonderful to spend all week with our little family.  It's always great to have Danny home from work. We really soaked in the family time and enjoyed every second together. 

Lizzie was such a brave 4 year old on this trip. She learned to water ski, kneeboard, and she loved tubing. She also went down the slide not he back of the house boat, and jumped in the lake over and over everyday! She was awesome, we're so glad she is comfortable in the water and knows how to swim. 

We can't wait for our trip next summer! It's one of our favorite places to go! We love Lake Powell! 

We had a bust week of fun and getting ready for Lake Powell. We took the boat to Jordanelle for a trial run before Lake Powell. It was a perfect, warm evening and so beautiful at the lake.
We had a yummy dinner on the boat, went for a refreshing swim, and then the kids went knee boarding and water skiing.
It was a terrific night! We all love spending time on the boat. 

Isaac lost a couple of teeth this week and now has a gaping hole in his mouth. He's the cutest little 7 year old around. He loved knee boarding and wouldn't let go for a really long time. 

We also spent some time at the pool and had Mono's girls over for a whole day while she was at girls camp. We love cousins! 

More boating pictures. 

It's so nice to see the sunset when you're out on the water. 

Now we're all SO excited for Lake Powell!  

Here's Emiy's funny pool hairdo, she loves to do this and I think she looks hilarious.