Summer Days!

Ok as many of you can tell our blog hasn't been updated in quite sometime. We have been super busy all summer long! So I'm just going to throw in everything that we have done and just add pictures in no specific order.
First of all I have been so busy with the drill team. I honestly didn't think it was going to take up this much of my time! I guess I better start in order so I don't confuse myself or anyone else.
ok... So Kyle and I got the opportunity to go to Lake Powell with his Uncle Paul and Aunt Nadine, their family, Kyle's parents and little sister and a few of the Craig Family friends. I have never been to Lake Powell and Kyle always talks about how it's probably one of his favorite vacations. Well honestly we had no plans for that vacation. One day Kyle's parents told us that they had gotten invited and Kyle was really bummed because we weren't. Well some plans changed and we were able to go! Kyle was so freakin' excited! He was like a little kid in a candy store! We were there the week of the 4th of July. I absolutely loved every second we were there! It's so beautiful and peaceful. It was so nice to not have to have any worries at all, no makeup, no getting in normal clothes (you wear your swimsuit all day long every day), no cellphone and most important NO WORK!! It also strengthend my testimony because of the beauty. Heavenly Father really does exisit and wants us to enjoy our lives by all the nature he puts around us. Also on the plus side we were stuck on a house boat with family even if we didn't want to. We got the chance to get to know Kyle's cousin's and their cute families. I can say that I absolutely love Kyle's cousin Michelle! She is such a crack up and seriously the best mom I have ever seen. I hope to be like her one day! We also got to know Paul and Nadine. I love those guys so much more because of the experience. They are the sweetest and most caring people ever. Anyway, I sort of learned how to Wakeboard! I wish I would have started at the beginning of the week so I could have mastered it but I was so scarred! Uncle Paul was patient enough to let me keep trying till I at least stood up for 10 seconds! Yay what a big accomplishment! Anyway, here are a few pics from that week of summer!








Next on the agenda was Drill Camp. We came home from Lake Powell on the 4th of July and I left for camp July 7. I took Berklee along so we didn't have to deal with a babysitter. Let me just tell you that I would never do that again! Not having Kyle there I felt like a single parent with no help whatsoever! Don't get me wrong I had a lot of fun being able to dance with the girls and spending time with my cousin who is the coach but it was just way to hard. It was definately a very long week and I couldn't wait to get back home to see Kyle! Sorry no pictures for that.
We were able to be home for the next couple weeks before we prepared to go to IOWA! I know you are all jealous... Kyle's sister and her husband live there. Kellen is going to medical school there and Mindy was due to have a baby on the 14th of August. So we went for a little bit of a vacation before the baby came. It was surprisingly fun! We flew into Omaha on thursday night.

Berklee's first airplane ride! She was the best baby anyone could ask for on a plane. She was so good at the airport and was entertaining a lot of people. When we boarded the plane she fell asleep! and slept the whole way there!

Friday the 7th Mindy drove to Omaha to meet us and to go to the zoo. It was an indoor zoo and really neat. Mine and Kyle's favorite part was the Bayou. It had a whole bunch a aligators and crocodiles.


After the zoo we went to Winter Quarters and got to learn about what the pioneers did while they were there.




We drove back to Iowa that night and went to one of Mindy and Kellen's favorite resturants. On Saturday we went to the Sweet Corn Festival. It's all you can eat corn for FREE! Since that's all there are in Iowa is corn field after corn field after corn field, I'm sure they weren't going to run out of corn. It was seriously the best corn I have ever had! On sunday we just went to church and there was a huge rain storm. The rain drop are so huge it's almost like a flash flood!

Monday we went to Nauvoo. I was looking forward to it pretty much the entire trip! I couldn't wait to learn about the prophet Joseph and his life. We started out by going to Carthage. What a beautiful place and such a strong spirit. It was such a neat experience to be where the prophet had been even though it was where he died. It made me gain even more respect for the pioneers. I definately could not have lived during that time!



After Carthage we headed to Nauvoo. We got the opportunity to go and do baptisms for the dead. The temple is so pretty inside! We weren't actually planning on it since we were only spending the day there and wanted to see other stuff but who wouldn't jump on the chance to go to the temple! It was such an amazing feeling! I honestly couldn't imagine all the hard times and tribulation the saints went thru. To build such a beautiful temple and then have to leave it. It breaks my heart just to think about it. I know that the people we did the work for were so happy that day! After the temple we went and saw the different things there, the black smith shop, Joseph's, Hyrum's, thier parents, and Emma's grave sites. I really enjoyed that as well. We got to learn a lot about the different pioneers that had come thru that were very important. We also went to the place where the saints tried to cross the missouri river or mississippi river.. I can't remember which one it is but it was still cool!






I'll have to do another post about Nauvoo another day when I'm not trying to cram everything into one.
We went swimming one of the days to a cute little swimming pool area that had water slides and stuff for kids. Rykker had a blast! and Berklee absolutely loved being in the water and splashing! We didn't stay very long because there is only so much you can do with little kids. On Wednesday we went to a little Dutch town called Pella. It had a real working windmill that we took a tour of. It was a fun little adventure and a super cute town. We were all just so exhausted because it was super hot and it took us awhile to get there but was well worth the drive.




I'll give you all time to catch up on all of this update since it was kind of big and finish our Iowa trip soon! Don't get me wrong we are still super busy so there is a lot more to come!

Little Adventures

We have been super busy with little random things that I forgot to post a Happy Birthday to Kyle. His birthday was May 19. I know it's a little late, but its all good. Like I said we have been super busy with just random stuff. I guess it's preparing us for the summer. We have decided that we are going to try and go on "little adventures" to get out of the house and to spend time as a family. I'm sure Berklee doesn't care much what we do but it's been nice for Kyle and I. So here goes our story!
We decided to take a little jaunt up Farmington Canyon on Monday for family night. We were planning a bbq with our friends for the weekend and wanted to scope it out. Well as we were driving the canyon, we decided against having to drive up there again without staying the night. It was fun just to go the 2 of us, but we didn't want to drive it again unless we were going to camp. We stopped a few times a long the way because the scenery was BEAUTIFUL! One thing I do love about Utah is the mountains. Kyle and I both love nature so it was a really fun but short adventure. We stopped at a campground we had looked up online. It was really nice and secluded. Lots of trees, shade, and quiet. Just how being in the mountains should be :)

Longest Post in the Whole World!

We have had so much go on in the past few weeks I just don't even know where to start! I guess, we will start with Cinco De Mayo. Our family LOVES mexican food, so why not celebrate a mexican holiday. Last year was the first year we actually had a party. We found the ugliest pinata ever and tried to beat it this year. Super close but not quite.We had delicious food as always and lots of fun!


Berklee vs the pinata.. it may be bigger but she is way cuter

Kyle was having fun trying to hit the little candies with the bat and smashing them to pieces. After he was done with that he found a sucker. The nice person he is, he decided to share with Berklee. She loved it!





I'm such a big girl! I can hold my sucker!

A few days later, the day we had been anticipating, Kyle's sister Mindy and her son Rykker came! It was a total surprise for thier parents. Mindy had found a cheap plane ticket to come home from Iowa for Mother's Day almost 3 months ago. So we had been keeping it a secret FOREVER! With a ton of planning and changing the plans over 100 times they finally made it! We won't be planning that kind of surprise ever again. It was way too hard! Between Mindy and Kyle I'm shocked the surprise wasn't ruined. I'm the good liar of the family, not quite sure if that is a good or bad thing. But for this type of thing it's PERFECT!




I told my mother inlaw that I had a meeting that day and asked her if she wanted to go to lunch. We met her at Robintinos and she was so excited as you can tell! We all got teary eyed! That evening we went to Kangaroo Zoo. I think the guys had more fun on the blowup toys than Rykker. Berklee even got to have a little fun as well :)





Next on the agenda... Race for the Cure! This is my first year I had the opportunity to do this. My mother inlaw's best friend was diagnosed with Breast Cancer just over a year ago. It was so special to be able to walk in her honor and know that she is a survivor! It was so humbling and made me realize that my life isn't so hard. While we were walking I got teary eyed a few times by the amazing things that I saw. One lady who was a survivor was pushing her wheel chair and you could tell that she was having a hard time but she still was doing her best. It was the most amazing feeling to be able to see all the support and all the people. My pictures don't do it justice! It was an endless sea of people.





Mother's Day...
This is my first offical Mother's Day! Last year at Mother's Day dinner we were all teasing that Kyle was pregnant since we had been trying and I wasn't pregnant yet. Little did we know the next day would change our lives forever! I decided to take a pregnancy test and just figured it would be negative like all the others had been, but as the test results show in our very first post ever they were POSITIVE!! YAY! Anyway, this year was special because I am an actual mother. Kyle wanted to do something special for me since last year I didn't get anything very thoughtful. I could hear a lot of pounding and wasn't quite sure what was going on. When I came downstairs after the okay from Kyle this is what I found....



I started crying because it was really special. I absolutely love my husband and am glad that I have him. I know this is a little late but I just want to tell my mom how much a I love her and appreciate her. I definately wouldn't be the Mother I am today without her as my example. She taught me to love no matter what and to always remember who I am. Those are the most simple things in this world to do but not very many people do them. Without her wonderful loving example in my life I don't know where I'd be. Thank You Mom for everything! I love you!
Berklee is practicing singing like Kris Allen on American Idol!

We had an eventful two weeks with Mindy and Rykker and were sad to see them leave but can't wait to see them in August with the new baby Brigham!

And another... When I was in high school I was on a drill team called Bonnie Lassies. Once I graduated I was sad to not be dancing anymore, because when you are a lassie you are always dancing. Well the job for the coach became available and my cousin Alisha applied for it. She got it and asked me to be her Assitant! Of course I accepted! Here is our welcoming bbq for the new team...

The family that hosted the bbq bought a nice cake for everyone to celebrate the new and old Bonnie Lassie team. Well one of the girls was saying something about her frosting when Alisha decided to wipe it on her face. The girl went to throw a piece of cake at Alisha and totally hit another girl! Then, that's when it started, dun, dun, dun! I was clean until the very end when after the girls attacked Alisha I could hear them whispering and they all came to me. I totally got CAKED! What a good way to start out the year. We had a Blast at the bbq and can't wait to start all the dancing and competitions!
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To add to all the excitement, Kyle graduated!! YAY!! I couldn't be more excited! Finally after trying to get his associates for the past 4 years, he actually got 2 degrees! I couldn't be more proud of him! It has taken forever, but he has had a full-time job, started a family, taken of us and has still been the best husband ever. Kyle I am so proud of you! Especially since you got 2 degrees instead of just one! Pretty soon you will be all done and I know you can do it! You are so smart and such an amazing person. I love you with all my heart!

Well that is all the excitement I think I can handle for awhile, but I'm sure with summer just around the corner it's going to be so crazy! Wish us LUCK!