rollin', rollin' down the river

On Thursday we returned from our annual river trip. 

Although it was a little different this year. 

It was sad not to have my family there, 

but so awesome to have David and his family there. 

The trip was a total success, thanks to my amazing brother in law Brad. (first picture).

He makes it possible for us to have the most amazing trips.

Way better than the guided river trips and at a fraction of the cost. 

I wish we could have spent another 5 days out there. 

I absolutely love being out in nature and on the river.

I don't worry or think about anything else. 

All those worldly worries leave you and you are over come by the beauty of nature. 

pictures taken on the green river at Gates of Lodore in Colorado. 

a couple of trips

We have been on a few trips lately, and I have been terrible at documenting them. I don't really like my camera right now, so I never remember to take pictures. Here are a few that were taken.

First, in May we headed to City of Rocks in Idaho for some climbing. It was so cold and stormy that we spent most of our time in my sister's trailer.

Then at the beginning of June we headed down to Lake Powell. Neither of us had been and it truly lived up to all the hype that we had heard. Although the water wasn't the warmest, we still enjoyed ourselves.

When we got home we then took off to Maple Canyon. Don't mind the fact that I didn't take one picture the ENTIRE trip. So many great shots that I didn't capture. I really am going to try and do better in the future.

MOAB

We recently went down to Moab for the annual half marathon. As always we had so much fun. The weather was a little chilly and very windy. We were happy to get away from the snow for the weekend though! Our good friends the Dickson's joined came down and joined in the run.

Can't wait til next year!

My dad was a champ and walked through his pain. I ran back and met him.

the crew

happiest place on earth

Not to be confused with the friendliest place on earth (which is Ray Wyoming), my parents, Davie and I went to the happiest place on earth....Disney World! So I have been to Disney Land which is amazing and California Adventure Park that just adds to it, but Disney World is a whole other experience. It really is a world. They even have their own street and freeway signs and a telephone pole that is a giant Mickey head.

We had a splendid old time. The weather was great til about 3 and then inside the Animal Kingdom as we were making our way from Africa to Asia...down pour. A down pour that lasted about 2 or 3 hours. We tried to take cover but ended up soaked. We made the best of it though and went on all the rides that stayed open during the rain. Which wasn't very many but hey it is the happiest place on earth plus it was decked out in Halloween decorations so, some how we were still happy.

We don't look that wet here, but let me just tell you, when it rains in Florida there is no jokin around. We looked like we had just stepped out of a community shower!

Who could look at the above picture and tell me this isn't the happiest place on earth?

nassau

After I returned from Shaker heights OH, with my parents in tow, we went on a cruise. Davie's parents also flew in to meet us in Orlando and cruise with us. We just did a short 3 day cruise through Carnival, with one stop at Nassau Bahamas.

It was a pretty fun cruise. The best part was the food. Other than that it was pretty much Vegas out on the high seas. There was a lot of drinking, partying and gambling which none of us were really into. We decided that the next time we go on a cruise we will have saved for awhile in order to go on a really nice one, to a really great location. So probably in about 10 years we will be cruising again...

Nassau was fun, but wasn't quite as I imagined it. It was more like Tijuana Mexico. Not that is a bad thing, it just wasn't what I expected...

The waiter made David dance with him. It was highly entertaining.

Over all it was a grand old time and we all ate more food than we have eaten in our whole lives.

p.s. David and I did walk around in these robes and yes even outside of our room. we laughed. a lot.

Shaker it up.

This last month I cashed in my birthday present (one plane ticket to Cleveland) and flew to see my brother David and his wife Cicely and their chitlins Miles and Faye. They live in an adorable suburb of Cleveland called Shaker Heights. Plus as an added bonus my parents and sister Emily flew out at the same time.

We did all sorts of fun-filled family type things. The biggest highlight however was going to Cedar Point. Cedar Point is a amusement park. No, scratch that, it is the number 1 amusement park in the world! They have like 15 roller coasters, many of which I thought I might crap in my pants, but made it through all of them, pants crap free. While in the neighborhood we also hit up a fairly large indoor water park called Cast away bay. Good times were had all around.

My uber cool nephew wore sunglasses and played with my i-touch a good amount of the time.

One lovely Sunday afternoon after church we made our way up to Kirtland to see some church history sites. We visited the home where Joseph Smith and Emma were sleeping when men tarred and feathered him, the Newel K. Whitney store, the school of the prophets, and the Kirtland temple. The spirit is amazingly strong and the senior couple missionaries are awesome.

Shaker Heights is full of eventful things to do for kids. In fact Cicely is making a list of 100 things to do in Cleveland with kids. This park that we went to was enormous. There were slides galore, swings everywhere, rock walls, and monkey bars too. Faye was happy as long as she was rock climbing. That is my kind of girl.

again, my nephew is pretty chill.