Playing Catch-Up with Pictures

It's been a very, very, very long time since I posted anything here on the family blog.  So I figured we'd try to fill in some of the gaps with pictures.  It's been almost a year, so this post will likely be a lengthy one.  We left off around August 2013.  So, we'll start there....

The kids and I had fun at the Washington County Fair

We went to the Dixie Roundup Rodeo and got our Cowgirl on!

We took several trips to Zion National Park

The kids loved going on different hikes

So did Nate and I

Abram came along for the ride

St. George has lots of great walking trials that we took advantage of

Then we moved to Las Vegas in November 2013.  This is how the kids helped me pack. 

We actually have a garage! It's the little things. :) 

It didn't take us long to find some great trails out at Red Rock Canyon.

This was a fun reward at the end of the trail.  Ice to play on!

We had a very merry Christmas!

Abram and Henry became best buds.

Jonah earned his orange belt with black stripe in Tang Soo Do.

Lilly joined the Girl Scouts, sold cookies, and made new friends

Abram discovered that he can get to pretty  much anything he wants now that he can climb

We discovered the Springs Preserve where we can crack geodes....

...and make shell bracelets....

....and more shell bracelets. 

We played at lots of parks and Abram has discovered the joy of slides.

We went to a Culbertson Family Retreat and had some beautiful pictures taken by Amanda over at AmandaKayMemories.com 

We got a family membership to the local YMCA so we an play and swim as much as we want this summer

We fed the geese out at Floyd Lamb State Park

Lilly felt that standing on the table was necessary to maintain a safe distance from the frightening birds.

Jayne just stood on the table so she could have a better view to command the flock. 

And last, but not least, Abram learned to drive.  No, wait! That's not for another 15 years. Phew!  

So, that's as much of an update as you get for now.  Maybe I'll be better at posting more regularly....maybe not.  Only time will tell. 

An evening at The Deer Valley Music Festival

Two or three years ago, Nate and I went to see Ben Folds perform with the Utah Symphony at their annual Deer Valley Music Festival.  It was such a great experience that we knew we wanted to go again sometime. Well, this year we saw that one of the featured performers would be Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers and we decided to make it happen.  

The concert was on July 19th at Deer Valley Resort in Park City.  If there was one thing we learned from our first experience at the DVMF it was that there is very limited parking.  This year we decided to stay at the Lodges at Deer Valley so that we could walk the half-mile to the concert and not worry about parking at all. 

Even though the concert was in the middle of July, it was our celebration of our 11th wedding anniversary, which was on June 30th.  Grandma Laurie kept the kids for the night.  We had a wonderful time! 

The concert was outdoors on the grass.  We brought some beach chairs, a blanket, and a cooler full of goodies.  We knew this would be a popular concert, but were still a little surprised to see people lining up two hours early to get in.  We went over as quick as we could, but still ended up toward the back of the audience.  This was our view...

The concert was great!  Steve Martin is a great entertainer and a very talented banjo player.  The Steep Canyon Rangers played and sang wonderfully as well and they also had another bluegrass singer with them, Edie Brickell, who was fabulous! 

Thank you Deer Valley Music Festival for another wonderful evening filled with great music and wonderful memories!

So, it's been a couple of months since I blogged.  We've done all kinds of fun, wonderful, and interesting things. But let's be honest.  I don't really have the time to write a novel and you probably don't have time to read one.  So, we'll keep it short and simple. 

Lilly turned 7 in May.  Grandma Laurie and Aunt Sarah were down visiting and got to celebrate with us.  We went to the Fiesta Family Fun Center and played in the arcade and the kids rode the bumper boats.  Then we had lasagna for dinner with a chocolate octopus cake.  No worries, it was just shaped like an octopus. 

Nate and Jayne having fun on the bumper boats. 

Lilly lounging about in the camping chair Aunt Rachel gave her

We also made a few trips to Zion's National Park

 The kids have been out of school for almost a month now.  We've been doing lots of swimming, visiting the library, eating snow cones, playing outside, and watching movies.  All the great things summer is made of! 

Lilly played tee ball and really enjoyed it.  She want's to play again and we've been spending time practicing a little at the park.  It's been great to get out and play as a family.  

Lilly with her tee ball trophy.

Jonah started taking karate classes and is really loving it.  He goes once a week. 

Nate bought a motorcycle, fulfilling one of his lifelong dreams.  It's an old Kawasaki with a very distinctive and loud rumble to it.  We always know when he's coming or going.  =)

The kids love it when Nate takes them on little rides around the parking lot.

I had a lovely Mother's Day complete with handmade cards and gifts from the kids, new pans and a beautifully simple ring from Nate.  For Father's Day this past weekend, the kids made Nate cards and we gave him some movies (his favorite kind of gift), a bucket of Red Vines, and an ice cream maker.  We made a batch of pistachio ice cream and he was in heaven!

We had new family photos taken by my cousin Amanda of Amanda Kay Memories photography.  We absolutely love how they turned out!  She gave us over 100 images and I love almost every single one of them, but I'll just share a few of my favorites.  

So there you have it.  The last two months in a nutshell.  Things are busy and sometimes even crazy, but we're loving every minute of it!