SUMMER UPDATE

Our summer, of course, flew by...but not without many, MANY, fun and exciting things that kept us very busy and entertained! Here are some of the highlights...

MISS UTAH PAGEANT

Brielle was asked by Miss Saratoga Springs, Shalee Allen, to be her "Little Miss" at the Miss Utah Pageant. Shalee and her sister, Paige, were our favorite babysitters for many years!! We love her and my kids have always looked up to her and her good example. She is such a cute, sweet, girl who has so much going for her...and she seriously was the BEST babysitter ever!!! Although I am not the "pageant mom" type...Brielle was so excited about doing this that we decided it would be a fun experience for her! Needless to say, she LOVED it and had so much fun being with Shalee, learning new dances, and meeting new friends. We were busy, every night, for 1 week, down at Captiol Theater. We had dress rehearsals, practices, time for make-up and hair, time to grab a quick bite to eat, and the performances were Wednesday through Saturday. All the "Little Misses" performed a dance every night of competition and in addition, they had to escort their "Miss's" in their evening wear on 2 of the nights. It was amazing to watch the practices and dress rehearsals every night...and then to see how they come together for the competitions. A lot of hard work goes into this whole process...probably another reason why I am not a "pageant Mom"! :) It was a great experience for Brielle and I'm sure one she'll never forget!

Shalee (and Brielle of course) looked amazing every night!

They had a "service day" where we had to go make blankets, and put together little crafts and games for Primary Children's hosptial. Shalee made these cute shirts for me and Brielle to wear to the service day. It was such a cute idea!

Brielle and Shalee with the former Miss Utah, Christina Lowe.

Shalee also came over and helped Brielle decorate her bucket. These buckets were used and kept at Capitol Theater every night to hold their production outfits, crowns, hair stuff, etc... and then while they were waiting to go on stage...they were used as chairs to sit on. Cute idea!

They had a room at the Hilton across the street from Capitol Theater that we could use to get the girls ready. We would get her all ready...and then go find somewhere to eat dinner!

Grandma and Grandpa, Jason, Caden and Emery all got to come to one of her performances! It was fun to watch Brielle and Shalee up on stage. Of course, they were the cutest ones on stage!!

Brielle also made many new friends!

This is Shalee and her cute sister, Paige...our other FAVORITE babysitter!!

Brielle with the new Miss Utah, Danica. Brielle had so much fun...and what an experience!!

BIRTHDAYS

So, everyone in the family...except Jason...including our dog Romo...recently had a birthday. Emery turned 6. She had a bunch of her cute, little, girl friends over for pizza and games. She has such a fun group of girls in the neighborhood!

She was excited to get new Roller Skates!

The girls were playing "Freeze Dance"...and Emery had quite the freeze poses! :)

Brielle turned 9. She had her cute girl friends over for a sleepover in the tent in the backyard. They did sparklers, ran around with glow sticks, and then watched a movie in the tent. When they woke up, we had breakfast and then went swimming...what a party...they had so much fun!

Caden turned 11. He had all his good buddies over for a sleepover in the backyard in the tent. They also played games...including "Just Dance" (which was hilarious to watch). Boys will be boys...

All the boys dancing...they were actually pretty good! :)

Caden was excited about his new golf clubs!

And, I turned 29...again! :) I spent the day waterskiing with the girls and spent the evening with my hubby and kids! What a great way to spend my birthday!

Romo turned 3! My kids always have to give him a little party...Hot Dogs with candles! We love our sweet "Romeo"!!

REAL SOCCER GAMES

We discovered such a fun thing this summer. We had never been to a REAL Soccer game before and our friends, the Mackay's, invited us to one. We had so much fun and decided to take our kids to one! What a fun way to spend an evening! We've been to a few games now and hopefully will be going to a few more!

The camera crews stopped us to interview my cute girls...they wanted to know who was their favorite REAL player and why...Brielle said "Beckerman...because he was a good player" and Emery wouldn't talk...surprise, surprise! :)

My kids also attended their first concert at a REAL game. One Republic played on the field after one of the games! It was so much fun and we loved the music!

SPORTS

Emery played soccer for the first time...and she did great! She was fast and aggressive! It was fun to watch her!

Caden went to a golf camp this summer at Talons Cove golf course. He LOVED it and with the new clubs he got for his birthday and the many free bucket of balls (thanks to the girls that work the front desk at the golf course(Shalee - his old babysitter and Amy- the golf pro that taught him at the golf camp)...he has become quite the golfer. Check out that form!!

Jason and Caden have been waterskiing and wakeboarding as much as possible out at Last Chance Lakes. Jason even had lessons with world record holder, Bob LaPoint. Pretty cool!

Brielle did a "dance camp" this summer that some of the girls in the neighborhood put on. She did it with her friends Breelyn and Mikelle and had a blast!

PARK CITY

We had a quick weekend get-away up in Park City with the Kehoe familly. We rode the Alpine Slide and went swimming in our hotel. Jason and Mark went and got Subway sandwiches for the kids and then the adults went and ate at Ruth Chris's. Wow...love that place!!

The next morning...we got up and drove to Mill Hollow for some fishing...a place that Jason spent a lot of his childhood camping/fishing. We had a lot of fun! Mark and Jason spent most of their time untangling fishing line and putting bait on everyones else's poles...so hopefully they had fun, too! :)

Caden caught the most fish...it must be that new fishing pole that he bought with the Cabelas gift card that Grandma and Grandpa gave him for his birthday!!

CABIN

We love going to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin and spent a weekend there with G&G, the Wards and the Krogs. We had fun taking the raft out to the pond and we went on a long 4-Wheeler adventure and found this hidden lake! The mountains and areas around the cabin are so pretty...it's fun just to drive around and look at the gorgeous scenery!

Aunt Chelle (or Sha-Sha...as all the little kids call her) was the brave soul who took all the kids out for a raft ride on the pond.

LAST CHANCE - GIRLS ONLY!

Every summer we get the girls together for a couple days and go out to Last Chance to...lets face it Margo, we go to eat yummy food, relax, and laugh all night long. Margo would like to think that we all go out there to waterski! :) OK - Most of us do ski or wakeboard while out there...but regardless of what we're doing...we have so much fun together!

Tara, me, and Susan...the August birthdays!

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

We took our kids one Saturday afternoon on a hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful! I love spending time with my kids...they are at such fun ages!

As you can see...we had a fun, enjoyable summer and are still trying to adjust to the business that fall brings...school, football, schedules, etc...