Miss Utah Outstanding Teen Pageant

McKenna, Allyson, and I had the pleasure of attending the Miss Utah Outstanding Teen Pageant.  This was such a fun opportunity, especially for McKenna to see the things that what she is dreaming of someday doing.  I wanted them to have the opportunity to attend the autograph session of the pageant, so they could each meet of the girls competing, but more importantly to see Miss Utah, Krissia Beatty and the current Miss Outstanding Teen, Savvy. 

 

 

 

It was an added bonus to snag a picture with Savvy and Trevor!

 

 

After the autographs, we were able to go eat dinner and shop with Tammy, Morgan and Alyssa.  Afterwards, we headed to the pageant.  I was lucky enough to buy us great seats for the show; we were four rows from the front, so it made it that much more fun to watch and be in attendance.  We were able to watch them call the top ten and then each of those contestants were able to do fitness, talent, and evening gown.   We didn't know any of the girls, but it was sure fun to pick our favorites.  It was fun for us to watch the family sitting two rows behind us, because they were cheering for the girl who actually won queen.  Quite a fun opportunity and now McKenna has a huge bucket list of stuff she wants to do so she can be on that stage competing for the crown of Miss Utah Outstanding Teen!

 

Princess Academy

This year's Princess Academy was a great service project for the contestants running for the Miss Sanpete and Miss Sanpete Teen pageants in a couple weeks.  Each girl was responsible for selling eight tickets to girls in the area to come and participate in this academy.  It was fun to see so many little girls come all dressed up in their princess attire.  McKenna, along with the other contestants were the helpers in the different areas of the activities for the academy. 

 

Lindzey, Jordan, and McKenna

 

 

There were three different areas of the academy, one being decorating a crown shaped sugar cookie, which by the way was a hit for all the girls.  Then there was a coloring page that focused on the beauty of a girl and then an arrow painting project that focused on self-esteem.  When the different activities were done, the girl could have a photo shoot with some of the local royalties.  McKenna and her friends had a great time doing their own photos shoot.  What a fun morning.

 

 

I was lucky enough to get in the pictures!  Geez if I am going to come of the mountain to help, I figured I mine as well get in on the fun.  And besides, it isn't very often you can say your related to Miss Sanpete, so take advantage of a fun photo shoot with her.  And nothing beats getting your picture with your own beautiful daughter.  Love this girl of mine!

 



Sabrina Johnson, Anne Fonville; pageant co-director, Whitney Timothy, Emilie Bradley, Emily Cox; pageant director, Lindzey Harding, McKenna, Jordan Henson, Marlie Meacham.

Summer Vacation

Jeremy and I have had our family vacation planned for several weeks now and with much success, we have been able to pull it off without letting the kids in on our little secret.  The kids, especially Allyson, get very excited and anxious about upcoming plans and so to save our sanity, we waited and told them Friday night what we were planning on doing.  Even Friday seemed a bit early, for the fact that Allyson had a hard time falling to sleep she was so excited and she was up early on Saturday to pack her and Lottie's bag, so when Sunday came we wouldn't be waiting for them!

 

Day #1 - Idaho Here We Come

 

So our initial plans for our trip were to leave Gunnison mid-afternoon to hit up Springville in good enough time make it to Idaho not too late.  Tyler knew that his ward was getting a new bishopric, so he at least knew he wanted to stay for sacrament before leaving town.  One phone call and we had a quick change of plans.  Tyler called me Thursday to say that the Stake President called him last night to the position of 2nd Counselor in their new bishopric.  With that being said, we no longer could just sneak away after sacrament.  Which now, looking back I am glad we were able to share this experience with Tyler.  We were able to be there with him and his family, my mom and dad, and Ashley's mom and dad for the special day for Tyler.  It was quite a spiritual experience to hear Grandpa O bless Tyler into the quorum of a High Priest.  The spirit was so strong and it was such a beautiful blessing for Tyler.  Afterwards, he was set apart as the 2nd Counselor.  I think he was a bit overwhelmed, but I know there will be blessings beyond waiting for him as he takes on this new challenge in his life.  Afterwards, they had a nice lunch prepared for us so we could go eat and hang out with the Grandparents before we were off on our vacation.

Our first destination was Pocatello, Idaho.  This was about 45 minutes north of Lava Hot Springs, but we thought it would be fun for the kids to see the new movie "Minions".  So once we made it up to Pocatello, we were able to let the kids get out and relax before it was time for the movie to start.  We all loved the movie, afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Lava Hot Springs.  This kids could hardly wait to get there to see our hotel, there is something fun about sleeping in a hotel that the kids are actually excited to get to bed, so with a big day ahead of us, we all were able to get to sleep.

Day #2 - Lava Hot Springs

 

Today was the day the kids were most excited about.  After showing them the pictures online and sharing my childhood memories of Lava Hot Springs that the kids could not wait for the pool to open.  Because the pool opened at 11:00, we had several hours to kill before we were able to go swimming.  We were in walking distance to the Hot Springs and across from there was a park.  We were able to let the kids play at the park, take a ride around town before the 11 finally rolled around.


 

So the time arrived and the pool was finally open.  We were one of the first groups in line, so we were able to get in and set up our spot without a large crowd.  Once our canopy was set up, to the water we went.  Everyone just played and played, the only time they would come back to get something to eat or drink.  We brought in cooler of food and water, so we were able to break up our day and get out of the sun on and off to just relax and enjoy.

 

 

 

We stayed until the pool closed at 8 pm.  Afterwards, the kids were starving and ready to get out of the sun.  Before we left the pool, we bought a combination pass so we could go to the Hot Springs later this evening.  We went back to the rooms, ordered pizza and just hung out for a while.  As it got darker, we walked up to the Hot Springs, where were  went and tested each of the different Hot Springs. The hottest spring there was 112 degrees.  It was so hot and amazingly, Jeremy, Tyler, Ashley, and McKenna were brave enough to put their entire bodies under.  The rest of us went and enjoyed the spring that was 105 degrees.  That one was great and you could actually but your head under in that warm of water.

 

 

 

Day #3 - Lava Hot Springs

Portneuf River

Tuesday morning we got up and got ready to ride the river.  This is something the kids really had never done before, so they were looking forward to this fun day.  We rented several rafts for four hours.  Initially, we were planning on riding the river and then cleaning up and head back to Utah today, but the kids had so much fun yesterday at the pool, they wanted to go back after we were done riding the river.  After making sure we could reserve our rooms for one more night, we had another full day to play here in Lava Hot Springs.

 

 

 

 

Everyone had a lot of fun riding the river.  Ally, Lottie, Erin and I were the only ones that stayed back and watched, we were the ones responsible for dropping everyone off and picking them up at the bottom.  As a kid, I rode this river and it terrified me for life.  I was probably Allyson's age when we came here as a family and I rode a single raft all by myself.  I will never forget how scared I was and to this day my dad tells me we probably could still hear the echo of my scream if we listened close enough.  Even little Tara rode the river, she liked it the first time down,  but on the second trip, she and Tyler wrecked, hit heads, and then they were done.  So it was good we had plans to go to the pool because that pretty well finished it for all of us!

 

 

One nice thing about this trip is that we were able to get nice tans from two full days in the sun.  We laughed because Trey looks like a really tan Ethiopian kid.  He needs some meat on those bones!

 

 

Once again, we stayed until the pool closed at 8:00.  The last couple of hours before closing, there were not very many people there so the kids were able to go off the slides and diving boards of their own choice without any wait time at all.  This was so fun, the weather was great, and the company was wonderful. 

 

Trey and Cannon pretty much did their own thing for the last two days, they had so much fun going off the slides, diving boards, and just swimming in the shallow end.  McKenna kept us adults going, we all took turns going down the slides, diving boards, platforms, and the steep slides with her.  She and her dad spent a lot of time together doing this bigger and better things that the little kids didn't really like to do.  Allyson and Tara played really well together.  They about wore the little white slide out, they were constantly going down and back up and in line again.  Lottie was a little more hesitant, she liked the shallow side of the water but she liked Jeremy or I with her.  What she liked the very most was the awesome splash pad.  Not only did she like the slide, water falls, buckets, etc., but the water in the splash pad was so warm, that it made it worth it for all.  All four little girls had a ball there and we ended up spending a lot of time in there over the past two days.

 

We got back to our room and decided to walk to the Thai food restaurant for dinner.  We brought the food back and ate at the picnic area at our hotel.  Afterwards, we walked to the ice cream shop down town.  It was fun to see this small tourist town and enjoy good ice cream.

 

Day #4 - Idaho to Utah

 

Wednesday came quicker than we wanted and no one was ready to go home today.  We decided to stop and grab a few pictures on our way out of town.  This kids spotted this big bull statue when in came into town on Sunday, so we told them when we went to go home, we would let them stand in front to get their pictures.   Then we didn't want to pass up the moment to get a family picture near the Lava Hot Springs bridge / slide as you enter into town.

  

Goodbye Lava, thanks for such a memorable few days!  We all can't wait to come back!

On our way home, we decided to travel a different direction.  We finally made it to Preston, Idaho and once there, Tyler googled Napoleon Dynamite.  The town of Preston was where this movie was filmed, so thank goodness for Google, Tyler found Napoleon's house so we could drive past for the kids to see.  They were disappointed that we wouldn't stop and let them get their picture out front, but actual people live there and we thought that would be a little awkward.

 



From Preston, we drove right to Logan where we found a nice park for the kids to play and hang out.  We still had several hour in front of us driving, so we were able to kick back, eat, and relax before we hit the road again. 

 

This ended up being a really fun family vacation, not too short and not too long.  This kids really enjoyed playing in and out of the water with their cousins.  It especially made this trip that more fun and memorable for the fact that we made so many fun memories with Tyler, Ashley, Cannon, Tara, and Erin.  Thanks to Tyler for the fun suggestions and putting enough pressure on me to get something planned to go and do together.  Can't wait to do this trip again!

Mother's Day

I am so grateful for the calling I have of being a mother.  There is nothing in this world that I would rather do or spend my time with than these four crazy kiddos.  They put a smile on my face and make each day complete.  I know that I have truly learned more from them than what they have learned from me!  Thank to them for making me who I am today.

 

 

It was like an act of congress to get them to cooperate for a picture and as you can see, when I wanted them to pose, this is what I got.  Of well, I wouldn't want it any other way, this is what our life is about.  I love each of you, McKenna, Trey, Ally, and Lottie.  Thanks for trusting me to be your mother.

And Mother's Day wouldn't be Mother's Day without letting my mom and Jeremy's mom how much I love and appreciate both of them.  They have been so patient and loving through the years that I don't know where we would be without either of them.  I feel so fortunate to live and be so close to both of them.  Thanks so much for your great examples of love and showing such Christ like attributes that I hope I can only be half the mother that you both have been to me!

Gettin' Crafty

I love the fact that I have developed talents while growing up that benefit me now at this time in my life.  I was raised in the craft business for as long as I remember and I feel fortunate that this talent has been something that I have used and continue to use. 

 

Recently I came across a photo online of front porch all decorated for fall.  I saved that photo with intentions to make the Autumn sign for my own porch.  Well, needless to say, that has turned into a fun part time job.  Not only did I decide to make one for me, but I thought I would see if I could make some to sell.  (Hence with the holidays quickly approaching!)  So to work I went, painting away.  My first batch of signs were a success, I of course kept one for myself, but I was able to quickly get rid of the other three. 
 

With much success, I decided I wanted to expand my ideas and not only make a few more Autumn signs, but I wanted to make some for Christmas as well as everyday signs.  So, I spent the majority of Conference weekend painting away.  I was able to make four more Autumn signs, two Welcome signs, and two Christmas signs, all to sell at some upcoming holiday boutiques.  In the midst of the boutiques, I did take the time to make me three Halloween signs.  I only kept one for myself and gave the other two the girls that is tending Lottie for me right now.
 

 

Every chance I get, I try to paint.  I found myself waking up early in the morning thinking about different ideas that I can use to expand my selection.  I am fortunate that I have a large counter in my laundry room that allows me the chance to spread out my stuff and get some work done.  I will get up early in the morning before everyone else is up to get either the base coat on the wood or applying vinyl used as my stencils.  It is amazing how quickly I can get these put together and it is actually a lot of fun!  I love nothing more than to see the end results!



Batch #3 - 10.18.2014

 

Well, the signs were a great success!  I sold quite a few at boutiques and some at the Copy Station.  I also was fortunate enough to get some custom sign orders to personalize Christmas gifts.  Not only did they sell good, but they also made for cute add ins as I decorated my own house for holidays.  As much fun as it was, I am afraid I do not want to pick up a paint brush for a while.