September 29, 2010

ALASKA - Whale Watching

One of my favorite things from Scott's trip, is his whale watching adventure.  Scott and Mark took a break from fishing to enjoy the whales up close and personal.  Most of these pictures were taken not even zoomed in.  The whales were so close to the boat and there were so many of them.

They may have struck out on the fishing expedition but they struck gold with the whales.  They even got to see several killer whales.



September 25, 2010

ALASKA - fishing trip

This summer, Scott went on a "Boys Trip" to Alaska to go fishing.  The opportunity for this trip came up because our friend's mom owns a fishing lodge up in Alaska.  Her parents keep inviting her to go up but it's a big trip with 5 kids and an even bigger trip if you don't like to fly.  So, Scott threw it out there to do it as a guys trip.  The idea quickly grew into a reality.

Next thing I knew, a group was put together and flights were booked.  We started shopping for fishing clothes and a waterproof backpack.  And I loaded him up with treats.  A week and a half after the Fourth of July, they were on their way.

They had a great time and he took some amazing photographs.  Heather's mom did a great job of hosting them and fed them more food than they could eat in a month.

Unfortunately, the didn't have much luck catching the halibut they had hoped.  They caught a lot of crab and feasted on it nearly every night.

I'm so glad they got to do this trip but I really missed having Scott around and I don't know how thrilled I'd be if every year included a "Boys Trip".  But I'm definitely glad he got to do this trip.



September 18, 2010

Days of 47 Parade Display

Last year, Miss Kim let us know about a really cool display that happens every July.  See, in Utah we celebrate the birth of our state on July 24th with a huge parade and fireworks.  We've never gone to the parade and I don't record it on TV, but it is pretty fantastic and the floats are worth seeing.  For 1 week prior to the parade all of the floats are on display.

So, last year the kids all went while I was at work.  This year, I decided that I wanted to go so we waited and went after work.  The biggest challenge was keeping the kids from begging for balloons or face paint.  The kids won the battle though and Grandma splurged and got them all balloon animals.  Then, to everyone's surprise, they learned that I know how to make balloon animals and that it really isn't very hard.





I love this picture.  It reminds me a bit of the Beatles album cover.  I probably should have cropped it short and long. :)

Looking foward to seeing the floats again next year.

September 15, 2010

Swim Lessons

Summer is a wonderful time for the girls.  They enjoy the warmth.  They enjoy the freedom.  They enjoy the time with cousins.  They enjoy the time on the boat.  But both of them look forward to one thing for months.  The both look forward to swimming lessons.  (I could tell them that they could swim year round but I think they both have a busy enough schedule as it is with dance and gymnastics).

One day, I went to work late so that i could watch them at swimming lessons.  And because I always have my camera with me, here's what I got to watch...






This year has been a huge year for Ivy's swimming.  She actually enjoys it and isn't scared to go underwater.  The task is going to be keeping her brave during the winter months.  We might have to make a few trips to the bubble.

September 13, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandma and Jenny

Summer is filled with many birthdays and lots of reasons for the family to gather. My parents both have a birthday in July, my cousin's wife's birthday is in July and there are 3 of my cousins' kids' with birthdays in July.  We'll get together and do group parties, for the sake of time.  The oldest gets to pick the dessert.

My mom loves Pavlova.  It is a bit of a tradition that we have individual pavlova's for her birthday.  Unfortunately I had a few problems while making them and ended up making a not-so-pretty-trifle and only a few pretty individual treats.  (But, all those that ate the not-so-pretty-trifle actually thought that it was a bit better).





Whenever I'm around Pete and Jenny's adorable little babies, I have to take at least one picture that shows their personality.  This is little Axel who has an adorable big brother named Anchor.

September 7, 2010

Night with the Galli Family

There are a lot of things about summer that our family loves.  But one of the ones we love the most is boating.

We got to go boating with another of our close family friends.  These friends have been Scott's friends for many many years before I came along.  And the friendship still fit after I did come along.

We headed out for a night on the boat and were put on hold due to a lovely flat tire.  Luckily I have a really handy husband who is always prepared for anything.  So we only had to stop long enough to eat our sandwiches in the care while he put on the spare.  I love having a husband that is so good at fixing things. 

Once we finally got out on the water, we were able to just have fun.  The Galli kids tried wake boarding and skiing.  Jaxson was a natural.  Dan and Angela both did some wake boarding and were very impressive.  Jaxson got to surf with Scott and he thought it was pretty darn cool.

Jade hasn't been willing to do much in the way of wake boarding or skiing lately.  She says she's been a little scared.  We were able to convince her to take a few runs while we were out with the Gallis but she wasn't very happy about it.  (I'll tell you more later about what Scott has done to change her way of thinking).



September 2, 2010

Out with the Monroes

Over the years, Scott and I have made life long friendships with only a few families.  One of those families has been our close friends since Scott started graduate school.  Chad was Scott's mentor and although we didn't spend much time together in Utah, we became forever friends while we both lived in Kentucky.  Brooke and Chad let us stay at their house while we were house hunting.  They helped us move into our home when we first arrived in Louisville.  We celebrated holidays with them.  We've walked the Louisville Zoo with them, one time when it was closed and we attended a concert there.  Then we followed them to Michigan.  There they took care of Scott while I was in Utah on bed rest.  They helped us celebrate more holidays.  Gosh, come to think about it, there aren't very many holidays we haven't celebrated with them at least once.

Unfortunately, when we headed to Utah, we weren't following them and they didn't follow us.

It has been 4 years since we've gotten to spend time with them.  4 years is a long time.  Luckily, over the years we've talked, we've played XBox 360 on XBox LIVE (Brooke and I were the only wives to embrace gaming).  And we've begged and begged them to move out here.

So far, they haven't made the move, but Brooke's mom and dad did.  So that means that now they will be out occasionally.  And that makes me very happy.

After 4 years of being apart, we gathered together and enjoyed a very fun full day on the boat.  The kids tried everything and all of them got along fabulously.  We can't wait until next summer to get back on the lake with them.




And I love that I'm not the only one with a camera.  In fact, Brooke took more pictures than I did.  Plus she took video.

We are so excited for next year.  And one of these years we will have to get out to see them in their neck of the woods.  But come on, Utah really is the best place to live.