#12 What? Eat it? As you wish...

Well you can't just kill fish for no good reason. The kids really wanted to go fishing, so I told them if we caught anything we would have to eat it. Quinn was nice enough to cook it up for us. It was TASTY!

#11 Go Fishing

Our friend Quinn offered up his fly fishing skills at the ward auction. We were super excited because we wanted to support our wards Youth programs, and we also really wanted to learn how to fly fish... Mission Accomplished! This trip was SO much fun!Before we went Quinn came over to teach us how to cast. We did a little FHE, and watched the Mormon Message about the fly fisherman. Chase thought this was pretty funny because in the video it likens the fisherman to Satan, and after the video was over we all went outside to learn how to cast. Chase was making comments like " Wow, this FHE is different... Fly fisherman are like Satan... Come on kids let's all be fly fisherman..." *Side note... We have yet to have a BBQ this summer where it hasn't started raining, and this night was no exception. So we learned how to cast in the rain. It was actually really fun!Camping was a blast! Except for the sleeping part. The kids slept great but Matt and I FROZE!! In the end even that was memorable though because we kept laughing as we would try and warm our freezing feet on each other. I don't think either of us drifted off for more than a couple hours at the most. Other than that though it was great. Matt, Chase, and Quinn took off first thing in the morning to do some fishing. Matt caught 2 pretty big ones.Chase caught 2 but one of them was SO BIG, it got away (That's his story anyway, and he's sticking to it!) But he made it back with this one, which he was also very proud of.While the boys were gone the kids were happy as could be playing at the campsite. There was a little stream that went through that the kids could play in. When the boys got back Scott wanted a turn to go. I was trying to explain to him that this fishing would be a little hard for him and maybe he could fish with Chase in the stream. But he wanted to use a pole just like Dad and Chase. Quinn heard him asking so he told Scott to come with him and he would teach him to fish. Scott was so excited, he told Quinn " If I catch a fish I will be Happy, but if I don't I will be Sad" Quinn was funny he said "You won't be sad on my watch" and away they went. In the end they didn't catch a fish, but Scott loved trying!After lunch it was my turn. Sara was nice enough to watch ALL the kids so I could at least give it a shot. While we were out Quinn caught like 6 more fish, and Matt and I didn't catch a thing. But it was fun, and by the end my casting was getting much better so maybe I'll have better luck next time. Thanks Quinn and Sara!

#22 Pierce the girls ears...

I would have been fine piercing the girls ears when they were babies. I think little baby girls with their ears pierced are really cute! But Matt wanted to wait until it was their idea. He didn't have a certain age in mind, he just wanted them to be the ones asking for it. So it took a few years for me to plant the idea in their heads, but they finally started asking... We waited so we could do it on Aspen's 7th birthday, and Zoe's 5th birthday, as a little present. Aspen was excited, but Zoe had the jitters. She kept asking how it was going to feel, and I kept telling her it would just be a pinch. So her and Aspen practiced pinching each other all morning to make sure they were up for it.When we got their Zoe really wanted Aspen to go first, (which I knew was a BAD IDEA!) One little yelp from Aspen would be all Zoe needed to call the whole thing off. But Zoe was insistent. So I prepped Aspen, I told her how BRAVE she needed to be so that Zoe wouldn't get scared off. And she was, SO BRAVE! Not a yelp was heard, not a tear was shed. She looked at Zoe right after and with the cutest little grin said "See Zoe, just a pinch" But Zoe could see the SHOCK in her eyes. Aspens cute little grin resembled that of a dear in headlights. Zoe was not fooled, and she was NOT getting her ears pierced today. We tried bribing and begging but she was NOT BUDGING. So we returned her earrings and went home. When we got home I asked her if she would dare get her ears pierced if she had her blanket with her. She said she would. I know it's crazy but she still gets so much comfort from her big red blanket. So Matt and Aspen Hopped out, Zoe ran in and grabbed her blanket, and we went right back to the store. Round 2 was a different story. She sat right down, stuck her two middle fingers in her mouth, rubbed her little nose with her blanket, and let them pierce her ears. The lady was shocked, she kept asking Zoe "Wow! are you sure your the same girl that was just here." Zoe didn't even cry. It was the craziest thing. And here they are, with their new earrings... So cute!

#1 Getaway

Matt and I had a fun all inclusive trip to Mexico booked for September, but recently Matt quit his job and is trying to start up his own business so we decided it wouldn't be super smart to spend that kind of $ on a vacation... So we toned it WAY down and went to St. George. It was Great!! It is so nice to sneak off with Matt, and have him all to myself just for a few days. When we are home I have to share him with our kids, our ward, his school, his job, his friends, and his yard. So it was fun to get him away from everything, just for a while. We spent the first 3 days lounging... We went to the gym in the morning, then to the pool around lunch time, after that we got cleaned up and went for a nice dinner and went to the temple. That was pretty much our schedule for the first 3 days. Then that weekend Rick and Deb, and Lynn and Russ came down and we went to see "The Little Mermaid" at the Tuacahn. It was SO cute! And SO impressive! I mean watching that movie you might think..."how could they make this into a play? The main character is a Mermaid who lives in the ocean"... Well they totally pulled it off! I loved it!Saturday we went to Zions. I haven't been there since Chase was a baby. It was fun! So my only complaint about Zions was the HEAT. Hiking in Southern Utah at the end of June is really Hot... Shocking Right? Anyway, I decided just to hop right in the river and cool down. It wasn't ICY, but it was cold! But it kept me nice and cool the rest of the day.

#13 Topaz Mountain

SO... the reason this is on our "To Do" list is because we have been talking about doing this FOREVER!! Our kids love finding and collecting Rocks. I think they get this from their Grandma Thompson. Every time they go to her house they get to pick a rock and a shell before leaving, so they have a ton of cool stuff.Anyway, so Matt wanted to take us to Topaz Mountain, which is just a Mountain out in the middle of nowhere, full of Topaz (hence the name "Topaz Mountain") It was a fun little field trip. The kids each got their own hammer and chisel, and went to work. Pretty much the usual shot of Zoe...Topaz is a tiny little Crystal like rock, so you really have to search for it, but it was everywhere so it wasn't really hard to find. That didn't stop the kids from getting super excited when they would find some. Look at Zoe's face... She is Stoked!Every now and then we would get tired of looking for rocks so we would try to catch Lizards. Chase caught 2 by their tails, and their tails came right off. You obviously can't tell in this picture but this little tail continued to wiggle around for a couple minutes in Chase's hand, it was creepy.I am proud to announce that I was the first one to catch a Lizard!I love the difference in these pictures. The first one was taken on our way down. Scott dozed off, but was not in a deep sleep. He was able to keep his legs crossed and his fingers in his mouth.This was on our way home, and he is OUT!We took the "Pony Express Trail" home. Ever Heard of It? Neither had we! To get to Topaz Mountain we took paved roads all the way until we got to the Mountain, and then drove on a dirt road about a mile or so to get to the base. Well on our way home we had been driving about 10 minutes and Matt commented that he didn't remember being on a dirt road for so long. I didn't either so I suggested we turn around, but he was sure it was going to come out somewhere so we kept going. About 10 minutes after that we were both sure we were on the wrong road, I thought it was a good idea to go back, even though we had already been traveling for 20 minutes, but he was still sure that it had to come out somewhere. Well... about 30 minutes later we are cracking up, we had NO IDEA where we were, we were still on a dirt road and the thought of turning around didn't feel like an option anymore, so we kept on. We were cracking jokes and laughing hysterically. We came upon this sign, and decided it was worth documenting our adventure on the "Pony Express" so we pulled over and took a picture. 20 minutes later it was NOT FUNNY ANY MORE! I was starting to get nervous! Finally we came out on a paved road with a sign that said "Lehi 45 miles"... I could hear the heavenly choirs singing! So in the end we made it home safely, and oddly enough it took us about the same amount of time.The drive home was very Scenic... We saw 11 different Antelope. This one was hanging out pretty close to the road so we pulled over and gt a picture.