Lake Powell

After a few days of watching this cutie for the first part of fall break:

(we loved every minute with this sweet little guy and are missing him)

And getting to hang out with Sally (and even go shopping with her and Miranda one night:), we packed up and headed north to camp at Lake Powell and finish off our fall break off with a bang. We were invited by a couple of Dana's cousins.

(Sunrise Saturday morning)

My overall impression after arriving? How have we lived in AZ for 8+ years now and never come here before? It was beautiful and very similar to beach camping which is one of my favorite things to do.
 We stayed at a section of the Lake called "Lone Rock Beach". Get it? :)

Here are all of our favorite parts about the trip-
Sadie: The fast boat rides.

I also need to add- playing in this big hole where she spent hours. :)

Holly and Emma: Riding on the "big banana".

Even after they got dunked!

Eli: Going cliff jumping.
Which he didn't do, but he loved watching his dad and the older kids jumping. I didn't go, so I don't have pictures, but there are definitely some nice big cliffs there. And out of all the kids he was the saddest to leave. He loved the boats and paddle board.

 me: Sand Hill. Which is exactly what it sounds like- a hill of sand.

But much prettier. And bigger. My pictures do not do it's height justice. It's a workout to climb that thing. This is about 1/3 of the way up.

It helps to take a few climbing breaks on the way.

And finally you make it to the top- where everyone hangs out awhile since they went through all that work to get up there. (note: if you go, you may not have all these cute guys waiting for you at the top like I did:)

Oh and it doesn't hurt to have a view like this to enjoy once you're up there.

Then, when you're ready to head down, feel free to run. With all that deep, soft sand, falling really isn't a big deal. "Ready, Set...Go!"

And last but not least-
Dana: Paddle boarding at dusk.

He loved having a little much needed R n' R. And it was good to have something to offset sleeping in a tent :)

It was so great to be somewhere new and see new things. It's good for the soul. The kids were truly shocked by the fact that there are that many stars in the sky. We looked for the dippers and the north star and we could easily see the milky way. It's a beautiful sight to behold and we all just stared in awe. 

Lake Powell, you can count on many happy returns for us. :)

Holly's Baptism

We were so blessed that so much family was able to come out for Holly's baptism this year. Her day was so special and there's nothing like having so many loved ones around to share it with. In the past, I've started tearing-up just walking into the stake center where our children have been baptized. This time I felt like I was going to hold it together a little better. But then I walked into the Primary room and  found these people (that I love so much) practicing the little musical number I had put together, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me".

Hearing them sing that beautiful primary song and feeling the Spirit in that room, my watery eyes overflowed and I knew I was in trouble the rest of the day. My heart was so full.

Then we got Holly changed and ready to go.

She wore the small jumpsuit and then we had to roll up the bottom just a bit.

The chapel portion was so perfect. My friend Annette gave a great talk comparing the different bells the kids hear at school to life: the bell telling them to come back to class, the tardy bell, and best of all- the bell to go home at the end of the day. There were only 2 kids in our newly split stake getting baptized but it was nice because we had the whole room to ourselves once we split off.

Walking from the chapel to the font. Blurry, but I love this one.

After her baptism ordinance I ran around to the bathroom to try and be there as she stepped out of the font. I got there just after and she was just glowing and had an ear-to-ear smile. I said something like "How do you feel? Was that neat?" She nodded and said "Yeah" with her big smile. It was so sweet. A moment to remember for sure.

 Our musical number before the Confirmation.

Afterward, we found a shady spot outside the building and I got some super adorable pictures.

Holly and her sweet friend.
They went to THREE baptisms that Saturday so we felt pretty lucky to be part of their busy day.

Picture with the grandma's (always one of my favorites!)

Sally and baby James :)

Dad, g'pa, and uncle Dan

Her special keepsake.

She loves her cousin Dall :)

Me and my girl!

The whole group-

And finally, the luncheon, which I had so much help with. I was able to try out my "free" recipes (as in dairy "free"), while everyone else helped bring the regular stuff.
Thank you everyone for helping make her day so special!

Baptism Photoshoot

About a week before the big day I did a little mini-photoshoot of Holly in her baptism dress.
Here's what our morning looked like:

Getting ready.

Walking down to our neighborhood park area, and my favorite shot.

She thought this one was funny but I love it- she's growing so fast!

Spinning

The sweetest eight year old you ever did see :)

A Birthday for Holly

Holly's special birthday has come and gone. The big day landed on Conference Sunday this year which was quite nice. The day before we took the kids to Makutu's Island (same as last year but that's pretty much her favorite place and we ran out of time to plan a friend party) so we had played and were all set for relaxing!

Outside of Makutus (ya this was a dress yourself and day-old hair day:)

Birthday morning!

Presents! What Holly wanted more than anything was a sketchbook like Emma has. A book with blank pages?
Yep. I aim to please :)

She also got a card from Eli, a geode from Emma and I believe it was 9 cents from Sadie. She was very gracious with every present. Even to Sadie she said "Wow! Thank you so much Sadie!"

For Conference this year I tried to think of a few things to do besides just the "Conference packet". Someone on FB said they get out their big puzzles. So we did the biggest we had, which weren't really "big", but it was still fun.

And then we did a few pages from a Conference packet :)

Oh and don't forgot snoozing here and there...

I can't stop thinking about the missionary announcement! It's really going to change things. Seems like the amount of girls that go will double at least. It would have been a really easy decision for me if I could have gone at 19. I was dying to get away and not be tortured with memories of my missionary anymore :) BUT I wouldn't have had a missionary because when I got to BYU it would have been all RM's right? It's just going to be so interesting to see all the changes in our little Mormon culture. I like being part of history.

But back to the girl of the post here.
After Conference I tried my hand at making some cupcakes we could all eat, which meant gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free. They were extremely chocolatey (not my favorite but they weren't for me anyway right?) but other than that very yummy! I also bought my first dairy-free chocolate chips which are better than normal ones btw.

Campbell's birthday (she turned 5) is the the day before Holly's so we got together for a little cake and ice cream.

MMmmmmm!

And one more present from the cousins--sea monkeys. I'll let you know how those work out.

Happy 8th Birthday to one AMAZING girl. We love you Holly SOOOOOOO much!