I love these tennis girls!

So I have some girlfriends that play tennis...well, they don't just play, they play hard and win!!! They won regionals, and sectionals and are now going to Nationals in AZ in October! I went and saw them play, it was inspiring...maybe someday!

Melissa Walker with an awesome serve...Melissa makes killer shots and then looks surprised...such a funny girl!

I loved this shot of Melissa and her partner Holly discussing.....

Courtnee Poelman getting a little net action! Now this girl knows how to have fun and win at the same time! She rocks!
After Courtnee's win!

Now this is intense Gretch...Gretchen Knell, that is. Look at that body in action, I love it! She had a great tournament. She played doubles and they won every match!
Way to go girls!
Good Luck at Nationals!

First Day of School

Yeah! It's finally here, I can't believe it, but I've got kids who want to go to school! All except the 8th grader of course! Tru and Chloe are excited about their teachers (Mrs. Rawlins and Mrs. Stone) and their friends! Yeah, for a great elementary school full of great people! Our only problem is, Kindergarten doesn't start for 10 more days, and Rock is more excited than anyone!

Yahoo, Kindergarten is finally here! We are so excited! Rock has been waiting all summer to wear jeans and I told him he couldn't until school (thinking he would forget about it...nope), so he layed out his jeans and shirt the night before. PS. He came home red faced and sweaty, but still wore jeans the next day!

Rock and Nicco, going to the same class, such fun good friends!

Off they go!

All our neighborhood friends, Hunter Lovell, Kayla Andrews, Nicco and Rock!
Good luck Mrs. Parker!

TIMP CAVE
Saturday, August 8th, we, along with a visitor from England (Andrea Bilbow visiting for a Why Try conference...yep they are going global!), hiked to Timp cave. It was to continue the "Summer of 1sts", the Y hike, now Timp cave and hopefully in October, Timpanogos mountain! (And remember these are all firsts for Hans!) It was an amazingly cool day for August (68 degrees) so the hike was still hard, but not near as tormenting as it would have been in 90 degrees.

This is Andrea coming through one of the man made tunnels to keep the trail on the mountain! Chloe is pointing to the fault line!

Holding up the mountain!

Josie, trying to hide from the camera...Hans is such a stud for carrying her the whole way!

We made it to the top! It was beautiful, I love Utah!

Heading into the cave!

Rock and Josie were totally scared, check out the eyes!

Crazy stalagtite straws!

Chloe was at the beginning of the tour by our guide and she loved it! Soaking up every word she said!

Josie having fun, finally letting go of her nervousness!

Great Saturday! Now off to dinner at Sundance. Life is good!

Powell

We were so lucky to be invited to Lake Powell by our good friends Ryan and Courtnee Poelman, as well as so lucky to counted within this fun group of people. Hans couldn't make it for a few days, so I flew solo, but still had fun with my girls! I surfed for the first time, it wasn't pretty, but it was definitely one of the funnest things I've done! LOVED IT! Love these people, had a blast! Thanks friends, LOVES!

Kristi Dial, Laurie Pope, Stephanie Larsen, Gretchen Knell, Me and Suzette Astle

Gina Eady, Me, Suzette Astle and Laurie Pope

Hans got it so quick, he threw in the rope, but I only got that on video!

Not pretty, but loving it!

What is that...trying a little to hard to be dramatic I think!

Sweet houseboat set up!

Love these KNELLS!

Maglebys, Walkers, Dials, Popes, Astles, Poelmans, Larsens, Eadys, Legas, Murdocks and Knells

Goof Balls!

YELLOWSTONE

July 19th-23rd, 2009
And the journey begins! All of us together for a lot of hours...and it was a lot of hours! For our big summer vacation this year, we headed to Yellowstone National Park. The first night we started off a bit late and ended up sleeping in the trailer just off the side of the road. But we were up bright and early and made it to West Yellowstone before lunch!

A lot of ipods, headphones, movies, games....all in the name of sanity!

We needed to take a little break in the drive and pulled over to play in a meadow, I love how they all are liking each other at this point....

Wildflowers for Mom!

Huge nerd!

Huger nerd!

The first night in our camp, a buffalo came wandering in, it was so fun to have one so close. He ended up sitting down and sleeping there the whole night.

First stop at some crazy steaming pots...the kids were suprised at the potent smell!

The different colors of pools amazed us, especially this one, it was crystal clear blue! Awesome!

Same pool, so deep!

We just missed Old Faithful going off so we had to wait another hour and half, but it was nice to sit and eat lunch.

It is always steaming, taunting us that if we step away, we might miss it!

Then it does little spurts and you think...is that it?

Nope, that thing goes crazy and for quite a few minutes....nature...it's a marvel!

We thought it was hilarious that every day we came upon Bison walking down the road stopping traffic, all the people in the cars passing were laughing and had huge smiles on their faces!

Yep, I did a lot of carrying this little munchkin!

Gray spotted a bear track....but we never saw a live one!

Wow, we thought the first area stunk? Holy stink, this place was unreal, very low levels of Oxygen in the air! Yikes!

My "Water Benders"....what does that mean anyway...oh I know, HUGE NERDS!

In the picture above you can see the lookout to the right of the waterfall, they are on the lookout in this picture!

Not sure...

Even more uncertain....

On our way home just outside of Jackson Hole, the TETONS!

When we pulled into Jackson, Hans spotted this Amphibian (car that can go on land and water, like a boat) and Rock couldn't believe it was real.

Got to love all the massive horn arches....they are all wrapped in lights, I would have loved to stay and see them lit up, but we were beat and we wanted to get home!