Summer Vacay Starts in Utah

We were on our way to St. George to spend the weekend with our Utah Menzies the second school was dismissed for summer break. Kevin was already there from Arizona, so lucky us, we've had some quality Uncle/Brother time in the last few months!

What was my favorite part of the day? Learning to ride Brett's motorcycle solo! Either Brett's a really great teacher or I'm a fast learner... it was great fun except for the quick burn I got by relaxing my leg a little too much. A few weeks after this, Brett totaled his bike in a pretty raunchy accident (he's still healing from his shoulder contusion and wrist injury).

Motorcycle Mama--might be a new hobby

zoom-zoom okay, I was only going like 10 mph

We hiked to Emerald Lakes at Zion. We had an unseasonably cold and rainy afternoon waiting for us... better than the normal Southern Utah 110 degrees! I'm sure the kids loved shoving 12 of us into my car so we could get into the canyon without having to pay buko bucks. Or we're just cheap. Or trying to stretch the dollar. Something like that.

Cousin Jonas & Alexie giggled and played on the forever long tram ride...

...and hugged again and again because they're such silly & cute cuz's.

This boy is partially responsible for my grays and wrinkles. Love him!

Emily is preggers-- can't tell one bit from the back... she puts all pregnant women to shame. Wish I got a whole family photo-- why do we always forget? Brett & Emily's first little girl (3rd child) is due in September!

I know you're thinking 'those are some hefty arms'... who's the pregnant one again? Gheesh. It's not all Relief Society tricepts-- genetics:)

Impossible to get all of them to look at once

You can barely make out the waterfall next to Monson's head

There's really steep drop-offs on this hike, and Vivs was constantly wanting to see what was down there, you know... down the 100+ foot ravine... little dare-devil. Monson was such a protective bro and made sure he walked on the outside on the way down so she was safe so momma wouldn't have a heart attack.

I love my little bros

Look-alikes... and pretty scenery too

Off to Mt. Pleasant.... in the middle of nowhere Central Utah, USA. While we were there visiting Ama and Kelly, our car broke down one day... and so we spent the whole afternoon waiting for AAA to come from Egypt to rescue us. Ends up that we were blessed to have our breakdown when we did because the caliper bolts were never tightened when we had our rear shocks and brakes done several weeks prior. So in Mt. Pleasant, the brakes and wheels all seized up, and good thing it wasn't while we were doing 90 on the highway or we could have easily rolled our giant SUV and it surely would have been a different scene. Angels watching over us??? I think so.

So update... today I finally told the mechanic who didn't 'finish the job' what happened to us-- you know what he said? 'We're all human!' rEaLly? I'm sure that comment wouldn't fly if the car had rolled on the highway and left some children orphans or some grieving parents... a little peeved at his reaction.

Ama always makes our visits special... with homemade treats, sugary breakfast cereal (the kind I never buy ie cocoa puffs & lucky charms). They love shooting pool, spreading out in her gigantic basement playing with their old toys, waking up and seeing the deer grazing in the pasture, and eating ice cream cones whenever they want {'til their hearts are content... as long as they clean up their messes}! And we can't forget the endless cuddles, loves, and bedtime songs. Gotta love it.

Ama had fun horesback riding lessons planned with the kids in Moroni. It's fun for our city kids to visit the beautiful country and get so excited about the deer, horses, cows, smells... well, not so much the smells. Or the bugs. And there's LOTS of them at Ama's house in the country.

Meet beautiful Bandit... each of the kids had to introduce themselves by letting him sniff them. I think he may have winced at a few of the kids, and I don't blame him one bit... sometimes I wince too:)

Monson's riding lesson

Does it mean anything that Bandit stopped to poop 3 times while Monson was riding?

McKenzie

Alexie loves to pose

and apparently so does Curt... in Kenzie's hat???

Brayden's turn

Bray concentrates in a funky way

Alexandra was a natural!

They could be country girls...

Sanpete really is beautiful {to visit}

View from Ama's front yard...

When the kids turn 10, they each get a special trip... Monson chose instead (and so did finances) to have his his bff from Utah {Seth} join us back in California to spend a week of fun! A million pictures to come of our California adventures celebrating Monson's birthday...