Fall 2012 Trip to Winnemucca

We made our annual trip out to Winnemucca this past weekend to visit family. When I tell people I am going to Nevada to see my family they get the idea that I am going to spend the weekend poolside, or in all the fun shops on the Strip in Vegas...well that is not the case! Winnemucca is a little mining town out in the middle of the desert. Their idea of shopping is heading down to the Walmart! I think the closest mall is in Reno which is over 2 hours away. I'm not sure how my family does it! I would go crazy without at least a Target nearby!

However, we always have such a good time, and I love going to see all my cousins and my Uncle Denny! Irelyn went last year but she was only 3 months old so she did really well in the car, sleeping the entire way. This time was a different story! She did not enjoy the 7 hour car ride...that is until Grandma Carol brought out the Cheetos! She made such a mess, but she was a happy camper after that! Oh how this little gapped tooth smile melts my heart!

While we were there they had a Hot Air Ballon Expo at the recreation park. I was so excited to go because I love going to the one in Provo, but it starts soooo early so we never make it! This one started at 7am which is actually 8am for us. The wind kicked up so they didn't get all the balloons up and out of there, but it was still fun to see them all.

Braden, Irelyn, Raquel & Jessica

 Irelyn's Halloween costume this year was inspired by her Uncle Denny and late Aunt Dawn. They are big time into the car shows and have always dressed up their little grandkids in poodle skirts and saddle shoes to go to the shows. I knew Irelyn needed her own poodle skirt, and that she needed to get her picture taken in front of Uncle Denny's Mercury Cougar just like her second cousins had before. However, she wasn't having it! She was so grumpy that morning so we didn't even get a smiling picture! Oh well she still looks like a doll!

We decided since there wasn't much to do in Winnemucca that we would spend one night painting pumpkins. Me and my first cousins once removed (yes, I actually went on and figured it all out to see what we actually are :) stocked up on paint and pumpkins and went to town!

Jordan's, Irelyn's, Raquel's, Jessica's, Jessica's #2, and Braden's

 I love hanging out with these guys! Even though they are 10-15 years younger than me, we still have so much in common and have so much fun! I can't wait until they come to Utah in a few weeks, I have some big plans for us!

I was so happy that Irelyn had so much fun too. There were times when she was a mama's girl, but she really took a liking to my cousin, Lance. I've always thought that he and my oldest brother Greg could be twins. They both look a lot like my Grandpa Thomas. She loves her Uncle Greg, and I really think that she just assumed that my cousin Lance was him. She spend a good hour just laughing and playing around with him and his hat! She also loved her second cousins, and wanted to spend most of her time with them!

It's always so much fun to go, and I hate that we only get to stay for a few days! Friday to Sunday just wan't enough! It especially wasn't enough of a break between 7 hour car rides! However, this time Grandma Carol bribed her with a sucker, and mom downloaded Megamind onto her Kindle, and the drive went a little smoother!

Annual St. George Girl's Trip

This past weekend could not have come soon enough! I have been counting down the days that we could get away and get a little sun! I was excited to get out of town with my momma and the babe. Last time we went I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, swollen and whiny...so needless to say I needed to get that memory out of my mind and make a new one with Irelyn's first girls trip to St. George!

 Irelyn was such a trooper on the way down, sleeping most of the way.We hit all of our usuals as far as shopping goes...Target, Old Navy, Kohls, Factory Stores and the mall. They just opened a new Gap Factory Store, it was fun having somewhere new to go. We tuckered this poor little girl out.

I can't get over her tired eyes in this pic

...and she's out for the count!

We hit our usuals for dining....Pancho & Lefty's, Brick Oven, Cracker Barrel and Neilsen's Frozen Custard. I'll let you decide which was Irelyn's favorite.

Honestly...could she be any cuter?

To be honest...she DID NOT do well in the hotel. I really should have brought her pack 'n' play. The first night she screamed for about an hour and a half before going to sleep. The worst was Sunday morning when I realized the guy in the room next to us was an Ironman athlete (which was going on while we were down there.) I felt horrible thinking she may have kept him up all night before the race. Luckily my mom ran into him outside and apologized. He claims he didn't even hear her...I hope that is true!  Here she is in her somberness in the morning after a rough night.

We of course had to take some fun 10 months old (what?!?!) Pics of Irelyn. She wasn't loving it, but at least I got a few. 

Our first attempt...yeah right!

That's better!

 

Irelyn and I were spoiled rotten by Grandma Carol, and both got new summer wardrobes. We are so grateful for Grandma for being so giving! As you can see, this little girl won the contest for most new clothes in one weekend...and she's obviously pretty happy about it!

I'm sad our trip is over, but we had a blast! I'm so lucky that my mom and I are so close and can spend that many days with each other having fun! I only hope that Irelyn and I can be that close and continue this tradition forever! Now to start counting down til our fall trip to see Thriller....173 days. :)

Lake Powell - Sept 2010

We were so lucky to get in a second Lake Powell trip this year. This trip was a little different. It was our first trip with friends, not family. It was a great little end of summer getaway! I have to say that Lake Powell in September may be my favorite time! The water was amazing, and although chilly in the night/mornings, the weather was beautiful!

Calie and Dave put together a great group of people! It was so fun to meet a few new couples, and I was so excited how well everyone got along with one another!

Billy was in heaven because he actually got to go fishing! We don't usually get much fishing in on our July trip, so he was so glad he final got to on this one! They did really well, and we even ate fish for dinner one night!

I was finally able to get up on the wakeboard after seriously 3 years of trying! I don't know what my deal was before because I was able to get up on only my 2nd or 3rd try this time! I credit Jared's advice of telling me to lean back...I seriously don't think I have ever leaned back before! Haha! I surprisingly got up on the wake surf as well! I have to say I was pretty proud of myself :)

(Don't mind my face, I was concentrating really hard!)

It was so much fun hanging out with this crazy fun group of girls! There was fist pumping, foot pumping, boat dancing, and fun times that sure took a few of us out of our shells!

We hiked up to the Defiance House Indian ruins for the first time which was a fun experience (and a great photo op!)
The guys entertained us all with a pretty competitive game of 500!
I saw my first ever actual roadrunner! I've only ever seen the cartoon version!
It was sure an amazing time! We couldn't have asked for better weather, better water or better company! A huge thank you out to Calie and Dave for such a wonderful trip! So to Lake Powell I say, thanks for the great times in 2010....until next year my sweet escape!

Memorial Weekend

I had the awesome opportunity of spending Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend with my mom and grandma on a little road trip! We woke up bright and early, and set off to Panguitch, UT. This is where my grandma grew up and where the majority of her family is buried.

Our first stop was Spry Cemetery. This is a very small cemetery outside of Panguitch. This is where my grandma's step mom (my great-step-grandma) is buried. My grandma's real mom died when my grandma was only 2 years old, so "Annie" raised her for basically her entire life.



Next stop was Panguitch Cemetery. I have several relatives buried here, dating back to pioneers who emigrated to this country. My mom brought cleaning supplies so we could clean some of the head stones. We spent a lot of time scrubbing the head stone of my grandma's parents (my great-grandparents) and her little brother Grant, who died when he was 3 years old by an accidental drowning. It was so exciting to preserve those stones so that you could actually read the words! My grandma's mother's name was Tyresha Orilla . . . isn't that such a pretty name!



Panguitch is also where John D. Lee is buried. (If you don't know who he is, google Mountain Meadow Massacre) I have always known that he was my relative, I just hadn't known exactly how. My grandma was able to explain that he was her great grandpa, which would make him my great-great-great grandpa. Seeing as he had upwards of 20 wives, I'm thinking that there are probably a lot of people out there that are his direct decedents!
It was such an awesome experience being able to spend that time learning about my ancestry! I am so lucky to still have my grandma around to teach me all about these things. Ever since I started watching the show "Who do you think you are" which is a show where celebrities trace their family ancestry, I have been so interested in finding out exactly where my family hails from! Luckily I have some awesome cousins who have been able to do some amazing work with my grandma's line. When I got home from our trip I was able to go on to the LDS website and trace back some of the people we had seen that day. I found roots back to London, England, Scotland and Ireland.
A few weeks ago I got the chance to go to my grandma's house and go through all of her cedar chests and see the treasures she had in there! She still has my great grandma Tyresha's wedding dress. It is over 100 years old! She also showed me journals that my grandpa had kept. It was amazing. He kept journals everyday for years. It was nothing too dramatic or emotion filled, he would just give a brief entry about what he had done that day. It was so much my grandpa. I loved reading them, It really made me miss him! It made me really appreciate the technology we have now. . . having blogs to keep track of our comings and goings, etc. He did inspire me to keep better record, so maybe I will blog more!

All in all it has been pretty amazing to learn these things! I would encourage everyone to take a trip like this. . . you will learn so much!

Much Needed Summer Vacation!

We made our annual week long Lake Powell Vacation last week! It was one of the best ever as far as weather goes! We luckily didn't have any storms and it was the perfect temperature! I think this was one of our first uneventful trips as far as breakdowns, storms and such goes!

Although uneventful in that aspect...it certainly was an eventful trip! We went down Saturday, hoping to leave at 8:30, but not actually getting out of town until 11. Then our stop in Price to eat Wingers, and visit Walmart. We eventually made it to Powell at about 5 pm. Here is the boat loaded with all of our stuff on the way to camp...

However, we get to our usual camp spot and the water is so high there is barely any beach left and to top it off...there is a houseboat there! We decided that we could share the area because it is such an awesome spot. We aren't so sure our neighbors were happy about it, but they left Tuesday anyway, so we didn't really care!

We spent the first couple days just lounging not doing much. Some of my favorite times in the trip were floating in the lake working on my tan...I made it my goal to get rid of my awful short tan line and by the end of the trip I had reached my goal!

Here are some of the other fun activities we did:

Hanging out at the marina letting the carp eat cheese off of Jordan's toes...
Hanging out at our favorite cove:
Jordan modeling some awesome clip-on shades he found at the dock:

Traveling to Tapestry Wall to see the dinosaur tracks... can you see them?

Hiking to this awesome cave..there were millions of baby frogs and tadpoles along the way:




Simultaneous cliff jumping, that's me on the shortest end, I'm not much of a cliff jumper:

A little kneeboarding:
Watching these crazy girls on the tube:
Hiking Hole in the Rock...yes we went to the VERY top of this. It was a crazy hike! I lost my shoes, Taylor lost a toenail, Monica lost the bottom of her foot to a blister...but all in all it was a fun hike!

Lake Powell is certainly one of my favorite places on earth! However after 8 days...I was very ready to come home! A big thank you to Billy's parents who provide so much for us while we are down there! Great meals, great company, great memories!