THE BEACH!

Roy and Christine planned a trip to Doheny Beach at Dana Point, CA. We camped for a week on the beach and enjoyed soaking up the sun and relaxing. David spent his days boogie boarding while Adam and I played on the beach and threw rocks in the water. Adam didn't seem to mind the water one bit.

While we were there, a storm was coming in, so they prepared for 9 foot waves. They dug all this dirt up and down the beach to protect the campgrounds. We were glad they knew what they were doing, because the waves did get huge and the water would have flooded over if they had not evacuated. The surfers were loving it, and we got quite a show!

We spent most our days at San Clemente Beach.

What a beach bum!

Zion's National Park

Angel's Landing: We want to hike this when I am not pregnant!

Our first stop on the trip was to Zion's National Park. David and I have wanted to go there together since we were married. Since it was right on the way to CA, it was the perfect time to go. We also took advantage of the free weekend all the National Parks were offering.

We hiked 1.2 miles to Emerald Pools and back. It was nice and shaded and just beautiful.

Adam as you will see on this trip, was completely fascinated with throwing rocks into water.

We took the bus tour all around the park and saw the sights. It was a fun little stop on our trip.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We made another long cross country trip this summer to California and Oklahoma. It didn't quite match last year's 5,000 mile trek, but we came close with about 4,000 miles and being gone 18 days. We had a great time and got to see such different landscapes all along the way and even saw the border fences to Mexico. When we got back to Utah, our AC was shot. I think we blew it out crossing through the HOT, HOT deserts of Nevada, California, and Arizona. Thank goodness we made it home before it really went out!

We loved being able to see so many family and friends along the way. On our way to CA, we stopped in Vegas and stayed with one of David's old roommates, Parker, and his wife, Stephanie. It was just so nice to be able to break up the trip with so many stops.

Adam once again, was a little trooper in the car! Here are some pics from the road.

On our way to CA, Krystle drove down with us. I'm afraid she became Adam's little slave though on the trip! He would just sit there with his mouth open and say, "pretzel," or "water," or whatever it was until she would place it in his mouth. She was so good to entertain and take care of him in our squished car. We all really missed her when she took a plane home and we still continued on our journey:)

After CA, we stopped in Tuscon, AZ, and visited with Angie, Richie, and little Miley. Angie was one of my old roommates. It was so fun to see them and spend some time with them along the way. We watched Angie play in a soccer game and got to go swimming in the morning before we hit the road. It was a nice break.

We took one more stop before we made it to OK. We stopped in Albuquerque and stayed with another one of my old roommates, Holly. We went to church with them and loved seeing her cute little family. She had her baby less than a week after this picture was taken!

Adam and Hyrum, one of Holly's cute little boys.

On the way home, in CO, we stopped at a gas station. It had a huge bear that said, "Hug me Please." I don't think Adam could have been any happier than to be out of the car, hugging that bear!

Still a happy camper, even at the end!

Lauren and Trevor's Visit

We had so much fun when Lauren and Trevor came to town from Ohio. They got to spend a couple of weeks here in Utah, and we got them part of the time. I think the boys had a great time together as well. We kept busy while they were here. So here is a quick peek at some of the things we did.

Fun with the cousins!

Golf pros in the making.

GETTING TOGETHER WITH OLD FRIENDS

We had so much fun reconnecting with old roommates and their families!

We also got to see Ayami and Dave and their new little one, Casey!

THE AQUARIUM

After visiting the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House, we went to the Salt Lake Aquarium.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLIN!

We got to celebrate Dallin's 1st year birthday at the park across the street from our house. It was a lot of fun. Lots of good food, great company, and fun games.

Adam looks a little mischievous with this water balloon.

Last year, when we went to visit Lauren and Trevor in Ohio, we started this little tradition of a crawling race between Adam and Bryce. We figured this would be the perfect time to continue the tradition one year later. What are they going to do when they are 15 and we say, "Okay, it's time for our annual tradition!! Get down on your hands and knees!" Our poor kids:)

And the winner is...



Just for memory's sake, we thought we would place the original crawling race video on for comparison. It is crazy to think they have grown up so much in just one year! Adam will get Bryce one of these days, just you wait!!

American Idol Fever

David surprised me with tickets to the 2009 American Idol Concert at the E-Center. I was so excited. We had watched the whole season, so were pretty big fans. (I guess not quite as big of fans as the 10-12 year old girls sitting behind us though, who screamed to their hearts content. That was pretty funny). It really was amazing to be there in concert live though. All of the performers had improved so much from the show and just seemed so much more at ease. It was a lot of fun and so sweet of David to plan.

We posted a couple of my favorite songs from the season that they luckily preformed that night as well. The video is pretty poor quality, but it is fun to at least hear the song and feel of the atmosphere! Don't get too dizzy watching.

Kris Allen's rendition of "Sunshine"

Adam Lambert's "Mad World"

HOME SWEET HOME!

We purchased our first home in June 2009 and absolutely love it! It was a short sale with several liens on it, so it was not an easy process. We put our offer on the home in February, so it took 4 months for everything to go through and work out. I think we learned way more about the housing market than we ever wanted to know, so after this experience, we don't want to buy another house for a really long time! Despite everything we went through though, it was well worth the wait and we could not be happier to be where we are at.

We also felt like we had great people working on our side to help us through. So, if anyone is looking for a realtor or loan officer in Utah, we have nothing but good things to say about ours! Here is their contact information:

Sandi Bates

Old Mill Realty
http://www.sandibates.com/
http://www.sandibates.blogspot.com/

801-367-7777

Scott S. Chappell

Loan Officer/President

Contact Mortgage Inc.

sschappy@contactmortgageinc.com

801-802-8260

The pictures we have are from the realtors, Google Maps, and the inspector, so they are a little random.

Our house is in a cul-de-sac across from a park.