Oh, no! I crashed my beautiful car!!!! AAHHH!!!

Don't ever say you have never done something or it just might happen. Twice! Until this week I have never gotten a ticket. On the way to the doctor a few days ago I got a speeding ticket. And today Cara, Cole and I were on our way to Lisa's Birthday lunch at Chili's. Traffic got backed up for some reason. Who knows? And a fun little teenage girl,not paying attention, slammed on her brakes. Needless to say, I could not stop. The girl jumped out of Her car and started apologizing. She was to young to know that I was the one that was going to have to pay. Of course I got the ticket. Luckily we are all OK. Cara and I are just a little sore. Cole was just excited to see the fire truck. Monica came to our rescue. She made us all laugh. She told us that my van looked like a Taco. We thought it was funny, because we were all very hungry. It was 110 degrees outside. But it felt like 120. I was drenched in sweat. We all sat in Monica's vehicle and waited out the "ticket giving process." The air bags did not deploy so my van was not safe to drive. We then went to lunch at Paradise Bakery. Why does a chocolate chip cookie always make you feel better? I was really holding up well until I got home then I broke down and cried.

It looks like a taco!

Ahoy Matey

Cole turned four this year! He had fun helping me plan His pirate party. We made a pirate ship
cake and had His party at Val Vista Lakes.

The highlight was the pirate pinata which they all massacred with a sword.

We found the buried treasure!

Arrrrrrrrgh!

Pirates:

Callen, Kade, Cooper, Abby, Bree, Jane, Riley, Cole, Rachel, Clair, Cassidy.

First Day of School!

Our new school opened up this year. We are now members of Quartz Hill Elementary. We are the Trailblazers. Our school song is "Together" from High school Musical. We were excited to have Mr. Hallock move over from Spectrum to be our Principal.

Riley is in 5th grade this year. He was worried He would have more homework and He does.

He really likes His teacher Mrs. Horn. And he plays the trumpet in the band. That's ironic!

Kade is in Mrs. Failla's 4th grade class. He was excited to have many of His friends in His class. He takes paper and makes origami for all the kids on the bus.
Brianna is excited for 2nd grade.

She loves Her teacher, Mrs. Frazier. She has a kids club she organized at recess with all the Kindergarten kids. She teaches them things . They play games like Duck, Duck, Goose and Tag. She also teaches them how to do cartwheels. That's Bree for you. Always being a little teacher.

We are ready for a fantastic school year.

24th of July

More July Fun! In the Utah Sun!

Cotton candy poodle.

On the July 24th we went over to the celebration in Monroe. We went to the parade and then the park. The kids had fun catching candy at the parade and riding the fire engine at the park. And the highlight of the day, petting the purple poodle. The dog looked like cotton candy. AMAZING. We will never forget sitting on the football field in the rain watching the fireworks with our umbrellas.

Grandpa and Grandma's Backyard

Yahtzee Tournament!

We spent almost every evening in July playing cards, night games and hanging out in my parent's backyard. It was so nice to sit outside. The kids loved jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the swings and bug hunting.

Phase Ten Wars!!

A few of the evenings it rained on us. We still enjoyed the outdoors. My parents backyard was filled with tons of flowers, beautiful trees and a garden. We loved it.

Brianna & Wade hanging with Grandpa and His dog Dolly.

A Night in Paradise

Jon and I went to the Venetian in Las Vegas for our 13th Anniversary. We had a blast. It was one of most beautiful hotels I have ever seen. It truly was paradise. Riley and Kade stayed with my mom and dad in Richfield and Cole and Bree stayed at Katie's House just down the street, in Las Vegas. It was just for one night but it was sooo relaxing. We went to the Blue Man Group. We ate and then ate some more. Gelato ice cream! Need I say more? My favorite part of the hiatus was sleeping in and ordering room service. Two things I never get. The best!!!

We met one of the Blue Men. We decided to forgive Him for spraying us with chewed up Twinkies. Only after we realized it was just bananas.

Happy 4th of July!

I guess I should have waited until after my vacation to start my Blog. I wanted to start with a bang! I am in Utah for the month of July and I have had a hard time getting on my parents computer. And figuring out how to add pictures is beyond my expertise. But I am really excited about starting to write down the good, bad and ugly of our summer trip to Utah.



I have spent the last couple of weeks visiting family. We have had a blast. My kids and I arrived in Richfield, Utah June 30th. Richfield is where I grew up and I have many ties still here and of course thousands of memories. We stayed for a few days, unloaded most of our luggage then we headed off to Salt Lake City. We met my Father and Mother-in-law in Spanish Fork at Jon's Brother's house. We went to lunch and went shopping. I picked Jon up at the airport at 10:00 p.m. in Salt Lake. The next morning we went to Lagoon ( Utah's amusement park). My kids had so much fun with their cousins. We don't get to spend a lot of time with the Pace cousins. It was extremely HOT. We found ways to cool off though. We spent 2 hours in the water park of Lagoon called "Laguna Beach".



Being at Lagoon always makes me feel like a kid again. They have new rides now, but I spent most of my time on my old favorites. The old rickety white wooden roller coaster. The Tidal Wave ( a giant boat that rocks forward and back). And of course, the sky ride that makes you wonder how you are it staying up in the air on a thin cable. It's was fun walking down memory lane with my kids. We all had a blast.



My Brother, Jon arrived from New Mexico that night. He stayed at the same Hotel and we did so he could catch a ride with us. We all woke up early on the 4th and headed back to Richfield. We arrived shortly after the parade started.



I have never missed Richfield's 4th of July. I have been there every year since my birth in 1974. I believe it is the best 4th celebration ever. Although how would I really know? I know nothing else.

The canons go off at 6:00 in the morning to wake you up. They are really HUGE fireworks but it sounds like a canon. The parade (mostly old John Deer Green tractors and beauty queens) is at 9:30. We then catch up with old friends and family at the city park. It's like a class and family reunioun all in one. There is games for the kids and lots of booths with yummy food. Have you ever tried a fried Twinky of Ding Dong?

They have kids races and the infamous fish grab. Which I'm sure PETA has not heard of yet. The fish grab consists of the fish hatchery people bringing the rainbow trout and dumping them in a huge man made tarp pool thing. Kids fight their way to catching a fish with their hands. And even though I cross my fingers every year and hope that they do not catch one, they always do. This year they were HUGE. Riley, Kade and Cole all caught one. Pictures to come.....

Next we venture to the swimming pool where all the Kids do the money dive. Riley and Kade did it this year and both were able to get around $2 in nickels, dimes and quarters. They love it.



We had a B-Que with my family. Then of course the mighty fireworks. This year was great. My brother in law, Jeremy brought tons of fireworks from the reservation. We had the best show in town. We watched the towns fireworks which were great then we continued our own private show late into the night. We went down the middle school so we could have the parking lot to have our fun. We cleaned up all the scraps of stuff and put them in the dumpster. Jeremy stayed a little longer than the rest of us. He threw some things in the dumpster that were still HOT. We heard the next day on the radio that a fire crew was called out to Red Hills Middle School to put out a fire in the dumpster, that occurred from the careless use of fireworks. Jeremy just about died. It really was funny. We went and checked out the dumpster. Luckily everything was OK. It was just a little warped.