Carlsbad Caverns

the mouth of the whale

My Dad came to visit us for a week at the end of July - yeah!! We love when Papa comes to see us. During his visit, we took a little trip to Carlsbad Caverns, about a five hour drive from here. It was totally amazing being inside those gigantic caves. Everything was really beautiful and it was so huge that it took us 3 hours to get all the way through. The only thing that was a bit unpleasant was entering through the bat caves where the smell of guano is almost too much to take. It was really hard not to throw up from the smell and I'm usually not that sensitive to stinky stuff! But that part didn't last long, just until we were really into the caves and from then on we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Spar Far Away

On the hike

Keegan with his spider, Jack

What a view!

Buddies

Striking a pose at the lake

Fishin with the girls - we all caught one!

Our friends invited us to this totally cool log cabin up in Spar, Colorado for an extended weekend. It was built in the 1880's and was really rustic and charming. It was so beautiful and peaceful there - it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere! The kids had lots of fun exploring the little stream in front of the cabin, hiking, fishing and playing. The adults played cards and Scrabble to pass the time at night and did some fishing, too. We were sad when we had to return home. Thanks for the invite Andrea :)

Campin Out

Nice head lamp, Doug!

Keegan and Doug were planning on attending a father/son campout a couple of months ago, but Doug had to work at the last minute and they didn't end up going. Ever since then, Keegan has been begging to sleep in the tent in the back yard. They finally did last night, and Keegan really had a lot of fun! It was nice of Doug to sleep out in the back yard with Keegan, and I thoroughly enjoyed having the whole bed to myself :) !

Shelling Peas with Great-Grandma

I think this is so cute! I'm so glad Keegan got to spend some quality time with Mema. We haven't been up to Utah in a couple of years and Keegan had a great time getting to know his great-grandparents.

the 4th

Keegan loves his Papa!

On the road with Riley& Oliver

Visiting with Mema & Wiley

Happy 4th!

Tiare & me

Keegan and Triston had so much fun together!

We drove up to Utah with the Drakes the week of the 4th. Doug and his little brother, Quinn, went hiking and camping with Travis, Jeff and their brothers. Keegan and I got to visit with Quinn's wife, Dani, and their son, Triston. We also saw my dad and grandparents and visited with one of my lifelong friends, Tiare Ita and her family. It was a pretty short trip, but we had a lot of fun catching up with everyone!

Girls Trip to Mexico

I've been planning a girls trip to Rocky Point in my mind for the past couple of years and finally got one together the last week of June. There were seven of us who went, and we had so much fun! We pretty much just layed out, ate amazing food, and shopped the whole time we were there. We also managed to stay up way too late every night talking or playing card games. It was a really nice break from reality for all of us, as no kids or husbands were allowed :) The girls who went were Sarah Shepherd, Karen Skousen, Joy Simmons, Jamie Drake, Marybeth Weeks and Tracy Hiatt. Thanks to my mother-in-law, Sharee, for letting us shack-up at her house for a night and to Rod Herbert for his generosity. We all had a great time!!