Moose, Owls, and cliff jumping oh my!

Last weekend we went camping up North Fork in Liberty with the Jensens. This is my aunt and uncle who we left Emma with while we went to Thailand. Bundy worked up a pretty decent sweat providing firewood for the camp out and Mike made a very yummy dutch oven dinner.











My mom joined us for dinner and then took Emma back to sleep at her house so I didn't have to worry about her the whole night. It was so nice to be able to play cards and visit and just enjoy being outside, thanks mom for taking her!


We stayed up really late that night visiting and playing cards. Then everyone went to bed around midnight and Ryan and I took a blanket over to another camp spot and laid on their picnic table and watched the shooting stars, the weather was just perfect!











In the morning we went and picked Emma up around 9:00, in which we had to wake her up of coarse. Then she came back and joined us for breakfast and playing with the kids. She thought she had quite the camping experience, three hours goes a long way for a little Woogie.















It's so nice to have cousins that just take care of her and cart her around. Both Ryan and I are the youngest, and we both feel like that is the best place to fall. However, being with the Jensens gives me a taste of what it might be like to have little siblings, and now I wonder if I didn't miss out on something after all.







For anyone that likes to go camping, check out North Fork in Liberty, it's just beautiful with lots of private camping spots. Early in the morning there was an owl in our camp and it scared me pretty bad. Ryan got up to investigate and also found a cow moose, her calf, and a bull moose all came within a few yards of him. It's a great place to camp and just so beautiful.








After camping we went up to Causey reservoir for everyone, except me, to cliff jump. I was so impressed with everyone who went off the 25 foot cliff. Even Lee and Mike did it. Emma even did a little jump, I think she may have gone off a higher cliff if Ryan (the over protective one of the two of us) would have let her. Then we went to Hunstville, my favorite park, for a great picnic and some relaxing. It was a great day and by the time we got home we were spent! Thanks again Jensens for inviting us, and thank mom for keeping Emma!!!

Tea For Two

Last week I had a tea party for a few of my girlfriend's and their little girls. My mom's house was the perfect place to have it up in the valley. I didn't take enough pictures during the tea party with our yummy food, but this is what the ambiance looked like.

My party favors were a little chocolate themed note pad and a matching flower hair bow for the girls.

I had bread dyed pink for the little girls to fancy up their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then I also had yogurt for them and propell as their "tea" because it's nice and colorless and still yummy but not a ton of sugar. Sadly, all they ate was cupcakes.

We took so many pictures and it was just so fun to do an old fashioned ultimate mommy/daughter activity. These are just a few of my many favorite pictures that we took.
The cupcakes turned out to be more of a prop then a dessert, but they were totally worth the mess.

Just Married

My cousin Sydney changed her name last Saturday from Sydney Smith to Sydney Densley. This picture only confirms my case and point about saying how stylish she truly is.

We had a lot of fun at the cousin table playing "Would you rather..." My favorite was to the boys at the table. "Would you rather go up to the microphone and announce that you would like to say a few words and then just do a tribute to your wife, or would you rather cut in with the bride a few seconds into the Bride and Groom's first dance?"

This is Adam's sister Emily and her darling family. We had a chance to get to know them better when they came up to Rupert last weekend. I come from a family of all girls and rarely do I see someone else with the same pattern of four girls. I just took such a liking to Emily and Chris and their darling girls, Jennesy, Chloe, Lily, and Paisley. Could they be any cuter?!

This is my mom and 3 of her younger sisters, sadly the only other sister that is missing from this picture was the mother of the bride. I am sooooo blessed to have such great aunts and I just adore each one of them and how similar and yet different they are.

This isn't the best quality of picture, but it definitely is a great shot. Baily is in the yellow dress and it seems like she wanted that bouquet pretty bad.

This is my sister Sara and we took this picture as a joke, because A. she hardly even eats dessert and B. even if she did she wouldn't have a bite that big let alone a portion that big.
I just loved how instead of having a big wedding cake Sydney had little magical cakes at each table that we all cut into as they cut into theirs, genius!

A list of my favorite things through out the day (in no specific order)

1. The bouquet with feathers in it

2. Each table having their own unique cake as the centerpiece that also doubled as the dessert

3. Having someone read the history and tradition of what the wedding cake represents

4. Having toasts/tributes through out the dinner and not just all at once

5. The bride and groom giving well prepared speeches and expressions of love for each other

6. The way Adam's eyes never left Sydney's, not once during the sealing ceremony

7. Not having a line to go through

8. Sydney's wedding dress

9. The main course turkey and mashed potatoes

10. The timing of the day's events

11. Attending a sealing in the same temple where we got sealed

12. The way in which they introduced their family and friends

Pioneer Day

In honor of the pioneers I thought this video link would be a great tribute to them and all their hard work in paving the way for the growth of the church. I have two very soft spots in my heart, one is for homeless people, and the other is for those pioneers who are literally all SAINTS to me. Nothing in my life has ever been more touching and moving than my experience at Martin's Cove. I really believe that will be the ultimate spiritual experience of my life that I will compare all others to. Yesterday my mom, Emma and I went to the Pioneer Day Parade. The most moving part of it was when all of the Ogden area missionaries walked along singing Praise to the Man and they had some missionaries handing out pass along cards, they truly carried the spirit with them and reminded us that the work must go on. I'm so thankful for my Pioneer Heritage and the pride that my family has in who we are and where we came from. My dad is currently spending most of his free time on his musical that he has written about the Mormon Battalion. The stories of the Pioneers and their examples they have set for generations to come are just like the gift that keeps on giving. God bless America, truly the Promised Land, there is no where else I would rather call home then in my beloved beehive state.

Weekend with the Smith's

This weekend my cousin Sydney and her soon to be hubby had the best party in Rupert, Id. Sydney and I have always been pretty close and I'm so excited to have her join the married's team. She has more style in her little pinky then I could ever hope to have.

I think this is one of the cutest and most unique engagement pictures I've ever seen. Very fitting for the college dating scene.

My Uncle Mike and Bundy tried to stay seated the whole time since they were the only ones in jeans. I must say it is their wives who told them this would be a casual affair, whoops

Sydney and Adam had a very "vintage" theme that just made for the most delightful summer party. Their use and display of the cupcakes just made my heart so happy.

Ryan and I spent the night with my cousin Dustin and his wife Daelynn who we just adore. We just love our Smith cousins. All of them and any of them. Honestly, truly, I think I would consider moving to Idaho just to be closer to them.

We went to Shoshone Falls and met Sydney and Adam, Nick and Tina and their little boys, Adam's sister and her husband and her four little girls, and eventually Grandma and Janet made their way over.

We went ice-blocking which I either haven't done in ages or I've never done, I'm not sure which. Either way it was the perfect activity to do with the kids on a hot day, although the ice blocks didn't help cool us off, it was still really fun.

I was shocked over how beautiful these waterfalls are, why have I never been here? The Twin Falls area really has a lot to offer with outdoor recreating.












Nick and Tina and their DARLING boys, Ronin, Crew, and Hendrix.













Dustin and Daelynn were great hosts showing us such a good time. Their little girl McKinley is the same age as Emma so it's nice to have a little person for Emma to squeal and run around with.

After a long day in the sun we all went out to eat at a local Mexican Restaurant, Aguila. Ryan is always so happy to have a chance to eat tacos de' tripas (pig intestines.) Then Daelynn was sweet enough to stay home with the girls so we could join Dustin, Syd and Adam and Nick and Tina for a late movie of Batman. It was sooooo good. The bat mobile made me feel funny inside and I've never seen a better villain than the role Heath Ledger played, hats off to him. I would definitely pay to see it again.

So thanks for the great weekend Smith's. I'm not sorry to say to Jamie, Sara, and Kylee that you really missed out. Just for future reference, when the Smith's get together, never, ever, not ever pass up an invite to party with them!

And a happy birthday it was!

We had quite the weekend for Ryan's 27th birthday. He was born on 7/11 which is always an easy day to remember and we spent the day going to our favorite restaurant Red Robin and then seeing Kung Fu Panda. We appreciate good clean movies whenever possible :) Afterwards we met up with our friends the Tullis' and Millets' for a night hike and games.



























Also for Ryan's birthday weekend we went camping up at Causey with my cousin Kylee and her husband Brody. We love these guys because they are up for anything, they are great company, they love Emma, and we have a lot in common. We camped at a spot only accessable by boat on Causey Reservoir which sits between Snow Basin and Bear Lake. There are no motorized boats allowed so the water is a beautiful crystal clear green color and smooth as glass all the time. We paddled about 30 minutes in with a canoe and a kayak and then set up camp at the best camping spot in the whole widest world.

After exploring and cliff jumping Kylee and I paddled back to the car to look for some playing cards while the boys chopped down fire wood and tracked a deer in the mountains above our camp. When we returned, after being gone a lot longer than it should have taken us, the boys met us at the shore with our very own little bouquets of wild flowers. I love surprises, and it's the little things that mean the most to me.





The boys were off in the woods being boys so Kylee and I had to entertain ourselves somehow. We found that candid photos occupied us for quite a while.























There was the most beautiful sunset and the location just couldn't have been more perfect.
















































After Little Smokey's for an appetizer and our yummy foil dinners, the boys set up traps to catch crawdads. They had really good success and found the best trick was to just reach in and grab them. They had that for dessert and Kylee and I had dutch oven raspberry peach cobbler.























The crawdads tasted just like crab and made for good entertainment around camp.


















In the morning we took our time packing up and the boys jumped off some higher cliffs before we headed back to the car. Kylee and I had our fill of adrenaline from cliff jumping the day before, so we just took the pictures.

























We just had the best time! For me this camping trip just really hit the spot. Good fun, good company, beautiful scenery, and it was just so peaceful. I've been searching for over ten years now and I have finally found my second favorite place. Causey Reservior comes in as a worthy second behind Cannon Beach, Oregon. I'm already looking forward to going back soon.

Land that I love

"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights."
- Felix Frankfurter


4th of July is one of my most favorite Holidays ever. There's no other place I would rather celebrate the freedom of our Country than in Liberty Utah. My parents really out did themselves this year, which is nothing new. We were invited up Thursday night the 3rd for a BBQ and games and an outdoor movie on their projector screen. A hit with kids and adults.






















In the morning we had a simple breakfast and then headed to Liberty park to check out their muttin' bustin' and greased pig chase. We can't wait for Emma to participate next year. She would have loved to have done it this year, but 2 is just too little. Then we went up to Snow Basin and did their 9 hole Frisbee golf course. It was so beautiful and really fun to get out and do something different. Afterwards Jamie made an awesome survivor game. We started with having to eat worms and a mouse (gummy) and the top 6 moved on. Then we had to unscramble a list of names of President's of the United States and the top 4 moved on. Then we had to hook a carabiner to our belt loop and navigate a timed ropes coarse, the top 2 moved on. I participated in a skirt and put on quite the show. Then the final round Bundy and Brody had to run back and forth on a log across a river to retrieve puzzle pieces, then hurry back and the first to assemble their puzzle was the sole survivor. Bundy won a close game and although there was no million dollars just the thrill of the competition was fun enough for all of us to watch. After that we came back to my parents and the boys worked on the fort in Sherwood Forest. Everyone really enjoyed that and the kids are looking forward to a fun summer out there.























Afterwards we had a yummy BBQ and really completed the day with a round of shooting clay pigeons. I was totally shown up by my younger cousins, but it will give me something to work towards. Nice lofty goal eh? Before we headed off to the park for fireworks we all counted the bats that are living in my parents chimney, the count is now up to 75! That's another post for another day. Then we had the best fireworks display ever. The Liberty fireworks are somewhat simple, but laying directly underneath them makes them just as great as the best fireworks display around. You are so close that you can feel the blasts percussion in your chest. I'm so thankful to live in this promised land and to have been raised by goodly parents who have taught me to cherish and defend what this country stands for. God bless the USA!























P.S.
The pictures on this post aren't great quality because I copied them from my Mom's blog and I guess I didn't do it right. I found this out after going through all the work, and I don't have the time or energy to go back through and do it right. So hopefully you can catch the gist of the events taking place :)