Stewart Falls

For some reason I thought that this hike would be a piece of cake with 6 kids under the age of seven with Genise and I. The kids were troopers but man, it kicked are butts big time! I remember it being so easy, but those were the days when I wasn't carrying a 32 lbs kid and a back pack full of snacks and water while holding my daughters hand. We did have a nice time but it would have been a lot easier with a couple more adults to help out with the kiddos. It was 4 miles round trip, so the kids slept great that night!

Avery and Boston

Discovery Park

So, I went to visit a friend in P.G. and got lost, and when I saw this park I had to stop and play for a while. I remeber going to this park in High School after dances, it was always so fun. My kids had a blast. It's a great park for all ages. I highly reccomend it.

Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon

So we are now in Utah and last weekend Avery, Genise (sister-in-law), Zoe (niece), and I headed down to Bryce Canyon so I could run in my first half-marathon. While I was running my race, on mile 6 I was approached by a man in a car who asked me if I needed a ride. I was dumbfounded when I saw my husband Kevin, who was supposed to be in Florida until August 10. It was a great surprise! Our next door neighbor is a pilot for jet-blue so he was nice enough to let Kevin use one of his buddy passes. Our neighbors are the coolest! A big thanks to Bryan and Staci! Anyways, the race went great and I can say I truly enjoyed it. All those early morning runs with my run club in Orlando payed off. Bryce Canyon is beautiful and I would recommend this half-marathon to anyone who wants to do one for the first time.

Right after the race we went hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park. It was truly breathtaking. Anyone who lives in Utah needs to take a weekend trip. Kevin and I are mad we didn't take advantage of all the great things there are to do in Utah. Yes, we did a couple trips here and there, but not enough. It's only 3 hours away from Orem and it's unbelievable.

Kevin flew in from Las Vegas so Avery, Boston and I decided to go with him and have fun in Sin City until Sunday. We were able to visit our good friend Ty Allred. It was fun to see him. I was just a little bummed because his wife Kacee and their girls were in California that week,

oh well...next time right?

My sister just got engaged! I'm so excited for them. They have been dating for 2+ years so we can't wait. They are getting married in August so I will be in Utah for 3 weeks. It's funny because now that I don't live in Utah I realized I didn't do all the things I wanted to do, or do them as much as I wished I would have. So while I'm there I want to take the kids backpacking, go to the SLC Library, See Temple Square. Im going to do a half marathon in Bryce canyon and take the kids hiking there. Anyone have any other suggestions? Or if you want to join us on any outings let me know.

Michelle comes to visit

Kevin's sister came to visit. We had a great time. We took her to Gainesville where my brother Ryan is currently living (dental school) with his wife, who's expecting their first child in October. We went tubing down a river. This is something I told myself I would never do in Florida because you never know if an alligator or poisonous snakes might pop up. Luckily we didn't see any alligators. We did however get followed by a snake which came inches from our raft. I think he was just curious. After we screamed like school girls for what seemed like hours he went on his way. Usually I wouldn't be so freaked out but I didn't know if it was poisonous or not and he looked like he was going to attack. The river was nice and cold. Kevin and Michelle swam a lot. I did for about 3 minutes but the thought of something creeping up next to me was too much so I stayed in the raft with the kids. We saw lots of turtles and fish. It was great.

We also went to a bat house on campus where 60,000 bats live and fly out at dusk. It's really neat to watch. Our kids loved it. You can see the bat house in the right hand corner of the picture where everyone is waiting by the fence for the bats to come out.

We also went to "the Swamp" where the gators play. The stadium holds close to 90,000 people. It's huge! Going up the bleachers was Boston's favorite part which he did all by himself. He doesn't want help with anything anymore and the kid has no fear.

And who comes to Florida with out going to the beach?

Tickets for a Show Near You

So this year we decided to splurge and get season tickets to the Theatre for the upcoming season. The main reason we decided to get tickets was because "Wicked" is coming next April. Avery and I have fallen in love with the soundtrack thanks to my sister-in-law who shared it with us on our last trip together. We love it!

When I was younger I was Annie at MVHS and that play is also coming to Orlando so I thought it would be fun to take Avery. A lot of different cities have an opportunity like this so I thought I would share the info.

SLC, Washington D.C., Las Vegas to name a few! Just click on the link below.

Broadway Across America - Broadway Shows, Broadway Tickets for a Show Near You