i love the glamourous U.S.A.

and all things American...happy independance day!

rockstars

Elle~McKenna~Hally~Shae~Kiana~Chanelkiana's 3v3 indoor soccer team had such a great game last night! I think every girl scored a goal last night, with some getting more than one. They played a relatively hard team. The entire game was neck in neck, but in the final seconds the score was 10-9 and the other team was up. When the buzzer went off Chanel had a beautiful pass to McKenna who shot & scored {woo-hoo!} and they tied the game 10-10. It was so awesome! Way to go, rockstars!

And, thanks to Daddy they have these adorable new jerseys!

There's a first for EVERYTHING...

I never thought it would happen.
I married a man who likes clean hands,
he brushes his teeth 4 times a day,
He likes to have a "clean" work-out, which means a shower before and after...
He is a man's-man, but NOT an out-doors man...
He hates fishing.
He is NOT interested in hunting.

He tried to go on a father/son camp-out with the neighborhood guys last summer,
and he had to drive home twice to get things he'd forgotten for KJ
then they slept in his truck when it all came down to it.
The guys told me, Dusty said,
"I don't work this freaking' hard to sleep out here."
"I want the Marriott..."

But, our kids have been begging Dusty to go camping this summer...

So, when Troy invited us, our family went camping for the FIRST time ever!of course, we're talking HARD CORE camping -
not houseboats at Lake Powell!

Troy Blanchard wanted to celebrate his birthday, by going camping with family & friends at Maple Canyon. Not in a traditional reserved campsite, but in his "brother-in-law's favorite spot," on top of the mountain. The last 2 miles of the route are via an 8 ft. wide drop-off road; 4WD ONLY.

Please note the "Trailers not recommended" sign...
then also note: Hummer and 2 large diesel trucks pulling a trailer & pop-out camper...this was only half of our group, the other half also had vehicles/campers this large.

On our way UP the mountain Danny's truck over-heated and we managed to scare all the kids while we waited out his truck being fixed on this narrow road. Most the kids believed we were going to all roll down the side of the mountain.



Day 1
We made it! We set-up camp in a beautiful grove of Aspens.

The kids started riding their 4-wheelers and motorcycles as soon as we opened the trailer and started unloading them. They road them up & down the beautiful road that got us to our camping spot over looking the valley.

Kiana & Eli
Myla
Myla & Boston

Taylor's, Howell Boys, and Rhodes split up our meals.
This was our mess hall -
Shannon, Jane, & Madi
I decided that if I was going camping, I was going to try to dutch-oven something for the first time. I found a yummy apple crisp recipe online, and tried it out. The only bummer was I decided to use "dutch oven liners" to save on mess and it ruined the flavor a bit. They tasted a little metallic and so I don't recommend using them if you haven't before. I'll just have to deal with the messy dutch oven next time. {if there is...}
I prepared tin-foil dinners before we came. We had orange roughey/green beans/carrots/mushrooms/black beans seasoned with butter fresh garlic & onions and some dill. The guys cooked them for us in the campfire, and they were tasty!!!

* I have to note that at the end of day 1, we were all putting kids to bed, in our tents, campers, etc. and a few adults were still around the campfire, and "some one's" car alarm went off for about 3 minutes - what the heck?!?
Bears have been known to be thieves...

Rise 'n Shine! The glorious benefit of camping, is you get to rise with the sun.

Day 2

All the kids were up playing catch while breakfast was being made.
We planned on having Danny's famous waffles but we blew out the inverter/fuse on Dusty's hummer trying to heat the waffle iron.

So, we had pancakes, and sausage, bacon, and eggs.

Then the games began.
Shannon had all the kids playing "apples to apples," and they loved it.
We had a Women's game of something.
It started out as Phase 10 with face cards
then turned into Rummy
That turned into the Nielsen's version of Gin Rummy...I guess.

Whatever we played, it was fun!
In the midst of our game, Dusty came back with a little surprise in his hat, he tipped it out in the middle of our card game.

Tegan had found a horned frog (horny toad) while they were 4-wheeling about 30 minutes away, and Dusty put him in his hat for the ride back to camp.
Chaos struck all at once in the middle of day 2.
Lets see if I can remember it all...

Troy & Daphne were 4-wheeling with Ashlynn in front of them and a rock/boulder about 8 inches wide flew up and hit Ash in the stomach, knocking her breathless for a few moments. Tegan got burnt on a motorcycle. Danny H burnt his thumb. Boston was carving his name in a tree with his new pocket knife and cut his finger. {I believe they are still contemplating stitches.} Myla was walking around the campfire and picked up the grill laying on the ground next to the fire, that was still HOT, and burned about six of her fingers.

Here's two of our injured.
Myla & Boston.

Lots of creatures were being caught, Myla found two caterpillars -

More riding of 4-wheelers & motorcycles....
Kiana, Ethan, & Madi - heading out for the ride...

and coming back...
Myla & Boston
Hayes & Sela {pretending to ride was good enough for these two!}
Myla
Sela loved getting rides with her big sis Kiana
Kiana & Sela, Ethan
Kiana, on the road back into camp
We found a natural spring about 75 feet from our camp and the kids would walk there to clean up. Kiana washed her hair, and Shannon braided it for her.
Dusty & Sela
Dusty, trying to get his feet clean.
this is our little kids, HARD-CORE camping. hehe. KJ, Olivia, & Hayes were hanging out in the Taylors trailor watching movies on the i-pod's for a little down time.
Shannon made dinner our 2nd night, Hamburgers & Hot dogs. She made "banana boats," for dessert. You take a banana, slice it open on one side, fill the banana with chocolate chips & marshmellows, wrap it in foil, and warm it up in the campfire. They were delicious!
Kiana was a big "banana boat" fan
We had lots of watermelon during the 3 days, KJ was very happy with this big slice.


Day 3

We woke up, very happy to have had NO sightings of bears. I'm sure everyone in our area is aware of last summers bear attacks, I was FREAKED prior to the trip about all the possibilities of things that COULD happen.

We had cold cereal for breakfast, packed up, and returned home. We did stop and eat with the Taylor's & Howell's at Cracker Barrel en route home. We kept with the theme for the weekend, I guess. Actually, it was what pregnant Momma Shannon was craving. :)

I have to say, I can't believe how clean the kids look in most of the pictures. Sela, especially, was a walking dirty, snotty nosed toddler the entire time we were there. I used about 4 packages of wipee's & 2 boxes of Kleenex to keep everyone clean, and it felt like as soon as I cleaned one child, one minute later, they were covered again.

As far as this being our FIRST hard-core camping trip ever, I think it's undecided if we would go again. We now own a tent & 5 sleeping bags, so we could go... We have wonderful memories of the weekend. But, I won't miss the outdoor bathroom, mosquito's, trying to sleep, allergies, worries about what MIGHT happen to my kids, garbage, etc. etc. Maybe we'll try camping in a campground the next time...

happy birthday, Troy!
Thank you for inviting our family to join you for your weekend.
We love you, xoxo

Forget trailers...Closets for sale or rent!

Our kids have always been known to make temporary places of sleep all over the house. Whether it be in a tent, fort, on couches, "burritos" in Mom and Dad's room, whatever it is...they would prefer to sleep anywhere unique instead of their own comfy beds. But, usually their temporary beds last for one night, two nights, maybe three. Then they return to their rooms until the next in-house camp-out takes place.

Right outside our {Dusty & Jane's} bedroom we have a double-door linen closet.

Across the hall {about 6 feet away} from this linen closet is a single-door linen closet.

Six weeks ago, KJ decided to make his own "house" in this single-door closet and took over evening residence there. He had a large down comforter to lay on, a pillow, and each night before bed he would "read" his bedtime books there. This lasted the average time of about 2 days.

But, on day 2 of his new home, Myla decided she needed to "live" across the street {hallway} from him in the double-door linen closet. So, she found another down comforter and pillow for her bed. She went to her room to get a good supply of books to read and when KJ would finish reading his books to himself, she would read out loud to him from her "house." I thought the entire concept of the kids using these closets as their houses was really adorable. I love their creative minds.

On day/night 3, KJ returned to his bedroom, tired of his closet and hasn't slept there since.

The amazing thing is...

Myla is still sleeping in her closet - every night! She's been sleeping in there for weeks!

I sometimes forget she's in there because she wants the doors completely closed when she goes to sleep. Some nights, I hear rustling around in the closet - thud-thud, she's been known to hit her head on the door or wall during sleep. When I ask her in the morning if she remembers hitting her head/knee/etc. She never does! {Wouldn't it be nice to sleep that well!?!}

Tonight, as I am still awake packing for our weekend of camping, I walked past her house {closet} and noticed she has her little blue purse packed for our camping trip, her new pocket knife included, and it is sitting right inside her house because she is so excited to wake up in the morning and be ready to leave!

She is truly a little girl after my own heart.

Kiana's a ROCKSTAR!

Kiana's indoor soccer team was booted up a division this season from U10 to U12, and with that change they also decided to change their name to -

ROCKSTARS

With a new name, must come new uniforms...
thank you, Daddy!

The uniforms came in this week and were brought home, she had to break hers out and try it on tonight - she is #1 just as Myla and I both are on our teams.
I think the jerseys turned out awesome, uber work designing them KC!
{Us soccer mom's are going to rhinestone their numbers!}

Good Luck Rockstars!

Jordin Sparks concert

Dusty and I took Kiana & Myla to the concert tonight at the Scera outdoor theater. Brent Hekekia was so kind as to go to the park at 9am this morning, put his chairs & cooler in line and make sure that we all had awesome general admission seats tonight. We were 5th row! It was awesome!

It was a warm summer evening, we had great friends - Troy & Daphne with their girls; Brent Hekekia with his girls, and great music. Perfect!
Jordin Sparks was beautiful and has the most amazing voice. This was the 2nd American Idol we have heard in concert now, we went to Stadium of Fire 2 years ago right after Taylor Hicks had won, we loved him, too.

The only downfall of the evening, is we can't hear now. We were a wee bit too close to the speakers.

Seven Peaks Water Park

We had our second trip of the summer to Seven Peaks yesterday. We went with great friends & had lots of fun! It was a HOT day, and perfect for being in water all day. Here are the younger kids in our group -

Crew & Sela
The older kids; these kids are so cute together, they will all be in 3rd grade at a private school in the same class this next year and they are such great friends! They spent the day going non-stop on slides
KJ adores Olivia & Hayes {twins} and it's so great he had them to play with because he doesn't have an interest hanging out with the older kids to do slides all day! He wants his Momma if he goes down a slide...
Our thrill-chasers: Chase, Myla, & Boston went down this yellow slide over & over & over. They all went down that blue slide, once.
Bri, Myla & Chase on the BOOMERANG
All the kids...
Hayes was copying whatever KJ would do, so he was striking all these funny poses!
the Momma's...with Livi & KJ

bunco

Jenn was the hostess this month. She used her beautiful backyard for our girls night. Dinner was delicious, she had my very favorite sugar cookies in the world {a horrible weakness of mine} and she gave each of us our own cute little jar of treats.

Plus Susan, Kara, and I all tried the zip line - it rocks!

Coach Pitch - Hillcrest Red Sox

the team
Myla
Myla, batting
Myla & her friend Jessica killing some time with little girl traditional hand claps...
The team didn't have enough players today, so KJ was asked to play - he was THRILLED! and, he did so good, Coach Daddy decided he will be playing on coach pitch every game from now on!

Tee Ball - Hillcrest Red Sox

The team
coach Daddy with KJ & Sela
"the buddies" Caden/Dub/Sam/KJ
KJ
"action" shots...
the cutest bat girl ever -


KJ {eye is still on the ball!}
KJ; rounding third, and almost taking out Sela while running
{she was attached to third base during this game.}
Big & Little Papi!
Earlier this week, it was bedtime and KJ was lying between Dusty & I in our bed. As KJ said, "Good night Big Papi,"
he added: "I want to be called Little Papi."<