Heaps Canyon

This past weekend, Josh went down to Zion with some friends to do Heaps Canyon. They left Thursday afternoon and got back late Saturday night. They spent about 12 hours canyoneering on Friday, camped in the canyon, and then did another 8 hours on Saturday. Josh returned home very exhausted and sore, but said it was a lot of fun. If you've ever been to Zion and hiked Emerald Pools, Heaps ends by dropping 500ft from the top of the cliff, down to Emerald Pools. Here are some pictures from their adventure.

Randall, Josh, Corin, Jim, Ben

Boating Day

On Tuesday, Apollo Health (the company I work for) had "Apollo Boating Day" in honor of our office being closed. It was great fun, minus the sunburn on the shoulders. Josh did awesome getting up on the wake skis; I didn't do quite so well, but made it up once--just long enough to get a picture.

A Father's Day Note from Hailey to Josh

xxxx mddb njvvjvh vuvmcvmhv bk jj

Thanks for being the greatest Dad ever!! I love you!

Happy Father's Day!!

We just want to recognize our dads on this fine Father's Day. Jeff, Todd, & Ralph, thanks so much for all your support, help, love and much more. We love you!

Jeff

Todd

Ralph

Stupid Windshield Repair Man

It is possible that he referred to Josh as my son.

Note: I had not yet showered or even brushed my hair (it being 8:30am), but still!

Turtle Pool

Hailey got a little turtle pool for her birthday. We thought today might be a great day to bust it out and give it a try.

Ty and Hailey getting ready in their Little Swimmers.

The look wouldn't be complete without the sunglasses.


Swimming Buddies

Hailey thought it was great.

Ty-Ty wasn't a big fan.

Artist in the Making

So this past weekend we were working on installing baseboards, and Hailey happened to find the pencil on the floor.


Luckily it was just a pencil.

Las Vegas

This past Tuesday & Wednesday, Josh had a conference in Las Vegas. Since we haven't left Spanish Fork in a while, we decided to make it a short family vacation. I've already posted about our couple of days in St. George, and now for Las Vegas. Get ready, this will be a long one, but mostly because there are lots of pictures.

Our Room...

So the conference Josh was attending also included a 2 night stay at the MGM Grand. That was pretty awesome. It was like a normal hotel room, but as Josh described --- "Polished." It was really nice. The only down side was that it didn't have a little fridge for us to keep Hailey's milk cold. We figure they would rather have people drinking downstairs in the casino, than in their rooms. Our room had this really ugly, yet totally cool couch in it.


Swimming...

Hailey had never been swimming before, so Monday evening was the big pool debut. Hailey did awesome. She didn't even cry when I dunked her. (It took me like 10 minutes to get up the courage.) She really enjoyed it, so we went back on Tuesday while Josh was in his classes. We had such a fun time. I think before long we will have a little fish on our hands.

Ready to go!

Right after I dunked her.

Ready for round two!

Walking...

While Josh was in class, Hailey and I did tons of walking. We are sure the trip to Vegas really boosted Hailey's walking skills. This girl loves to walk, and even more than that...she loves to push things. Most of our time in Vegas was spent walking around with Hailey pushing the stroller. She could have cared less about what was going on around her, she just wanted to walk and push. Every once in a while a noisy slot machine would catch her attention. But after about a minute, she would go back to pushing again.


The Lion...

I thought the MGM Lions would be a total hit for Hailey. I figured it would be a good hour of entertainment. When the lion first came out, Hailey perked up and went "Woof" "Woof" "Woof". She looked at it for about 5 seconds and then noticed the stroller sitting next to her, and decided she would rather push the stroller around... thus ending the lion experience.

The Bellagio & Ceaser's Palace...

On Wednesday we had to check out of our hotel room by 11, but Josh was still in his conference until 5, so I decided to take Hailey down to the Bellagio to see the flower exhibit and then to Caesar's Palace so she could push the stroller around the forum shops. (I didn't realize what a long walk it was from the MGM down to the other hotels, but we had a good time. There was lots to see.)

It was hard to keep Hailey from picking the flowers. They were just so pretty and she wanted to touch them all.




Hailey was mesmerized by the Fall of Atlantis show and the huge aquarium was a big hit. She loved the big fish swimming so close to her.



Take picture?

The funniest thing happened on our visit at the Bellagio. Hailey and I were slowly walking along, when a young woman, (I think their group was from China) crouched down and took her picture with Hailey. A couple of minutes later, another girl stopped and said "I take picture?" And while she was taking a picture with Hailey, 2 more girls stopped to do it too. It was so funny. Hailey was rather confused about what was going on.




We had a great trip, but are glad to be back home in our own beds.

St. George

We spent this past weekend in St. George. I love it down there. It's one of my very favorite places. Josh had a conference in Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we decided to go down a little early and hang out in St. George. The drive down was much better than I anticipated. Hailey did awesome....thank you forward facing car seat.

We got in mid-afternoon and before finding a place to live, we decided to hike Hell-hole Wash in Kayenta.

Josh & Hailey at the trail head.

Hailey's first time playing in sand. She loved it.

Hailey is starting to climb on everything.

We have such a blast together.

Sunday before church we went and wandered around the temple. I love the St. George Temple. There's just something about it. We spent a lot of time taking pictures and wandering around the grounds. There was music playing over the speaker system, and every once in a while, Hailey would stop and start leading the music. She also liked picking the flowers......I really tried to keep her away from them, but she is fast and determined sometimes.



Later that evening we went to Dixie Slot and hung out in the shade for a while. It's such a neat little slot. Hailey isn't quite big enough to go through it yet, but it was fun going up there anyway.

Delightful

Nothing could be better than an evening stroll accompanied by a chocolate chip cookie.