Utah Trip Summer 2011

Last summer, Melody and I drove up to Utah with my mom and dad, Amber and Analyse to see Andrea, Jared, Kylie and to meet Kinsey for the first time and be there for her blessing. We drove up through LasVegas....after we took a detour through Flagstaff. My dad missed the turn off we needed to take the new bridge to Vegas, and instead of turning around we went to Flagstaff, and since we had a room reserved in Vegas we drove all the way to Vegas instead of just staying in Flagstaff. I just had to write about this for posterity. Papa does not ever turn around :).

We stayed at Andrea and Jared's house and it was so fun to spend time with them and the girls. Kylie had grown up a lot in just a few months and Melody loved playing with her. We all loved to hold and cuddle sweet Kinsey and we all got a kick out of making her smile. The Sunday we were there, Jared blessed Kinsey and I am so glad we got to be there for that. 

We got to do so many things and stayed up way too late visiting since we were only going to be there a few days. I can't remember the order we did everything in but we set off fireworks and let the kids have fun with some sparklers 2 different nights and we went to Lagoon one day (and I didn't take my camera!) and then we went to Temple Square right after Lagoon (hence why we look so beautiful in the temple square pics). Melody had never got to go to Temple Square before and I was so excited to take her. We got to see the Temple, the Beehive house, the Conference Center,  Tabernacle, visitor's center.

We also got to go up the Canyon in Bountiful behind Andrea and Jared's house. The weather was fabulous and it rained lightly off and on. We cooked hot dogs over a fire (that Jared got started even with a little rain :) and enjoyed being outside and just relaxing.

It was a great trip, lots of fun memories. Melody had a blast and still wants to go back. She did great on the drive, she just hung out with me in the back of the van and we played some games, watched some Disney movies and got lots of talk time in with the fam. We are so lucky to be part of such a great family. We love you guys!

Melody's Skirt/ Art&Craft Show

In May 2011, Melody made a skirt at her sewing class...mostly all by herself. Melody took sewing lessons from Kelly Hendrickson every month and this was her last project before summer. Kelly is great about having the kids actually learn to sew and love doing it. Later in the year, Chrissy Mabb had a great idea and put on an art and craft show at her home for kids to display what they had made over the last year. Melody had a table and was able to show all her projects. It was fun to see all the creativity and talent of the kids. Great idea, Chrissy! Thanks for inviting Melody!

A nice surprise!

In May 2011, Melody was surprised one day with a present showing up on our door step that said, "We Love You Melody".  Inside the bag were games, clothes, movie tickets, gift card, and a sleeping bag. Melody loved it and so did I. She said she knew who it was from right away with no hesitation...our friends! We have the best friends in the world. Melody had been struggling with some things for months and it was a great reminder to her of blessings in her life and the great friends she has. Thank you to our amazing friends who always seem to know when someone needs a lift...you guys are truly the best and we love you!