24th of July

We started off celebrating the 24th with the Bountiful fireworks on the 23rd. Steve's parents live right across the street from where they do the fireworks so it's an awesome show! I think they had at least 13 cars parked in front of their house of family and friends!

The next morning we threw all our camping gear together and drove to Steve's Uncle Jay's farm near Downey, ID where we camped with Steve's parents, Matt & Jackie, Scott, Clark & Steph, Brett & Allison, Greg & Jill & all their families. There were 4-wheelers, motor bikes and a golf cart that I literally don't think ever stopped driving the entire time we were there. The girls that were ages 8-10 thought that was pretty much the coolest thing ever that they could drive a golf cart! Michael was in heaven riding on 4-wheelers and motorcyles with whoever would take him and Kaitlyn had a blast playing with all the older girls.

I got to shoot a gun for the very first time! It was a lot of fun. I tried several different types of guns and I think I did pretty good for my first time! I want to go shooting again!

He's Back!!!!

I'm no longer a single mother--I've got my hubby back! Tonight was the last night of the play! He did such a great job and I'm really glad he had the experience but I'm happy to have him around again! I got to see the play 6 times and it was so much fun every time (except watching Steve dance with another girl). :) Love you honey--great job!!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I took Michael and Kaitlyn and went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with my parents, Natalie, Jon, Lori & Todd. Steve couldn't come because he was at High Adventure Scout Camp with his Teacher's quorum.

It is a beautiful temple, but very different than the Draper Temple that we just went through a few months ago. It has 3 stories and has beautiful marble floors with lots of tan and gold colors. It's amazing that there are so many temples so close together in Utah.

Watches!!!

My sister Natalie and I did some jewelry making at our family reunion and from the moment I walked into the bead store I was hooked! So I've started making watches now!! My sister and I will be having a little boutique party at our house in the near future if anyone is interested. There will be watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, baby bracelets, hair bows, etc. I've talked to a couple of you that are experts at making cool things (hint hint--wipey cases (Joni) and tutus (Sarah), and I think they might have some things at our little boutique as well. If anyone else makes other things and would like to try and sell them at a little neighborhood party then let me know! I always love seeing other people's creativity--and being able to buy it is fun too!
So here are some of the watch bands I've made...more to come!!

The "Handsome" Joseph

Ok, I know this is like the 4th post I've done about Steve in Joseph, but really...that's been our life! Tonight we had a lot of the Terry's there, including our two nieces from Georgia. Kaitlyn got her picture taken with the "handsome Joseph" as she likes to call him! She informed us that there are 3 Josephs: the Donny Osmond Joseph that she's seen from the movie, the Joseph from the other cast, and the Joseph from Steve's cast which is the "handsome" Joseph.

One of My Favorite Things...

I LOVE going to the Parade of Homes. I love getting decorating ideas, although let's be honest...I never actually do them! It's fun to think about, though! I decided I really want an exercise room! And I really need to paint Michael's room--yep, it's still white with nothing on the walls! Thanks for going with me Jessica! We decided we will NOT be putting a life-size stuffed animal in our kids' rooms.

Broken Toe!

My aunt Paula came to Utah after the reunion to see Steve in Joseph. Steve did a great job, but unfortunately during the show one of the other "brothers" accidentally kicked Steve during a dance and it broke Steve's toe!

After the show Paula took us to get shakes at Jake's Over the Top. The dining area was closed by the time we got there, but the drive-thru window was still open, so we all ordered standing at the window while my dad drove thru. They were probably pretty annoyed with us!

Kanab

We stayed the night at my grandparents' house in Kanab. The house they live in was built 70 or 80 years ago and is pretty run down. They remodeled their kitchen and even made it bigger and it looks so amazing! I am so happy for them. My grandma has never had a disposal or a dishwasher and now she has both! They also replaced their linoleum floor that used to have holes in it with a beautiful wood floor and their countertops that were all very short, built for my small great grandma that originally lived there, have now been replaced with normal height countertops. They have also replaced all the windows in the house, are putting siding on to replace the stucco and adding a garage. With all the new windows replaced we noticed that there were several old windows sitting around so we asked grandma if we could take some home and she let me, Natalie, Lori and my mom take some windows home with us. Now I need to make something really cool with it!

Driving Home

Natalie drove home with us and Kaitlyn drove with Grammy & Grampy. We stopped at the Snowflake, AZ temple and then at Horseshoe Bend right outside of Page. It was 3/4 of a mile out to the river and it was so cool. It was a very hot little hike though! Oh, and if the pictures look like it's a total drop-off...it is!!

4th of July at Hawley Lake

We didn't see a single firework this 4th of July, but we still had a great time. My cousin Shane took us fishing on the lake and I caught 2 fish. That makes my grand total a whopping 3 fish caught over my lifetime! Kaitlyn caught one too!

Me, Lori, Steve, uncle Dave, my mom and dad went for a run around the lake. My dad thought it would be about 2 miles. He was wrong! It was 5.6 miles with lots of hills at 8,000 ft. elevation. My heart was pounding pretty hard. I ran the first 3.6 miles and then walked and ran the rest of it. Me and my brother Jon and my mom also went for a bike ride later that day around the lake. It's a lot faster riding a bike!

We also enjoyed making our own rockets out of 2 liter bottles, filling them with water and launching them off an air compressor. Uncle Dave was my partner and Emily was paired up with Steve. Steve's rocket went pretty high on it's first flight, but flew into a tree and I think it might be there for years to come.

Our talent show was really good this year. Steve recited a funny poem, my dad and his brothers sang "I am a Mormon Boy", John's family sang with nose flutes and handed them out to everyone to join along, all the boy cousins filmed a movie remaking stories of grandpa and his kids, and Grandpa talked about the 4th of July.

Hawley Lake--Day 2

On the 2nd day of our reunion we enjoyed each other's company, relaxing, lots of eating, jewelry making, kayaking, and sitting around. My uncle John put together a slide show of pictures from past Dahl reunions. We've been having reunions every other year since I was about 8 years old and I've only missed one, when I was on my mission. We've been to Durango, Brian Head, Lake Tahoe, Sedona, Park City, Mammoth, San Diego, Oregon, Tucson, Kanab, Zion Ponderosa, and Hawley Lake. My parents planned our first reunion in Durango and then every 2 years the next sibling in line (one of my uncles or my aunt) chooses a location and plans the reunion for everyone.

Hawley Lake

This year our bi-annual Dahl Family Reunion was at Hawley Lake which is on the Indian Reservation in Arizona. It took about 4 hours to drive there from Phoenix and about 10 hours from Utah. It was so beautiful there. It's above 8,000 ft. elevation with lots of pine trees and the lake was so pretty. Michael enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake for hours. We had 3 cabins between all of us. They were very rustic but did the job!

Defying Gravity!

Natalie and I flew to Arizona (with Michael) today to see WICKED! We got to Phoenix and had lunch at Paradise Bakery with cousins and aunts and then my aunt Paula treated me to my very first pedicure. It was amazing!! Steve...you can always get me a pedicure for extra points--hint hint!

Our Dahl family reunion starts tomorrow in AZ so Kaitlyn drove with my parents and she loved watching movies in the car, stopping at parks and sleeping at Grandma Chamberlains.

We all went to the Gammage Theater at ASU to see Wicked. I was so excited to see the show and loved every minute! Glinda was HILARIOUS and I wish I could've seen her perform "Popular" more than once. Elpheba's voice was beautiful and I actually started crying during "Defying Gravity". At intermission my sister and I decided we already wanted to see it again! It was so good! I loved knowing all the words to all the songs and figuring out the whole story line of the Wicked witch of the West, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin-man, and more. Thanks for such an awesome Mother's Day gift, Steve. You're the best!!