The Best Thanksgiving Hat Ever

Maddie took this picture of Grandma Ardeth on Thanksgiving. What a hoot! Happy Thanksgiving...

River, Veyo, and Crab (all in one day)

Yes, I'm a little behind this summer on blogging. Well now that it is Fall maybe I can do a little catch up.

I didn't take pictures,(dang!) but James and I took the kids down to Springdale and we all went tubing down the Virgin River. We had promised the kids a river trip this summer. It didn't work out how we had planned. So this was our replacement for that. It really was a lot of fun. Very cool and relaxing.

After that we headed to Veyo with my extended family. Veyo has the greatest swimming pool and snack bar ever. When I was a kid we would go there with my moms family for our family reunions. Mom would always buy us food. The one thing I remember was the pronto pups... What is a Pronto Pup you ask? It is a homemade corndog. Very tasty. My kids didn't know what they were either but found out and loved them. We had a great time swimming and visiting. The place hadn't changed much since I was a kid. It was like going back in time. I probably hadn't been there in 25 years.

After Swimming and eating, the boys (meaning big boys, James, Brett, Yates, & JD) all headed out to Mesquite to have "all you can eat" Crab. What a trip it was. My brother Yates has grown this awful beard (if that's what you could call it). As you may know, eating Crab involves butter. Well Yates not only loves butter, but he gets it everywhere. When butter cools it gets hard and white. James said that he had so much butter (white chunks) in his beard, it was hilarious. Not even napkins would help, they had to ask for a towel from the kitchen. On the way home the butter started to get the best of him. James was driving. When they hit about Bloomington, Yates calls out from the back seat, "You better stop, my contractions are getting closer together". I thought I would die laughing!

Angel Day #8

I have so much catching up to do on my blog, but I just have to post a little blurb about my little Mia today. We have been without her for 8 years today. We went to the cemetery and cleaned her headstone and put out some cute fall decor. It was a good family home evening for us today. We love and still miss her everyday.

Mia and my cousin Debbie
One cute thing that happened: My cousin Debbie called and was wishing me well today. She had gone out to the cemetery and put a flower on Mia's grave. As she was walking back to her car she said she wasn't really paying attention and all of a sudden she had a full on head on with a butterfly. She called to tell me that and that she knew Mia was with us all today. Thanks Deb! I love to hear stories of tender mercies like that. I super glad she took it as such and shared it with me.

It has been a beautiful day with some wonderful rain showers that we needed so badly.
Thanks to all those who have helped us and loved us through this journey.

Just a great day.

That is what I have to say about today. It all started by getting up somewhere around 6:30-7:00ish to go for a morning hike. I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to hike the K-hill Indian Dance Hall. (the very top of the K-hill) So I invited my family to join me. They were all pretty stoked to go. We accomplished my goal about 7:45am. We were pretty much on top of the world. It was a beautiful morning. As we headed down the hill, we all noticed a beautiful yellow swallowtail butterfly following us. I made the observation that Mia decided to join us. Or at least we felt her close to us.



We came back home and I had to get ready to ride in the 24th of July parade. It wasn't super fun, but our float turned out pretty cute. The High Priests, Relief Society, and Elders made a cute covered wagon out of our trailer. (photos to come hopefully)

Then we met up with my brothers and sister and their kids for some pizza. After which we decided to go swimming at the El Pueblo pool. It was a fun swim, & a nice day.

Then, we all came home and I took a nap while the others played video games etc. The next adventure was at the creek. We(my brothers & sister and families) all went to the creek and had tinfoil dinners. It was great food and fun for the kids to play in the water. We had smores too. Yum! It was nice and cool and not too many bugs.

Just my idea of a great day.

Holland Reunion

This year we were able to get together with James' whole immediate family at Lake Powell. When we get together with everyone it has been known as the "Holland Hassel" but this event was very enjoyable. We had some rain but for the most part it was beautiful weather and we enjoyed playing and visiting and camping at the lake. We ended up camping in the Walweap campground which is very nice. We beached across the lake and I think this trip will be known as the trip of many coolers. (Kari i need the photo to prove it) I think we ended up with 7 coolers in all. Can't ever have too much food at the lake and heaven forbid if we ran out. Good food and fun.

Devin is getting dunked.
Where is Emma?

Happy 4th of July and Happy 13th Birthday Devin!

Happy Birthday Devin! You are now an official teenager. Look out world. I think Devin has the funnest birthday ever. Can't believe it was 13 years ago he came into this world with a BANG! Today the Holland's put the Mule in the parade. Good times.


Happy 4th of July. Waiting for the parade to start.

Brookie?

Have you tried these little beauties? It is a brownie with chocolate chip cookies mixed in. Probably safe to call them a "Brookie"? They are heaven in a box. I'm sure you could just make them by making brownie batter and cookie dough. However I bought the mix. It was divine. They are my new favorite treat. I served them for a Relief Society social with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Yummy!