Place Family Lagoon Day

Okay, so it's not really "Place Family Lagoon Day" it's technically "Western Nut Lagoon Day" but it feels like Place Family to me. (A lot of the family is employed at Western Nut) Once a year we get to go to Lagoon as a family and it is honestly one of my favorite days of the year. I really enjoy Lagoon more now that I am a Mom. Watching how much my children love it is better than any thrill I get on the white roller coaster! (so does that just mean I'm getting old?)

It is so fun to be with the cousins (and my sisters). We spent most the day with Stephanie and her kids Matt, Mike and Bron (Stephanie is pregnant with her fourth baby--A GIRL! and is due in August). Mike was so helpful with Hailey and they went on tons of rides together as partners. Hailey was in heaven with all the attention from Mike. We also had Hannah (Kim's youngest) with us. She was very helpful to hang out with Aubrey and go on Kiddie rides when Aubrey was too scared to go on bigger rides. (of course Kim's other, older kids (all 7 of them) were roaming the park--too cool to hang out in Kiddie Land, but we did run into them now and then)


The best part was having my Mom with us. She deserves a Grandma of the year award. She rode all the rides and made them so much fun! Just look at her in the back of Puff---no hands! What a woman! She also took Hailey on her first Tidal Wave experience. Mom has ALWAYS loved Tidal Wave (I think she rode it 5 times that day!) Hailey was so brave and even learned the "no hands" from Grandma! (Hannah was just scared to death).
Aubrey's favorite ride was The Odysea (this years new ride.) She just loves to sing along with the theme song, I've heard it all week!


After a full day at Lagoon I took the kids home to a sitter and enjoyed the park at night with Ben. We went on all the "big kid" rides together. I pretty much felt like I'd been beat up after the Wild Mouse, and realized that two kids later my bladder isn't what it use to be, I seriously almost peed my pants on the Rocket. My nephews (Brayden, Matt and Mike) talked me into riding Cliff Hanger with them. They promised me that I wouldn't get wet. We waited in line forever and finally got on the ride. Once strapped down, Brayden leaned out and said, "Kristy, I think you might get a little wet" sure, now he fesses up. Mike replied with serious enthusiasm, "Yeah! But you get to hang upside down!!" "Wow." I thought, "What a trade off." Yes, I got wet and yes, I did hang upside down. But it still is one of my favorite family days!

The Powells in Powell

We just returned from our trip to Lake Powell. We had a fabulous time! We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Powell (Ben's parents) invited us to spend the week with them on their new houseboat with extended family members. Here are some highlights from our trip.

Hailey was a dare devil and LOVED to ride the tube! The girls also loved to hunt for lizards go fishing and rock climb. They were in heaven!

I couldn't believe it. One day a bottle floated to shore and there was a treasure map in it! We followed the map and found the pirate treasure. It was the forgotten treasure of the Pirates of Lake Powell!! ;)

We were also there for the 4th of July. We had a big party on the top of the boat with glowsticks. It was our private RAVE (minus alcohol, drugs, etc.) It was a G rated RAVE.

It was a fantastic trip!

Vampires and Visiting Teaching

As many of you know, I lost my copy of Eclipse (from the Twilight series) and I was very upset about it. I turned my house upside down looking for it and only found the jacket to it (so annoying). I emailed everyone I know who could had possibly borrowed it and asked for them to give it back. Of course everyone said they weren't the ones who borrowed it (and I knew someone was lying). It has been eating me up that I can't find that book, now my collection won't be complete!
Last night I went visiting teaching. While my partner was sharing the message my wandering eyes landed on a copy of Eclipse without its jacket! "That's my book!" I abruptly blurted out in the middle of the discussion of premortal life. After some glares from my partner, the sister we were visiting admitted that it was indeed my book and BEN had loaned it to her MONTHS ago and she had been meaning to return it! (Does she not know my collection is not complete without it and my type A personality can't handle it?) Whew! What a great visit! I am so glad that I am apart of this wonderful organization that lets me get my stuff back! SO DO YOUR VISITING TEACHING, IT'S AWESOME!!!

Disclaimer: I really do like VT and I do have a testimony of it's inspired usefulness . . . and I'm also glad I found my book.

Tea Time

Our neighbor, Trish, has four teenage boys. One day when she was sick of the chaos of teenage boys, she left the house and bought a tea set and a little recipe book of how to have the perfect tea party. Today she invited all the little girls in the neighborhood over for a tea party complete with linen table cloth and all! It was darling! She let them pour their own tea out of a teeny tiny teapot (a highlight of the day for them)! They practiced their manners and had a wonderful time!

The Yard

Backyard before sod, but after sprinklers
Hailey and Aubrey were so excited to help lay the sod. They are good little helpers!
Many hands make light work. We had a huge turnout (about 25 people) for help and got the whole yard done in a little over an hour!!!

This is the back after. There is more, but I just thought I'd post this one. I will post my garden when it is beautiful and flourishing (if it ever gets there).

Our project this spring was to put in a yard. When we moved in last summer the front yard was sort-of in and the back was just weeds. We put in sprinklers, sod, shrubs, etc. I am so happy to have a backyard where the kids can play! I also added a grow box where we are attempting to grow a salsa garden, we'll see how that goes. I also planted pumpkins and if all goes well we will have tons of Halloween pumpkins from our own garden! I think that sounds like so much fun! The girls insisted we have a strawberry patch and grow strawberries (just like Strawberry Shortcake). Hailey claims she will playing the yard and when she gets hungry she will just eat strawberries. She is determined to make this little plan work. However, the girls don't really understand why our strawberries are taking so long, when Strawberry Shortcake plants her seeds they grow immediately; thus, Mom must be doing something wrong. They say I need to add more sunshine . . . I'm working on that.

Also, I want to add a big thank you to all the family and friends that came to help lay sod. That was one rockin' sod party!

TRI, tri again

Well, I did it! I am officially a "Woman of Steel," I completed my first triathlon. (conveniently named the Woman of Steel Triathlon). "Triathlon?" you say, "Kristy in a triathlon?" Yes, it is true . . . and no, hell did not freeze over. Last year I got this crazy idea that I should try to do a triathlon. I don't know why, it just struck my fancy. I wanted to get my body back in shape both physically and mentally and I knew exercise would do it. I was tired of dancing to DVDs in my living room and decided to try something I've never attempted before . . . to be athletic. I trained my heart out for weeks on end and then May 17th was the tri. It of course was a sprint triathlon, but it was a blast. My swim time was crap and I panicked in the water, but I got over it and my running time was a personal best. My family and Ben's family came out to cheer me on and it was awesome! I think I will do more triathlons this summer now that I know what to expect. I talked Ben into doing a 10k with me on the 24th of July before the big Pioneer Parade in Salt Lake. I'm really looking forward to it!
P.S. I know you are just dying for me to post pictures of my triathlon, but no, I think I'll NOT post those for all to see.

Four Wheelin'

Grandma and Grandpa Powell with the girls and Maddie in the Rhino

Ben, lookin' HOT in his motorcycling duds.

Kristy and Aubrey on the Raptor.

Ben found his new passion . . . dirt bike riding. He loves to go out to the Knolls (a sandy desert wasteland past Tooele) to go riding. He would ride every hour of every day if he could. He has taught me the love of dirt and speed (two things I wasn't really into before). For Christmas Ben gave me a Raptor four wheeler so we can go riding together! Last weekend we had a blast with Ben's parents, Hilary and Quinn and even Maddie the dog, out at the Knolls. Luckily, Ben's folks (Grandma and Grandpa Powell) have a Rhino to take the girls on. It was a fun time for all and I'm sure we'll have many more opportunities to partake of the dirt and speed this summer!