Not your typical Vegas Wedding

Not exactly what you first think of when you hear Vegas wedding...but last weekend, my DH and I went to Las Vegas to see the daughter of some very dear friends get married. Hard to believe these kids grow up soooo fast. She was a beautiful bride! Congrats Rachel and Paul!

St. George Trip and Tuacahn

I was lucky enough to be able to travel south with 3 of my sisters and my parents to St. George, Utah to attend the play "Footloose" at an outdoor ampitheatre recently. We had a great time. It was nice to be somewhere a little warmer than 60 degrees for a day or two. We even spent a lazy afternoon by the pool one day! Our good husbands took care of the house and kids for 4 whole days! It was heavenly! I guess I owe you, dear! Left to right: Susan, Kellie, Nancy and me. Just look at the red rock backdrop! It is so beautiful there. Mom and Dad! I'm not sure they knew what they were in for when they agreed to go on a trip with their wild and crazy daughters. Dad thought we were going to see "Any Which Way but Loose"you know, the movie with Clint Eastwood and the ape! I'm not sure they knew what "Footloose" was before this!

This is a picture of all of us standing in front of the St. George, Utah temple..

Hey, thanks, PBS!!

We were driving in the car with several of our kids (I think we were on the way to Grandma's funeral). Our son, Matt was riding in the back seat with the little girls. He started to laugh! I asked him what was so funny and instead of answering me, he proceeded to ask Kelsey (our 5 year old) where she had heard that word. "Word Girl." came the answer. I guess I have PBS to thank for educating my baby! Apparently it was "sweltering" in the back seat! We could all use a couple more words like "sweltering" in our vocabularies! I think I will start watching "Word Girl" myself.

What a Handsome Group

This is a family photo taken with the Melvin crew that was at Grandma Vickii's house this summer. Todd's sister, Lorii was the only sibling missing, but lots of grandkids were MIA. Not a bad looking group though, eh? (We are Canadian after all!) Back row, left to right: Michael, Mitch, Laura, Todd, Julie, Lisa. Front row, left to right, Danny, Megan, Aimee, Grandma Vickii, Kelsey and Katie. I don't remember the dog's name (he belongs to a neighbor), but I'm sure my girls would.

Our vacation to Waterton, Alberta, Canada

Our big family vacation this year was up to our family cabin in Waterton Lakes, Alberta. This is Todd with our cute little granddaughter Marisa up at Bertha Falls. We all hiked up there one morning, I think it was about 3 miles round trip. It was so beautiful!
This is our favorite place to throw rocks in at Waterton Lake. It is glacier fed and is very cold, so there is not a lot of swimming going on there!! We wade a little, but your feet freeze in seconds, so mostly we just throw rocks ! Cousin Ryan, Katie and Dylan (my handsome grandson!).

My sister and brother-in-law brought a couple of kayaks this year. The kids had a lot of fun with them. This is Lisa, Kelsey and Becca Brook at Cameron Lake. The day before, Lisa got dumped into the bay at Waterton Lake (luckily not too terribly deep, but VERY, VERY cold!!).

This is so cool!

My next door neighbor and good friend, Terri Bateman just returned from a trip to Africa where she went as an engineer/advisor for a group of BYU students who designed and developed a coconut press that will help poor East African women to be able to improve their way of living, by making coconut oil faster and easier, thus making more money. Here is a link to the article in the Daily Herald about it. Way to go, Terri!