Lake Powell

 The pictures of Lake Powell speak for themselves.  It was a great time with wonderful people, amazing scenery and delicious food. 

American Ninja Warrior

 We were in Utah for an entire month and I took approximately 6 million pictures.  I have to be very careful to only share the most important moments on the blog so I don't bore my faithful readers.  This isn't really the best picture but I am posting it because it portrays an extremely important part of our trip.  We watched the entire season of American Ninja Warrior. 

 It started one night when we watched four hours straight on Esquire.  Then we went back and watched all of the older episodes On Demand.  My only complaint about the show is that I want it to be on 24 hours a day.  I love it for the athleticism and for the drama.  I do have some regrets about how I used my time (my lack of exercise for example) but filling several evening with this show is not one of them.

Another high point happened at the Pioneer Day Devotional when I got to hear the best Pioneer talk ever given by President Uchtdorf.  The Dee Events Center has never been packed like that before and probably never will again.  Every person that made it into the sardine can felt lucky to be there.  Afterwards we hung out to watch the fireworks.  Mike kept everyone snug.

Too Many Kids in This Tub

 For the first two weeks in Utah we got to stay with Mike and Kathy.  Their house is the center point for all of the family which makes it a great place to catch up with cousins.  You've never seen anything as crazy as these five girls...until you put them all in the tub together and it gets just that much crazier.

What could be more fun than an early morning ride on the lawnmower with Grandpa?  Nothing.

 Rosy was just a little too nervous about the whole thing but interested enough to watch. 

Isaacson Camp Out

 Just like when I was little I still look forward to camping with my aunts and uncles and all of my cousins.  This year was kind of a smaller crowd.  We missed everyone that couldn't come but those of us who were there had a good time. The family has grown so much and it is impossible to find a time that everyone can come but I wish that I had more chances to see my cousins. 
We went for a less epic hike than the 10 miles last year.  I think this one was about two miles total but that just gave us time to do some quick cliff jumping.  And when I say "us" I mean some people other than me.  I put my feet in and called it good. 
This is the spot that I will put one of the cliff jumping pictures when someone sends it to me. 

 Daisy and Ginny held hands the whole time.  A fun fact is that if she had her way, Daisy would wear that outfit with the neon green shorts every day if I would let her. 

 All the kids wanted pictures of their Fruit Roll Up tongue tattoos.  The camera is the new mirror.  It is hard to believe that we had to wait at least an hour to get our photos developed from film.  Kids these days, they don't even know what they have. (Insert old lady grunts.)

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 I usually don't let Brandon star in a picture by himself but he just looked so cute playing in the brook.  

 Daisy was tired out after all the complaining hiking that she did.

 Of course there was a lot of playing of games and this year they even tried BINGO.

 It was the weirdest thing how the Skittles that were supposed to be markers just kept disappearing.  Maybe that is why people usually use beans.

 Rosy, as you can probably guess, was nothing but trouble when it came to marking the cards.

 Daisy won and when she had a chance to choose from the prize bag we were all a little shocked that she skipped over the gum, toys, and stickers to pick the basket.  She was thrilled with her choice.

Rosy only wanted to hang out with her Oma the whole time, which kind of sums up our entire trip to Utah. 
Other highlights that I didn't photograph include:
A rousing game of kick the can
Several discussions about podcasts.  My friends don't understand me like family.  They think I'm weird when I talk about podcasts.
A couple of late nights at the fire telling stories, which is probably my very favorite thing in all the world.
Delicious Woof-ems
A bunch of laughing with some laughing on the side.

Hot Rockin' 4th

 We made it to Utah just in time for the 4th.  Brandon spent all day helping Matt and Kristin move to their new house in Springville and we got some extra time with Ethan, Joanna, and Ginny.  The Rigbys had all of the Howard grandkids crashing their house.   It made for a pretty fantastic pajama party.  While we were at the Layton fireworks with all of the Jolley aunts and uncles somebody brought out a bunch of sparklers.  It was equal parts exciting and terrifying given that they were being lit in the middle of a circle that was about 2 feet in circumference. 

 In retrospect it was pretty darn fun now that I am sure that nobody had an eye poked out with a red hot sparkler stick.  It was amazing to see how all the kids were friends in an instant even though they had never even seen each other before.  It is easy to feel like that with the Jolleys because they are such a loving family.