Surprisingly Eventful July of 2022

Ladies Tea Party/Kristen's Birthday

Laura did an amazing job decorating for the tea party. I took photos of all her hard work, but forgot to take a photo of the people. 

Pineview Reservoir

with the Rojas & Westenskow Family

We had a blast at Pineview Reservoir and loved seeing this flag on a crane as we drove up! 

I also liked the use of pool noodles to protect the kayaks as they are stacked on top of each other. 

4th of July & 

Kayaking at Salem Ponds

We had a good time kayaking with my family at Salem Ponds. 

Marshal enjoyed chasing the birds.

Braxton and I made a stop at the Flag in Grove Creek Canyon as we came back.

We set us at the temple again this year, but made the mistake of sitting on the grass where it needed to be watered. Kent and I were just about to get our own selfie when the sprinklers turned on and we were scrambling to get our blanket and items without getting wet. Marshal took one for the team and gathered all our things while getting soaked. We ended up coming home and Marshal was cold so he went to bed. The other boys and I tried to go watch fireworks on the overpass by Elk Ridge, but it really wasn't the same. Kind of a bummer of a night.

We did have a nice view of the sunset.

And I got at least one good photo of a firework.

Vocal Point 30 Year Reunion

Braxton was not happy to go to this concert for some reason. 

I don't recall why, but he was all smiles by the end. It was a great concert.

We had a lot of fun, but Marshal was pretty tired by the end.

Ute Stampede Rodeo

I can't tell you how nice it is to have Brinley come spend time with us at an event. 

I sure do love time with girls around my family!

As usual the Ute Stampede was a great show!

I always love that they have the flag brought in by parachute...

even if it failed to land in the stadium due to the wind.

G-Pa Holdaway 100th b-day

It's amazing to think that this handsome grandpa of mine was born 100 years ago!

Happy birthday Grandpa Holdaway!

Green Flake & African American

Pioneer Memorial 

I felt so blessed to be able to attend the unveiling of these great statues. 

Call it right or wrong, but I have a great love for Green Flake 

and consider him to be a part of my family! 

I am so grateful they choose to honor him! I was happy to meet his descendants and take a photos with them. I believe the woman was named Rose (I think) and her son is named Nick Renfro. 

24th of July at 

This is the Place Heritage Park

We really enjoyed spending the day at This is the Place Heritage Park!

It was cool to watch them fire the cannon. I also got one snapshot of Cort with one of 

the days of 47 floats at the float preview a few days before that.

I really enjoyed watching this lady as she did some old fashioned bobbin lace weaving.

There is so much to see. From the marker where Brigham Young looked out over the valley to the actual spot where he would have looked out. There are also so many beautiful statues!

It was such a beautiful day to be there.

So many of these things remind me of my Grandma Holdaway. 

She certainly loved her pioneer heritage!

It was cool to see the Pioneer Children's Memorial again. 

I took photos so I could go home and find our young family members whose

lives were lost along the Mormon Trail.

Here is the name of Surge Louie Jacob

This one is Tomina Elizabeth Swensen

I also enjoyed watching them square dance and even got Braxton to learn a square dance with me.

Stake Youth Conference

Kent and I went to Camp Browning just prior to Youth Conference, so I could see how difficult the road up would be if I drove. We couldn't really see since the camp gates were closed, but we did see that it was fairly steep. I did end up driving up to the camp later, since Lydia Jarvis was hurt and I did okay even though it was pretty steep. When Rebekah and I came back we saw this beautiful sunset and had to take a photo. The first day the youth got to do an egg drop. Our group was able to protect the egg from breaking. I enjoyed photographing the stars that were so bright up there.

The kids loved GaGa Ball.

I had to take more photos of the stars. Camp Browning had some great activities. 

They had a trust fall, human ladder, sky walk, archery, waterfront activities, 

rock climbing and repelling. The staff was great! The were always bringing out extra food and trying to get it eaten. Here's Jack eating hash browns off of the pan. 

The Human ladder

The kids loved racing on the human ladder. 

I tried one rung and decided it wasn't for me.

More archery, gaga ball, human ladder, sky walk and I even did the log walk.

We enjoyed a sunrise hike on Friday and saw some amazing views!

Waterfront fun, more from the sunrise hike, a crazy moth I found, 

and fun in the freezing cold river...just no cold river time for me.

Camp Browning was a beautiful area, and 

I had fun pretending to eat this carb filled burger!

The great cheese eating challenge. They tried to get us to eat up the extra cheese and it turned into a cheese eating contest for Brother Rett Anderson. It was a lot of fun. We took some photos of friends. We had some fun with a laser from Bishop Walker from 3rd Ward.   

The video of the cheese challenge. 

Enjoy!

Life in July

Top Left: Me finally accepting my age and wearing reading glasses. Top Left Middle: Braxton starting his first job helping Dave Benedict with his company PayWut. Top Right Middle & Bottom Right Middle: Cort and Marshal playing on the trampoline. Top Right: Taking a drive as a family. Bottom Left: Marshal, Cort and I went to Nickle Mania because of their request...and I decided to be a nice mom. I was shocked to find out that Marshal's favorite game is "The Walking Dead." Yikes! Bottom Left Middle: Kent was tired after all this work at the new job. Center Right: Braxton made the honor roll again! He's a great student! Bottom Right: Kent's realized that his eyes are getting old as well. Guess we're not as young as we once were. 

The peacocks have been out in the neighborhood lately. We've found them strolling down the sidewalk, hanging out in the neighbors tree and walking through our garden. On this hot day the boys had fun following the peacock and collecting any of the feathers as they fell.

Top Left and Center Right: When you see smoke it is never a good thing. I can't recall what was on fire, but that smoke was thick. Top Left Middle: I decided it would be fun to play Book of Mormon style Clue. It was fun making this board and cards to play with. Top Right Middle: I swear that I saw a Killdeer bird in front of WiO so I had to take a photo of it. Top Right: While it made me very nervous to have Kent's parents come up after all that we have been through, I was glad that it went well and thought it was nice that they brought zucchini bread. Bottom Left: Dusty found a peacock and was very interested in it. The peacock was less interested in finding out what Dusty had in mind for him. Bottom Left Middle and Bottom Right: It was so fun to see all those kayaks at Causey Reservoir and the water was so beautiful I had to take a photo. Bottom Right Middle: I had just finished up a walk when I heard a woman skid after hitting her breaks. I turned around in time to watch her hit my neighbors parked car. I was shocked. Later when the police arrived and I went over to see if they needed a statement from me, I overheard that the woman who hit the car was intoxicated. This happened before 8 am. It was quite the way to start the day. 

Beautiful July

"May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please,

but as the opportunity to do what is right."

-Peter Marshall

"Education is the most powerful weapon

which you can use to change the world."

-Nelson Mandela

"We may not be able to change all of what is coming,

but we can choose how we prepare for what is coming." 

-Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong

"She is who she is today, because of the people and 

events that tried to break her. She could have learned

to love less or give up sooner, but her perseverance and heart

are her biggest weapons. Loving with every ounce of her existence 

and living life as it should be lived, her way."

-J. Iron Word

"Your mind will always believe 

everything you tell it. Feed it faith.

Feed it truth. Feed it with love."

-Unknown 

"Waste no more time arguing about what 

a good {person} should be. Be one."

-Marcus Aurelius

"Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you're something special.

That you can't be replaced...your heart, your mind, your conversation, your care, 

it can't be replaced. By anyone."

-Unknown