Maiden Voyage with Big Al and Pouncy

March 30 - April 1 we packed up the prowler and trailer and headed down south to find some warmth.  Sand Hollow State Park was our location and my brother John and his family joined us for some of the weekend.  This was another surprise the kids didn't know about. :)

When we got down there it was beautiful and Allyse, Tayson and Emily were already playing in the water.  I forgot to bring swim suits for us but I sent the kids in wearing their clothes because I had packed a couple extra pair for each.  Plus I knew there was no way I was keeping them out of that water. :)

John picked a perfect location for us, it was beautiful.  Thanks John!

Each of John's kids have kayaks and my kids quickly bummed rides!





Trey relaxing with Uncle John enjoying the warm weather.





Handsome Boy



I didn't take long before both Ellie and Brett took over the kayaks and were paddling on their own.



Playing in the sun!





Where is a squirt gum when you need one?



Paul, Brett and Ellie coming back from fishing, well, attempting to fish.  Fishing takes time and patience which my children do not have patience right now.  :)


This guy way out there, he has fishing patience!



John and Paul talking camp stove.





Ellie's foot prints



Saturday night's sunset



There was some wind and storms that rolled through late Saturday afternoon.  The kids saw this rainbow out the trailer window so I grabbed my camera.

We took a prowler ride up a mountain and found this amazing view.  Paul had a wench put on the prowler, good thing he did, it came in handy.  Nope not for us, we pulled a 4wheeler out of some deep sand he had gotten stuck in.  We were coming back down the mountain and came across a handful of 4wheelers just stopped.  Then we saw a couple of guys trying to dig the back wheels out with their hands.  Paul hooked it up and pulled it right out!  Our prowler rocks!!  :)

We had a wonderful weekend.  The prowler worked great, the trailer was awesome and we hope that we will have many more family fun times ahead of us!

A Little Surprise for the Kids

Meet "Big Al with Attitude"

For years now it has been a goal of ours to be able to have a trailer again.  We had one before, when Trey was just small, for a couple of years but sold it when we moved into our home (7 yrs ago).  We have always missed it.  Paul and I have been looking at trailers for a few years now when the RV show is at the South Towne Expo Center.  Seeing what was out there, what we needed for our family and especially Trey.
After working hard to get a couple of vehicles paid off we were ready to be serious about getting a trailer.  We had a lot of things to consider and look at and make sure things would work.  Paul's wonderful mom came to stay with the kids on a Friday and Saturday so that Paul and I could really focus on the job at hand and not have the kids there, and not feel rushed.
After looking at countless trailers, talking to countless manufactures reps, and sales people, and making the all important pro/con list, we made our decision.  Eclipse Attitude Toyhauler.  It is wonderful!  We ordered it from the manufacture in CA so we could order a wider door for us to get Trey and his chair in and out of when we didn't want to use the back gate.
It has a slide out where the couch is and that opens up the floor and it doesn't feel cramped with the wheelchair in there.  The kitchen actually has some prep room and the bathroom is absolutely awesome!  I will post better interior pictures when I get to it.
So it took about 6 weeks for the trailer to get here and when it did Paul and I went up to get it while once again Paul's wonderful mom came and stayed with the kids.  They still had no idea!
It was about 7pm and a bit dark when we pulled up but we blind folded the kids and brought them out, when they saw it they went crazy.  They were so excited!

So we are very excited for this and the yes, the prowler fits perfectly in the back.  Paul was very good about talking to both the prowler people and the trailer people and taking measurements.

Meet . . . .

 

Pouncy the Prowler

We can now ride, all of us together, and have some fun!  Trey is there in the middle.  We strapped a car seat into the prowler then strapped him in.  Trey loves to go fast!



Horses

Paul's sister and husband bought a couple of horses a couple of months ago and the kids have been wanting to go ride them.  We finally got them over there.

Ellie really loves horses!



This is cool!



Thanks for a great time and I'm sure we will be back.

Trey and BYU Football Spring Drills

Back on March 8, 2012 Trey and I were invited to go with our friend, Jacob Hansen, to tour BYU football facilities, watch spring drills, and meet the team and coaches.

Jacob has CF and CP and I have know his mother, Jodi, for years now.  The Hansen family is a very wonderful, caring and giving family.  Chad Lewis is a former tight end for the BYU Cougars and he played in the NFL for a number of years.  He caught the game winning touchdown in the NFC championship game in 2005 sending the Philadelphia Eagles to the Superbowl against the New England Patriots.  Lewis did not get to play in the Superbowl because when he caught that touchdown pass and came down he broke his foot.

Anyway, Chad does a lot of work for the CF foundation here in Utah, Paul's company (Wicked Audio) has even donated headphones to Chad's charity golf tournament he does each year to raise money and awareness for CF.

Chad and Jacob have become very good friends over the last little bit and Chad invited Jacob to come down to BYU.  Jacob being the ever cool kid that he is asked if he could bring some friends. 

So that is how we got here.



Us watching spring drills from the balcony.





Tradition, Spirit, Honor



Trey's team is the Eagles, thanks to his brother
picking that out for him years ago.
On this wall it shows all the NFL teams helmets,
then below it lists the BYU players who have
played for that team.





Trey in front of the 1984 National Championship
Trophy





Training Room





Weight Room



This is so cool!



Watching the team.





Whoa! those are so big guys!



The Gang



Jacob with Coach Mendenhall and Chad Lewis




The BYU football team after practice and met Jacob and
gave him lots a cool stuff.  He even got to sign the honored
Y flag.  Then he got to break the huddle for the end
of practice.





Coach Edwards was there for a visit, met Jacob.
He even came over to say HI to Trey.  I was
talking to him so I didn't get any pictures of that.



It was a great afternoon and even, thanks to Jacob for letting us share your day with you.

Kindy 500

On the 16th the Kindergarten classes at the elementary did what they called "The Kindy 500".  We were to make Brett a car from a box that he could carry around to different rooms with him.  We started a couple of days before hand, and decided to try to make it look as much like BumbleBee as we could.  Well, we did the best we could, it is a card board box after all. :)  We covered it in yellow construction paper (Thanks Ellie for the paper) and put the black stripes on and I printed out the Autobot logo to put on the sides.  Paul and Brett made the Chevrolet logo for the grill area and Brett did the wheels all by himself.  I think it turned out good.

Brett with his classmates going down the hall to their first stop on the Kindy 500.  At the different stops the kids learned about American Symbols, like the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the American Flag, Mount Rushmore and the Bald Eagle.

Brett came home and told me all about it and how much fun he had!

A boy and his Legos

Ellie's 4th Bday Part 2

Here are some pictures of her from that night when we did our family part for her.

Her cake, incase you can't tell it is a purple crayon.  Purple is her favorite color and the crayon is for the fact she love to draw and color.

New Playdoh

Hair Accessories

OH Boy, what is in here?

A pretty princess nightgown.

As with any kid you really don't know what they will totally love and what they won't.  I thought she would like this nightgown but I underestimated.  Ellie loves this nightgown, wears it every chance she gets and it is very hard to get her out of it to get dressed for the day, which sometimes doesn't happen if we aren't going anywhere that day.  :)

Happy Birthday my Angel.

Ellie's 4th Bday

Crazy I know! Ellie is 4!

Paul and I like to do something special with the birthday kid, this year I had a hard time coming up with something for Ellie.  She's not really into dolls, girly frill frill stuff, so where do we take her?  So like at Christmas time we restort back to what she loves to do right now.  Being artistic.

Color Me Mine here we come.

Here Ellie is eating lunch with us at Marley's.

After much looking at all the things they had to paint, and after mom and dad trying to guide her to something little girlish, this is watch she chose.  Donald Duck, really?
Yep, go figure huh.  She hardly knows who he is but that is what she wanted. :)
She loved painting Donald, and seeing her art work at the end. 
Happy Birthday Ellie, we love you.

Christy's Photography Workshop

The past year and a half I have been furthering my photography interest.  Mainly teaching myself the settings on my camera, terminology, composition, lighting, shooting in manual instead of auto.  A few months ago I wanted to take a workshop so that I could talk to, ask questions, and gain personal experience with a professional photographer. 

So a saturday in January I drove up to Sandy and went to this workshop.  It was good and I learned things that I had been unsure of, especially shooting manually.

As part of the workshop we did a photo shoot with some kids that the photographer knew and had come down.  Really cute kids that were not afraid of the camera!  Here are just a few of the pictures I took that day.

My 35th Birthday! Jan. 17

Yep, I'm thirty five, I have no problem saying that. :)

Here are my adorable kids with the cupcakes they made with Grandma Meanea for me on my birthday.  The little candles spell out Happy Birthday.
They were so sweet to make my day special.