Zion's & Grand Canyon

Mike and I went on our last trip of the summer (and hopefully until Christmas!) on the 13th thru the 17th of July. It was a family reunion with Mike's family. We went to Orderville Utah and stayed in a cabin. We had a good time. Tyler and I went up on Wednesday with Mike's sister and mom, and we met his younger sister and Sister in law there. We got to drive through Zion's National Park on the way there and I really liked that. I had not been through there for a long time!! We got to drive through the BIG tunnel and then out to Orderville. Wednesday we just got things put away and settled in. On Thursday we just relaxed and talked. Mike and his dad Ken came up Thursday night after work and got there just in time for dinner. Friday we got up and got ready and went into Zion's. We had great plans of getting there early so we could hike around a little before it got too hot-but we did not make it! We did do a short hike to Weeping Rock which was really cool and the kids loved it. After that we just rode the shuttle to the top of the road then back down to the bottom. It was fun and Beautiful, but I wish it would have been cooler so we could have hiked more of the trails. O-well hopefully next time!! Here are a few pictures from Zion's...

Kristy, Tyler and Mike at Weeping Rock
Looking up at Weeping rock
Alter at the Temple of Sinawava
The other side of the park is so different-I was surprised

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Friday night the rest of the family showed up and Saturday we woke up and drove to the Grand Canyon. It was AMAZING!! I can no longer say that I am 30 years old, have lived in Utah or Nevada my whole life and have never seen the Grand Canyon. (I am glad that I can't say that anymore!) If you have never been I was absolutely suggest that you go!! We were only there for a couple hours which is a shame but it was still worth it! Next time we will spend a lot more time there though. We went to the North rim where the lodge is. There was a hike there that we did. It was short, but my one sister in law was right about it not being for the little kids. I helped Emily and Danny with their 2 year old because it was a narrow trail with Grand Canyon drop offs on each side, usually not at the same time though. Ken was unable to make it to the end of the hike because he is not very sure of his balance and was quite nervous! I don't blame him, but the view at the end was remarkable!

The Grand Canyon

I loved seeing how GRAND this Canyon is

Sunday we had to go home. We had a great time and were sad to leave but happy to get back home. We took our time going through Zion's again. We did a hike by the end of the tunnel out to a great view point although next time we will be better prepared! Mike's sister and nephew were in flip flops and we didn't bring any water. We thought it was an easy quick hike. Tyler and Ken stopped half way through because Ken was unsure of his footing again and it was nice to not have to carry Tyler so we left him with Ken. The view was amazing when we finally got there. After that we rode the shuttle again for one last look at the park before we headed home. Mike and I stopped in St George to visit Shirley and Oceia. It was Oceia's birthday so we went for her party. We had a great trip but are SOOO glad to be done traveling for the summer. We are looking forward to spending some time at home.

Preschool program

On August 7th, 2008 Tyler finished preschool. We were very lucky to have such great teachers for Tyler the past two years and I was very sad to tell them thank you and good bye. Can you believe that Tyler is going into Kindergarten!?!

This is Tyler and his teacher Ms Rhonnie. She loved Tyler and spoiled him. Tyler was asleep almost the whole program that they did, but Ms Rhonnie helped him hold the pictures for the other kids to see while they sang their songs.
She also helped him play the sticks for their favorite song.
This is Ms Rhonnie, Tyler and Mrs Turner.

I am so thankful for them and the time that they put into helping Tyler.
Tyler receiving his certificate from Mrs Turner. It's official! He is done with preschool.

Camping

On July 25th we went camping with my family. We go each year for mine and my brother Bill's birthdays. We had a great time. We went up Manti canyon near Duck Fork Reservoir. This is looking off of Wood Tick Point near where we camped- What a view we had!!

This is Bill and Mike doing dishes.
Mike and Tyler on Skyline drive. We had to take this trip alone because everyone else had to get home to work so we couldn't get a picture of the three of us, but we got one of Mike and Tyler and a separate one of me and Tyler.
This is a picture of Duck Fork where we were camped from Sky Line Drive. A major rain storm hit while we were on this trip. I guess we were glad not to be there because we didn't get rained on at all where we were, but I wish we would have covered our fire wood and put our chairs away so we had someplace dry to sit when we returned. We will remember that for next time!!
This is Mike playing in the mud. There were several mud hole near camp because it rained everyday we were there. But it felt SOOO good. Mike is driving with Tyler and my brother Kevin in the cab with him, my sister Shirley and her kids, Oceia and Tory are in the back holding on for dear life. I was excited to get away from Las Vegas where it was a cool 115-120 while we were gone. We DID NOT miss that!!

We can't wait to go back next year!!

LIVESTRONG!!

On July 13, 2008 we were in San Jose for the LIVESTRONG Challenge to help raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Cancer research.

This is me, Mike, my mom Linda, my aunt Leslie, and my cousin Sariah

getting ready to start our adventure

Me and Mike with the SWEET bikes that we rented. When we returned them to the rental shop, Mike told the guy that his was a really nice bike and the guy said he could buy it for "only" $5500. Mine would have been $4300. We said no thanks but we would love to rent from them again next time we were in San Jose.
Mike, me and my mom. She is the reason we do this each year! She is an amazing woman and I am glad to have her in my life!! She is a four and half year SURVIVOR of breast cancer.
This is our entire team "The Sanpete Sprockets"

There is Mike, me, Linda, Jim Smith, Sam Smith, Lindsey Smith, Leslie, Sariah

Sequoia National Park

On our way to San Jose for our bike ride we stopped at the Sequoia National Park. It was AMAZING!! There are no words to describe those trees! I was amazed at there size. My neck got soar looking at them all day long. Also when you got close to them their smell was heavenly! We had a great time and hope to go back sometime and do some of the hikes.

This is Tunnel Rock. Mike and I are on top and my aunt Leslie and cousin Sariah are underneath.

This is my dad, me and Mike. We got a great view of this rock so we stopped, I can't remember the name of the rock-sorry. It was a little smokey because of the fires but not too bad.

This is one of the first trees that we stopped at. I was TOTALLY blown away by their size!!









This is a great picture because it shows the great size of the trees. That is me in front of the tree and the "little" trees that surround it were all very normal sized trees. It was so beautiful here! I would totally suggest going if you get the chance!!

Veggies from our garden

This is a picture of some Green beans, Peas, corn and a cucumber from our garden. It was all VERY tasty!! The corn was not really a success, but we have heard that not a lot of people have success with corn in Las Vegas for some reason, but we will try again next year!




These are some of the carrots that we pulled from our garden. This single one was the largest that we had pulled to date of the picture, we have had one larger since. They are extra tasty!!
These are some tomatoes from the garden. We have had a lot of the yellow pear tomatoes and they are tasty to snack on during the day. We have not had a lot of luck with the red tomatoes because something keeps eating them as soon as they start to turn red, same with our strawberries. It is really sad because I want to eat a fresh BLT on my homemade bread. We were able to have them one time and we still have a few green tomatoes so maybe we can get to them before our little "friend".

Chocolate Cheesecake

I have had several requests for this recipe so here it is!! It does come with a warning though!!
DANGER! Habit forming and high in pound packing calories. This fabulous dessert is rich and delectable!!

The crust that I use is different from the one on the recipe because I don't like the nuts in the crust but I will provide both recipes so you can decide for yourselves!

Crust recipe I use:
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cream butter; add flour and sugar. Blend with a fork. Press into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely. (this crust is thicker so you could half it if you don't like it so thick.)

Crust recipe I don't use
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds, pecan, or walnuts work best)
1 cup flour

Combine all ingredients and press into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes. Cool completely.

1st layer
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
12 oz whipped topping

Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Fold in whipped topping. Spread on cooled crust, then apply pudding payer.

2nd layer
2 3oz boxes instant chocolate pudding mix
3 cups milk

Make this layer first so the pudding can set up and the crust can cool. Mix 2 boxes of pudding with 3 cups milk. Let pudding set-up before spreading on the cream cheese mixture.

3rd layer
Top with remaining whipped topping.

Drizzle
Melt together 1 oz unsweetened chocolate and 1 teaspoon butter or water in microwave; 20-30 seconds at a time. Stir each time. Chocolate drizzle should be syrupy in consistency. Drizzle over the top of whipped topping layer. Chill whole pan for 3 hours. (For the top I just grate a chocolate bar over the top, it is easier)

I found this recipe online and it is by Momma Mia