Tyler also played volleyball last year

I am not going to say a lot about these pictures.  I should have posted about this a year ago, but I didn't, so here you go now.  We had our first experience with JO Volleyball when Tyler told us she wanted to play last year.  We didn't know where the notion came from; she said she heard an announcement at school.  Anyway, she really wanted to play, so we signed her up.  She had a really fun team and we enjoyed getting to know the girls' parents more as we watched them play at the various tournaments.  Tyler couldn't get a serve over the net except for during practice all year, but at her last tournament, she finally got it over.  Then, she got it over again!  Then, she ended up scoring the winning point in their final game of the tournament and they took first place!  It was awesome!  You seriously need to look at all these pictures.  Tyler is fun to watch.

Their coach was Cheyenne Adams (now Cheyenne Low).  In this picture, Tyler is sandwiched between Cheyenne, her daughter Ashton, and her other daughter, the assistant coach, McKenzie Adams (now McKenzie Johnstun).  Cheyenne made the cute flowers and headbands for the team.  They may not have been the winningest team, but they sure looked good.

"We're Number One!!!"

Britt was doing the math the other day, when we were watching the girls play in their last JO Volleyball tournament this year, and if Olivia plays JO Volleyball through 8th grade, we have seven more years of JO Volleyball to look forward to.  And if she plays in high school, 11 more years of volleyball.  He is so excited.  Actually, he went to every one of the girls' tournaments this year, and he is their loudest cheerleader (especially when the officials can't figure out how to score their tournament and try to give our second place finish to a team we beat).  It is going to be a fun 7-11 years.   :)

Easter at Matt and Danalee's (Last Year)

Last year for the Easter holiday, we traveled to Bayfield, Colorado to visit Britt's brother Matt, his wife Danalee and their adorable baby girl Violet.  They welcomed us into the gorgeous home where they were housesitting.  Danalee took such good care of us.  She had eggs and all kinds of fun stuff for coloring them, as well as cookies the kids could decorate.  Of course, all the entertainment my girls needed was getting to play with Violet.

egg coloring time

Olivia felt like such a big girl

look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Danalee helps them get creative

Violet supervises

Cole was feeling lousy; he had an outer ear infection (which a doctor diagnosed after we got home)

The Easter Bunny brought lots of fun goodies for all the kids, including Violet

We had such a great time with Matt and Danalee last Easter.  Can't help being a little sad that they are so much further away now, but we are happy they can all be together in North Dakota.  I have more pictures of that weekend, but I thought I would break them into separate posts, so I don't overwhelm you with pictures.

Two years ago in Arches

Man, when I look at these pictures, it makes me think of that song, "I see skies of blue . . . clouds of white, Bright blessed days. . . dark sacred nights, And I think to myself what a wonderful world."  We have GOT to get back to Arches again.  It is so amazing!  This was two years ago.  I can't believe that, but then I look at my kids in these pictures, and yeah, it was that long ago.

Do you see the Double O Arch?  Each time we have visited Arches National Park, we have discovered more things we want to explore there.  Also, my girls completed the Junior Ranger activities, but by the time we finished our day there the Visitor Center was closed so they couldn't get their badges.

It was a warm Spring day and we were happy to find a shady spot

Britt tried to climb up and through where the kids were climbing, to get up inside the top arch, but he didn't quite fit

Who is that pretty brown-eyed girl?

He scrambled up over this rock instead

Here they are inside the arch

A good-looking bunch (Rachel stayed below with me)

Olivia and I are posing in the lower arch

Tyler on the edge

The kids and I.  Can't believe it was just two years ago.  Look at how much they have changed!

My little monkeys

Once again, we have purchased a National Parks Pass.  So I am thinking we need to get serious about using it before it expires.  It cost a pretty penny.  But I suppose as long as we go to at least eight parks this year, then we can justify it.  I hope we can hit even more than that.  We definitely need to spend some more time in Canyonlands, too.  And I would like to explore Zions a little more.  But there are several others not too far away we need to check out, if we can.

What a wonderful world we live in!

Hiking Ballroom Cave March 2011

No, I did not get the date wrong.  This was last year.

A year ago, Joe and Carol invited us to join them on a family hike.  We got together with James and Becky and family, and Sherrie and family, Kathryn and her kids, and Danny and Kristy.  Danny was about to be deployed to Afghanistan, Kathryn was getting married and moving to Flagstaff, and although we didn't know it then, James and Becky would be moving to Alaska in a few months.  It was a wonderful opportunity for all of us to spend some time together.  Some of us have hiked to Ballroom Cave before.  But it was much different then.  You will notice several large boulders, since the cave collapsed some years ago.  The ruins are still very interesting, of course.  We had a great time exploring. 

working our way up

lovely Livvy

silly Steven

Brittany smiles

It looks like Joe is pointing something out, but I couldn't tell you what it was

down in the remnants of the cave

Cole was busy carving (had me freaked out when we were hiking in treacherous terrain and he had a knife out, not to mention the fact that we weren't doing a very good job of "leaving no trace")

the sign says to stay out of the interior ruins; some of us were tempted, but we stayed out

Logan and Hunter find some more ruins

Tyler poses

Garrett, Brittany, Rachel, Oaklee, Calee, and Ashlee through the window

Ashlee and Rachel are close cousins; they were due on the same day, but Ashlee was born about a month early and Rachel came a week late

I love this pic; Becky is such a fun aunt!

this picture can't give you a full understanding of how steep the sand was that we were climbing down

maybe this one can?

Cole carving

Danny and Kristy

Alex and Jason (James in the background) snack break

posing for a pic

the whole crew, minus Danny and Kristy and I think Kathryn took the picture for us this time

being silly (and Cole saying "I don't know these people, and I am certainly not related to any of them")

We love having an awesome extended family.  We love that all of us get along.  We love all the good times we have together, whether it is inside or outside.  We live in a place surrounded by wonder.  Although I hear Alaska and Flagstaff can be pretty wonderful.  Afghanistan, not so much, but YAY for Danny getting to come home early!  And even though Josh and Sherrie live in St. George, we love that we got to see them more while Josh was helping with the construction of the LDS Stake Center in Monticello.  We love all of our family, wherever they are.

I hope you don't mind my catch up posts.  I have a lot of them coming.