Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Arizona- Fall Break

This is only a month late, but better late than never! We went to Arizona to visit some great friends for Fall Break! We hit the Grand Canyon on the way down. Bryce and I loved it, but the kids weren't too impressed after the first lookout. They just wanted to get to the Allen's to swim!! We had such a blast with Travis, Michelle and their family! Thanks again!
Here are some pics of the trip.

Bryce must have taken this, I love how we are perfectly in step with our right foot raised!
Bryson at the first lookout
Bryce loved how this tree contrasted with the canyon
Ty enjoying the view before his MAJOR meltdown at the main visitors center
Alyssa- the Cactus Hugger???
My kids couldn't get over the cactus! The thought they were so cool!
Watch out McKay!

Enjoying the view and taking a break on a fun hike in Scottsdale!
Libby finally smiling! She threw a fit for half the hike and then decided she was okay and finished it off with a smile, running!
Bryce and Travis enjoying some time together!
Chicken Fights in the pool!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween

We had a great Halloween! Here are some pics from the day!
Carving pumpkins!
Our "Scary" Ladybug!
The Jedi Knight- Luke or Anakin, he couldn't decide!!!
The Vampire!
Elephaba- The Wicked Witch from Wicked
The Grimm Reaper! (Bryce)
The "Pumpkin Man"
My Mom and her friend JoAnn served Homemade Rootbeer on our porch!
It was a hit!
My sister Tamara and her "dead" husband Brad
All the gang at the end of Trick or Treating!

Friday, September 9, 2011

End of Summer/School begins!



We had a great summer overall! Lot's of fun activities as a family! Here are some pictures of what we did!

Sweeney Family Reunion
We went to Starvation Reservoir.
It was super fun!
Brad gave the adults a ride on the water weenie!
Here is the result!

Our garden grew gigantic!
McKay, Jake, Ty, Jason, Brian, Libby
McKay's birthday party at Utah Lake!Happy 9th Birthday!We went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway
McKay rock climbing!

Checking out the Life Flight Helicopter
Libby, Alyssa, Bryson
Ty trying out the cow costume!First Day of School! Bryson must have been too cool for a picture cause I can't find one of him!
McKay, Ty, and Alyssa
Libby has been soooooooo excited for preschool! I only cried a little after dropping her off!

Labor Day- We took a drive up AF Canyon. It was a rough road, but the views were amazing!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Trek

Bryce and I had the most amazing experiences on Trek. We had wonderful "children" that we were in charge of. We were an Aunt and Uncle to 20 kids-2 families. And, Bryce was a Captain over 40, or 4 families. Everything went really well. We came home physically and emotionally exhausted, but it was worth it!
Our first stop at a rest area in Lyman Wyoming, still looking fresh!
Day 1- We started at the Willie Center. Everyone was so excited to get going!
We went 4 miles and had 5 river crossings. It was so hot that they were refreshing.
We had to keep remembering that the pioneers in the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies did this in freezing temps with little or no food and sparse clothing.
It was humbling.
Beautiful Sunset
Day 2- Rocky Ridge- This is the actual Rocky Ridge
The whole trail was 15 miles, but this part was the hardest. I can only say that there had to have been angels pushing and pulling with those pioneers. There was a blizzard blowing and 12-18 inches of snow on the ground for them. Again, very humbling....
Our fearless leader! He got to give an impromptu speech at the marker for Rocky Ridge.
He did a great job!
There were quite a few mud bogs to cross! Bryce dug in and helped!
This cute boy helped his family and then a bunch more get across so not everyone had to get muddy. He was so happy and cheerful all the time!
Day 3- Martin's Cove
The actual cove was nothing like I expected. This is part of it. This is where the Martin Company hunkered down to wait out the storm. This was before they met the large rescue party, so there were quite a few deaths. They estimate around 56 people died here.
This is a few from farther out. The spirit was very strong in all of these places.
They have a few statues in honor of the rescuers that came and helped the companies across the Sweetwater. They truly saved many lives by carrying many across.

The Women's Pull. This is where only the girls are allowed to pull the handcart. It was a very sandy hill and very difficult. We had one of our families that only had 4 girls and one was sick so she had to be pulled. The one in front couldn't do it alone so halfway up a girl from another family jumped ahead and helped finish.
It was so hard to watch them struggle and not be able to help!
Near the end of Day 3. We don't look too bad I guess for all we had been through!
Family 1
Family 2
We are so grateful for all the experiences we were able to share with these amazing youth!