Jill and Steve Winward

 Warren and I got to attend the sealing of Jill and Steve and the SLC temple. They are such a cute couple. We are happy to have Steve as part of the family.

Days for Girls

doTERRA is a corporate sponsor for the Days for Girls foundation. Every once in a while, we get to take some time away from our usual work activities to work on making menstruation kits for girls in developing countries. They had a box filled with bags that needed the ends of the ties sewed so that they would not fray. Melanie came over to help with the project. Everyone was impressed with how fast she was at sewing the ties for the bags. My good friend, RuthAnn, sat with us and did the final step of tying a knot at the end of the tie after Melanie got them sewed. We got through about half of the bags in the box. After the project, Melanie and I got to have lunch together.

Lehi Roundup Rodeo

Monday, Warren and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary by going out to dinner. We agree we have a good thing going and plan to continue.

The fun this weekend began on Thursday evening with the doTERRA Summer party for families. It was also a celebration of having a law suit, filed by a competitor, completely thrown out with no findings by the judge or jury of wrongdoing on the part of doTERRA or its executives. There was a nice dinner, skydivers, extreme trampoline, motocross show, and a large fireworks show. It was fun to have Melanie with us.

Friday evening we fought traffic to drive to Logan for Tawnya Anderson's wedding reception. It was fun to see some of my Anderson relatives. We also got to go to dinner with some of the Atkisson's and Alison and Tyler.

On Saturday morning we made our way to Main Street to watch the Grand Parade. Melanie decided to bring Milo. He was thrilled not to be left behind at home. We discovered he does not like the noisy marching bands, especially the drum lines. He would try to crawl under our legs whenever a marching band passed. After the parade, we went to the family fun day in the park.

We ended the evening with the Rodeo. It was Alison's first rodeo and it had been a while for the rest of us. We were impressed how well they kept the "show" moving. It was fun to see some triplets we have known since they were born. One girl was Miss Lehi, one was Miss Roundup Rodeo, and the boy was assisting with the Rodeo events (he is nationally ranked in the High School Rodeo circuit). There was an impressive act with a horseman riding Roman Style a team of six horses.

Happy Father's Day

Tyler, Graigry, Jessica, Warren, and Melanie

It was nice to have all of our children home for dinner on Father's day. Tyler and his "best friend" Alison watch out for each other in Logan and go on "Adventures" together. They like to go hiking together after work and on weekends. She has a car and brought Tyler home for the weekend. She stayed in our spare bedroom. Their friend Tyson, who currently lives nearby, came to hang out with them and joined us for dinner. (If you feed them, they will come; especially if you are barbecuing steaks)

On Saturday, Tyler and Alison joined Clayton and Jessica for an "Adventure". Jessica was asked to write an article about the wonder stone field near Vernon, UT. It sounded like they had an exciting time driving around on very back country dirt roads trying to find it. They were successful and all came back with a small collection of cool rocks. Jessica got what she needed for her article. 

Jessica and Clayton have a blow up Kayak and use it whenever they can. They decided since they would be so close to Vernon Resorvoir, it was a good reason to get out on the water with their Kayak. Tyler and Alison borrow a canoe from our neighbors. They didn't have very long out on the water but said it was really fun.

Surgery Update

Warren went to visit his doctor for a surgery follow up appointment. He got his splint cast cut off and got to see his scars for the first time. He got his stitches taken out and tried putting weight on his foot for the first time. Everything looked really good. He is now in a boot for another week or two during the day when he will be able to switch to a hard soled sandal and get his driving privileges back. He was thrilled to loose the crutches.

Nathan Pacheco

Melanie thought the two of us looked like a flag when we were standing next to each other, so we took a picture.

When I heard Nathan Pacheco was coming to the Scera Outdoor Theatre I bought four tickets to sit on the grass. I gave two of the tickets to Clayton for his birthday.  It was fun to have Jessica and Clayton there. At the last minute, Warren decided sitting on the grass with his cast wouldn't be a good idea. I asked Melanie Clawson to come with me and we celebrated her birthday.

As the sun set and the full moon rose over the mountain I thought that I live in the wonderfully beautiful place and I felt very lucky. The concert was wonderful. Nathan sang lots of Italian love songs which are his specialty. He had a wonderful pianist and cellist accompanying him. It was a magical evening.

Girl's weekend in St. George

Back in March, Sarah Brown suggested that we take the girls to St. George to see Newsies at Tuachan for their birthdays. I thought it was a great idea and a weekend getaway began to be planned.

We left Friday afternoon and headed for St. George. When we arrived we visited the Pizza Factory in historic downtown. We were all tired and hungry.

Tony's uncle Paul, kindly let us stay in his empty condo right in downtown St. George. It was very comfortable. Sarah, Jessica and I started off the day with a walk around the neighborhood and temple. After some breakfast, we headed out to see about a hike Jessica found in a google search called the "Desert Crack" in Pioneer Park. Melanie renamed the hike the "Desert Butt Crack" or the "Devil's Butt Crack" and that became the running joke. 

When we got to the park, we discovered a wonderful free garden area to walk around. There were trees, water features, groomed trails, and lots of benches to sit on and look over St. George. Melanie tried to catch a lizard while we were exploring the garden. (They were too fast.)

The "Desert Crack" was not marked and so it took us a few minutes to find it. Turns out there is a parking lot just up from the garden and the crack is right there. It is pretty skinny. Jessica and Melanie went all the way through. Brina and I just went a few feet in. There are inlets, one pretty big one along the crack. There are also lots of crevices in the rock walls, making it easy to climb.

At the top of the crack

Up on top of the crack. 

After doing some hiking/walking, we went into phase two of our girl's weekend, pedicures. It was the first time for a professional pedicure for Melanie and Jessica. We found a place where we could all be seated at once. Everyone like the massage chairs.

 After pedicures, we went for lunch and the Crepery. It was fun to try a new place.  After, we went back to the Condo to rest up for our trip to Tuachan later.

Sarah really wanted us to eat at the Anasazi Grill. We had to agree to sit at an outside table because they didn't have room for us inside at the time we needed to be there. We met Tony's uncle and his new wife. We were still full from lunch and so we had a few very expensive appetizers and then ate chocolate fondue. Sarah was glad to be taking some home. 

Brina wanted to be sure to see the pre-show. Cypress High School was doing their choir show. They had some great songs and choreography. It was fun to watch Melanie flirt with the boys on the stage. Newsies was very professional. The man they had playing the lead was a very good singer and the dancing was awesome. During intermission, Melanie went down to talk with the high school and ended up sitting by one of the boys for the rest of the show. It was a great evening. 

Melanie's thoughts on the trip: "It was really fun."