Independence Day!!

We had a lot of fun on the 4th of July!! We were just happy to spend the whole day together as a family. We went swimming with our cousins and friends and then we came home and watched Gilmore Girls all day. Then that night we went to the Lams (Scott's sister's family) for a BBQ with tons of friends and family. I just had to post this picture because it make Emery look so grown up!!

Emery does not have much fear of the water. But who would with all this gear??

She does not usually have all of this on but she always loves to try what her friends and cousins are doing. That is half the fun of swimming.

Emery just cannot wait to get a piece of the cake

that Mommy made for the BBQ!!!

Daddy Helped Emery shoot off a couple of parachutes. Emery is scared to death of fireworks. But Daddy was having a blast. It gave him a chance to feel like a kid again!!!

The Haircut

I finally did it!! I had talked about it for a long time but finally I but my hair off!! While I was in Utah this summer we (me,my sisters and mom) all went in for our first haircuts since Whitney passed away. It was a big deal because Whitney had given us all our last haircut before that. Anyway, so we all went to Dallas Roberts Academy to get our cuts because that is where Whitney went to school. I had been contemplating whether or not I wanted to cut it all off or not but I just decided that if I don't just do it I never will!! They cut this ten inch ponytail off so that I could donate that to locks of love. But then she just kept cutting. I think by the end she took off about 15 inches! WOW!! I was nervouse about it but in the end I absolutely love it short!!

This was the final result! It has grown out a lot now and I have realized that having short hair requires a whole lot more maintenance than long hair. But I am ok with that.

HAWAII!!!

Emery and I went to Utah in May. There was a lot going on there. We got to see Cammie's graduation and we also went to the Stokes Family Reunion. We also got to go to HAWAII. We went with Mama Sharon, Papa Howie, Cammie, Nora, Nila and Koni. We loved every minute of being there!! When we first arrived there (in Maui) we were greeted by some friends of ours that are locals. They gave each of us a lei. We spent our first few days in Maui. I had never been to Maui so it was very fun and exciting to see a lot of the sights there. It is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen!! It was so lush and green.

This is a picture of someones yard. They had made there fence out of surf boards. We just thought it was the coolest thing and had to stop and take a picture. You can barely see me in the picture but as I was climbing up there to take the picture a coconut dropped from that tree directly in front of me. If I had been a split second quicker it would have probably taken me out. The next picture is Cammie holding that coconut.

Cammie is holding the coconut that almost took me out!!

This is a picture of one of the many scenic drives that we took while in Hawaii. This was called "The Road to Hana" in Maui. It is considered the world's most Beautiful drive!! I would have to agree with that!! Along with being beautiful it was also very windy. It is about a 2-3 hour drive so we did not make it all the way since one of our passengers was getting very car sick.

This beach is called "Bali Hai", on the island of Kauai!! It is where they filmed the movie South Pacific.

Emery loves Papa Howie!! This is a waterfall on the island of Kauai. This where part of The Testaments movie was filmed.

Of course we cannot post the hundreds of pictures that we took in Hawaii but these were a few of the Highlights. If you thought any of these pictures were beautiful to me they are nothing compared to being there in person and enjoying the beauty of the earth. It really helped all of us that went to appreciate the beauty that Heavenly Father has given us!! It helped me to know that simple things can bring so much joy!!

Getting Caught Up!!

Our good friend, Danielle, helped us get our blog all set up for us and she did our first couple of posts for us. Since then I have not done anything but I really love the idea of having a blog. Especially for friends and family that live far from us!! So I am going to catch up a little bit on a few things we've done this summer and hopefully I will be able to stay caught up!!