Ballin'

Matt put together this fun video of John's favorite new trick: dunking his Little Tikes basketball.

Drew's Baby Blessing

The weekend following our Alleman family reunion at Lake Powell, we drove to Kingman, AZ for Drew's baby blessing. We have loved having Wade and his family so close by! It's about 1 hr 40 minutes doorstep to doorstep, and we've been able to get together at least every other month despite busy schedules.

John was sick with a cold the whole weekend, so I tried to semi-quarantine him and limit everything and everyone he touched! For an on-the-go little guy who likes to socialize, this was challenging. Despite the cold limitations, we had a great time spending time with Matt's parents and Wade's family. The blessing was wonderful, and it was fun to meet Wade's work partners and their families.

John and Drew [almost 11 months apart]

Attempt at a family picture...

Freedom! He sure loves being independent.

Also in Wade's backyard, we watched a crazy huge wasp kill and carry away a tarantula.... My parents use to find freaky, steroid-huge bugs in their Phoenix backyard too. Yikes.

Before the blessing celebration, we went on an excursion to a nearby historic Route 66 town. The stretch of road from Kingman to Oatman was the inspiration for the road near Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. It was beautiful and windy. Oatman was filled with some historic buildings, tons of touristy shops, and wild burros. The donkeys were the highlight of the town, with burro food for sale on many carts and shops. John was very intrigued, but he wasn't so sure what to think when one tried to inspect his stroller for food!

The real highlight for me was delicious ice cream, a welcome refreshment from the heat. John clearly enjoyed it as well.

Think they might be brothers??

We sure love spending time with Wade, Steph, and their kids. We will try to capitalize on our proximity to them for the remaining 9-10 months we are in Vegas!

I Love Vegas Water Parks.

It may be over 100 degrees with direct sun burning down on us and hot wind blowing in our faces, but it's almost worth it to be able to enjoy these amazing, cold water splash pads. Over half of Vegas public parks have some form of fountain or splash pad. Paseos Park in Summerlin is my absolute favorite. Now that John is walking so well, he LOVES independently toddling around these splash pads, so we go to at least one park a week.

Last Tuesday, Matt's oldest sister Kori and her family stopped in Vegas on their drive from Kingman (Matt's brother) to Utah (more family), and they added a 30 minute detour to enjoy (and expend energy at) our favorite park.

John running through with cousin Emma

Carter in action.

Happy John.

One of John's latest favorites is taking off our sunglasses and attempting to put them on himself. We usually need to help him, to avoid jabs in the eye, but it's worth the jabs to see John's delight of looking "cool" in sunglasses. He gives us this hilarious smirk as soon as they are on. Love it.

John then decided to help himself to chocolate chip cookies. Best way to end a park trip!

So, all of you questioning how one could possibly survive Vegas during the summer, the secret is out: splash pads.

Lake Powell

We had such a fun reunion with the Allemans at Lake Powell last weekend! Matt's parents rented a luxurious houseboat and speedboat, and all 22 of us were able to enjoy the gorgeous scenery, bath temperature water, and fun time together.

Matt had to go to school on Thursday, so we booked it to Page as soon as we could Thursday night. The rest of the gang arrived Wednesday, so they had already scouted out and moved the houseboat to a stunning canyon towards the North end of the lake. The only glitch in transportation/communication occurred when we were trying to find the houseboat that night. We arrived at the marina at 6:30 PM, but the speedboat needed gas, so by the time we were filled up and headed out, it was dark. The moon didn't rise for hours, so we were navigating the lake in pitch black. After a few hours, the coast guard encouraged us to dock the speedboat for the night and recommence our search in the morning. John had already managed to snooze a bit in his life vest, but I was kinda terrified of his mobility + me being asleep on the boat. So, we set up the pack & play and once I got John to sleep (he was more interested in making funny noises and pointing at his Grandpa), he slept quite well in his pack & play under the stars! Even when the sun started to rise and the rest of us woke up, John was snoozing soundly.

The proof: A Graco Pack & Play fits on a speedboat!

The other main issue was communication: the radio wasn't working so we had no way to contact the rest of the family on the houseboat. So, it was a sleepless night for many.

But the sunrise sure was gorgeous!!

And Keystone Canyon was worth it.

Keystone isn't too far from the most unbelievable canyon leading up to Rainbow Bridge. The cliffs were narrow and huge, and Rainbow Bridge was just stunning.

Matt's parents and siblings (and John and I).

Little guy loved being outdoors so much!

The houseboat had a slide, a hot tub, a high-end kitchen and grill, and managed to sleep all of us easily! The younger grandkids had one big slumber party on the fold-out couch (I think Chris slept underneath the BYU pillow, note the legs sticking out at the end!)

The older grandsons got to sleep on mats on the roof, under the stars.

We thoroughly enjoyed all the water high-adventure enabled by this beautiful venue.

Matt jumped off a 50 foot cliff. I trust him, but I was glad I wasn't there to watch.

He also got up on water skiis on the first try. (I keep trying to tell myself I don't need to compete with him, he just makes anything athletic look too easy!)

We all enjoyed the warm water in our private cove. John tolerated the life vest and enjoyed being in the water with all of his cousins.

We ate like absolute kings. We rotated meals, so Matt and I fixed one breakfast (breakfast burritos) and one lunch (fish tacos with Matt's tomatillo-mango-avacado salsa). One of the most fun meals was a slider bar, with a variety of spices and seasonings put in each burger patty and mayo (examples: buffalo burgers, southwest burgers, pesto turkey burgers). Delicious. Also fun, at the North end marina we tried Root Beer ice cream. I don't know why it isn't sold everywhere!
It was so much fun to catch up with everyone all together. All of our nieces and nephews were so cute with John, and he just loved watching his cousins run, jump, slide, and swim. Kids and adults were worn out from such fun-filled days. One night all the adults got in the hot tub and it was mesmerizing to study the stars as we talked. I've never seen the Milky Way so clearly.

We are so grateful for such fun and supportive family, and we love these opportunities to get everyone together.

On the way home, John strongly announced a need to stop and run around, so we stopped in St. George and walked around the beautiful temple grounds. John was already in his PJs (our wishful thinking that he would fall asleep on the drive)... so we felt more than a little tacky... but he was just so happy to freely explore!

And this may be one of my new favorites.

Again, such a great reunion. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for putting together this trip!