Adding more candles...

In my books July is the best month there is. Not only is it home to my 2nd favorite holiday (July 4), but my birthday as well. And this year it was even better because instead of a birthday, it turned into more of a birthweek. No complaints here. Monday started out with a combined party at Harbertson's to celebrate both Jeff and I. Tuesday, the actual day of started off with quite the surprise. Deke set the time on our alarm clock an hour ahead so, instead of getting up at 6:15, I actually woke up at 5:15. grrrr... You'd think the darker sky would have given me a hint. Sometimes (well..make that many times) my hair color should probably be a few shades lighter. So, at the supposed 7:15 I start walking out the door for work (it was really 6:15). The following conversation takes place:

D: Where are you going?
J: Umm..it's 7:15. I leave at this exact time every. single. day. This should not be a surpise.
D:Well, can you just hang out for a little while?
J: What? (slight irritation in my voice. I absolute HATE being late to work. The sooner I get there means the sooner I can come home).
D: I, uh, well, can't you just stay? Just trust me.
J: Babe. I'm totally going to be late for work. This should SERIOUSLY not be a surprise to you.
D: Fine. Go look at my cell phone.
J: What the? 6:15? (I start to laugh. Totally not surprised I fell for this one..) Ok. I think I might be able to.. (now I'm feeling guilty for being semi grumpy.)

He then surprised me by driving me to IHOP where he had planned a big breakfast with friends. One thing I love about Deke is his love for birthdays. He never fails to make the day feel truly special!

IHOP:



Later that day Deke stopped by my work to drop off something I had had on my birthday list. A plant! Call me nerdy, but but desk needs a little TLC. It's a tad on the boring side. I followed that up with lunch with my Mom, sister and sister-in-law at Plates and Palates. This last weekend the celebration continued with shopping, the cabin, 5 star dining, and the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley.

Butcher's, the ultimate steak house:



We had so much fun at Deer Valley! It was Beatles night with the Utah Symphony. The performance was fantastic but 2 things made it even better.

1) 50 - 60 year olds getting wasted with beer and wine and dancing their brains out. We had a dancing choo choo train, wanna be 50 year old ballerinas, along with many many entertaining interpretive dances.

2) The down pour of rain. We're talking sheets and sheets of rain.

You can't see it very well, but this was the beginning of the down pour:



Me, trying to keep cover:



Hanging out under our soggy blanket:



A break from the rain:



My birthday couldn't have been better. Here's to another year of learning, loving, and surprises!

Highlights from Lake Powell

Jo Jo, our new found friend, hanging out on Deke's head:



View from our campsite:



Water Weenie:



D & J:



More D & J:



"Washin' that man right out of our hair"...



Some mighty fine real estate:



Getting ice cream at the Marina for Jeff's b-day:



Mwah:



Deke is very proud of this picture - He got me mid dive.(Yes..I realize these are not killer size cliffs. Call me a wuss, I could care less :) )



We had such a great time! I was interested to see how the whole camping at Powell thing would go, but it was actually really fun! Don't get me wrong, I love camping, but with the heat and all the sand I was expecting things to get a little interesting. I would probably still prefer a house boat, but no matter how you do Lake Powell, it's still the best trip around.

No words

I totally wish I had my video camera. I just witnessed 2 grown men in my office doing elementary school calisthenic exercises to the song 'Chicken Fat'. Apparently, just to break up the day a little more. It takes a certain kind of special...

We're back!

My adoring public (Annie) has requested new posts. Luckily for her I was already planning on catching up today! Enjoy!

Proud to be an American

July has always been my favorite month. It's host to my second favorite holiday and my birthday! This year it's great for 2 more reasons: The N family vacation and the H family vacation. My family's vacation coincided this year with the 4th of July weekend. We loved every second of it! We started it off Thursday night at Boondocks with laser tag, go carts and arcades.

Mr and Mrs Smith, er... H:



Papa and Trev:



Like father like son:



The 4th started out with watching Katie Marie in the Kaysville parade, barbecuing at the cabin, and ended with the best rodeo this side of Texas - The Oakely Rodeo! It doesn't get any more American than that. Enjoying (I use this term loosely. As many of you know, I'm not a fan of parades. My kids will be so deprived) the parade:



Before the rodeo began:





A rogue sneeze caught me by surprise right smack in the middle of the rodeo. Nelson's are known for their sneezes (Thanks Grandpa Joe) and this one did not fail to impress. In fact, it was so powerful it started a bloody Old Faithful gushing from my nose. Something a little quirky about me is that I get crazy bloody noses. It is not over exaggerating to compare it to a geyser. Seriously, the amount of blood loss from these things are staggering. So, I felt it start coming, and since we had no tissues, all I could do was lean over, cup my hands, and let it pour. Yee haw! Talk about trying to tame wild beasts. Who needed the rodeo? Within a few minutes I had people offering me maxi pads, baby wipes, grapefruit hand sanitizer, water bottles, etc... Wow. I felt like royalty. I was finally able to get it under control without any clothing damage.

Not sure how I managed to get blood under my eye though (look closely. or not):



Deke and his sidekick:



The next day we made the greatest new discovery (Thanks Greg and Katie!): Smith and Moorehouse lake. This gorgeous lake is only 5-10 min from the cabin. We decided it totally looked like an L.L Bean lake:



The purpose of this excursion was to teach Sadie, Trev's 8 month old lab, to swim. Mission successful! (new favorite thing is the Sadie bum shake)

Deke braving the ice cold runoff water to help Sadie swim to where she couldn't touch:



Soon Trev, Greg, and Dad ditched their shirts and joined in the (freezing) fun. Kudos to Dad - he was wearing long Levi's and was the only one to put his head under!:



The time at the cabin was great! Between the player piano, Deke and Greg serenading us, Home-made raspberry ice cream, tick finding, treat munching, 4 wheeling, and late nights we had quite the party! For those of you interested, my mom laid in bed for ten minutes after watching Batman Begins contemplating the stated movie. She raced into the room I was sleeping in to let me know she figured out who Robin is. For those of you who know my mom, this is hilarious. Please let me know if you'd like to get her number to discuss possible outcomes, scenarios and characters in The Dark Knight. :)

My favorite look-out from the loop:



Taking a break from 4-wheeling:



Deke's great camera skills with our mediocre point and shoot (please disregard the no make up look):



Thanks Mom and Dad for the greatest weekend! We missed those in the fam who weren't able to make it. Hopefully next year! We're looking forward to the H Lake Powell trip next week. Wahoo!!

Summer Fun

A few weeks ago, our friends the Gundersons and us (we?), decided to feed our craving for smores and camping. We headed above the 'B' in Bountiful and found a somewhat decent camp spot. Prior to starting on the trek, the men decided we needed to bring some wood in case we couldn't find any dry logs. They thought it was dumb to have to actually buy wood at the store, so they resorted to this:



Brilliant. We raided a nearby construction dumpster for extra wood. There ended up being plenty of large logs by our camp spot so the boys put their brawn (not so much brains) to good use and chopped the wood. Since no saw was within sight, they would swing full tree logs (seriously huge logs - we're talking some were atleast 10 ft) over their heads and smash them against a large boulder. Talk about your manly bonding. I wish I had pictures -It was hilarious! Tif and I were greatly entertained to say the least! Some of our pictures were accidentally deleted but a few were still left without casualty. This sweet tent was perfect:



The boys preparing breakfast:



We had great time roasting mallow's (I downed 10 smores), cleaning up trash, and making up the funniest progressive scary story I've ever heard. Here's to more camping!