Bella turns one!

A year old already! Bella had a fun birthday party last Saturday. It was supposed to be a pool party, but it was cool and rainy. We ended up having one hour without rain where we were able to have the party outside anyway :)


Not a masterpiece, but it was fun to make her a butterfly cake!

I took her shirt off in anticipation of a cake fest. Didn't happen!

She was quite dainty eating the cake.

This is as messy as she got!! We love you Bella!

Jeremiah Johnson Activity Days Camp

We took 16 girls ages 8-11 to this camp up Hobble Creek Canyon last week. (10 girls from our ward area and 6 from the Spanish branch.) The girls had so much fun! The camp was great (run by teenagers!) and our group got the best youth leader named Bobbi--seen in the red shirt.

Everyone had to stick with a buddy the whole time. Brooklyn and Bonnie:

Darcy and Nancy:

Courtney and Mary:

Lexi and Natalie:


(Oh no! I didn't get a picture of Danika and Taylor together :( Those two were having too much fun wandering around. Since a leader had to stay with the girls at all times, I got to go exploring with them :) The 3 of us went on a little hike along a stream--so beautiful to be up the canyon!)

Panning for "gold".

Learning how to throw a lasso at a target (Taylor):

Courtney was the only girl who hit the target! Since it was raining, the bucket of water dumped on a dummy instead of a real person.

Making necklaces and bracelets:

Making rope:
They also shot BB guns, did archery, and paddled rafts on a pond. It was a good day!

Graduation and new pics

My Mom graduated last week with her Masters degree in Nursing. Way to go Mom!!!


Bryndi was telling me about her dream one morning at breakfast, so I took this picture to put with my post. But then it took me so long to get around to downloading my pics that I forgot what her dream was!!


I love this little chair that hooks on our counter. Bella does too.

The girls are feeling very patriotic--trying to catch the flag as it blows in the wind.


My sister Kelly has some amazing landscaping in her backyard!


Bella will be a year old next week!!!

Little Red Riding Hood

The bike ride I've been training for was on Saturday--the Little Red Riding Hood. An all-women bike ride through Cache Valley and up to Preston Idaho and back down. 2600 women did the ride! Some 35 miles, 62 miles, 80 miles, and I did the 103 miles. What a great experience!!


The weather was almost perfect. (Minus the nasty winds during the middle of the ride.) Not too hot. We did get rained on in Idaho. I thought it was fun to ride in the rain, although I did wonder if it was hailing as the cold drops would hit me as I was going 16 mph. The scenery was so beautiful. I loved riding through all the small towns. We only hit one traffic light the entire ride. I rode by myself almost the whole time. (Well, with several hundred other ladies nearby.) I appreciated the time to think, set new goals, thank the Lord, and enjoy the ride.

Thanks to Richard for coming up that afternoon to support me and take pictures. I couldn't have done it without your help and support Sweetheart!


The whole experience was better than I imagined. My longest ride before this was 52 miles with 3 1/2 hours of riding. I thought I would be so sore, uncomfortable, and in pain by the time I hit 60 or so miles, but it never happened. My rear end got pretty tired of that seat after 7 hours of riding, but the burning in the muscles and severe pain never happened. All those spinning classes paid off better than I thought!

It felt so good to finish and meet the challenge I had set for myself. (I mean the challenge Kelly Smith invited me to set for myself!! Thanks Kelly!) 103 miles from 8:15 am to 5 pm. Seven and a half hours of riding with an average of 14 mph. 5000+ calories burned in one day!

Here is the scripture I chose as my theme the morning of the ride:

All victory and glory is brought to pass through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith. (Doctrine and Covenants 103:36)