This was our very first Baseball tournament with Chase’s team - Spanish Fork Angels. (I inserted the site Russ did for them – the kids LOVE it.  He does an amazing job)

They played awesome! We won our first two games on Thursday in Orem. Then went to Park City to finish up on Friday and Saturday. Saturday we were a little slow and lost the first game and the second game by 1.  At this point, we still had a chance playing in the finals if all the stars would align just right – they didn’t.

I do have one thing to say about Russ – he is an amazing coach. Even though he was just filling in with these kids during this tournament, he has such a positive affect on all the kids. I was trying to figure it out the other day and he give 15 – 20 hours a week to 3 teams and none of the kids hate him. LOL  He really looks forward to it and I think it helps him as much as he helps these kids.

Anyways, we ended up staying and making a weekend out it. My kids have never to Park city in the summer to see what is there. The kids wanted to do the Alpine Slide and I stayed back with Kenz and she rode the rides at the bottom.  Colten and I made a trip up Main Street. He was not to impressed with all the Art Gallery’s and “girly” stores. LOL He isn’t much of a shopper.

Kenz said it was her favorite ball game ever! Then I found out that she really just likes to stay in the hotel and swim. It wasn’t the games she liked. Poor thing – she already tells me that she wants to be the pitcher on her team.

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Every time Makenzie hears this song she begins to instantly sing along.

Even from a dead sleep, she wakes up singing.

We spent the weekend up at the Brown’s property, then took the trailer over to the cabin for the rest of the summer.

It is always fun to get away with the best friends in the world and just hang in the mountains. Even in the rain and cold – we just learned to ignore Paul and Russ who kept telling us it was a perfect day for rain and bears.

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“Does he spend more time crashing than actually wakeboarding?”

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Chase is getting pretty good at wakeboarding.

He’s come a long way since beginning on a kneeboard at age 3.

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Some of them are up at the cabin and a couple are from Candy Mountain on our travels to Mt. Dutton.

Makes you stop and think how time flies by.

This was our first attempt at snowshoeing.

We went up above Sundance Ski Resort near Aspen Grove.

The weather was perfect.

We only made it about 3 miles total, but once again, it was our first trip out.

It took us a little while to figure out how to walk, but after a bit, we got the hang of it.

We listen to it over and over. She is becoming quite the little singer.

“Box of Rocks” by The Song Trust

Joey+Rory | MySpace Music Videos

Here’s Kenzie’s version…..

One lucky shot!

Wow- what an experience this year! I was a little unsure of the whole hunting thing even as the morning began. It did not take me long to find out what all the excitement is about that I have seen Russ and my brothers go through every year. Opening morning I got up and had my coffee with Russ and Joe and those two giving me a hard time about bringing my Cosmo hunting. Once I had all 4 layers of clothing on, and my very stylish orange binnie we hit the road.

It only took us an hour before Russ spotted this deer. The bad thing was, I was off watching the sunrise and hiking around. When he rounded me up, I have to tell you that every nerve in my body was shot! He is so patient with me and handed me the loaded gun and told me to shoot.  Shoot, shoot, shoot already! I couldn’t see the deer in the sights. He fixed that for me and I finally shot. He wondered around about a hundred yards and fell. We were not lucky enough to see him and we never did find any blood. I just happened to be walking down a gully and ran into him. When I screamed, like the girl that I am, Russ thought I found blood finally. When I told him that I found the deer, he yelled at me to get away, thinking he was still alive. I knew there was no way that was true.

I got my first high five from Russ in the 14 years we have been married. I think he was a little proud of me, which made it all worth it. I had to thank my dad for all the good shooting genes that he passed down to me. One bullet on the first shot. I have never shot at an animal in my life, call it beginners luck, I will take it either way.

Jeff was a sweetheart and nice enough to send me down the mountain in his Jeep to get more help. I was not going to pass up that deal, I kill, they clean….sounds good to me!

A little history on this deer – Apparently this buck has been made famous through email. People have been watching him since the archery hunt in August and all the way through to the rifle. I seen the pictures but this is my first hunt and I never really paid much attention to those things. Now that I see them and we have made the connection, it is really cool.  I am definitely hooked and look forward to spending many more hunts with my family and my kids who will start hunting next year.