We ARE Alive

How sad is this?! This is my first post for the month of July! All I can say is that we have been playing hard, traveling plenty and having lots of fun. We are home now, ready to nail our feet to the floor. We are tired, suntan and feeling like we have had the best time ever!

I have to say that travel-logs are not my favorite, but I am not sure how to convince people that we really have been gone, not just screening phone calls. So, here is some proof:

It all started with our Family Reunion

trip to Nauvoo for a week and a half.

We got home just in time to spend a few days playing
with our good friends from Ohio. (Becky, I did not get

one picture of us!!) We boated and had a marvelous

bbque. Thanks Jeff!

Three days later, we hot-footed ourselves to Rexburg

to attend the wedding of our neice, Rachel.

Gorgeous bride, eh?!!

We came home that night, reshuffled and repacked

and headed to Spanish Fork to our neice Hailey's baptism.

We had so much fun that we stayed and did fireworks

with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa and

went to the parade in Provo.

Not ready for the party to end, we were given a chance to tandum ride with my parents home to

Moses Lake. We ran back home to Logan, unpacked, did laundry, repacked, picked peas and put up peas and left for Grandma and Grandpa's.

Ever since Nauvoo, we have been on a family history kick. As we were driving through Idaho, we took a two hour detour to Albion to find the grave of my great-great grandfather, Joseph Freeman Phippen who came across the plains with his family. That was AWESOME!! We did a little family history tour of homes built by great-grandparents, then continued on.

While at Gma and Gpa's we,

helped get ready for a wedding reception to be

held in my parents backyard,



had a reception in the yard,

played at a park,

(thanks, Dad, for taking one for the team and

cleaning the slide with your bum)

acted like kids again,

played with Uncle Clark

went miniature golfing,

adored Baylee (who wouldn't!),

played with two of my cousins that

I haven't seen for a while,

(all Chase was thinking was...KIDS!!)

(me, my cousin Sarah from Az & my sis Kimberly)

swam, swam, swam, swam, swam, swam,

(I am not sure what cracks me up about this picture

the most; my mom's expression, Chase's lack of, or the

tackily-falling-off decorations from the wedding that

we couldn't seem to get around taking down!)

helped Grandma search for quarters in the

washing machine,

had pajama days, ate on the deck, threw schedules

out the window, had a hotdog and s'more roast in

the back yard, taught Baylee how to say "Chase" ,

hauled Baylee around like a football, went shopping,

played with aunt Kim everyday and had an overall

GREAT time!!

Sadly, our two weeks there ended way too fast. We packed up and headed out on Saturday, taking Grandma with us. We dropped her off in Arco, to help take care of her mom. Great-Grandma wasn't doing too well, so we have no pictures of her.

We spent the night with aunt Cynthia and got up to head home the next morning. Grandma had pointed out the three volcanos there on our way and got Chase all riled up. Chase LOVES

volcanos. We had a forty minute, non-stop talk about them in the car .We had to stop and take a picture.

Chase, with the Big Butte volcano in the background

(By the way, if you don't think brainwashing really

works, look closely at Chase's hat and shirt.)

And finally, home. Jeff had a suprise waiting for Chase. He started building a fort for Chase. Chase was sooooooo excited. I have a video of that for another day, after you forgive me for this long post and decide you can handle reading my blog again.

Look at that handsome man by the fort! Whoot whoo!

So, there you have it. Our month in a nutshell! We are glad to be home and excited to catch up on all of the things we have missed. Thanks to all who helped us have four weeks of FUN!!

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa and Clark. You are great hosts!