Rick's Competition

The next stop in August was Boise, ID. Rick, my brother-in-law, was in a body building competition on August 22nd. We all (Mom, Dad, Chad, Kristen, Gracie, and I) went up to support him. He ended up winning 1st place...CONGRATS RICK!

The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was in the parking lot of the hotel we stayed at. We had to take a picture of Gracie in front of it!

Lauri's Birthday

The next celebration in August was Lauri's birthday. Larui is a friend who works at my school. Her birthday is August 16th. Lauri informed me that she had only had one birthday party in her whole life. I decided that was not okay and to throw her another birthday party. Tina (another friend) hosted it in her beautiful home on August 14th. We celebrated with Lauri's favorites. We had chicken strips and fries, chips and salsa, pickle/ham rollups, tortilla/salsa rollups, Butterfingers, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, and an ice cream cake. We also did karaoke when she finished opening presents. I also made a banner using her favorite colors: green and black. Here are some pictures from her fun and exciting night.

Chad's Birthday

August was a busy month this year. It started out in Las Vegas. My brother turned 30 on August 1st. He loves Las Vegas and my cousin had just moved there, so that is where my whole family (including my dad's brother's family and my grandparents on my mom's side) met up. We had a wonderful time! It was very HOT, but we managed to get through it. We went down to the strip the first night I was there. My sister, her husband, my brother, my cousin, and I rode the roller coaster at the New York-New York hotel.

This wasn't a picture that I took...I found it on the internet(http://www.flickr.com/photos/baker_nurse/3621771507/)

I love roller coasters, but this one was a little too much. Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed it, but I don't know if it would be worth the $14 to go on it again. We also went to In-N-Out and did a lot of shopping. We also had a BBQ for Chad's birthday celebration. The house we rented had some fun dress up clothes that my cousin's kids found. Their Uncle Blake was totally embarrassed that Carter was dressing up in a dress, but they had fun. They also got Grandma Wendy in on the fun!

Gracie enjoyed Chad's birthday cake!

Mariners Game

My friend Sara invited me to a Mariners/Rangers game on Saturday. I was so excited because I didn't think I was going to be able to make it to a Mariners game this summer and I was pretty upset about that. I was also excited that I would get to spend some time with Sara. Well, we headed down to Seattle with plenty of time to park, get into the stadium, and get settled before the first pitch. It didn't really work out as planned though. Traffic wasn't too bad but the parking was terrible. We finally found a spot and headed off to Safeco field. We got there right as they were starting the game...phew! It started out with the Mariners behind and then tied, but they were able to pull it up in the 7th inning...YEAH MARINERS! The final score was 1 Rangers, 4 Mariners! Thanks, Sara, for inviting me to the game!

The guy pictured below was at the game too...we thought he was kind of funny...he was wearing a dress and a pink feather boa...I guess whatever floats his boat!

Inflatable Slides Are The Best!

Can I say that inflatable slides are the absolute best slides ever? They really are! I went on my first one on June 12th at our school carnival...teachers got to go free! I wasn't going to go on it but a couple of our lovely PTA moms talked some others and me into it. We went down a couple times right before they took them down. I had so much fun that I went back to school last Thursday for Field Day and went down the one there. It wasn't quite as much fun but still worth it. I didn't get a picture of the one at the carnival but here is the one they brought to Field Day. Don't ever pass up a chance to try one of these slides...you WILL regret it!

Gracie Lou's 1!

Gracie turned 1 on April 17th! I can't believe that it has already been a whole year since she was born...time flies! My parents flew in on Thursday and my brother drove here on Friday. I was already here because I have been off-track and was able to spend the last week here in Vernal to help Kristen paint her living room and kitchen. We had a big party at a local park on Saturday. We had a good time visiting with Rick's family and Rick and Kristen's friends. Gracie, on the other hand, didn't have such a good time. She has had constipation problems since she was just a few months old. Unfortunately, she got really constipated the day of her party. She was able to "go" about halfway through her party and then slept the other half...she was EXAUSTED! She was able to eat her cake and open her presents later that night. Here are a few pictures of all the festivities:

The birthday girl!

Sleeping on Grandma Dawna at the party

Eating her birthday cake

Riding the car she got from the Kwocks

Riding the car she got from Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Phil

Maria's Birthday Cake

There is an older single lady in our ward that lives near us and comes to some of our family dinners. It was her birthday in March, so we are having a birthday dinner for her tonight. (A little background...Maria likes to talk politics and is a pretty strong Republican.) The other night my mom and I were trying to think of a cake to make for her. My mom thought we should make a Republican elephant. I spent yesterday doing most of the cake and finished it today. It turned out okay.

We added "Romney 2012" as a joke for her...I'm sure she will get a kick out of it!