Psycho Manor with Carli & Chuck

We went down to Provo and had some good all-you-can-eat sushi...as Max would say, 'delicious!!'

Chuck's mom Sandra was so nice to watch Max for us while we headed off the a haunted house...Max often can be heard inquiring about, 'Sandra...Elise?!?!'

You can see the excitement in our eyes!!
Whatever was in that foil really did sort of make me want to gag...
How come Carli looks cute-scary and I look ugly-scary?!?!?
I love this picture of Eric...this girl was trying so hard to stay in character...all the while, Eric is mocking her with his disbelief!
We got glow bracelets...who doesn't love these?!?!
You gotta love the split screen! I think I might love Halloween even more than Christmas...I know...blasphemous!!!!

The Uintas

Who doesn't love fall?! Eric wanted to go to the Uintas before the winter set in...
Julie in a frame worthy shot.
Eric and Jim fishing. When I was flipping through these pictures, I kept thinking, why is Eric doing the Judd Nelson Breakfast Club fist raised in the air in defiance in every picture?!?! Then, I took more than a cursory look and realized that he's showing his catch...my bad!
Julie took these beautiful pictures...I was just lucky to get to use them!

George & Joan

This post is long over due...George and Joan came for their annual Wyoming visit....we were sad to hear that the Blind Dog was no longer running...so, this year we tried the Grub Steak Restaurant.
Picture of all who could make it...
Max eating some of my Kobe steak...he thought it was o.k....but I think Joan L-O-V-E-D it!!!
Joan & Max. It was great spending time with George & Joan. We're sad that this last trip to California we were not able to meet up with them...hopefully next time!!!!

Dragon Boat races and the City

We decided to go to San Francisco to see the Dragon boat races...here is Max showing his bravery...see how even the dragons feel embarrassed for us?!?!
Max eating his B-B-Q corn...best corn E-V-E-R!!!!!
The exciting dragon boat races...I thought it was particularly interesting since my brother and I were both on Crew in college...Peter, actually rowed and I was the coxswain...see the yeller person all of the rowers are facing with looks of disdain and resentment...yea...but I loved it!!!
There was great entertainment...this is the current world yo-yo champion showing off his skills on the old Chinese yo-yo...this always reminds me of Chinese School growing up...we had an hour of either ribbon dancing, Kung-Fu, Yo-Yo, Chinese poetry or brush painting as our electives.
This is Peter on stage...JUST KIDDING!!! This guy was WAY into it!
Kristina, Max and I having a blast on the BART on our way to Chinatown!!!!
Collage-o-Chinatown....
as we were walking down the street we passed where Eric and I as well as Peter & Kristina had got our invitations and thank you cards...and on display were Peter & Kristina's Thank you card and on the very bottom shelf was our wedding program...it's like we're famous!!!!
Split screen on Max from a year ago and last week!

Utah State Fair

I've written it before...and I think this just reiterates how this is the summer of fairs. We decided to make the trek over to the Utah State Fair.
We met up with Carli and Chuck & family (they had sheep entered in the fair) and Jim & Julie (Happy Anniversary!!!!!!)
If you know me and Eric...you know that we L-O-V-E Halloween!!! So, we were ecstatic to see them advertising discounts for Frightmares!!!
That's the look I would have in the face of a homicidal maniac...really!
We got to watch see the Jarvis Sheep company entered into the fair....here are what Eric refers to as the 'Ninja Sheep.'
You can see Matt & Chuck with their sheep and Julie, Carli, Max and Eric on the top bleacher. We loved spending time with Sandra, Elise, Matt & Pinky!!!
Cheese...I know...but you've just got to embrace it!
Carli insisted that we go see the butter cows...and it was well worth it!!! Take a look at Jim's face.
I'm just throwing in a couple of pictures from the Mountain Man Rendezvous that we to after Meeks. Here's my little Mountain Man Max!!

Meeks...Twenty Years!!!

This marked 20 years that Eric's family has been going to Meeks cabin for Labor Day weekend!

The fishing was great...it was wonderful seeing Max interact more with all of the other kids this year!
Max with his walking stick...he just loved Meeks...every morning he would wake up (after only a few hours of sleep) and say, 'outside...play?!'

There was lots of relaxation time spent in the cabin...playing, watching T.V., crafts and of course eating!!! Carrie brought her yummy, chewy Chex mix, Camille brought her savory, ranch Bugle mix, Jody's s'mores were amazing, I brought honey Teriyaki chicken wings and if you were still hankering for some more sweets, there was always the 'Sue Loves you the most' cake that Jennifer brought!

My first Meeks, four years ago, Cooper was just a little guy, it was great but also a little sad to see how mature Cooper was and attentive at taking care of and entertaining Max!

Here are Max and Grady in their matching outfits, chillin' in the main cabin. How cute are they?!?!
We roasted S'mores...I found this bag of GIGANTIC marshmallows...if you look closely you'll see that my GIANT strawberry marshmallow is about six times the size of Conner's regular sized chocolate marshmallow. Conner ate his happily and I felt sick the rest of the night! It was a clear lesson of less is often times more!
Max just loved Clayton. These two were so adorable together. I love this picture because Max had just wiggled his way into Clayton's chair and started touching his face to show him he wanted to be friends, to which Clayton replied (with a surprising amount of clarity and logic for such a young one), "You can sit here next to me, but you don't have to touch me!" Max seemed to understand and their friendship went on quite well after that!

On Sunday, after a great lesson from Jim, we had THE FEAST. I look forward to this meal every year...this year they had baby potatoes (some blue, Yukon and red), crab legs, garlic, shrimp, sausage, corn, garlic, and carrots. It was heavy on the garlic, but even heavier on the delicious!!! Julie and Adam really did an amazing job!!!

Max got his own mini feast! You may have noticed the gargantuan band aid on Max's forehead...the week prior to Meeks, he hit his head on the dresser at the foot of our bead and had to get two dissolving interior stitches...the scab had already fallen off by Meeks, but we put in the band aid so as to appease my over protective conscience!

Giving the sausage thumbs up!Chris, Chris, Chris!Here is a picture of all of the shrimp Eric ate...he and Chuck were competing to see who could eat the most...while Eric beat Chuck, Kale beat all of them without even being in the competition!
I liked this picture as evidence of my husband's contribution in cleaning!!

Family shot after cleaning and right before we left another great Meeks Labor Day weekend! Thank you to all that help make this weekend happen every year!

Green River Fest

This summer has been the summer of 'fests.' We seem to find one every weekend to attend! We had such a great time running through the water park, hoola-hooping, crafts and then eating all-you-can-eat...randomly, after we ate, we stopped by the mall in town and ran into pretty much every single person in Eric's family and all of Kemmerer! I literally complained that morning that I had nothing to wear (because all of our clothes are packed in boxes) to which Eric replied, I promise you we won't see a single person you know...famous last words!!!