An Adventure 25 Years in the Making

 Last weekend was Cassidy's birthday, the big 25!  To celebrate we went camping in Marysvale, UT with his parents and 3 other older couples.  We were by far the youngest people there, but we had a pretty good time full of unexpected adventures.  We had two full days of four wheeling and the first day started out beautiful like this (don't pay attention to my hippie outfit sometimes in four wheeling necessity out weighs fashion).

When we stopped for lunch the sky changed to look like this and we quickly began to realize how unprepared for rain we were.  We were able to borrow a poncho from Cassidy's aunt and uncle and Cass had a make do one out of a garbage bag. 

 

Ready to ride :)  It got so cold and started to hail at one point.  The last 25 miles back to camp were definitely an adventure between the sun coming out and then more rain. 

 

Here is a view of the road after the hail storm.

These are Cassidy's parents.  Lucky ducks had a roof for when it started to rain.

 Friday was Cassidy's birthday and we started the day with presents in the trailer.  He got a new BYU shirt to wear to the game that he also got a ticket for next month.  Look at the excitement on his face :)

Cash is always nice

And from his wife a pair of strippers :)

After the crazy storm we went to the local restaurant Hoovers to get ice cream.  Instead we ended up at a table with cobbler.  We had eaten dinner there the night before and I think the waitress was pretty surprised to see us back again. 

The birthday boy with delicious cobbler and free birthday cake ice cream.

This is just a funny sign we passed on the way to the restaurant. 

 Saturday morning we headed out in search of mountain goats.  This meant we had to head to the mountains and it was another cold day.  I guess I should have expected that at 12000 feet, but is was still a surprise.  Here is a fun couple Ernie and Shirlene that we spent the weekend with.

 Although we didn't see much wildlife we did see a couple of golden eagles and a few deer along with a lot of cows and sheep.

 On the way down from the unsuccessful trip for goats we stopped at an abandoned mine town.  It was a pretty cool place to look around.

 

That night we had shared potluck dinner with everyone and Cass the spoiled boy got to celebrate his birthday for another day with Strawberry rhubarb pie.

 Just when we thought the adventure was over we got a flat tire on the trailer on the way home.  By the time we noticed it was flat this was all that was left of tire.    

Making the Most of the End of Summer

 

Since Labor Day is supposed to be the end of summer we have tried to fit in as much as possible before the holiday.  Last weekend we went to our Annual August Bees game to commemorate our first date.  We were lucky enough to have our friends Kyle and Megan come with us this year.  Unfortunately we have not been fortunate to see the Bees win yet, maybe next year.  At least there was good company and fireworks after the game :)

 Thanks Kyle for taking all of the pictures at the game.  This was my favorite self portrait.

 

This weekend we spent Saturday night with Karen and Ben at the Timpanogos Story Telling Festival.  While this sounds like a very old people thing to do it is actually a ton of fun.  There were 7 story tellers that told hilarious stories.  It is more like a comedy club than a story telling festival.  Thanks Karen and Ben for turning us on to it last year.     

 The picture above is waiting for the show to start and the one below is of the stage and to try and give some idea of how many people were there.  We showed up 40 minutes early and still had to sit at the top of the hill behind some people with chairs because the only other open grass was behind the stage.

 

And what Labor Day weekend would be complete without a little camping?  We spent this Sunday night up at Miller's Flatt with Cassidy's parents four wheeling and hanging out with his aunt and uncle.  Although it was a short trip we had a good time on the four wheeler and saw a lot of cool things.  The first night there were tons of deer out and on Labor Day we were able to get pretty close to this hawk.  We also took an early morning trip out to Cleavland Lake just to enjoy the peace and quiet of being in the outdoors.  We hope you all had a great holiday weekend as well. 

Ballet or Baseballl???

 

So we finally had our twenty week ultrasound and got to see our baby.  It was so exciting to see how much it has changed in the last twelve weeks and how amazing that it looks just like a tiny person even though it is only 6 inches long and weighing in at about 1 pound.  The baby is perfectly healthy and we got to see the heart, brain, kidneys, and bladder.  I tried not to post too many pictures because I am sure nobody cares as much as we do, but here are some shots of the little ones profile, spine, and feet.  If you are really interested in seeing more of the baby come on over we have a DVD of the whole ultrasound :) 

 And just in case you are wondering this last picture is exactly what you might be thinking his little boy part.  Thank goodness he was not shy today because I never would have made it another day to know what the gender was.  We are so excited to welcome a little boy in a few months and hope that he and Jamie's baby will be best friends!

Lets Get Married

 

In the last couple of weeks we have been to two weddings or receptions.  August was a busy month to get married.  The first wedding was in Idaho Falls for my cousin Blake and his new wife Miranda.  I love this picture because my three year old cousin took it and she is the only one who can get Cass to do this cheesy grin :)

 The second wedding was for a friend that Cassidy grew up with, Andrew and his new wife Kimmy.  Their reception was so fun because it was at the BYU Paleontology Museum.  The met on a dinosaur dig in Moab Utah so it was very appropriate.  

 The same day as Andrew and Kimmy's reception we went out on the boat with Cassidy's family. 

 This was the biggest feat of the day getting 6 year old Treygann up on the wakeboard with his dad.  They saw a picture of this on TV and wanted to try it.  After a few failed attempts and a couple of tears on Treygann's part he made it up and actually had a good time.  When I told him he learned faster than I did he replied "That's because girls aren't as good as boys."  What a character :)

Weekend Getaway

  

Last weekend we had a couple of days off work so we decided to take a trip to Las Vegas and hang out with BJ, Jamie, and Rudy.  It was a pretty busy weekend and we missed Rudy since he had to work and attend meetings for most of it.

 Saturday morning Randi and Jamie went to a baby shower for Jamie while Cassidy and BJ went to an outdoor shooting range. 

 Saturday night we took a trip downtown to the Bellagio to see the atrium an fountain show.  Her is us in front of the Liberty Bell in the atrium.

 And waiting for the fountain show.  We actually watched a couple because it took so much work to get there.  I would suggest avoiding the strip on a Saturday night :)

 Cassidy and BJ also got put to work helping the Garcias put together their new house.  One night the three boys hung a ceiling fan and the other night was spent putting in a garage door opener.  Cass has quickly become the Norton family handy man.

 Their efforts were rewarded though with swimming in the new pool.

Monday morning before we left we went hung out with BJ after Jamie and Rudy went to work.  We ended up at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.  None of us had ever been there and I think we were impressed with how big it turned out to be.  This is Cassidy and BJ in front of the exhibit for King Tut's Tomb.  We had a good time hanging out with family and can't wait for our next time back when there will be a new member of the family :)