Girls Weekend in Vegas

Sweet Dynelle and her awesome husband opened up their house to the women in the family in May so that we could all get together and have the time of our lives with no thought of anyone but ourselves. The goal was to relax, pamper, spoil, and get closer. Goal accomplished! We headed out from Camille's house all packed in Sherrie's van and had such a good time that we almost didn't want to come home! Dynelle has some awesome connections and was able to get her friend to come over and give us each a massage. Holy cow, that was awesome! We did facials, fingernails, ate delicious food, played games, and watched chick movies. We also went out and got professional pedicures. Pretty cool. The highlight of the trip was that Dynelle helped us get discounted tickets to The Phantom of the Opera in the Venetian. I had chills through most of the show and was just in awe of how well they did at putting so much into every single scene. I had never been to a professional live show before and I was not let down.

I only have three pictures of the weekend, but I promise, it was probably the best weekend of my year so far. My sweet husband took care of my baby for 4 days, as did all the other husbands, and we were able to get some much needed R&R and bonding time.

Our stash of stuff after a long day of shopping.
This does not include the large lamp that Camille bought. :)

Our pretty toes after our fancy pedicures.

May 2012

In May we celebrated Riley's, Brett's, and Jess's graduations. It was a great time and we loved seeing so much of family.

For Memorial Day we went to Vernal. As we were packing, Bekah discovered that pajama's are about as cuddly as blankets.

And Garrett helped Bekah discover the monkey suit. She wasn't too sure she liked it, but she didn't cry.

Bekah slept most of the way to Vernal and was ready to discover the car and pretty boa at Grandma Brinkerhoff's. When she wears something she thinks is pretty she strokes it and says "Ooooh!" Anyone around her is then expected to echo her "ooooh" and tell her how pretty it looks.

In the morning, Garrett, Camille, and Sherrie got up early to go explore the dinosaur tracks at Red Fleet.

Sunday we decorated the graves in Tridell with the McKees and went to a delicious dinner with them where Rebekah showed off her then new skill of walking.

Monday we went for a small hike to the Sinks and then Sherrie, Lon, Camille, her kids, and my family headed up to White Rocks to cook hobo dinners and enjoy the day on a mountain. Garrett, Bekah, and I stayed the night. It was our first camping trip of the year!

Allie with my family. Bekah felt like such a big girl on her stump

Rebekah June at 13 months 

Brinkerhoff Reunion

On Tuesday night Garrett got off work early so we could head out to Vernal for almost a week! What fun! We got to Sherrie's house after everyone was in bed and when Dynelle woke up (on her birthday!) we were in the living room to be the first to sing "Happy Birthday". Yeah, we are the best! We had a great day partying it up Brinkerhoff style: lots of good food, lots of laughs, giving Dynelle all the love she deserves, and letting the kids play in the sun with the kiddie pool and the dog (but the dog was not in the pool, that would be gross). That evening we dropped Bekah off at my parents house and went to the temple with Kirk, Dynelle, and Camille. Sherrie is working at the temple now and has been learning to do inititory and it was so amazing to feel the spirit there in the temple and to have my sweet mother-in-law reminding me of all the blessings promised there. It was just what I needed! Afterward, we went to Wingers and poor Dynelle got embarrassed when the waitresses came to sing to her but I stopped feeling bad for her when they handed her a plate of delicious ice-cream.

Thursday we all woke up and cake and ice-cream for breakfast (awesome!) and then we all packed up our cars and headed for the mountains! The kids loved playing with the pine-cones, sticks, and dirt and at the end of the night we all had to use at least 4 wet-wipes to clean each kid up for bed.

Friday we headed to Flaming Gorge and spent the day relaxing on our pontoons. Seriously, super fun. Garrett brought a stereo and we listened to the Pontoon song about fifty times. Bekah acted sleepy all day so I just sat in the shade cuddling her, unfortunately it was because she was the first of many to become sick. We thought she was just sea-sick till poor Camille was up all night with two of her girls being sick on Saturday night. Sunday I wasn't feeling too great and Camille's other girl came down with it. That was not the highlight of the trip. But swimming and exploring in the pontoons was amazing.

Saturday we spent some time relaxing and then Garrett, Cody, Kirk and Brett got supplies from Sherrie (that she worked very hard on) and came up with a way for the grandkids to become pirates. They yelled at the kids, made them do push-ups whenever they felt the kids deserved to, hid pirate treasure and led the kids on an adventure that kept everyone entertained for at least an hour. What good uncles they have! Crystal's two-year-old even got down to attempt a push-up after seeing so many of her brothers and cousins doing them!! That night we had a special not-so-surprising birthday party for Lon's 60th birthday this year. His sister and her daughter came with her family and we played games and told Lon how much we all love him.

Sunday we cleaned up and went back to Sherrie's house. I stayed in bed for the next 6 hours but felt better after that and we stayed up late playing game and talking.

Monday we ate a delicious breakfast and headed back to Logan where we immediately set up the kiddie pool that Dynelle lent to us. It is pretty nice. All 3 of us can fit in it comfortably and Bekah loves playing in the "watee".

Overall, we had a wonderful week with the Brinkerhoffs. It was so good to see everyone and I'm already excited to get everyone together again next year!