Morenci Mine

There is a mine about an hour away from us and Grandma and Grandpa took us for a drive today to go check it out.  I had been there before but it was a long time ago so it was neat to see it again.  It is huge!  I definitely didn't remember it being so big.  It is an open pit copper mine and we watched the big dump trucks travel from one spot to another dumping all the wasted sand and rock.  I love exploring the land and nature around us and it is even better when we have a personal show-fer to tell us all the stories about it (Grandpa).  We were keeping our eyes out on the way home because Grandpa and Grandma were telling us there is usually big horn sheep in the hills.  We were just about back in town and Colton spotted one up on the hill.  We pulled over and as we were watching him, the sheep jumped up on a rock and was just standing there as if he knew we were staring at him!  It was cool and kind of funny.  I wish I got a better picture but this one will have to do.   

Oh kitty

Grandma and Grandpa have a cat at their house and this is where I found him today. I just thought it was cute and kind of funny so I just had to share!

Labor Day

I am so glad after two in a half years of being married I was finally able to bring Colton to Mt. Graham for Labor Day!  This is a family tradition that has been going on for years and years!  This is a very special place and as Grandpa says, "a piece of heaven."  There are so many friends and family members that celebrate Labor Day here at Columbine and I couldn't think of a better place to be!  Thank you Clint and Rachel for bringing your Ranger and taking us for rides.  We had so much fun!  It is so fun to go hiking, play games, sit by the camp fire, and make biscuits and homemade ice cream.  So yummy!! 

Little get away

My Grandparents have a cabin on Mt. Graham and they were so nice to take us this weekend with them.  We got things ready for the big annual Labor Day celebration next week where hundreds of friends and family will be there. So, I figured I better take Colton before all the craziness since he had never been before.  He loved it because 1. he loves to be in the mountains and 2. it was a lot cooler! It's always a tradition to pick raspberries and I'm glad they are in season now so we could go! Colton had never done this before and I think he really enjoyed it.  He sure did pick a lot more than me!  I just kept eating mine as I was picking so I didn't end up with very much.  Darryl was up there too and he came to visit the one day and started talking to Colton a little bit and they soon found out that they both served in Chili.  So of course they talked about all the places there and where they went for about half an hour!  But I'm glad they found something in common, I will always remember that Darryl went to Chili on his mission.

Picking raspberries for the 1st time!

Grandma and Grandpa have this little friend right outside the cabin that loves to come and visit!

hot hot HOT

We have only been here for 2 days and we are both dying of heat!  Yes, I love the heat but when it is 95 degrees in our apartment I'm not so happy!  I wanted to unpack everything and get things organized but it was just too hot.  We slept in the front room on our blow up mattress because it was a little cooler there than in the bedroom.  We had three fans on us and the little window ac unit.  Well we were so miserable we would just stay at Grandma and Grandpa's all day.  We finally called our landlord and told her about our ac not working and she said we could buy a new one at Home Depot.  So we go to Home Depot and pick one that would fit and come back home to take the old one out. Little did we know that this was going to be a bigger process than we thought.  Thankfully the neighbors were home so they helped us.  I only stayed for a little while and then I went to Grandma's where it was a little cooler.  It took Colton all afternoon to get the ac unit in but now we have cool air so we are much happier!  Lets hope this ac unit doesn't break on us anytime soon.

Move to Arizona

Colton and I will be in Arizona for two years going to the Nursing program at Eastern Arizona College.  We both got accepted earlier this summer and were debating whether or not we should go but it seemed like one day we just packed everything up and we were gone!  I had to retake the nursing entrance exam so that really determined if we were going to be moving or not.  I finally passed, after the third time, so we decided Nursing is what we wanted to do.  The move here was so long.  It took us about 15 hours to get here but I'm glad we are finally here!  Our apartment is small and we have a lot of stuff but good thing we have a little storage shed that we can keep a lot of our boxes.  Unpacking everything is going to take awhile but it will get done.  I'm excited to have my own little place to call my own and to decorate.  This is going to be a fun little phase of our life.

This is only a small fraction of all our stuff.  We are going to have a lot to do!

Bowling

I went bowling with Kali and the boys and they were so fun to watch! The boys would get so excited for their turn and they always had to be right there by each other.  Boston was always up with Jaxton when he was bowling and same with Jaxton when it was Boston's turn.

 

Birthday Boy

Colton's birthday is today and I just have to say I'm glad he didn't find his presents before today!  I bought them about a month ago and they were kind of big and awkwardly shaped so I didn't really have any good places for them besides the garage.  But, he didn't find them so I did well! Colton is just like any other guy when it comes to tools.  That is what he wants for every birthday and Christmas.  So that makes it easy on me but tools are expensive so it will take many many more birthday's and Christmases I'm sure before he has everything. I bought him car ramps to change the oil, a creeper to get under the car, and a jack because he insisted he NEEDED one. Happy Birthday dear!

Putting his creeper together in the garage because he was too excited to take it inside!

Jackson Hole

 We took a family trip with Colton's family to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.  We did A LOT of driving in the four days that we were gone but still had some fun!  Kristopher took us to this really fun place where we could go swimming in the river and all the little ones really enjoyed this and the big ones too!  There was a place to go cliff jumping and of course all the boys had to do it. It seemed like they all had a really fun time and we were looking all weekend for a bear but didn't see one, just a lot of buffalo! The one day all the boys and Taylor went white water rafting and had a blast!  They went when it was cold and rainy but they still had a blast, they all wanted to go again!

Colton's little buddy.

Too much shopping for the boys!

The boys just HAD to have these shirts.

There were two buffalo that decided they wanted to join us for lunch!

Cliff jumping!

The girls!

White Water rafting trip and of course MY husband is the one who WANTS to fall out!! What?!

 

 

Family visit!

Jake, Zach, and  my cousins came to visit for a few days and I loved it! I love spending time with my family and I'm so glad they decided to come for a few days!  We had a lot of fun! We went to Colton's softball game, watched movies, played catch, and hung out on the farm! The whole turkey thing was new for Ashlyn but I think she had fun! She got to see how things are run and even "held" a big one! Jake and I also rode up to Ogden one day for one of his best friends wedding from his mission.  We were pretty busy these past few days but we have had a blast!

 Jake and Caden checking Turkeys.

 Caden found a dead one! He was a great sport.

 If you look close notice that one is on its side. I have never seen this happen before! 

 Playing some catch.

 Me and Ash!

 Caden and Jake!

 The 5 of us. We had so much fun!

 Ashlyn attempting to hold a 45 pound turkey.

 The wedding!

Oh and it just happened that on our way to the wedding Jake and I were able to meet up with Josh and Emily! That's the first time I had seen my best friend so I thought we better take a picture! Oh I just love her to pieces and I'm so glad we were able to chat for a little bit!

My 1st Rodeo!

Colton and I went to a rodeo tonight in Nephi with his family and I had so much fun!  This was my first time going to a rodeo so I didn't really know what to expect but I really liked it.  The bull riding and barrel racing were probably my favorite part. I hated when they roped the baby cows though so I didn't watch that part. It was really good though and I had a lot of fun.  There was an one arm bandit that came out with two buffalo and had trained them to go on top of the trailer. It was fun to go and experience something new and I think I would definitely go again!

One arm bandit and the buffalo.

Colton and the boys.

4th of July

This morning Colton got up early to run the 5k in town and I am proud to say that he did a great job!  He is not a runner and he doesn't like to run either but he ran it in 22 minutes! I guess you can accomplish anything when you put your mind to it!  I love him and I am so proud of him. I just wish I had a picture of him crossing the finish line in 4th place out of 200 runners!  He took 1st in his age bracket. I always tell him he should have ran cross country in high school but I guess the other sports took priority.  After his big morning though he crashed on the couch for a little bit.