Ward Camp out

End of June brought our ward campout.
Emma had a great time!

She saw her first snake

AND TOUCHED IT!!!!

She threw lots of rocks into the water.

She sang songs with Ben Joe around the campfire

And she slept pretty good in with Mom and Dad in their sleeping bag, not hers.
Mom and Dad slept....well....you can imagine. :)

Where to start? How about at the very begining...

June -JULY 2008 will live in Groves' family history as the busiest month ever!
Here is what we did:
South Ogden Days
Ward Camp Out
Young Family Reunion
Stake Youth Pioneer Trek
Groves Family Campout
I have so many pictures I want to post and share with you. I hope you will be patient though them all and know that this isn't even all of them, so be grateful. :)

The Parade

We also attended the city parade this week, and even better, Tyler got to participate. He drove a sweet truck (I told him to not get too comfortable) for a friend of ours who was in the parade. Here's Emma and me waiting for the parade to start.

Here's Tyler in his sweet truck...



Emma loved the parade, she got a little scared at the loud firetrucks, and then this Troll. I can't really blame her, he looks weird too.


But she got lots of candy and even a roll of Toilet Paper from Costco that as soon as we got home she threw our good, soft, plush, Charmin in the toilet and put "her" Costco thin as paper T.P. on the handle! :) She was proud!


We went to the park after the parade and got dinner. So nice not to have to cook! And then let Emma ride the train. She has been in love with Trains since the zoo. So we spoiled her and let her have a ride. She loved it! And of course wanted to go on it again. Daddy bought her a little train whistle instead and we went home. What a fun evening together!

The Annual 5K!

So the City Days 5K was last week. I really tried to be ready for it and did great for a couple of weeks, then didn't do so good. Tyler who is now exercising almost every day at work did fantastic! (Did I tell you they pay Tyler to exercise? How great is that?!)
Tyler and I kept up together most of the race, but then I let him go, he had more energy than I did.
Tyler did it in 42.36 and I did it in 46.21. We both beat our times from last year (49.02) and that is pretty fantastic, but I wonder if my time is better because this year I wasn't pushing Emma in the stroller...hum. My great neighbor and friend Janna offered to watch Emma while we did the race and that was sooo nice.
There were A LOT more people who participated in the race this year and for the first time I can remember I felt a little bit of an anxiety attack as we were waiting for the race to start. Maybe it was nerves, I dunno. But it was crazy. I am pretty sure I just felt so intimated by all the "pros" that were there.
But the highlight of the whole experience was when I was coming to the finish line Emma came running toward me. So cute. I carried her down the stretch and she just waved at everyone who was clapping and cheering. She was so sweet I couldn't believe it. She would even change hands and wave with the other one. Who taught her to wave like a beauty queen? I have no idea. So fun though. I love that little one of mine. Here are some pictures a friend took of us. You can see Emma waving barely in my arms. :)

Bonnets, Bonnets and more Bonnets!

Our Stake this year for Youth Conference is going on a Pioneer Trek.
I am in the Stake Young Women's Presidency and got the "opportunity" to be over the clothing committee. We decided since the girls are making their skirts for trek and have to take care of everything else, we would make their bonnets. We got the Relief Society involved and they donated the material and helped us make them. But that also meant that I had to pull out my rusty sewing skills and make some too. After it was all done we made 76 bonnets! Emma loved to help me (she would lift the presser foot up and down for me) and try them on, well, only the first couple of times then she didn't want to have anything to do with it and wanted me to wear them and to take my picture. She loves to use the digital camera now. Here's how it all turned out.
I am so glad it is over and they are all made and almost all handed out to the women of Trek 2008. Trek is in 2 weeks. And Tyler and I are going as a Ma and Pa. AHHH!! 20 miles on the Wyoming Plains in July...we'll have stories! Stay tunned!

June Update!

Holy smokes, I almost made it one whole month with not one post. I've been lazy, but not really we have done lots this month. Here are some of our comings and goings...

Our Anniversary Weekend

Tyler and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this weekend. May 29, 2004. It is has been 4 years! Here we are on that day. Doesn't Tyler look so young and me so skinny!? :) And look at all of Tyler's hair! :)

I love this shot because you can see how much I love him. I am so lucky and blessed!

For our anniversary we splurged and spent Wednesday night at the Alaskan Inn Bed and Breakfast up Ogden Canyon and watched movies all night. We watched 27 Dresses it was good, but then we watched Dan in Real Life -soooo good! I loved it! It was so much fun. Alissa came up to the house and watched Emma for us that night. Tyler's parents took Emma for us on Thursday and we just stayed at home and watched another movie - August Rush - SOOO GOOD! and the LOST season finale! Holy Cow, that was intense!
It was weird being without Emma for so long, but much needed. We got pedicures (our tradition, yes Tyler too, he says "don't mock it till you've tried it! It's the bomb jiggity!") and ate dinner at the Timbermine Thursday night - a first for us. It was so yummy. We got the deep fried mushrooms that we have heard are to die for, and they were pretty darn yummy. It was a nice couple of days.
I love my sweetie. He is so patient and good to me. We did a lot of talking about the future and how things have changed from 4 years ago. It is amazing to look back and see where we have come. The next 4 years will be even more life changing I am sure...

Tyler's Day off

Tyler took Friday off of work, and despite the rain, he pulled down our awning bit by bit all by himself! It took about 5 hours and 2 trips to the dump. He is a MONSTER! He started with the Roof, then the slats on the roof, then the "supporting beams". They weren't very supportive...
The awning was in pretty bad shape but we didn't realize how bad of shape until we pulled it down. We can't believe it has kept standing all this time. Tyler found a dandelion picker and a nozzle for the hose in the awning. I told him to find a wad of $100's but he couldn't find any. :) We only had one injury to our favorite rake. When Tyler took off the roof there wasn't much holding the beams to the cement, in fact one side of the awning just fell over and landed on our rake and broke it. :) It was a crazy experience! It has opened up are backyard tons! I have sunlight coming through my kitchen windows I didn't have before! It's amazing.
Tyler got some metal awning for free that we are going to put up in it's place. This is our summer home improvement project. I will keep you posted on how it all turns out. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to replace the siding.
Before...our sad dead awning...
The roof is off, as are the wood slats....
Now all that is left are those "supporting beams". ..
Do you think there could be ANY more nails in this beam? You're right, maybe a few...
It's gone!
Relaxing and looking at his handy work. I love this guy! He amazes me! He is also very tired and sore! :)
Look at all that SUNSHINE!! Also notice my decorated kitchen, I have been meaning to post it. I finished it in September and have been meaning to show you the stripe and shelf and other decor..

Barbie Jeep Fun!

One of Emma's little favorite friends is Natalie. She loves Natalie. We can't walk by her house without Emma telling me that this is Natalie's house and she wants to play with her. We think Natalie's parents are pretty great too. They are moving to Maryland this weekend and we are so sad. I don't know how to explain to Emma that Natalie doesn't live there anymore. We got together this week for some icecream and let the girls play. Natalie has this cool Barbie Jeep and they rode around in it till it got dark. They loved it. Aren't they so cute!?

Playing in the Pool with Rulon

Rulon (Emma's cousin) came over on Tuesday to enjoy the warm weather and to go swimming. Emma loves the water and I have been looking forward to doing this all year. It was suppose to be 94 degrees on Tuesday so we pulled out the pool. It was a little cooler than that, but Emma didn't mind one bit.
I left the pool up, which was a mistake because as soon as we go outside she wants to get in it. But the rest of the week has been very cool. Maybe in the 60's and raining. We are ready for summer!