Scattergories

Fun Game that fellow bloggers are doing...So why not join in the fun?
SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Erase my answers, enter yours, and post it. *Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...*They have to be real places, names,things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. Have fun!

• WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Tina


• 4 LETTER WORD: Time


• VEHICLE: Testarossa (Ferrari, baby!!)


• CITY: Tishomingo (it's in Oklahoma...you can even google it if you want!!)


• BOY Name: Teague (back up name for another boy~oh my...)


• GIRL NAME: Tessa Adeline (in case of a miracle)


• OCCUPATION: Teacher


• SOMETHING YOU WEAR: T-Shirt


• FOOD: Tacos


• SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Toothbrush


• REASON FOR BEING LATE: Traffic


• SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Tanner, Ty, Treyson, and Tate!!!!

One Day More

We finished out our summer visit to Utah with a trip to St. George for the Newton Family Reunion. After the reunion we went to get a bite to eat for dinner and then I sent my kids to the pool with my dad while mom, aunt Charlyce, Bevan, Donna, and I headed out to the Tuacahn Amphitheater in Ivins, Utah. It was amazing! The theater sits right against the red rock that provides the most beautiful backdrop! We saw Les Miserables, which happens to be one of my very favorite Broadway plays of all time. I was lucky enough to see it in New York City in July of '91, and have to say that the production at Tuacahn was nearly as good. The only thing it lacked was the rotating stage. It was excellent and provided many "goose bump moments" for me. If you have the chance to see a play here I highly recommend it! Just remember to take along plenty of water and a small mister fan...we were boiling!!

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and got on the road to go home to Arizona. I was so sad that our vacation was over, but happy to be going home. It was a fun filled 3 weeks!! Thanks mom and dad, Bonnie and Vaughn, and everyone else who entertained and humored us while we were there! We're so lucky to have such an incredible family!!

Say Cheese!

My whole family rarely gets together, mostly because of the massive distance (and I'm talking physical miles here...not emotional, or otherwise) between us. Trish and Jake live in Massachusetts, and with me in Arizona it makes it a challenge to try to find a time when we can all be in the same place at the same time.

With that said, it never fails that mom wants a family picture when we're all together. I don't blame her. I would too. Well, that is until I hear, (and I quote) "oh, we'll just have Tina take it".

Great.

First, I'm not a photographer. I repeat...I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER.

I'm lucky if I can get all of my own kids in a picture without cutting off their heads, or cutting one of them out of the picture entirely.

Second, there's like 11 (ELEVEN) grandchildren. I can't even get my 4 in a picture. What makes her think I can get ELEVEN in???

And third...isn't that what Kiddie Kandids is for...and they're professionals (or so they say...that's another discussion all together--let's just save that one for another day).

Well, my begging and pleading fell on deaf ears, because I was her chosen guinea pig, um, I mean photographer, and she wasn't backing down.

So, after a lot of yelling, some crying, some pleading, and a little sweat (man, it can get humid in Utah!!!) we got some pictures. Heaven help us all!! Thankfully they will only be shown here (and this is only to drive home the fact that I am not, and will never be, a photographer) and somewhere in mom's house, hopefully not blown up to anything larger than a 5 x 7!!!

Old Friends

While I was in Utah I was able to take a day to visit two of my most favorite people: Amy and Stephanie. Amy and I have been friends for what seems like forever, and I met Steph when Kevin and I built our first home in Lindon, Utah ('97-'00). I started out the morning at Amy's in Payson, then ended the afternoon with a visit at Stephanie's in Lindon. It was so much fun to just be able to sit around and chat, and catch up on what's happening in their busy lives. Thank you, Amy and Steph, for letting me and the boys invade your homes, and thank you, thank you, thank you for being the beautiful, amazing women you are. I love and miss you both and think about you often!!

Amy and Family

Stephanie and Family

Wild Animals

It makes me sad to think of the day when my kids aren't going to want to go to the zoo anymore. It's something I love, and so far, something my kids have enjoyed as well. We especially love Utah's Hogle Zoo because it's relatively small and requires less walking than say, the Phoenix Zoo--which is HUGE in comparison. Here are some pictures from our day:

Our Own Little Scout Camp

My dad probably cringes every time we come to visit and I pull out the cub scout/scout books...

But, he's the "pro" scouter, so what does he expect???

He spent a whole day working on scouting requirements with Tanner and Ty, and they were able to sign off a whole bunch of stuff! Thanks, Dad, for all of your help!!! You're the best!!

Here's Ty working on one of his requirements. He had to bake cookies...thank goodness Grandma was there to help!!

Slide Rock

Every summer my kids look forward to their annual trek to Slide Rock in Alpine, Utah. It was one of my favorite "ditching" spots in high school, and an excellent place to cool off in the heat of summer. When I was young (oops, what I meant to say was younger, because let's face it...I'm still young...right??) we could drive right up to the slide, but the road has since been closed and you have to hike about a mile to get to it. No worries, though...this doesn't deter my kids--or their Uncle Bevan--at all!! They went up with Bevan and Donna, and my brother, Bryan, and his kiddos- Mckenzy, Bryson, Peyton, and Lexis. They had a blast, even though they claim that the water was "freezing". Thanks, Bevan and Donna, for making this a fun tradition for my boys!!

Bevan and LexiTanner
Treyson

Party, Party, Party!!!

We spent our first week in Utah playing and catching up with the Lewis side of our family. We started the week off with our trip to Lagoon, followed by the 4th of July celebration-which included Corban's birthday--and then Bonnie's birthday on the 6th. It was so fun to see Chris and Trina, whom we hadn't seen in 18 months, and to introduce Corban to the "Arizona Cousins". We also went as a family to do a session at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, and were able to do proxy work for members of Trina's family. It was a great evening! After the temple session we headed over to Olive Garden in Orem for a yummy dinner.

Here's the family celebrating Corban's 2nd birthday. He's such a cutie!! Chris made him a cake with tractors and farm animals on it. It turned out really good! We missed having Rob, Becca, Bailee, Olivia, Ryker, and Slater there, but they were partying it up with Miley Cyrus at the Stadium of Fire in Provo. My boys were soooooo jealous!!!

Happy Birthday Corban!!

After the birthday party we headed over to Pleasant Grove to watch the fireworks. We actually sat at the PG cemetery, right across the street from the Jr. High where the fireworks were going off. Tanner couldn't shake Brylee...she was following him saying, "Tanna, Tanna". It was so cute!! He was so embarrassed that she was so taken with him! ;)

For Bonnie's birthday on July 6th she wanted to have Sushi for lunch, so we headed over to the Happy Sumo in Provo. It was good, but I still think Sushi Eye In Motion in Chandler, AZ, or Oh Sushi (formerly Go Sushi) in SLC is better. After lunch, Bonnie, Katherine, Michelle, and I went over to the University Mall to do a little shopping.

After shopping we headed over to Becca and Rob's for a dutch oven dinner, complete with cobbler and ice cream. I could have just eaten the cobbler and forgotten the rest!!! (What else is new???) Then we lit some fireworks and let the kids do some poppers. Here's a picture of Todd and Rob being seriously un-safe. They were lighting flowers on this board and then tossing them up in the air, and then catching them again...CRAZY...but fun!!!Bonnie and Treyson hanging out on the lawn...watching the show being put on by Rob and Todd!!Treyson and Olivia sharing a chair. So cute!!Grandma and Grandpa Young (and Fifi) enjoying a yummy dinner and firework show.

**Here's a great big "THANK YOU" to Katherine for taking these pictures...I didn't have any so I borrowed these from her blog**

A Day At The "Y"

After spending a fun packed week with the Lewis family it was the Hawkins family's turn. Mom and I always have to make a list of what we're going to do while I'm there so that we can get the most out of my visit. And let me tell you...we almost had every minute accounted for!!! ;) Whew!!

The first thing we did was spend a day on the Brigham Young University campus. My dad has worked for BYU for 30(?) years (sorry dad, I couldn't remember the exact number of years--I only know it's been A LOT!!!) and every time I step onto that campus I feel a bit nostalgic. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of mom putting us kids (myself, Bryan, Trisha, and Bevan) in the car and heading over to Provo to pick up dad from work. It was always a plus if we actually got to go up to his office to get him. There was a little fridge in his office stocked with all kinds of candy bars and soda, and if we were lucky he would let us pick one before we left. After we picked our candy mom would put them in her purse and we would go to dinner. Our favorite place was Dee's Family Restaurant across from Provo High School. I don't remember the food, but I do remember that they always played the BeeGee's music and my brother, Bryan, and I would sing along. After dinner mom would let us eat our candy, or we would have an ice cream cone instead.

Woah, I kind of went off on a tangent there...sorry.

Anyway, I took my kids over to BYU to spend the day. We started out by having a walking tour of the campus. OK, so that wasn't intentional, but my dad has two offices on campus and he had to go shut down his computer in the 2nd office. The boys weren't too thrilled about that. We went to the science building and checked out the displays there and also looked at some aquariums with fish, snails, and other aquatic animals. Of course, by this time they were all starving so we went to what I always knew as the Cougar Eat (don't ask me what it's really called because I have absolutely no idea!!!) and had lunch.

After lunch we went over to the student center where the boys talked me into bowling. I didn't really want to bowl, but it ended up being really fun, and really cheap! Mom is quite the bowler!

After bowling we went to the teeny, tiny Dinosaur Museum. It was fun...and even better, it was FREE!!! Sweet!
My cute boys in front of a huge mural at the museum. Tate kept looking behind him like one of the dinosaurs were going to jump out and get him. We had a great day!!

GALOON!!!

It's a Lewis family tradition to go to every year on July 3rd. We missed last year, but the boys couldn't wait to get there this year! Especially Tate, who kept asking when we were going to go to "Galoon". ;)

We had a blast! Three of the 4 boys could ride everything and I think we nearly did!!! Here's some pictures from our fun day. You'll notice that Tanner and Ty are only in a couple...that's because I couldn't get them to stand still long enough to take any. They think they have to be running from one ride to the next, and frankly, I just can't keep up. How sad is that???

L-R: Tanner, Bailee, Kreed, Ty, Ryker, and Becca on the LadyBug Free Fall.

Olivia and Treyson

Treyson, Tate, and Olivia
Our new favorite ride: The Wicked

The name is very fitting.

Gage and TateBailee, Tanner, Treyson, Ty, Olivia, and Kreed

Tate didn't stop smiling all day!!!

We can't wait until next year!!