Mission Call

We are so excited to announce that Bradford got his mission call. He is officially called to the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission. It encompasses 4 different states: Oklahoma, Arkansa, Kansas, and Missouri. He leaves September 18. He is really excited to go. Here is a map of the mission. It is the raised area of the map. We love you Bud, but are going to miss you.

Deer Valley

Chris and I flew to SLC to have some family bonding time in Deer Valley. My dad rented a condo up there so we could all be away together. We had a great time boating, playing cards, and just being together as one large family. Thanks Dad for a great weekend!!

Marquel loved her bath in the sink. She is so cute

Here are the boys catching up on Sports, like anything changed over night :)

Here is part of the gang hanging out in the water

Taylor, Emily, Bradford, Hunter and Chris

The crew on the boat. Dad doing his fatherly duties of feeding Marquel

Dad, Marquel, Kelly and Natalie

We had some choppy water in the middle of the day. So Bradford and I did the "Double Double"

Then we did the "Single Double" We were spraying each other so much. It was a blast.


Here is Chris goofing off. Isn't he so cute

Adults only dinner (although I don't claim I am an adult). It was so much fun just chatting the night away and we of course had great food.

Kelly, Me, Chris, Bradford, Natalie, James, and Dad

Group photo. Here is the whole family except the little one. She was sound asleep. We didn't want to wake her. We had such a great time just with the family. I love every single one of them.

One final shot of Marquel and me chilln at my dad's new pad. She is such a great baby. She spent two full days on the boat without one little peep. I can't believe she is my sister, 25 years difference. I am so glad that I am able to spend as much time as I can with her.

Quilting Bee

Here is my first quilting project. I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I have been doing some simpler project (pj pants, rag quilts, etc). Here is my first quilt. I was so proud when I was done. It was a lot of work. I gave it to my mom for her birthday.

4th of July

So let me start by saying I love Ann Arbor, but it does not have any country pride. It doesn't shot off fireworks or even have a parade. So we had to improvise. The Quinns threw a great party involving food, games and of course fireworks. Our friends live on a pond and Chris decided to build a boat to light fireworks off.

Here he is with his boat. Yes that is the "8" and "3" from NASCAR. He was trying to be super white trash. NASCAR is big in Michigan. We have not found the love for it, yet.

We also put a little country pride on it. USA!!

Here it is in action with all the kids watching.

Here is part of the crew watching the show

Marissa wanted to sit on my lap while I was trying to eat. I guess she caught eye of my Schnicerdoddle. I licked off all the chocolate. If you look closely you can see that her face and hands are covered in it. We had a great time celebrating the 4th with our great friends.

HAPPY 4th of JULY

Traverse City

Chris had a great opportunity to work at a migrant dental clinic in Traverse City, Michigan. He was there for two weeks. I went up and visited him one weekend. Here are a few pictures of Northern Michigan. We had so much fun. It was really beautiful.

Okay, so I am trying something new. Getting pictures from the web. It was really hard. Nobody wants to share their pictures. Here is the best one I could find to give you an idea of were we went. So do you see Detroit down on the right? Ann Arbor (were we live) is 45 min west of there. We went to Traverse City, which is up on the west side of the map. It is on the Lake Michigan side. Then we went from there to Mackinac Island, which is up at the top of the Lower Peninsula. It is a small island on Lake Huron.

Here we are at Traverse Bay

Here I am watching a turtle swim that was covered in sea weed

We then went to Sleepy Bear Dunes, which are huge sand hills. We hiked about half way up. There is a lake in the background. Michigan has lakes all over the place.



We played Frisbee on the beach and watch the sunset go down on one of Lake Michigan's many beaches.

The next day we drove to Mackinac City and took a boat over to Mackinac Island. Here we are on the boat.

Mackinac Island only allows horses and bikes on the island as a mode of transportation. We rented some cool bikes and biked around the whole island. It was about 8 miles. Here are are posing with our snazzy bikes.

Here is an view of the harbor from a hill top on the island. The island closes from December to April or when ever the ice melts on the lake.

After the fun bike ride

View of the main street on the island. Notice how bikes rule the street. It was so fun seeing parking spots just for bikes. We had a great weekend seeing Northern Michigan.

Tag

So Ashley tagged me and she will kill me if I don't continue this on, right?

4 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Holden Neonatal ICU at University of Michigan
2. General Peds floor at Mott Childrens Hospital (U of M)
3. Roosenberg, Cooley, Metcalf clinic
4. TOSH
4 MOVIES I CAN ALWAYS WATCH
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Hitch
3. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
4. Moulin Rouge
4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Bountiful, Utah
4. Holiday, Utah
SHOWS I ENJOY
1. So You Think You Can Dance
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Ellen Degeneres
4. NCIS
FAVORITE FOODS
1. Fruit
2. Peach Dessert
3. Meat Loaf
4. Cereal
WEBSITES I VISIT (ALMOST DAILY)
1. Work Email
2. Hotmail
3. Blogs ( I love them)
PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
1. Italy
2. Lake Powell
3. Utah
4. Hawaii
BLOGGER BUDDIES TO TAG
1. Elizabeth Elder
2. Sharon Thacker
3. Natalie Cherry
4. Jocee Mason

There you go Ash, I did it just for U :)