St. George & Hoover Dam

For the UEA Break (or Fall Recess), we went down to St. George. We left early Thursday morning. The weather wasn't so great up in Layton and we were excited to go where it was a little warmer. On the way down we stopped at Cove Fort. It was in the 40s outside, but we bundled up and went to see it while Bear was locked in the car. We started with a movie in a warm cabin. Lincoln got bored after 5 minutes and wanted to walk/crawl around. It was hard keeping him from getting where he shouldn't. There was one other couple with us and they didn't mind him running around, although I felt bad! Then we went to the Fort and walked through all the rooms. It's pretty interesting. The man that showed us around is a Gubler from La Verkin, where my old college roommate Kasey Gubler is from. He knew her family (what a small world). After the Fort we were free to look at the barn and blacksmith shop, but Lincoln and the cold weather told us to get back in the car and continue on to St. George.

Jefferson's parents have a house in St. George and let us stay there. It is a 3-bedroom house, and it was VERY nice to stay in. It allowed us to bring the dog and was super cheap! :) They are in the process of furnishing it, so some of the time in St. George was spent at the DI, etc. looking for some good deals.

On Friday we decided to head down to Hoover Dam in NV. We drove the scenic way down and the I-15 way back. We thought about stopping in Vegas, but Lincoln was finally asleep so we drove. The Dam was really interesting to see. You can pay to go on a tour, but with Lincoln we just walked across. They are working on building a road/bridge across the river so you don't have to drive over the Dam. Check out the progress in the pictures. It's amazing how low Lake Mead is right now. We enjoyed going down and seeing the Dam. Jefferson had gone a few years ago and said it had changed a lot. We are planning to go back when Lincoln is older so we can go on a tour :)



On Saturday we did more shopping (we did some Thursday afternoon). Lincoln got his first pair of real shoes! We also went to the St. George Temple (since we were missing General Conference...). It was nice to be out and about in the pleasant weather. Here is Lincoln on the temple steps and then eating Jefferson's hat (it's what he did the minute we took the Binky out). Also a nice shot of the temple by Jefferson.


We cleaned up Sunday morning and then headed home. I had a great time and look forward to heading down to St. George again sometime soon! We found a few more side trips we would like to take...Kanab, Zion, Shakespeare Festival....If you know any place around we should put on our must-do list, let me know in the comments!

Lincoln's 1st Birthday

So school started and the blogging seemed to stop. We've done a few fun things the last 2 weeks so I will try hard to get it all blogged. But first (and most importantly) Lincoln turned 1 on Oct. 7! I can't believe it's been one year. We went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Porter on his birthday since they would be out of town for his party. I had parent teacher conferences until 5:30 so going out seemed easiest for me! We went to Fazoli's (Lincoln and I shared chicken, noodles and breadsticks).

Here are some pictures after dinner opening presents from the Porters.




You can tell by the end he didn't want more pictures!

On Saturday we invited all the family for a party. Not everyone could make it, but we were happy that a lot of family was there. We had cake and ice cream, took a quiz about Lincoln, and opened presents. It was fun to have both sides of the family together to celebrate.



I love having Lincoln in our family. He is so much fun. He is super cute and super fun. He loves to play with blocks (well, knock down towers of them), books, plastic spoons, and any other toy he can find. He crawls through his "tunnel" and on empty boxes. He is walking! (He started about 11 months) He gives the best kisses (open mouth, of course). He does like to get into everything he shouldn't, but he is just a curious little boy. He is getting to be an expert at Patty Cake and he's loved Peekaboo for as long as I can remember. I love how excited he gets when Jefferson comes home, or when I show up to get him at the daycare. He loves both of us, and we love him! Happy 1st Birthday, Lincoln!!

Coming up next: UEA trip to St.George and Hoover Dam.

The End is Near

The end of summer that is. Can you believe it? I've already been back to school a few times this week. Yuck :) I am on the laptop and don't have pictures, but wanted to take a minute to remember what we've done since the last post. Let's see....

I guess the first big thing was Girls Camp. This year was ward camp and we went to Camp Atoka just past Huntsville. The camp was Tues-Fri. It was my first time leaving Lincoln so I only went Wed-Fri. It was a lot of fun and I am glad I went. Some of the highlights included watching the girls tube down the river, skit night, hiking by Causey, and testimony meeting. The leaders definitely had "mini vacations" away from the kids and I think the girls had a great time as well.

Saturday, August 1 my cousin's daughter Ellie was baptized. They live in Virginia so we hardly get to see them. It was neat because I went to Ellie's blessing when I lived in VA, and now she is baptized! Afterwards we went to my aunt's pool for a bbq and swimming. Lincoln was tired so I just ate and then left. But we did go back to the pool Monday for swimming!!

Sunday, August 2 Samantha was blessed. Lincoln was super fussy so I listened to the prayer in the hall, but Josh did a great job! We visited after the blessing at Liz's parents house for awhile before heading to Jefferson's parents for a small party for Laurie's birthday. It was a busy weekend!

This past weekend was fun. Friday night (after a day of training for the new class I am teaching next year) Jefferson, Lincoln and I headed up to Deer Valley to hear the Utah Symphony. (Can you believe twice in one year??) We got free tickets from Darrin (THANKS!!) and heard The William Tell Overture, Variations on "America", and Peter and the Wolf. During Peter, Treat Williams (Everwood dad) narrated and students from the Ballet West Academy danced. It was really cute and only lasted an hour (so Lincoln did well - plus it was one of those really cold days).

Saturday night we headed down to Bountiful to watch part of the International Summer Festival. It was pretty cool to see the performers from different countries. We saw performances from Spain, China, Hungary and Poland.

This weekend I am trying to get Jefferson to take me camping. It might only be for one night, but I would really like to "get away" before the summer is over. We'll see. Until then I am moving in to my new classroom (I am teaching at Fairfield Jr. next year) and trying to figure out what I am teaching (2 new classes - CTEI Tech & Engineering and Word Processing Basics). Wish me luck :)