California Dreamin'

We took a quick trip to California over the 24th of July weekend (one of two three day weekends both Bry and I have had this summer!) to visit my brother Brett and sister-in-law Melissa and their adorable family, Tavin (is 2 now) and Kirra (about to be 1 Aug 12th). They were so much fun to be with. I haven't seen little Kirra since she was 3 months old. We spent a couple days at the beaches, Newport Beach and San Clemente. We went to an Angels game and Bryan was in heaven. They played the Twins and won 6-2. We saw three Angels hit home runs and two Twins hit home runs. 5 home runs in one game, not too shabby!

Tavin and Kirra are so fun to play with! Kirra was all smiles when we got to the beach. She crawls around like Mogely from "The Jungle Book" with her hands and feet touching the ground only. She does not want to get her knees roughed up so she has a funny crawl when she gets to the sand :). Tavin works the whole time at the beach. He is either building a sandcastle (or destroying one), digging for sand crabs, torturing sand crabs, running to the water and away from it when the waves come on shore, and playing with us. He is a funny kid!! He kept us laughing all weekend. Kirra is a sweetheart. We really enjoyed our quick weekend trip to CA. It is always great to see family! Brett and Melissa are the best!

Tavin doesn't usually like to cooperate for picture taking so this is one of my better shots of him :)

Kirra, all smiles in the sand and even has sand around her mouth. She loves to eat it!

I should have taken a picture of her Mogely walk. She was only on her knees for a quick break and then she'd be up on her feet and hands again.

Tavin had a better tan than both Bryan and me. We were the Utah whities at the beach :)

This picture doesn't do the waves justice. A hurricane was off the coast of CA that weekend and the waves were 8-11 feet. There were a lot of surfers trying out the huge storm waves.

Kirra and Tavin both love the water. They always stay in the shallow part. Usually Tavin runs away from it as it comes in :)

I love this picture! She loved to dip her sand-covered rake into the bucket filled with ocean water and then taste it. She did this about twenty times in a row, smiling the whole time.

Outside Angels stadium. Bryan was excited to see his Angels play!

The field.

Brett never smiles normally for pictures. He and Melissa came with us to the game. It was a lot of fun! They even had a big fireworks show afterward.

Brett being a dork again!

Saturday we went to San Clemente. The hurricane also brought in a TON of seaweed on the beaches. Bryan is playing football in this picture. To the left of him is a huge pile of sea weed. Sick! The waves were HUGE this day. It was crazy!

Kirra took a nap on the beach like this for an hour. She is the cutest little girl!

We went to BJ's for pizza and pizookies after a full day at the beach. It was in Laguna Beach. I miss California already! It was an awesome trip! We love the Brett and Melissa Jones family!

Fourth of July in New Mexico!!

Bryan and I went down to see my family in New Mexico for the 4th of July. The trip was way too quick!! It seems like we just get down there and it's time to leave. Brandon and Chase came out for the summer from Florida and it's usually only during the summer I get to see them every year, which makes it even harder to leave.

We packed a lot of activities into the two days we were down there. Bryan and the boys played basketball, my uncles showed us their motor cross track, we all tried out the dirt bikes, we watched Farmington city fireworks and played ultimate Frisbee, we went to the mountains for the day and did a BBQ with the whole family, we four wheeled in trucks up the mountain and played in the stream, we had a July 4th BBQ that night, and did our own fireworks show at the store that night. It was so fun!! I love my family so much and am so glad we were able to see everyone and spend so much time together. I've posted quite a few pictures below. I miss them already!Brandon and Brinley, my one year old niece. Rhiannon's due in December with her 4th girl! Exciting!

Uncle Mike and my cousin Olivia. He came over from his house with Olivia. She enjoyed the little ride.

Aunt Tina and Cousin Keely-Shae. I love all the gear their family has now! They all look pro. Keely's just 11 and does great on the track.

Here's Chase giving us a great pose! My uncles built a motor cross track on what used to be cattle ranching land. They converted it to a track with all the machinery they have from their business.

Madison and Uncle Cory just back from a quick loop on the track. The kids enjoyed their rides!
We all got the chance to try out the bikes. Both Bryan and I went for rides. My camera died before I could get any pictures of that! :(

4th of July Day in the mountains. We always go to La Plata Canyon in the San Juan Mountains. It is just 15 minutes outside of Durango, CO. The prettiest mountains on earth! Here is my aunt Tina, Alyssa, Lexie, and Keely. We BBQed and had a fun picnic with our whole family. (minus Cindel/Matt and Brett/Melissa, sadly)

Nancy and my Dad with Brinley. Brinley and I were able to become better friends this trip! She was so good all day!

Columbine flowers, the state flower of Colorado. I always find these right around the rivers/streams. It is against the law to pick them though. Pretty!

I took this picture to show the mountains, for the most part. After lunch the family threw Frisbees around for awhile in the meadow.

Bryan and Sophia (I think). Bryan is quite the pro Frisbee thrower!

We went in the trucks up the mountain until we found a place to splash around in the water. Chase and Tyler had cups/pitchers to fill up and drench everyone with water! We all went home a little wet.

Bryan chilling on a log near a waterfall. It was a pretty little creek. The day was perfect for being outside!

We left on Sunday right before church. Here is my dad, Chase, and Brandon. I had a hard time leaving that day!! It went by too quickly!

Bryan and I jumped in the picture just after with my bros and dad.

Brandon, Chase, Dad, Nancy, and me

All in all it was a great trip. I miss my family already! I've posted two videos below. One of my uncles riding around on the track and the other of my dad riding around. Fourth of July was a lot of fun! We love you all!!

The Bryner Family and the Bees Game

For Bryan's birthday we had our own little celebration. A couple days before his birthday Christian, his older brother, and Liz came up for a Salt Lake Bees game with all six of their children. I love this family! Liz is amazing and so is Christian. These kids are so super smart and fun to be around.

They all dressed up in Angels jerseys. They have them numbered on the back by where they are in the family and their names on the back. All of them have this, except little Alexandra who is in a Guerrero jersey. That made me laugh all night!

Here are some pics from the night:

Here are the little twinners. They are four this year. Garrett and Pierce. They were so good on this trip! Right here they are drawing and just watching the game.

Here's little Guerrero. So cute! She was so independent the whole time. She kept going on the steps one step at a time away from the parents to see how far away she could get.

I love that it says "Working Gas" right behind us. It was free hot dog night....hmm. Here's Bry, Anna, Paul, and the twins.

We eventually went out to the grass to sit towards the end. This will be explained in a bit. Here's a great pic of Bry and me.

Christian and Liz also had these cute Angels shirts and they say Mom and Dad on the back of them. It was nice to have everyone in the same color to keep track of them at the field!
Cute family photo! The Bryner family (little James is in the plaid shorts. He wasn't in the previous shots.)

Okay, here is where the game got more interesting. The three youngest were getting restless towards the end of the game, so Bryan and I decided to take them on a walk to the back of the field where there is grass to run around on. We decided to get a hat-ful of ice cream for the kids and just share it. It was a huge mound of ice cream!! We soon had all six of them around the bowl full of ice cream, each with a spoon in hand. It was like a pack of ravenous wolves around a freshly killed deer. Every one was a little low on energy too because they had been in SLC all day at the Zoo. The energy levels changed dramatically after the ice cream hit the blood stream.

We went over to the grassy area and this is what resulted. It's a classic case of cause and effect!

It was so fun to have them up here! We saw them just the other day too. It's nice to have family close, but I always wish everyone was closer!!

The Bees won the game. It was a fun birthday game!

First things first

So, I am slacking on my blogging duties (but who says there are even duties in the first place? this thing sometimes nags like a journal that I've failed to write in for some time...guilty conscience, I guess :).

I went to Girls Camp this year with my YW group and can I just say that it was a blast!! Our group is small but strong. It was B.O.O.T. Camp, which stood for Building Our Own Testimonies. I was there for three days and Bry ate enchiladas I made for him for three days. I was wiped out by the end of the week and Bryan, I'm sure, had a stomach ache :).

Here are some highlights/pictures from camp. I love being in YW again. Fun times!

This is our whole group. Bishop and his wife came this day for dinner and testimony meeting.

Sue, our camp leader, Marianne, the YW president (one of my top fav people), and me. It rained a ton this week and was about 50 degrees during the day time so I wore three jackets the whole time. Luckily for us it stopped raining EVERY time we had an activity planned so the girls were able to do all that the Stake planned for them. Coincidence? I think not.

Our girls inside the cabin. The little girl on the right with the balloon is Ivy. She is autistic and has down syndrome. She and her mom came up and spent the night with us for one night and ended up staying longer because she was enjoying it so much. We did the Hokey Pokey with her alot and the girls really had a fun time with her. It was awesome being able to include her into all the activities.

Our girls did a ropes course together and this one was a big swing that you get harnessed to. They are a little nervous with anticipation but excited. Fun girls!

Our little cabin! Yes, we did have electricity, toilets, and showers. That is totally my type of camping! It was great, especially since it was so rainy and cold that week. I went through a ton of sweaters and pants from getting soaked.

All the girls got along great and we had a fun time! I wish I could've been there the whole week, but school restrained me from that. I will miss these girls when we move in a month. It has been such a blessing for me to work with them! We have awesome youth in our church!