In a nutshell

Seriously, where does the time go? Summer has come and gone and school is back in....WHAT! So here is what we have been up to. Our summer was filled with playing with friends, swimming at the pool,

having lemonades stands, and going to the beach. Although since this summer was so much cooler, we were usually fully clothed at the beach because it was FREEZING! But still fun.

(Isn't she cute) :)

Lucky for us, after living here for two years and Matt not getting a single day off, he finally got in some good vacation time. In July, Matt and I took the kids to Lake Powell for the week and had an absolute blast. Before heading to the lake we went to see Tarzan at the Tuacan Theater. The kids loved it. Then the rest of the week (at the lake) we played in the sun with perfect weather, met awesome neighbors who were actually from Page, AZ who cooked us the most incredible meals every night, and ended the trip with Patrick coming for a couple of days and headed to the Grand Canyon for our first time. Itwas beautiful, we couldn't have asked for a better trip. Then two weeks later, Matt was off again this time with the Scouts in our ward to hike Half Dome. Again, a great trip. Then to end the summer with a bang we went on a cruise to Mexico with Matt's sister and her family. My mom was so kind to keep Delanie with her so the rest of us could all P-A-R-T-Y!And that is what we did. The kids did great, and could not believe we were on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

(First day of the cruise, ready-set-GO!)

Initially, Matt and I weren't over excited about going to Mexico only because this was our forth time there, but the experience was so different having the kids and the Trask's with us and sharing the new places with them. We enjoyed LOTS of food and entertainment on the boat like rock climbing, eating, ice skating, eating, miniature golfing eating... you get the picture. :) The kids loved ordering room service every night with their cousins.

And had some awesome adventures at each port. First in Caba San Lucas,

we went snorkeling in the beautiful waters then Brinley and I went parasailing too. If you don't know Brinley is fearless, (which keeps me up at night with what the future may hold with her:), so here we are flying so high in the air and her only instruction was, "hold on to these straps," did she? Of course not, she was up flying with the birds she said and needed to flap her wings! Oh yeah, that is Brinley. Both Matt and Tyler did not want to do it. (Matt had done it before and Tyler was too nervous). The next stop was in Mazatlan, where it was 110 degrees with 90% humidity. We were dying! We are so not used to that kind of weather, and almost did not want to get off the boat, but we did at went to a beautiful resort right on the ocean where we played in the pool and waterslides, boogie boarded the Mexico waves and went horseback riding on the beach.

Tyler ready to take off for some waves!

Rough I know! Then to top it all off, the next stop was in Puerto Vallarta, we had never seen P.V. like we did this time...it was beautiful. When we got there it was raining, so our guide took us on a scenic drive up to the mountains, along the way were lush green hills and waterfalls, when we got to the top he took us to a place called Chico's paradise, and with the surroundings with how gorgeous it was, it did feel like we were in paradise. It felt like a tropical rain forest. There was lush greenery everywhere, and huge waterfall rushing down the middle of it all, darling little huts and zip lines over all of it. He tried telling us to do the zip lining because we will never find a better place. We all really wanted to but it was pouring down rain. After much thought, we decided to eat first and hope the rain would stop and it did! We were so glad, we had done zip lining before, but nothing compared to this place, and we all did it, even fearless Brinley and fearful Tyler! I cannot even describe how beautiful it was, my sis in law kept saying she felt like it was a dream. We did zip lining so high, that the people and huts below looked like toys and the longest one was over 2000 feet, you couldn't even see where it was going to end, on that one we were flying about 65mph! It was INCREDIBLE!

And the best way to end the trip, and the summer. It is a time we will never forget.

(Getting off the boat)

Now school is back in, along with homework, sports, dance and scouts. We are busy and loving every second of it! Enjoy every second of your days, miss you and love you all.

P.S. If you haven't already heard, Delanie is going to be a BIG SISTER! That is right, Huefner #4 will be here in March!