Exciting times!

Miriam finally got her permit!! We are all so excited, and have mostly been keeping it to parking lots and the neighborhood so far. We'll graduate to bigger streets soon. She's doing great!!

Heaven on Earth...

This year the DW Runyans ventured to Lake Powell for a family reunion. It has always been a favorite place for our family to hang out, and I was super excited to share it with Archie and the girls. Everyone had a great time. We loved spending time with family, especially in such an amazing setting.



We LOVE this place!!

Miriam, Nathan, Rebekah and Joanna at Rainbow Bridge.

Rebekah and my sister, Jen, lounging on top of the houseboat.

Archie and Joanna...day one....they were still getting a feel for the place.


Nathan, Becky, Rebekah and Jen.


Grandma, Joanna and Hannah. We had so much trouble taking this picture! I think we seriously had to try 4 or 5 times....someone was always blinking! That's why we LOVE digital photography! Turned out super cute, though.


The grandkids on top of the houseboat...most of Todd's kids weren't there yet. :(


Nathan, Becky, Joanna and Rebekah.


Archie and Miriam


Becky and Nathan...is he sleeping or faking? I still don't know for sure.


Becky and Archie at Rainbow Bridge. It was so nice that the water was high...made the hike bearable.


Some of our very generous family members arranged for us to use this houseboat every year. It is a great boat, with lots of room and some really cool features. It's amazing how many people we had on that boat and all the cool stuff that it can do!!

We started at Antelope Point, and headed up the lake for a while...almost to the San Juan. Our campsite for the first few days of the trip is pictured above. It was a great site...lots of afternoon shade, very protected from the wind, great campfire spot on the shore.


And we had our own little private bay which was the perfect size for skiing, tubing, jet skiing, wakeboarding, etc. If this pic extended just a little bit more to the right, you'd see the houseboat as pictured above. If I were technologically savvy, I might be able to merge the pics into a cool pano shot. But I'm not...so you'll just have to imagine it.


One of the great things about our campsite was the shore. There was a nice big area for people to hike and explore, still while in-view of the houseboat. The above pic is Rebekah, Tiff and Nathan..but the pic doesn't do it justice. They were WWWAAAAYYYY high on the rocks. One of the uncles was so nice to set up some geo-cashing courses for us...we had fun using the GPS and checking out the scenery.



Hanging out near the Minor's Ladder. The kids were having a great time playing in the water at this rock beach.

I'm aware that this post has a very obvious lack of tube/wakeboard/kneeboard/etc. pictures. Don't worry, we played hard on all of those toys, sustaining many a bruise to prove it. :) You can visit either of my sisters' blogs to see more cool pics, including some hilarious action sequence pictures (all photos taken by the beautiful and talented Jen).

Living with JMT and GDog has some great action shots and another great description of the trip.

JustRandi is always funny.... check out this post for a BEAUTIFUL pic of the lake and/or this one for some funny tube pics.


All in all, it was an amazing trip! We are so thankful for the generosity of our family, and that we are able to return each year. We already have a count-down going on the bulletin board in the kitchen..... can't wait until next year!!

It was a beautiful day!

What a wonderful experience for all of us!! Many family members were able to make the trip, and it was so great to have so many people there. My sister in St George was so sweet to be our photographer!! Here are a few of the pics that she took:

The weather could not have been more perfect, and I thought the pictures came out really well. Thanks Jen!

St George, Here We Come!

Archie and I are so happy to announce that we are going to be sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George temple on March 21, 2009. We'd LOVE to have any friends and family attend that are able to come. Just let me know if you can come so that I can give you all the details!!

Stressed Spelled Backwards

Okay, so my adorable, beautiful, talented and sweet cousin (who also happens to be an amazing cook) has been kind enough to let us in on some dessert secrets. Check out her blog for great recipes!!

http://stressedspelledbackward.blogspot.com/

From fancy-shmancy stuff, to easy cookies, she's got quite the variety. Now I'm gettin' all hungry just thinking about it!!

Sorry, I'm not talented enough to grab a picture off of her blog..... you'll just have to take a leap of faith.... and click on the link.

Tidbits

Okay, so Nathan has been saving up for a long time, and he was finally able to purchase a new bike. More specifically, "a mountain bike, with gears." Did I mention that he's been dying for this bike for a really long time? It was getting dark, so the first picture isn't focused well. Here he is, going for the first ride....





Also, by popular demand, here's a picture of the cross-stitch that I've been working on. Let me just say that this picture doesn't do it justice. The resolution just isn't right. I'm also including a picture of the bag because it shows what the cross-stitch is supposed to look like when it's done. If you can't see it well enough you can go here to see it. Hey!! I just hyperlinked for the first time!!! :) And I didn't even have to ask Archie to show me how to do it!

Happy Birthday, Rebekah!

Rebekah decided to have a party at the house this year, and the main event was the "Bigger or Better" scavenger hunt. If you've never played it, it goes a little something like this. There are two teams, both of which start the hunt with a paper clip. Then the teams go around the neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking people for something bigger or better than the paper clip. If the neighbor has something, then the team trades the paper clip for the item. And the process continues like that, trading for bigger or better until the time is up. Here is what the teams came home with:

The birthday girl's team brought home a working bike (which you can't see because Joanna is riding it and the whole team is surrounding it).

The other team came home with a grill and a training toilet. Apparently the people at the door right after the training toilet didn't want to trade....they just wanted to give the bigger or better item. I can't say that I blame them.

Now this might sound like a really fun game, right? Yeah, it was. A smarter person than me might've thought it all the way through to the point at the end of the hunt when there are these huge items on the front porch that she didn't know what to do with. But not me. And then there was the part about how do you decide what's bigger or better between a grill/training toilet or a bike....which team wins? Luckily some quick thinking solved both dilemmas. The answer was, the first team to get rid of the stuff wins. Hehe.

In any case, the party was fun, and I think Rebekah had a great time. I'm so proud of her and the young woman that she is. She is so smart and capable of doing anything that she sets her mind to. She is very determined and eager to do the right thing. She is loyal to her family and friends, and I'm so happy to be a part of her family!