Entrepreneur of the Year

My dad was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year this year. Every time he talked about it he called it his beauty pageant. Apparently there were several interviews and they came and took pictures and videos of him and all the other 24 nominees. There was a dinner we were all invited to where they announced the winner. It was fun to get dressed up and go out with my parents and all my brothers and sisters and our spouses.We got our oldest niece to come to my parents house and watch all the little kids. The kids love Lexi and were in heaven and like always, they were a little disappointed when we got home because that meant their night was over! Anyway, we all went downtown to the Salt Palace dinner and the award presentations. My dad kept telling us that he probably wasn't going to win, but it was nice to be nominated. Of course, the rest of us were not surprised when they announced his name. He is an amazing person. We are so lucky to have someone like him that we can look up to and try to pattern our lives after. Bodie and I waiting for dinner and the program to start.

Dad accepting his award. Big shout out to my sister Amanda for taking the pictures.All of us after the program. This is all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses...except my brother in law David who was in Maryland for work.

Bodie's family gets together for a weekend every summer. This year we went to Kodachrome State Park. It was really fun...once we got there! We were supposed to leave on Thursday, but...no surprise....the mechanic called and said the truck was taking a little longer to fix than he had anticipated. We didn't get it back until 6 that night. Rather than drive and get there really late and still have to set up the trailer, we decided to get up early Friday morning and head down. We met the family at Calf Creek Falls. It was so pretty. It was a really hot 3 mile hike to the falls, but well worth it once we got there.
Bodie and McKenzie got in the water, but I was to much of a wuss. The water was FREEZING!!! We played around in the water for a while and then got on with the hike back. We went back to Kodachrome where the kids played Grandma's guessing game. Bodie's mom puts crackers, M&M's, and other treats in jars and the grandkids all take turns guessing how many is in each one. She always has enough so that everyone gets a treat. McKenzie got the M&M's this year...I was really excited about that, but next year, I am hoping she get's the money! Then everyone sang happy birthday to her (since it was the day after her birthday...and we were supposed to get there on her birthday and have a little party for her.) And, she got to open presents. She was in heaven!

Tom (Bodie's brother in law) is an amazing artist and sculpted this in the sand at the waterfall.

Saturday, we spent the whole day at Bryce Canyon. It is so beautiful there. We hiked, shopped, had pizza and ice cream. It was a perfect day. There were so many gnats at the campground, we made sure we didn't get back until bed time!

Sunday we all ended up at Bodie's parents house for church and dinner before we all had to go back home. We had a great time at the reunion this year. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was so fun for McKenzie to play with all her many cousins and for the adults to get caught up on each others lives! We love our family and can't wait until next year!

McKenzie is 6!

The morning of her actual birthday. We made waffles with mangoes and whipped cream and put a candle in the middle for her to blow out.

Mckenzie is finally, in her opinion, 6. We spent a lot of time celebrating her birthday! We started with a backyard Luau party with some of her friends. We played pop the coconut, ring toss, and some other Hawaiian themed games. Then we got to the good stuff! Cupcakes, presents, sno cones, and squirt guns. My sister Amanda came out and helped me with the party. I thought at first that I could do it myself, no problem, but I was so glad that she was there! After that party, we got ready for the next one. My family came out later that day for another Luau party. We had dinner, played games, ate cupcakes, opened presents, and drank from coconut cups (McKenzie's favorite part!) I am so happy to be part of a family where we are so close. It made McKenzie feel so special with most of her aunts, uncles, and cousins there.
She is really excited that we are singing happy birthday to her!

That birthday party was a week before her actual birthday. We were supposed to leave on her birthday to meet Bodie's family for a family reunion. Well, the truck was in the shop a little longer than we had expected so we didn't leave until the next day. We were all a little disappointed and had spent most of the day waiting around for the truck, so we decided to go have a little fun. We took McKenzie to the Mayan restaurant for dinner. It was so fun to watch her when they did the diving shows. She kept thinking the divers were doing belly flops and would laugh when they hit the water. It was a fun night.