The Beauties of Utah

We've enjoyed the many different facets of Utah this summer.  The first part of this summer we visited the high Uintah Mountains.  It was cool and green and there was still some snow on the ground.  Here are a few pictures I took at Butterfly Lake:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We have also enjoyed the amazing desert formations in Southeastern Utah.  Here are a few pictures that I took at Natural Bridges National Monument:

Sipapu Bridge

 Kachina Bridge

 Owachomo Bridge

We have had a wonderful summer in Utah and we will miss not only it's amazing natural beauty, but our family and friends as well when we return to Missouri this fall.  At least we've made a lot of good memories to keep us company while we are gone.

Fishing Trip

We went fishing at Butterfly Lake in the Uintah Mountains this summer.  Owen liked his fishing pole, although he hasn't mastered the art of sitting still and waiting very well yet : ).

Here are a few more pictures that were taken of the fishing team.

 Daddy and Owen having fun together.

 Nita was the only one of us to catch any fish.

I was there too and we had a whole lot of fun!

Happy 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July with Bryce's family in the Kaysville area.  We got to see a lot of family and had lots of good food to eat.  Here are a few pictures of our day:

 Owen chillin' in the car with Aunt Nita

 Mommy and Owen at the parade in Kaysville (with cousin Lonnie in the background to the right)

The Allen family says Happy 4th of July to everyone!

The Beach Boys

 On Thursday, June 30, 2011, we had a wonderful opportunity to go to a Beach Boy's concert here in Logan.  We got there early to get good seats and the picture below shows our view from where we were.  It was a whole lot of fun to be able to take a night off to spend time with our family - Bryce, Jennie, Owen and Aunt Nita (who is staying with us as our babysitter for the summer).  Bryce and I walked up to the front and one of the security guards took a picture of us together in front of the stage.  If you look closely enough you can see the surf board that decorated the stage. 

While we waited for the show to start we played around at our seats, wandered around and looked at the cars that were at the Logan Fairgrounds for the Cache Valley Cruise In (classic cars - Grandpa Royer would have loved it).  We also took the time to take a few pictures since I actually remembered to bring my camera with me. 

Then the concert started.  Let me say this - the Beach Boys are awesome.  Their music is fun, unique and family friendly.  I knew that there would be absolutely no problem bring Owen. We all enjoyed the music and just like all the many fans that they've accumulated since the band was established back in 1961, we clapped, cheered and sang along with their wonderful songs.  The concert lasted for about 1 1/2 hours and they played nearly non-stop.  There was even a 6 song set where the drummer didn't stop once.  It was fun watching them as well as listening to them since they really got into the music and you could tell that they perform because they love it.  It was even fun watching the two older members of the group, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, enjoy the music as much as their younger counterparts.

So here are a few pictures of us enjoying ourselves and we (Bryce, Nita and myself - I'm not sure whether Owen will remember or not) will never forget this amazing evening.

Owen's Third Birthday

So - I haven't blogged for a while.  I've been busy working and playing this summer.  I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures either, but I am going to share some of the ones that I have taken.  First of all, Owen loves trains, so I was going to make him a very neat and elaborate train birthday cake, but while I was shopping for cake mixes and asked him what type of birthday cake he wanted he was very, very determined that he didn't want a train cake, he wanted a transformer cake.  So a transformer cake it would be.

First we made two cakes, and on one of them we added a transformer robot named Bumblebee.  Nita and I worked together to make it look like a friendly yellow robot.  The second cake was decorated with Bumblebee in his car form.  Since there is some discrepancy out there as to whether Bumblebee was a Volkswagen Bug or a Chevy Corvet, the car on the cake can be somewhat interpreted either way.  Owen just thinks it's a race car, so he didn't care if it didn't look like either : ).

For his birthday party we met at Grandma Allen's house in Kaysville.  In attendance from Bryce's side of the family were Grandma Allen, Uncles Jonathan, Garrett and Craig, and Aunts StacyAnn and Lindsey.  From my side of the family there was Aunt Nita, Grandma and Grandpa Christensen, Uncle Danny, Aunt Aleena, and cousins Memphis and Kayzee.  Our friend Megan was also able to be there with us.

We had fun eating cake and opening presents and then the adults (including Nita - she may be only 17 but she fit better with the adult group than with the kids: ) had fun visiting with each other and holding Kayzee while Owen and Memphis chased each other 'round and 'round the house.  We played until everyone was tired and then one by one everyone when home and we called it a night.  It was wonderful getting everyone together and we want to say thanks to all of our family and friends for being wonderful.

Also - since kids are much cuter to look at than adults - here are a couple of pictures of the kids at the birthday party.

Owen and Memphis both wanted to blow out the candles.

Kayzee is just a little sweetheart as she played and snuggled with everyone.