We're Off!

Yay! We're off on vacation today to Snowbird Resort, just outside of Salt Lake City. It's a beautiful resort up in the mountains (one canyon over from Park City, where the winter Olympics were held) where my parents have a time-share. We'll be hanging out for one week with my parents, my sister Dana and brother-in-law Travis (flying in from London) and also a few days with my aunt and uncle from Montana. We'll have "outings" on a few days, like exploring the town of Park City, mountain hikes along a lake, going to local farmer's markets, etc. But mostly we'll just hang out at the pool and read books and play. One part I'm especially looking forward to is that our unit has its own hot tub on the deck, overlooking the ski trails--add a glass of wine and my hubby and it sounds just about perfect! :-)

Disneyworld

Last week we took on the challenge of flying just about as far across the USA as possible--Portland to Orlando, Florida. (For the flight there we did a non-stop overnight--I don't recommend it! No sleep for anyone!) Our destination: a week at Disneyworld with Keith's parents Ron & Darlene, sister Robin, brother-in-law Chris, and Maddie's cousin Dominic (who is just 2 weeks older than her). It was quite the production, juggling schedules and plans for 8 people all week (especially for toddlers who like to take naps at opposite times of the day!), but once we got all the details worked out it was a very fun vacation. We spent two days at Disneyworld and one day at a big water park, then the other days were spent lounging around the resort (Keith's parents have a time share condo) and at the pool.

On my list of "classic" photos to get was one of Maddie in a Mickey Mouse hat--but since she refuses to keep anything on her head longer than about 1.5 seconds, I had to hold it on while Keith took a picture really quickly. See that hand of hers reaching up to snatch it off? :-)

One of the nights we decided to go explore Downtown Disney, which is full of fun shops and sights and restaurants. The kids loved the Lego store, especially these life-size Lego statues! Of course, we ignored the big sign next to them asking us not to touch them--hey, everyone else was doing it!

The resort we stayed at had a number of pools, but this was our pool of choice. It was huge and had a long "lazy river" where you could float on innertubes and go under waterfalls--even Maddie loved it! Since all of us went everywhere together, we often were asked if Dominic and Maddie were twins. :-)

One side of the pool had these shooting water sprays, which Maddie loved once she got used to them.

Most of the vacation was spent hanging out and watching the kids play together (and teach each other all their bad tricks). Here they are sharing sidewalk chalk on our patio. What cuties! Keith's sister Robin is pregnant again and in October we'll welcome another little girl cousin into the family! :-)

Gift Albums

June is packed with reasons to celebrate...Father's Day, my mom's birthday, Keith's mom's birthday. So to honor those special people (and give myself a good excuse to actually USE my scrapbooking supplies!), I decided to make photo albums as gifts this year. Each one is unique and was a labor of love...they each took about 4-5 hours to complete...which wouldn't be a huge deal, except that I was crazy and decided to take on these projects a week before our Florida vacation/Father's Day. Which meant that I pretty much had to complete one album each night, since I needed albums for my mom's birthday, Keith's mom's birthday, and my dad, Keith's dad and Keith for Father's Day. Whew! Next time I'll plan a little better! :-) But I'm so happy with how each one turned out and everyone appreciated them. Here's a sampling of photos:

Album for Keith's mom, Darlene

The project that started it all...just wanting to scrap a few Christmas photos.

Album for my dad for Father's Day (the one for Keith's dad looks the same).

Album for my mom's birthday

New Hair

In honor of summer vacations (we'll spend June 8-15 in Florida with Keith's parents and sister/brother-in-law/nephew) and a new figure, yesterday I went to the salon and treated myself to a new haircut and color (my sweet husband's Mother's Day gift to me). Loving the new look! The shorter length feels so free and light...and now we'll see if blondes DO have more fun! :-)

Some little ham couldn't resist the camera! After all, if a camera is involved, it must be to take pictures of *her*!