Chelsey and Austin's wedding

Our nephew Austin was married to Chelsey (who is a PERFECT addition to our family), on Wednesday July 21, in the Salt Lake Temple

It has been so fun getting to know Chelsey this past year and to be with them on their special day. Jac was sad to miss it!

What a beautiful couple!

The Heaps fam waiting for The Bride and Groom

Steve, Deb, Dave, Dad(Richard), Ali, Joe, and Matt

missing Jeff and Jackie

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. We enjoyed a luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building; and luckily, the rain came and left before the outdoor reception began... no worries, just a little rearranging! It was a beautiful evening.

GREAT MEMORIES!

Silver Lake again?!

Our Silver Lake adventure with Dad and Thomas

Jac was at efy all week :( so to cheer us up from missing her so much; Emily and I took Matt and Thomas to Silver Lake. Don't worry, we took the TRUCK this time :)

Emily and Thomas enjoying some "peaceful" moments of yoga along the way

Matt and I walked around the lake and were in awe of the majestic granite boulders. We felt like were in an obstacle course as we made our way through.

Thomas takes great pics don't you think?

Emily found a great way to get her socks clean without a washing machine!

It is so fun to see these two enjoying time together :)

FUN TIMES!

FISHING at Silver Lake

FISHING

Thomas showed Emily how fish after our hike.

We didn't have any luck catching a fish but...

We did feed lot's of cute little ducks. They were so cute and fluffy!

Our Silver Lake adventure

Our Silver Lake adventure...

Matt and Thomas were on a scout camp out so we decided to have some outdoor fun ourselves.

Silver Lake looked like a great place, so off we went, in our trusty ol' van.

When we got to the dirt road, I thought, "No problem, it won't be that bad"

Well, I must say it was a pretty rough ride. In fact memories of Matt trying to take us on this road came flooding back to me :) I remember telling him, "No way is our van going to make it; TURN AROUND!"

How could I turn around? We were on an adventure, I couldn't wimp out, right?

We did make it safe and sound, with only a few scratches, and a brake late that went out from all the shaking; (sorry hun) but it was worth it!

This lake is seriously hidden the entire hike. You start wondering if there really is a lake. Here's the proof :) It was seriously BREATHTAKING!

Emily made the 4 mile hike all by herself; with a little help from big sis holding her hand along the way. She was dragging along until we promised her a slushy... Wow, who knew what a motivator a SLUSHY would be? Emily actually started to run up the trail and practically ran the entire way down, chanting SLUSHY, SLUSHY, the whole way!

As promised, she got her slushy:)

What a great way to spend the day with my beautiful girls. I am a very lucky mom!

Little Tahiti

Our Heaps Family Reunion... on the Little Tahiti

Dave and Marianne were in charge this year and were generous or CRAZY :) enough to take all of us to Lake Powell to enjoy their beautiful houseboat

Bring on the SUN, RELAXATION, GAMES, WATER, HIKING, YUMMY FOOD,(even fresh cheese from Italy!) and GREAT COMPANY!

CRAZY tube runs!

Kayaking is the greatest!

Jacqueline learned how to ski, thanks to our pro teacher, Aunt Ali. She also got to go with B.T. on the sky ski!

Emily was all smiles! She could always find someone to go swimming with and she surprised us all by wanting to learn how to water ski! She didn't get up BUT, she TRIED!

Emily's LOVED playing with Mochi, Uncle Daves dog who loves water as much as she does! (she even let Uncle Dave give her wet slobbery Mochi kisses!)
Thomas has been waiting for SO long to get to go to Lake Powell. He soaked in every minute! He loved skiing with B.T. and learning from Aunt Ali too. He also loved the tube rides and knee board wars with his cousins... CRAZY!

There was a fun slide going off the back and the REALLY brave people went off the whale tail which was about 45 feet high! B.T. was our "olympian" diver, skier, hiker... let's just say he is very talented at making things look REALLY easy!
Isn't this guy handsome? Sorry ladies, he's mine! I love watching him ski, look how he touched the water WOW, he is good! :) Yes, my kids think I am pretty sappy... they teased me about cheering them on when they did so well skiing... hey, that's what mom's are for right?!
Heres me with my crazy amazon hair :) hiking, skiing and taking in the rays was the perfect way to spend my vacation!

We had a BLAST hiking around the canyons. It was so beautiful and unique. We could have gone all day!

"Christy's crack" was a favorite with the kids! It was a walk between two huge slabs of rock!

We celebrated Roary's, Ali's, Angela's and Matt's birthdays with a PIRATE PARTY!

When Deb is around, you know it's going to be quite the party!

She went all out with pirate garb, tatoos for everyone and the birthday people had to sword fight and walk the plank!

The men had a hair growing contest... what do you think? Thomas is pretty hairy!...

We had treasure hunt with ostacles like, talking with a (almost) dead pirate, defeating a mean alligator, jumping off cliffs and finally a fight with other pirates to find the treasure :)

Deb made us all playing cards with our pirate pictures and names on them... so cute!

Matt made a great pirate named Obadiah. The kids loved his accent!

We hiked up to see some Indian ruins

Our crazy cousins!

One of the highlights of the trip was hiking through a slot canyon named

Brig's crack (yes, Brig discovered it!)

This was true canyoneering at it's best. We repelled down rock walls, shimmied our way through narrow cracks and spider walked over deep pot holes. It was a BLAST!

Most of us came out with a few scrapes but it was worth it... even though Monica, Alice and Matt ended up on anti-biotic for staff infections when they got home! (but that's a whole different story!)

This is what the last obstacle looked like coming out of the canyon. We couldn't bring our camera since we had to throw our packs over rocks and into water holes. It was absolutely breathtaking!

Everyone was so impressed with how tough Jac and Thomas were going through each obstacle. They didn't complain once and did everything perfectly. It was so much fun to have them with us!

Thanks Dave and Marianne for the amazing trip and for the wonderful memories we will have forever!

Scout camp with Dad

Scout camp is great but sharing it with Dad? EVEN BETTER!!

A day in Park City

When the Whitings come into town we know we are in for lot's of FUN and ADVENTURE!

1st stop: Olympic Park

We had a blast walking through the museum and watching people practice their ski jumps.

"Catch the Fire Within"

Don't you think they would make great Olympians?

It was such a beautiful day we couldn't go home yet; so...

2nd stop: ALPINE SLIDE

Thanks to Monica, we all got to ride on the Alpine Slide. After riding the chair lift to the top, Emily wasn't so sure she wanted to do it. I am happy to report everyone survived the ride safe and sound :) (Even Emily who told me she hated it the whole way down, just might say she likes it now!)

Emily told me she loves her cousins because, "Mom, they are kind of like my age because they play with me." How great is that to have teenage cousins who make an 8 year old feel like she is one of them!

We are so blessed to have such a great family!