A Very Merry Christmas

We started our Christmas festivities on December 20th with a Saluone family party. We all went to church together, had a nice meal afterward and then went to temple square together. It was really fun, and really cold.

The Grotto - Again

We did another hike this summer, to The Grotto in Payson canyon. We've taken the dogs on this hike before, mainly because it's a really easy hike and gives them a chance to get out in nature. Unfortunately there were other groups of people on the hike this day so we didn't get a chance to take pictures at the end of the hike where the actual grotto is. But it was still a fun hike and the dogs enjoyed it.

Timp Cave

This summer we hiked up to Timp Cave. It was really fun.

Here we are at the beginning of the hike.

It started to get pretty hard and we had to climb part of the way.

Not really, but it's fun to pretend. The hike is pretty strenuous so we needed something to do while we rested.

It took a little while, but we finally made it to the entrance of the cave.

We took the cave tour and it was awesome, but none of the pictures turned out great so I didn't post any of them. This is the view from the top - the exit of the cave. Our camera doesn't do it justice.

We're actually lucky we made it back down. Right as we were starting to hike back down the trail there was a rock slide. We had to run back up the trail out of the red zone and watched as several rocks and at least one very large boulder came falling from the cliffs above. We waited until it was safe and then made our way back down.

J had done the hike when he was younger, but I had never done it and it was really fun. It's not for small children, but it would be a fun family hike. The hike is paved the whole way and it's free, but it costs money to tour the cave. I highly recommend it.

We're Still Alive!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything. I've been kind of blah lately and haven't felt like going through our photos and putting a post together. We're in a bit of a transition, Jonathan is getting laid off for the winter season - which we were prepared for, but it's still not the ideal situation. We're getting geared up for the holidays and that is inspiring me to do a little more crafting. But I need to do some major cleaning of the craft area first! Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that more posts will be coming soon ;)

Utah Lake Beach

A month or so ago Jonathan and I took the dogs and Jaida to the Utah Lake Beach. You didn't know Utah Lake had a beach? We didn't either for a while. It's this nice little bank where the city (I don't know which city did it) brought in some sand and put up some picnic tables and a volleyball pit. It was a nice walk and the dogs really enjoyed it, except that Kimo was really tired when we got back to the car.

Welcome, Ashton!

I'm really behind on my blog posts, so I thought I would start catching up by posting photos of our newest nephew, Ashton Cluff. Ashton is the son of Russell and Julia. He was born on August 15, 2009. His nose was a little smashed when he was born, but he's already grown out of that. He is such a cutie! The first few pictures are of the day he was born, the next few are the day after he was born and was still in the hospital, and the rest are when he was three days old and coming home from the hospital. Precious!

A Reminder

My Mom sent me this video clip today and it was just what I needed. I especially liked the part about feeding our spirit. I really need to do more everyday to feed my spirit instead of just my body. I hope you enjoy this (it's less than 7 minutes long).

Arizona

In June we traveled with half the family down to Arizona to drop Jonathan's parents off so they could fly to Hawaii from Phoenix. It was a fun, hectic weekend. The kids played Guitar Hero:

Jonathan wrestled with the boys, and his brother (no photos of that match):

We hung around the house and talked:

We played with Tasi:

We had a picnic in the park:

The kids played in the flower sprinklers:

We went to a Terence & Barb's friend's house and played in their pool:

The kids did several dives off the diving board:

I painted my toenails:

The boys played water basketball:

Jonathan layed on the trampoline to dry off. I love this picture of him, so happy.

One of the funnest parts of the trip was playing night games with everybody. I couldn't get very good pictures in the dark. This one looks like there are ghosts in it because the kids started running when I took it.

I got some battle wounds from playing the night games.

We also went to the Mesa temple.

It was beautiful.

And there's a statue in the park across the street from the temple. One of the men in the statue is Jonathan's great, great, something (I think Uncle, I'll have to ask again).