Arizona, Here I Come...

I bought my plane tickets today for my trip to Arizona. I will be down there the week of November 10Th. I am just like a little kid at Christmas time when it comes to my trips to Arizona. Once it gets closer to my trip I can't stop thinking about it, I count down the days and then it is gone before I know it. Since this year I am only going to make it down once I want to make the most of my trip. I have made a list of things I want to do and this is what I have come up with so far...

*Visit family and friends.

*Day trip to Sedona if Jen is up to it. I still have never been.

*Play with the Bauers' cute little Yorkie puppies and kids.

*Eat yummy food (i.e. Bahama Bucks, In and Out and a good Mexican restaurant)

*Watch Quantum of Solace (HP...want to come?)

*Session @ the Mesa Temple (anyone in?)

*Relax!!!!

Thank You Jen and HP

My mom asked that I do this post especially for Jen and HP. Jen is my cousin and we are just 3 months apart. She is my dearest friend and I would rather call her a sister then a cousin. HP is her husband and I have enjoyed getting to know him over the years and I am glad to call him family. They have three wonderful children that keep their lives busy and entertaining. I need to come and visit soon before I can't recognize them. Hopefully November!!

Last summer Jen, HP and the kids came to Utah to visit. While visiting Jen and HP told my mom about a tree that Jen had helped her mother-in-law make. My mom loved the idea so Jen and HP set about to find all the materials to make the tree. They went to the store a couple of times, stayed up late and worked really hard to complete the tree before their journey back to Arizona. The final result was a very unique piece of art that displays my mom's angels and fairies. My mom loves her angels so it makes her very happy to be able to display it in such a way that the angels seem to float. Her two granddaughters, Stephanie and Payton, love Grandma's tree. Stephanie has two of her own angels on the tree and know that she can touch those ones. Patyon has been really good about just looking and not touching. I think Mom is going to have a very hard time putting away the angels to replace them with Christmas Ornaments for the Christmas season. So from my mom to Jen and HP...Thank you very much for my amazing tree!! I love you guys.

Women in the Outdoors - Camp Wapiti - Tooele, UT

Michelle, Taunya, Kat and Dana

My friend Kathryn, my sister Taunya and her friend Michelle had ourselves quite the adventure at this years WITO in Tooele. Man, we really had to rough it. Just kidding, we stayed in cabins so there really wasn't much roughing it. For those of you that have been, it reminded me of Kamp Kenyon.

August 22

2:00 - Got to camp and unloaded.

2:30 - My first class was self defense but the instructor was a no show. Instead I made these cute coasters. Just the night before I was saying that I needed coasters. First klutz alert of the trip - I hot glued my finger. Still hurts...

4:30 - My next class ,which Kathryn and Taunya were in as well, was knot tying. The class was so large that I really didn't get much out of it. Instead Taunya kept hitting me with the rope trying to give me a welt. Then I look over at Kat and she is covered in dust from head to toe. Apparently her first class, handguns, was up the hill and she had to ride in the back of the truck to get there. What a sight. I felt like the disruptive kid in class.

6:30 and on - We had dinner and a pj contest. Afterwards was an absolute blast. I have this game called Werewolves. Some of you may have played a similar game called Mafia. I have never laughed so hard in my life. We had about 9 of us playing until about midnight. There were these two older ladies, Sima and Jenny, that were a riot. They were trying so hard to get the hang of the game.

August 23rd

Bright and early we were up and at em.

8:00 - All four of us had the same morning class of hiking. It was very informative. The ladies teaching it went over things to carry in case you are stranded or hurt. The part that cracked me up was the poo tasting. Actually, they were trying to teach us what animal has been around by the poo they left behind. To demonstrate they brought chocolate that matched the size and shape. For example, we at whoppers as they were talking about deer.

10:00- Off to nutrition. Goodness knows I needed the reminder

1:30 - This next class is one of my favorites. It is called Mountain Womaning which consists of loading and shooting muzzle loaders. There is something about loading a gun with black powder that is thrilling. Okay, here is klutz alert 2 - My hand was smashed between the barrel of the gun and the ram rod. The instructor was trying to show me something and smashed my had in the barrel. It didn't hurt but it cut enough to where I got a tetanus shot once Monday rolled around.

3:30 - My final class of the day was archery. There was only 3 of us in the last archery class so we got plenty of time to shoot. I found myself competing with Kat although she just laughed at me. All in all I hit 18 targets. That is so much better then my whopping zero the last time. The instructor was teasing me the entire time for getting so excited but I couldn't help it. They say things come in three so here is the final klutz alert. Just about every time I let the bow go it would hit my left arm. I had such a big welt when I was done but I didn't really care. It was too much fun.

5:30 and on - More eating, skits and chatting. We had a raffle to raise money for the National Wild Turkey Federation. I won a camping chair and table out of it and Taunya got a sleeping bag. Then Sima and Jenny stopped by with treats and said they were calling for a rematch of werewolves. Again we were up until about midnight. Taunya kept taking me out in the first round. I think she was having a little too much fun.

The next morning we packed up and headed back into town to drop off Taunya and Michelle. Then Kat dropped me off in Sandy and I rushed to get ready for church.

If anyone is interested in finding events in their neck of the woods check out http://www.womenintheoutdoors.org/. I promise there is a good time to be had for everyone. Events usually run early to late summer.

Some Super Cute Kids

Here are some super cute pictures of my niece Stephanie and my nephew Heston. Stephanie just started her 1st day of 1st grade today. She loves school and reading so I know she is having a fabulous day. Heston starts kindergarten on Tuesday and is so looking forward to it. Oh my how time flies. I can still remember the day both of those kids were born. I am super lucky to be their aunt. Happy first day of school!!!!!

Stephanie Marie Coon Age 6
Heston Dennis Coon Age 5

Look! These two really do care about each other. I think Heston is excited for school so he can be like his older sister.

Here is Taunya with her kids Stephanie and Heston. What a cute new hairdo!

Tag...your it!

I have been tagged by my good friend Vanessa. Here's what I'm supposed to do: list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people.

Joys
1. My Family
2. Reading
3. The Outdoors

Fears
1. Losing another family member
2. Anything near my ears (First, thanks to an episode of Star Trek. Second, thanks to the girl who got a lady bug in her ear at Kamp Kenyon. Poor girl but scarred me for life.)
3. Speaking in Public (hate it)

Current Obsessions/Collections
1. Twilight Saga - I may be done reading it but can't stop talking about it. Anyone know of another good book?
2. Vegetables (love my dad's garden)
3. Olympics (mostly gymnastics and swimming)

Surprising Facts
1. I have performed at halftime for the Phoenix Suns (me too!)
2. I can load and shoot a musket
3. I once wore two different colored shoes to school (Not the time at Mesa Jr. for band - I mean on accident to college. Very stressful time.)

Five people I tag next are:
Jenny
Amanda
Anyone else that is reading and wants to participate.

Things I did this weekend...

1. I finished reading "Breaking Dawn". I was sad this was the last book in the Twighlight series but it had a great ending. For those of you that are not hooked yet watch out. Once you pick up the series you won't be getting much sleep.


2. I went on a date.


3. Payton, Amanda and I had a sleepover at my house Friday night. Since I ended my date early I called Amanda and had her bring Payton over. The sleepy little girl did not fall asleep until around 4 just to wake up at 8. As you can see below she looked tired but she wouldn't fall asleep.

3. Dad and I picked all the vegetables from the garden. We picked beans, peppers (bell and Anaheim), tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and more beans. Dad must have planted at least 20 green bean plants.

Dad and I had an audience. The goat had a front row seat.

This furry little bumble bee decided he had to be in the flower of whatever plant I was currently picking beans from.

4. I learned how to cook Chili Verde tonight although I used chicken instead of pork. It was a lot of fun. I roasted the Anaheim peppers and peeled off the skin. Once I did that I chopped them up and added them to the stove with the chicken and potatoes. It was so easy. With all the Anaheim peppers we picked, see below, we should have plenty to make this yummy recipe again.

5. I got Payton up Sunday morning at about 11. I thought she was being a little too quiet but thought she was just really tired from lack of sleep. She didn't sleep much at all the night before at my house. Oh no, she was being quiet because she was up to no good. Of course, being the great aunt I am, I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. I am surprise the pictures turned out. The camera was a little shaky from my laughing. Amanda on the other hand dove right in and got her in the bath. I think we all learned that her arms are longer then we thought. Time to move more things out of the reach from the crib.

6. I went and visited my new ward (it is actually a branch). I have been at my new house almost two months and decided it was time to give it a shot. It is a little closer to home which is nice but I will miss everyone at the old ward.

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

What an adventure I had. The Parley's 7th Ward, my singles ward, went on a pioneer trek. We did a rather "short" trek in comparison to the youth but that was just fine with me. We left on Friday August 1st and got home Saturday evening the 2nd. We trekked a total of 11 miles with 6 miles being walked the first day. I would say the first day was by far the hardest. There were a lot of hills to walk up. That alone would have been difficult but adding a couple hundred pounds with the handcart (think of the handcart plus all of our gear) made the task even more difficult. They saved the last hill for the best part although I didn't admit that it was the "best" part until it was over. We did what was called the "women's pull". For those of you that have never been on a trek this is the time when the men leave and the women pull in silence. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was to represent when the saints were approached by the US government to fight in the Mexican American war. The men and their older sons only had moments to go before they were to leave their families. The women had to keep moving. Wow. What a humbling experience. It was the hardest for us physically but the men had a hard time with it emotionally. They told us we were inspiring. Hope you enjoy the pictures. You can click on the picture to enlarge.

"My Family"

Dana and ShannonTaking a rest
A Pioneer Game
Showing off the bloomers. Here we are. We made it!!!!