Ontario hockey game

Josh got tickets to the Ontario Reign. We went with Steven & Jolisa our seats were pretty awesome and our whole section won gift cards to Yard house. The cheerleader passing out the cards hooked us up and have us extra. After the game we went to eat there. The game was great lots of action which we enjoyed, sadly in the 3rd period the Las Vegas team pulled ahead. We still had fun with great company!!!

Salt Lake City

We had fun driving up. We stopped in Beaver to get cheese and ice cream from the cheese factory a childhood thing we both did as children while driving up to Utah. We enjoyed time with mom & dad Anderson, Dawn & Sunshine, Angie & Shawn. The wedding was beautiful and we feel blessed to have been there in the Mt Timpanogos temple. We loved seeing aunts, uncles and cousins. We went to see the hobbit which I actually didn't fall asleep so that was good :) we were able to go see the lights at temple square and the new fancy mall which was a sight to see.

Las Vegas

On our way up to Salt Lake for a wedding we stopped over in Vegas for the night. We stayed at the city center Vdara which was super nice and we had our own little sweet. We ate at Maggiano's which is always amazing!!! Now on to Utah....

"Ma & Pa" did you say....Our Pioneer Trek!!!!

So Memorial Day weekend as we were on our coastal trip with the Anderson Family Josh got a phone call from the stake presidency asking if we were busy the last weekend of July. He wanted to know if Josh & I would be a "Pa & Ma" for our stake pioneer trek. Josh said that we'd talk about it and get back to him. Well as much talking went on...we got feedback from the members in the car and decided that this was an opportunity for us that may not be possible at a later time. So....we went a total of 17 miles by handcart. We had our own handcart, 3 dutch ovens to do all of our cooking our bucket full of our personal stuff & we were off. We slept under the stars for 2 nights, dinner & breakfast were really great. Lunch was lite. My mom helped me make some skirts and bonnets & an apron which I made the mistake of making a white one & didn't bring an extra. It was brown by Saturday. We left on a Thursday and came back Saturday. We had an awesome family. Our "children" were really great. They were such troopers and the boys were such MEN. We were really impressed. We feel so blessed to have been able to participate in such a wonderful program. Our stake put a lot of planning into making this as real as possible for the youth. We were able to watch 17 miracles on Friday night after our long day.

**One fun highlight, because our handcart was the first one when it came time to cross the river, they loaded our handcart up and put it on this dinky little raft and pulled it across the river (this was on day 1 let me remind you). Well, all the boys jumped off except for Josh who was holding the handcart steady. So...as the raft starts to be pulled across the river I see our handcart start to tip over backwards I'm freaking out because it is FULLY loaded. I'm thinking what???? We are going to have wet clothes & wet sleeping bags oh and I borrowed 2 out of the 3 dutch ovens...lots of thoughts right?! Well, just in time one of our "sons" jumped back on to help out their "Pa"...what a great son. He didn't have dish duty that night. =)

Whatever your opinion is about pioneer treks bottom line they are a good thing, why is it really so bad for us to go out and suffer for a few days to try to understand or get a tiny glimpse of what the early pioneers did? Why do people feel like we need to shelter our youth? Our youth are so strong. We feel so blessed to live where we do & to be able to be around such valiant young women & young men.

Here is our after picture. We were dirty!!!

Blanket for Shelby

Dave & Sarah (Josh's cousin & wife) had their first baby. A baby girl. So I thought that I would put my sewing skills to work & make baby Shelby a blanket & 2 burp cloths. With the help of my mother coaching me along the blanket & burp cloths came out perfect.

Wilkins Family Summer Vacation at the Beach House!!!

For the Wilkins Family Vacation this summer my parents rented a beach house in Newport Beach for the week of July 4th. We had a blast & were able to create lots of fun loving family memories.

We had slumber parties. Tommy & Josh slept well haha. Tommy wanted to see what its like to be Mrs. Josh Anderson he pushed me out of the way. It's great Tommy right?! =)

We played in the sand.

We buried the kiddos in the sand & then took a nap. JUST KIDDING!!!!

We ate lots of deliciousness beyond the parents backs.

We buried Uncle Thomas in the sand & jumped all over him.

We watched fire works.

Grandpa & some of the grand-kids.

Grandma played with the kids. We had a great trip. Thanks mom & dad for a fun trip & the forever lasting memories.