24th of July in Flaming Gorge

One of our favorite family traditions is to go to Flaming Gorge for the 24th of July holiday. In Utah, we celebrate Pioneer Day on the 24th and it's a great excuse to have a day off!! We have had such fun in Flaming Gorge over the years and look forward to it each year. This year was a little different for us since we have a new motorhome. Instead of roughing it in the campground we stayed in a KOA in Manila and had a blast. (Mom enjoys the full hook ups the most - shower, hot food, shade, oh yea).

Harry and Erica were our camping and boating partners this year. They brought their van to sleep in but stayed with us in the lake. We had great food and great laughs.

We met up with Jim and Jackie; Scott and Deb; Don and Deb; and Tyler and Jamie. They all stayed at the Lucerne Marina and camped in their boats. Their boats have the big aft cabins and fit a ton of people. (We haven't joined the old man's club yet - probably never will if Todd has anything to say!)

We are so fortunate to have such amazing people that we get to spend time with!

This is typical of Kayden, Jordyn and Ebony. They love to ride right up front looking at the water and feeling the wind in their hair.

Harry and Erica

Not sure exactly what inspired this one. I'm sure Senor Bush has something to do with it. ;)

A great time was had by all. We can't wait to go again next year!

Kayden in the kitchen

What a ham! I walked out into the kitchen to find Kayden lounging across the stove like a bathing beauty. After giving him a strange look he just replied " What?". Like lounging while cooking chicken nuggets is totally normal!

I don't know what I'd do without this kid making me laugh all day.

Zack

Getting a few words out of Zack is nearly impossible. He's 14. When you're 14 the only thing that matters is when you're going to get to go skateboarding again, what kind of treats are in the pantry and whose texting you this time. Even though Zack's not full of words, he's a darling young man that has a special place in my heart. Recently he cut off those curly locks and looks like he's ready for the military!

Koolaid anyone?

Kayden and his friend Garrett had a great time selling Koolaid today. They both made a few dollars and decided they'd had enough and had to move on to bigger and better things.

Just after cleaning up their money maker, they headed to Garrett's house where they proceeded to "take a spin" (in Garrett's own words) on two four-wheelers they had no business being on.

Since Kayden isn't as professional as his buddy, he hit the neighbors fence post and smashed the front of the four wheeler. Playtime was officially over and it was time to break out the bandaids.

We're all glad everyone is okay but aren't looking forward to the trouble these two young ones have in store for them if they're already trouble at age 6 and 7! Look out Spanish Fork!

Recycle it!

This post is to encourage all my friends and family in the Spanish Fork area to participate in our new city recycling program. It's off to a great start but only 500 residents have expressed interest and they won't start the program until 2,000 sign up for the service. To find out more about the city's program or to add your name to the list go to www.spanishfork.org/recycle I've been waiting for a program like this in our city for years and encourage everyone to participate!

amy

Camping for the 4th of July

This year to celebrate the 4th of July (and escape the heat of the valley) we decided to head up the canyon and park our motorhome in a comfy spot in the trees. We headed up there the beginning of the week and commuted back and forth each morning. It was so peaceful there and most of the week we had the campground to ourselves! We rode bikes, played board games, watched movies and of course ate like kings (thanks to Dad who is a wonderful camp chef!)
A highlight of the week was playing in the creek nearby. The water was shallow enough to park our lawn chairs right in the rushing water. It was a blast!
We were joined by good friends, weird neighbors and a few bugs who tried to run off with dinner. ;)

Park City

While I was at my Heritage Makers conference Todd and the kids stayed with me and played around in Park City. Todd is such a great dad and has so much fun with the kids. They went to the movies, went swimming and rode the Alpine Slide!

Leadership

I LOVE my job!! I am so fortunate to make money doing something I love. I am a Personal Publishing Consultant with Heritage Makers, an online digital publishing company where you can create custom digital scrapbooks using a state of the art web based interface. It's an amazing concept of preserving heritage and I love helping others do it.

This weekend I attended what they called Leadership Conference. Several of the top consultants in Heritage Makers came together to strenghten our testimony of the vision and mission of the company and network with other leaders in many parts of the country.

Digital scrapbooking has become "the" way for memory preservation and Heritage Makers is poised to be "the" company that leads the way as we move into this digital revolution.

Before I became a Heritage Makers consultant I had boxes of photos that sat in storage. Now my photos have come to life in beautiful digital storybooks that are making a difference in my family. I am blessed to be able to help others do the same and teach them digital scrapbooking through the unique and user friendly system that Heritage Makers offers.

Above is a photo of me at the conference with our company president Doug Cloward. Doug and many others have been a significant part of my Heritage Makers journey as I have grown into a leader in th company. I am grateful for the opportunity to grow and learn so much about myself as well as found a great new hobby . . . digital scrapbooking. If you'd like to see what the company is all about you can visit my website at http://www.bindyourstories.com/