Maryn shakin' it in Sidney, Montana

What do I say about Maryn? She is my hero! This girl is one tough cookie! Life has handed her some pretty tough cards and she just keeps truckin' along. She has recently decided to make some BIG changes in her life. She started by renting out her condo in Lehi and moving back in with her parents in Springville. She quit her job and decided to go dance with Powerhouse for the summer. She also enrolled in school and is hoping to get into the nursing program. (Jake just got accepted into the nursing program and is working towards becoming a nurse anesthetist...I am a proud sister!) We found out that the weekend after we got back from Utah she would be dancing in Sidney, Montana. Boy was I excited! Sidney is just about an hour from Williston...so about 1.5 hour drive for us. We were going to go watch her dance on Saturday, but decided to go Friday night and go to the rodeo with her as well. They put on quite the show! Emma loved it but had her embarrassed look on her face. She does that when she gets excited but doesn't want to smile! They did a half an hour show...it looked exhausting! At the end of their show they invited the little kids to come up and learn a few moves. Maryn had to drag Emma to the stage and she wouldn't move a muscle but she had fun! We are so proud of Maryn and we're happy that we could be there to see her dance!










After her show we headed over to the rodeo grounds. We got our tickets and went to find a seat. There were NONE! We actually ended up sitting on the cement/dirt/grass. It was not comfortable. We were just happy to be able to spend some time with Maryn! She had run back to her hotel to shower and change and she and her group met us at the rodeo a little while later.




We ended up spending the night in Sidney that night. For some reason the hotel had given Powerhouse an extra room so we took them up on the offer to stay. The next morning we slept in and then went with Maryn and walked around the fair and took Emma to the carnival. We had a good time! Thanks Maryn for letting us be there!

Mills Family Reunion

Wow! It has taken me forever to post this. On the 31st of July we headed to Idaho where Ivan's sister Melissa lives. All of Ivan's siblings were there minus Dusty. We went to the Burley boat dock and hung out on the grass under a big willow tree. Melissa's husband Klade brought their boat and took everyone out that wanted to. Ivan and I went out with his mom while she tried to water ski. After she made a few attempts Ivan gave it a try. Neither one of them got up but it was fun watching! ;)I think everyone had a really good time playing in the water and visiting.














After we were there a couple hours we headed out to this random house of a famliy that decided to have a water park in their yard. It was amazing! They had two huge water slides that you could go down on a tube or your belly or whatever. The kids went up and down the entire night! Emma thought it was the funnest thing ever! People go there for famliy reunions and parties and stuff. They don't charge you to go but they do accept donations. Mellisa just had to call and beg to get us a reservation for that weekend. There really weren't too many other people there so everyone got plenty of turns on the slides. They also have a candy canon that they will shoot if you bring your own candy. There are pavilions with picnic tables, spots to camp, bathrooms and a nice playground. They also have a zip line that looked scary. It doesn't go into a pool of water or anything...just grass. You have to start running when you get to the ground and hope that you stop before you hit the fence! It was kinda crazy but was fun to watch. We were so glad that we could rearrange things a little to be able to make it to this fun reunion. Now that we all live far away from eachother times like this won't happen as often. It was good to see everyone and hear about all the fun changes that are happening in everyones lives.










That night we headed back to Corinne to spend the night. It was kind of an adventure on the way home too. We knew that we needed to fill up with gas which we thought was no problem 'cause there was a gas station right by the interstate. When we got there however they were closed and did not have card readers on their pumps! Who does that? It was only just after nine as well. We ended up turning around and driving to this tiny town that did happen to have a card reader on their pumps. We called Melissa and Klade to make sure before we went anywhere. Things like that happen in North Dakota but I didn't think we would have a problem in Idaho. Worst news is we hit a beautiful white owl on the way to the second station. I saw it coming and covered my eyes but looked up just as it hit the windshield. Sad.
The next day we went our ward in Corinne. It was good to see some familiar faces and visit with friends that we have missed.

Tim McGraw

We went to the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum concert while Ivan was in Utah. We went with Jake & Jamie, Maryn, Ashley, Nikki, Cami, Cindy and some of Nikki's friends. The concert was great! The drive there was not so great. Ivan and I left my mom's house at 5:30...the concert started at seven. We didn't get there until 7:45. We missed most of Lady A but we got to see Tim! I love my family and have so much fun being with them. There is never a dull moment with those crazies! :) Here are the fabulous pics we took! haha

There were soooooo many people there!

The group

Ash and Nik are crazy!


Jake and Jamie

Me and the boy

Jamie and Smashley


Me, Maryn and Smashley


The gang

Be still

Yep! We are that hot! hehe

Bridal Veil Falls

I am nearly a month behind on my blog! Time to catch up quick! While we were in Utah we decided to go up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was so pretty! There were a ton of people up there. Josh and Trisha and their kids had been going on hikes every night to see how long it would take them to get to the falls. They would start where they stopped the day before. The kids and I and my parents drove up to meet them the day they made it to the falls. Pretty ambitious of them to hike with a 6 year old, 5 year old, 1 year old and a newborn. One day Trisha said they hiked 5 miles! Caden crashed one day on his scooter. He had the BIGGEST goose egg ever. Hailey fell a different day and scraped up her knee and hip really bad. They are good sports though and kept on goin'. Those kids are so active and fun....Emma had such a good time playing with them while we were there. Here are a few pics.