Rhys Parker Stephens

Russell's eldest brother, Evan and his wife Becky had their 4th babe almost two months ago.
{I'm trying desperately to catch up on blogging before we move!}



Rhys {pronounced: Reece}





I love this little girl







The proud big brothers

Sno Shack

We love a good sno cone.



I think we'll get one tonight

Independence Day

I figured I better post about this before July is over! We got to celebrate the 4th of July over a very extended weekend. Couldn't have been better.



Playing with our camera



We started the 3rd off with a BBQ w/Russell's parents and sister Brittany and her husband Carsten.





I have a new found love of croquet. I hope we play this weekend!





We also rode our bikes to the West Jordan fireworks...although these pics are from our front steps during American Fork Steel Days.



On Sunday, new nephew #1 was blessed AND new nephew #2 was born! {special posts to come}

Monday we visited new nephew #2 in the hospital, bought a fridge {can you believe apartments in Cali dont have fridges?}, swam, golfed, BBQ-ed, and roasted marshmallows...but not just any ol marshmallows. Check out these jumbo ones {and a regular sized one for reference}.



Can't wait for the 24th of July festivities!

Custom Ford

Our landlords bought this sweet old car. We couldn't resist snapping some fun shots.

Bingham Canyon Mine

• Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine has produced more copper than any mine in history - about 18.1 million tons.
• The mine is 2-3/4 miles across at the top and 3/4 of a mile deep. You could stack two Sears Towers (now known as the Willis Building) on top of each other and still not reach the top of the mine.
• The mine is so big, it can be seen by the space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the United States.
• By 2015, the mine will be at least 500 feet deeper than it is now.
• If you stretched out all the roads in the open pit mine, you'd have 500 miles of roadway - enough to reach from Salt Lake City to Denver.

How could we not go see this before we moved? I had never been to the mine, neither had Becky or the kids. Loads of fun.





Sophia loved pointing out all the trucks. They were massive, just check out this tire...

Lift off

PVC pipe. Sprinkler valves. Air compressor. Cardstock. Nose cones. Tape.

And you have a flying rocket.

Russell's brother Evan {I assume his wife Becky had a large part in engineering this too} created a rocket launching device. There will be a competition at the upcoming Stephen's family reunion so a trial run was needed.




Everyone made their very own rocket. Russell reflected on our past {BYU} and I looked toward our future {USC}. Although we wrapped my rocket too tight and it never flew, we don't think this in any indication of what USC will hold for us.



Me with the kiddos



Do they look sand deprived? They have wasps in the sand box at home!

Thai Kitchen

Reunited with our long lost friends.....Thai Kitchen & the SERAFINES!!!!
{who now reside in AZ for Med school}



It was so good to catch up with these guys! We miss them. And we all agree that this is the BEST Thai around. Masman Curry and Pad Tai. mmmmm.

lagoon.

We LOVE lagoon! This is our second year going with Russell's fam and apart from being soaked and cold all evening, it was a BLAST!



It's hard to keep the entire family {except Brittany and Carsten who were still in the Hospital with their new baby} together. We lost most of them as soon as we got in the park! I got to go on the first ride w/Chris...he was SO excited, I loved it!

This is most of us waiting in line for Rattle Snake Rapids! Notice the "matching" couples {we paired Brian and Kade haha}. The children were intentionally "matched" but not the adults! Evan and Becky were in blue's too!







As if one round of SOAKING wasn't enough..a few of us {brave} souls decided to go again!



Probably not the best idea I ever had...



Ashley & I getting the brunt of the waterfall! I love how I think covering my head will actually help.





A small side trip to the Dentist.



This was the craziest of them all. Brian paid for Russell {as his last HURRAH before dental school} and Kade {as his last HURRAH before his mission} to go on the Slingshot...I was a tad scared for my husband's life. And yes, Kade's too.



Thanks for a great day Lagoon. Your new rival is Disneyland...ah, we can't wait for season passes!

ode to fathers

Fathers Day was superb this year. Perfect weather. Great food. Delightful company. Only wish I could have spent it with my Daddy too!




This picture was just too good...I'm pretty sure neither caught this, wonder why!



Its been fun watching/helping Sophia and Tylee learn to jump. They're getting good now!




Russell has new nephew #1 and I have new baby cousin Kayzn (not sure how they are spelling it! oops). And I recently realized I have no pics of Russell and his Dad! Perfect day to get one.

play date.

We have TWO new nephews! More on them to come....after our first new nephew was born, we took his 3 older siblings out for the night to give mom and dad some time to relax with the new babe. These 3 are a blast and we're going to miss them SO much when we move.



Sophia. Chris. Spencer.

Sophia singing. oh the sound of her own voice. Chris playing. the stream with endless possibilities. Spencer exploring. the rock providing a dam in the stream.



Spencer was a baseball champ! Russell and I were both impressed at how good he was. This kid hit the ball almost every time!

Thanks for spending the evening with us...we love you!