Jillian's Senior Pictures

Part of the reason Jillian came to stay with me over the summer was so Erika could take her Senior Pictures. As usual, she did an amazing job!

You can see more of Jillian's amazing photos at Erika Snow.com.

Jillian Homecoming 2010

Jillian was on Homecoming Royalty and was totally robbed of the crown. ;) I was able to travel to St. George to see her and to do her hair for the dance. The parents escorted the Royalty members onto the track during half-time for the Homecoming Football Game. She looked amazing!
The following day was the day date and dance. Dad, of course, was on hand the threaten her date into behaving properly (as if that was a problem, he is a good guy!)

Jillian went with Kendall Wilkey, his dad Rex and our Dad were mission companions so it was just kind of funny that they went together. Jillian, of course, looked amazing (even wearing her Converses)!
Jillian has wanted to wear pearls in her hair since Jocee wore them to a dance and they looked incredible against her dark locks.



Every time there is a dance we always stage a photo of the girls (be it Jordanne or Jillian) pinning the flower on their date but every time I end up pinning the flower so the date doesn't bleed from the girls tender ministrations. This time the staged photo didn't turn out (Jillian looks stoned) and I accidentally ended up in the photo while pinning the flower on.

I am glad I was able to be there to see Jillian looking all grown up!

Phoenix Zoo Summer 2010

Jillian came and spent some time with us over the summer. One morning we braved the heat and visited the zoo. By braved the heat I mean it was 92 degrees when we started and an hour later it was 102 degrees.

The Phoenix Zoo is one of the only zoos in the world to have a Monkey House where the monkeys roam free and visitors are allowed to go into their enclosures. You aren't allowed to touch or pick up the monkeys but you do get to be amazingly close.

Surprisingly all the animals were really active so it was well worth the sweat we worked up. :)

Houseboat Summer 2010

We were able to join the family for a couple days out at the lake to stay on Dad's houseboat. Luckily everyone except Jocee, Zorn and the kids were able to come while we were there (but we missed them). Because there are so many of us it was mob scene most of the time, trying to find a place to sit, let alone sleep could be a challenge but we loved every minute of it!

Henry was even there, well kind of, a brave pregnant Rachel made the drive from Logan to suffer in 125 degree weather to join us at the houseboat.

If you are wondering why there aren't any photos of me, let's just say the person who carries the camera determines who is the photos and since I carry the camera I get to decide. Also, nobody really wants to see my glow-in-the-dark white body in a bathing suit.

Jillian got a job for the summer counting fish on the Virgin River (okay, her official job title was something else but basically she spent every day at the River counting fish) and as a result had a wicked tan from her shoes that took forever to go away.

Montezuma's Castle and Well

Okay, I realize it has been a little while since I posted on this blog. In my defense I do post five times a week on my book website but I guess it is time to update the blog and fill everyone in on what Colby and I have been up to for the last little while (okay, almost a year).

After our trip to CA we decided to seem some of the local sites here in AZ. Too many people go on vacations to visit other places but never see the sites around where they live. We drove up to Motezuma's Castle, which I was told by everyone and the website was a hike to the ruins. Umm...they lied....it was a level paved concrete path that round trip was less than 1/2 mile.

Unfortunately this was about as close as they let you get to the ruins. We had anticipated something a bit more challenging than than level path that took less than a 1/2 including photo time so we decided to go see Montezuma's Well. It was a great choice!

The Well is a much longer hike with a lot of stairs if you want to go down to the actual water and not just view it from the rim. The water that flows into this well is warm and fresh and over a million gallons a day flow through it. There are numerous animal trails and Native American ruins around the Well including an amazing irrigation system created by the Native Americans who farmed in the nearby Valleys.

It was a little warm while we hiked by well worth the drive and the trek!