Manzanares Clan!

Every other year, for July 24th, the Manzanares family all gathers at Grandma's house in Monticello, UT. This year we had an insane turn out and it was so good to see everyone. Did you know that most families don't do this? Ha! I love it.

^^ That's most of our Manzanares's^^



^^ There's the rest- these slackers were taking naps during group photo shoots! Geeze! :-D




We all really miss Grandma when we go there but it's so great to see all of our Cousins, Aunts,and Uncles!


Speaking of Uncles- ^ that's Uncle Frank & I. Talk about a great guy. He is so sweet to his wife- my Aunt Rosa. Guys- take notes on this sweet talker!



We can sit and chat in my Grandma's sisters yard all morning! Aunt Telesflora is the closest thing to a Grandma I have left! xoxo

I also had a chance to meet up with some cousins I haven't seen in ages.


It's always nice to become reacquainted and we really had that opportunity this time since Kendall (on my left) drove home with us this year and we took her to the SL Airport. Next reunion~ I am running that race with these girls- who's with me? ? ?

Monticello always goes all out on the 24th. They had a park breakfast, a parade, a mini fair and of course fire works! We even managed to sneak in some fishing.



All the kids wanted to do was swim - ahh the good old days! Whining about going to the pool while the adults tried to do their thing!





The lake was a little cold so I took them back to the hotel while the grown ups did some fishing. (hey, I felt bad for the little tikes- I remember those days!)



All in all it was a great trip! I'm proud to share my childhood memories with Andrew & Isaiah. Monticello has a special place in my heart and always will! Till next time~ 2012!

The LAKE!

If I could bottle a feeling and some how retain it forever I'd have to consider bottling the feeling I have when I wake up in the morning and see....



Ahhhh. What a feeling! We always look forward to the next trip to Lake Powell! And it certainly helps that we get to stay on an amazing houseboat! Thanks Brick and George! This year we (by we I mean Brick and boys) actually beached the houseboat and stayed out playing from dawn til dusk! We were stoked that the Muirs were able to come down from SD to join us and Isaiah always has lots of fun with his cousins! Skyler and Britt came as well as Alisha and Kaylee. We missed Samantha this time but we'll get her to come next time! We had so much fun, words could not express it and blogger couldn't possibly hold all the memories but here's a few;





One day while walking through Walmart I had this seemingly fun idea about everyone wearing red,white and blue for a day while we were at the lake. Luckily for me Andrew's family usually takes to my wonky ideas pretty well. They even took it up a notch and some one bought bandanna's and we ended up with some crazy glasses, bracelets, necklaces and tank tops. We blew the red,white and blue through the roof!







Geeze- imagine how much fun we could have had if it was actually the 4th of July or something!


Can't forget about the houseboat slide:




Amongst the sliding, tubing, wakeboarding, knee-boarding and air-chairing, the guys and kids also managed to sneek in some fishing! Who'da thought?




So after all that fun we needed some time to recover- but of course there was no time for rest! My new motto~




and that sums up our 2010 Lake Powell Adventure!

June~ Part 1

I wish I was better at this blogging business but~ life is too short to sit down for too long.

Here's June in a flash....

The first weekend of June we got our boat up and running~ we bought it knowing a couple of things had to be done - hence the 'great deal'. So we got it back and haven't stopped running wild since! We were supposed to go boating with the Eyre family over Memorial Day for Amber's bday but the boat wasn't done in time so we had to have a redo; here it is~

The Eyre's

Gavinn~ Snug as a bug in his secret shade spot!

Amber and Trevann

My first run of the season behind our first boat ever....Nope I wasn't thrilled at all!
Happy boat owners! Thanks for letting me borrow those sweet shades Sky- lost mine off the back of the boat~opps, we'll watch out for that! You might even notice Isaiah managed to catch a wake board with his face.... hence the band aid- poor kid!


Next came Andrew's birthday!!! The big 29 this year! Next year we'll have to do something major! We WERE going to go to Lake Powell for his birthday but there was some dance recital interference so we postponed and had family dinner at our house!






Turns out I don't have very many pictures of all the people that turned out but I will say there were LOTS and Andrew said it was the best birthday he's had in a long while. He was feeling very loved that day!

June 12, 2010
Isaiah had his first dance recital, he was really good! I was so proud of him! Lot's of family came out to support his first of what I'm sure will be many performances. When I met him back stage after the show he said "Mom, I'm pretty sure I was born for the stage" and maybe he is!





After that excitement we made it to a couple of weddings;

Congrats to Mandi and Tom


(for the record...technically she dropped him during the dip, even IF she's the one who fell.... oops)

And to Brooke and Curtis


We also celebrated my nephew's baby blessing.... ah sweet baby Gavin w his dashing great-grandparents!(June 13, 2010)



Did I mention this all took place in two days? Wheeeeew.

And three days later we left for Lake Powell which my friends is a blog all it's own....coming soon!

Pine Wood Derby

May was also a big month for Isaiah!

He got strep throat and missed a few days of school. He hasn't been that sick in a long time. Poor kid. Luckily he got better in time to participate in his first Pinewood Derby and ended up taking 3rd overall!









He had a lot of fun making and racing this car with his dad. And both of the Kimball boys weren't ashamed to take some advice from the Derby Pro Grandpa Manzanares!

True Love-

May 8, 2008= the day two became one...officially.


Mawidge...mawidge is what bwings us togewer today... Mawidge, the bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffim a dweam... ... Ven wuv, twoo wuv, wiw fowwow you fowever..
--Peter Cook as The Impressive Clergyman - Princess Bride

We started May off by celebrating our 2nd anniversary. This year we went to Lava Hot Springs!



Since we didn't think very far ahead when we got married... our Anniversary always falls on Mother's Day weekend meaning we try not to ask our Mom's to babysit... So Papa Dan and Paulette watched the Izster this year while we snuck away for the night! Thanks again guys!

We had such a great night. We took some fancy clothes for a dinner date not knowing quite what to expect and then upon arrival remembered that Lava is just a quaint little po-dunk town with a giant hot tub. Our hotel room was a far cry from the Zermatt Resort we stayed at last year. Polar opposite to be exact, which just ended up being hilarious. Our cinder block walled room was a burning 80 degrees and we couldn't figure out how to turn the fireplace off for hours (there is no front desk, we checked in at a gift shop down the road). Andrew thought he was going to pass out.





We did have a pretty view of the river out of our back door. Which was great considering we had all the doors wide open when ever we were there!



We went and played a few holes of Frisbee golf and then decided to trade the steak dinner for a cute pizza parlor after which we soaked it up in the steaming HOT tubs. 103-112 degrees~ WOWZERS!

Sunday/Mother's Day we decided to have that steak after all but this time we did it with breakfast. Mmmm. We also stopped to get some magic water for Isaiah before we left.





We had a great trip celebrating a fabulous two years together. Here's to many more!

And to all you lovers out there- Remember;

True love is the greatest thing in the world..
Except for a nice MLT--
Mutton, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich,
When the mutton is nice and lean
And the tomatoes ripe... (Princess bride)

Moab Car Show

Did I mention we love MOAB? ? ?

Well we do and we promptly went back on the 23rd for the Moab Car Show. This time we drug my boss and his family along so they could see what all the fuss is about. Besides they needed to take out their new motorhome for a test drive!

We'd never been to Moab for the car show since we usually go for Easter but it was definatley worth the trip and good times were had by all.

We saw some awesome cars:


^As cool as this 1969 Chevy Camaro was.... my dad's is better than yours. (hee hee hee)


^And this pink wonder was not only awesome but dedicated to the King- which made it even cooler. Good thing my dad taught me to love cars and Elvis- this was my show favorite!


We went to the Arches National Park- it was free entry week even! Whooo Whooo!







And we also took a trip to Hole in the Rock:




And Wilson's Arch:




^This place always makes me think of Grandma Manzanares for some reason. I was so proud when she climbed all the way up there to take pictures with me when I was 7!

So it turns out~ It's hard not to have a good time in Moab and we sqeezed in lots of fun in 2 days! The Reads all seemed to have a good time too and I was sooo happy we got the chance to be their tour guides!