Out on the lake

Boating...

need I say more?

Every summer we spend endless hours together as a family on Grandpa's boat.  This summer was no exception.  We made time to go 5 or 6 times during our holiday.  Mmm-Mmm good!

Oh I love it!  Boating is certainly on my list of my favorite things to do.
Luckily, Mr. Phil has decided to be like me.  I know, what could be better right?
Ha- nah, I mean he's decided to love boating.  I chose a winner!
Oh, and he loves wake boarding too.  Double win!
And here's Phil himself.  Struttin' his stuff and wavin' at the cam.

and me...just chillin' on the board.

When the lake gave us choppy water did we go home? NO!

That would be simply ridonkulous.  It's too much fun to throw people off the tube in the kinds of conditions.

Here's a tribute to our friend Mr. Tube.  Please enjoy our favorite photos with you this summer.

Enjoy the show! We certainly did!

Phil didn't even stand a chance.  Mr Tube got him good.

Lookie there! It's me!

Going...

...going...

...GONE!

(pardon the bum-shot but it was for your laughing pleasure.  You laughed huh!)

The next victim was Tellers.

She followed my example.

Here is one of Braden's classic dumps.  Oh he entertained us!

Leetle Jocey.

At the beginning of the summer she would only go on the tube if I went with her.

Oh what a pleasure.

But G-pa still showed no mercy...okay he waited until Jocey braved up and then smoothly dunked us.

See ya!

Oh and Jocey knee-boards too.  She's a beast!

Once Jocey figured out the tube wouldn't annihilate her like it did to her older siblings, she decided to brave it with Chantel.  This is one of my favorite vids.  The end is the best-I laugh every time.

Maybe you just had to be there but seeing their heads disappear underwater and then the tube pop up without its cover was soooo funny!

And the last of my video montage goes to Jocey when she braved the tube all alone.  I'm not sure if you can see, but at the end she tries to motion to us "cut-it" meaning "stop" by sliding her arm across her throat but she doesn't want to let go long enough to make the motion.

Oh Jocey, we love you!

And now here's to the woman that made us all water rats, the red head, the mother, the one and only Carrie Perucca!

She's 50 and still slalom skiing.  Not an easy task I tell you!

Check that out!

Oh and please bless that she's not set in her old ways.

Just give her a wake board and this woman is good to go.

When we're hot and want to cool off, we just jump in the water and play "king of the tube".
Pssshhhh, Phil--such a measly attempt.

FAIL!

Braden?...nope!

Then we decided to be a happy family and try to fit all of us big kids on the tube together.

Haha...doesn't my face just scream my happiness to be playing this game?

And last but not least, let's see who can stand on the tube the longest.

Too bad we left the summer record at a mere 3 seconds...lame.

Now that my friends is how we do it.

Boating at its best.

Thank you and good night.

~American Summer 2010~

St. Geezy

Red rock, red rock, oh how we love you!

We were just driving along the freeway and then BAM!, we were in a world of red.

Where are we you ask?  Mars?  Yellowstone?

No...

St. George of course!

Why did we visit St. Geezy on our holiday?  Well, because of this fine bloke...

...and his mission pal Brad who lives in dear old St. George.

This kid Brad was so stoked to see Phil.  He just basked in the beauty of Phil's Aussie accent.

After a good catch-up with Phil's mate, we mosied on over to the Tuacahn! 

We saw the broadway play of Disney's Tarzan.

Okay so listen,

Number one: The Tuacahn is gorgeous!...oh and us too!

Number two: the set was amazing!  They flooded the whole stage at the beginning for the shipwreck.

Number three: Phil fell in love.

Phil + American Lemonade = happiness

Phil + 105 degree weather = sweat

Phil + 105 degree weather + a frozen lemonade = LOVE

Phil and frozen lemonade. How romantic!

Seeing Tarzan was great and it was a nice night out at the Tuacahn with the hubby.

Until next time St. Geezy!

~July 23, 2010~

...it's what fun is

Oh Lagoon...the token, well actually the only amusement park in Utah.

You are a glorified carnival and even though we've all been a million times, we just still come back for more.

It seems like every year we go to Lagoon.  It's like a tradition...but not.

We know that place backwards and forwards.  Who needs a map when you've got years of hot summer days experience.  Not me!

But this time we got an added bonus.  It was a "not so normal" day at Lagoon.

Mom treated us all to the SKY COASTER!

Yep it costs extra but who cares! This was a special visi!

First up, it was mom, Nick and Justin's turn.

They're prepped and then they sweep the floor out from under them and they're hoisted up...

...and then they FLY!

Next up, Braden and Tellers.

 

And of course, the coolest ones went last.

I pulled the rip cord all by myself!  Oh it was such a rush!

The first drop down I think I practically swallowed my stomach.

Love it!

We still made time for all the Lagoon classics like the Samurai...

(look at Jo-C.  She is so brave!)

and Rattlesnake Rapids.  At the end of Rattlesnake we were all so soaked.  We couldn't stop laughing!

(oh ps...my cousins were there too)

and would you believe that it was so hot that we braved the icy temperature of Lagoon-a-Beach!

Needless to say, by the end of the night we were plum tuckered out and had the pleasure of exiting the park to see this...

Thanks Lagoon!

~July 21, 2010~

back to the ole days

July 2009:

Phil and Kaylee hang out as just the two of them for the first time ever.

They went to the Jon Schmidt concert at the Sandy Amphitheater.

Kaylee introduced Phil to some yummy American treats and by the end of the night, Phil had grabbed Kaylee's hand.

Fast forward to July 2010:

Phil and Kaylee are married and on holiday in America.

Kaylee tells Phil that they need to go pick up her cousin for a family dinner.

Instead of picking up her cousin, Kaylee drives right to the Sandy Amphitheater and guess what's on tonight?...

Jon Schmidt!

SURPRISE!

I totally got him.  He didn't even expect it.
Of course, I had a lot of help from my family...white lies, all for a good cause of course!
Because I arrived in America before Phil, I was able to buy the exact snacks we had had on our first date without him knowing.
It was a teeny bit difficult though because I wanted to remember the exact food we had on our first date.  I ended up having to be sneaky and asking Phil to watch a movie from our first date that he had back in Oz.
I figured it out and was able to re-create our first date just like the good ole days...

See any similarity to our first date movie?

To make things even more "romantic" (haha), I even brought along our wedding cake my mom had saved for us.  It was nice to be able to enjoy our cake without the wedding day rush.

Mmmmm. (thanks Jamie!)

It was the perfect night and it just brought back memories of our first date.

Love you Phil!

Happy dating anniversary!

~July 17, 2010~

Also during our trip to the states we were able to catch up with our friends Marc and Isy.

Isy is Phil's friend for Sydney in his teen years and she has been attending BYU for a couple years now.  Marc is from SLC and attends BYU as well.  They were dating when Phil and I started dating and welcomed me right into the gang!

Now they're married!

It was fun to see them in April when they got married in Sydney.  We felt special to be a part of their day.

Because Marc and Isy have a similar situation to us, a lovely bi-continental relationship, they have a special place in our hearts.

We had them over for FHE with my family and made s'mores in our backyard.

Mmmmmmm! S'mores!

It was little Phil's first time ever making s'mores over a fire.

Oh I just love a fire and s'mores on a summer night with good friends and the fam.

Mmmmmm!

~July 20, 2010~