24th of July...Fun!

I struggle with the 24th of July, because to me it means summer is almost over ; so it is not my favorite holiday. However, despite my dislike, we did have fun last weekend.

On Thursday night we went to the Fairview Rodeo with Durke's family. I told Durke he had to take me to a rodeo this summer, and we are running out of time, so the Fairview rodeo it was. I LOVE small town rodeos and this one was perfect. It really made me want to get on my horse, and run some barrels, but I refrained. (Probably because I don't even own a horse!)


Everyone enjoying the rodeo.


My little cowgirl at heart! I really think she is going to me my horse girl, yay!


Mom & Louk


As you can see the kids all had a really good time!


On Saturday my cute mom and dad came down and spent the day with us. I love when they do that.


We have a tradition of going to the Fairview Parade. Their parade is always huge and I find it really fascinating. It's Fairview for crying out loud! It is also like 10,000 degrees too, but it's still fun.

Girls waiting for some candy!


Louk is always up for a good time!

After the parade, my parents took us out to lunch at the "El Mexicano" restaurant in Mt. Pleasant. *yes, I know technically it says "the the Mexicano" but it was confusing
I'm weird I know. Anyways, if you haven't ate there you must, really you must!

When we got back home we all napped for like 2 hours. Lovely.

That night we went on a bike ride and ran into this dispicable creature.

Gracie about ran over it. It was HUGE and had 9 rattles. Needless to say it freaked me out a little, no a LOT!

We came back and did some fireworks. Always fun. Louk was fascinated with the sparklers.


We had a fun day, hope you did too!

I have been trying out a lot of new recipes with my family lately. They haven't been real impressed, but I have loved them. They are simple eaters I guess! I thought I would share some of my favorite ones and start doing a recipe a week. Let me know what you think.

This weeks recipe is for Granola. I absolutely love to have granola with milk in the morning, and this one is yummy!


8 cups Old-Fashioned oats
1 small bag craisins
1 cup coconut (more or less depending on how much you want)
1 cup slivered almonds or pecans (again more or less, however you like it)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. maple extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Dried fruit, chopped (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the oats, craisins, coconut, and nuts; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, water and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3-4 minuts or until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in the extracts. Pour over the oat mixture; stir to coat.

Transfer to two greased 15-in. x 10-in. baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crisp, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Serve with milk or yogurt.

Las Vegas

Durke and I took a little trip to Las Vegas this past weekend. I don't particularly LOVE Vegas, but it was SOOOO nice to have some alone time. It made me remember why I love him so much! We had a really fun trip even though it was 115 degrees! The part that made it even better was that Durke had earned the trip at work so our hotel was paid for and they took us out to dinner! Yay.

Speaking of our hotel we got to stay at this beauty...



this is the inside...

I almost felt like I was in Paris! (almost)

We didn't go to a show or anything but we did...

Visit M&M World. Fun!



Ride the Manhatten Express at New York, New York. Scary!



Watched the Bellagio Water Show.


Went to see Eclipse.


Ate yummy food...



(No I didn't take a picture of my food, but I did have Shrimp Alfredo and Salmon. Yummy!)

braved "The Strip" and shopped!

Perfect in my opinion! (Hey I don't get out much so I'm easy to please)

I sadly didn't get any pictures of me and Durke; because we're both to shy to ask anyone to take our picture.

It's been a long time since we had a vacation and we had a great time.

Gordon Family Reunion 2010

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Our Gordon reunion this year was very similar to last year, we all had so much fun that we decided to do it all the same again!

We started out having dinner at Ben & Diane's and they set-up the "Homemade" slip-n-slide. The best part was how much Louk loved sliding down it and he even went by himself. Then the kids (and the adults who are basically still kids...) played in the river. Ben & Diane rented the Manti Pool so we all headed over there for the rest of the night.

On Saturday, we headed up to Pete's Hole on the Joe's Valley side of the Mountain. We had yummy food, fished, painted, hiked, road bikes, and played in the boats.

On Sunday, we had dinner and visited.

The Gordon's are a go-getter family and there is NEVER a dull moment. We had fun and love all of you!

Look who's 1...

Our little guy is 1. Louk has been the best baby and the past year has been so fun with him. He is constantly making us laugh. He has the cutest smile (just like his dad), he is always happy. One of my favorite things about Louk is he LOVES to cuddle and give kisses. What more could a mom ask for right? He is into everything and is a quick learner. We don't know what we would do without Louk.

For his birthday we had everyone over for a little party and BBQ at our house. I really wanted to have a cowboy theme so I made these invitations and my cute friend Sam made the coolest cake ever! My entire family came and all of Durke's. Louk was spoiled rotten and loved every minute of it.










Thanks everyone who came. We love you all!

Fun on the Farm...

Growing up I never thought of myself as living on a farm, yea, we had horses but I wouldn't have called it a farm. Now, on the other hand, my parents live on a farm, or at least a small petting zoo. Durke had some work up in Salt Lake last week so we stopped by my parents house and Abi would not leave until she got to ride a horse. That's my girl! So we saddled up Wrangler and the girls rode for over an hour, I think I had the most fun though. I was totally in my realm. I didn't realize how much I missed the smell of the barn, or just being around horses. It really is something I love.






My parents also have two little pigs that are hilarious. We had a good laugh trying to catch them. Notice that it is me that was wrestling the darn things, not Durke. He was dressed in his "insurance man clothes" though so I guess I'll let it slide! Abi didn't want anything to do with the pigs, but Gracie climbed right in with me. Not suprising.




They also have a cute little goat. They haven't even named the poor thing. You can tell us girls aren't home anymore. We would have given her a name. I think I might steal it; Durke says no way, do you think I could smuggle it home somehow? I just want it to eat weeds.



Louk was loving it too.





It was a fun day, one we'll have to repeat soon!

100 kids...

Gracie: Mom, I think you should have 100 kids!
Me: I can't even take care of 3 kids.
Abi: I have a super idea...Dad can help!