next stop....

HANGIN' WITH MY PECK FAMILYHere we are enjoying a yummy birthday dinner for my Grandma Elene at Market Street Grill. Love that restaurant!

We spent the 24th of July with my Peck family. My grandparents have had a tradition of having a party ever since I can remember. We had a wonderful time and it was great to see lots of the family. I can't tell you how blessed I am to have such a neat family. Most people wouldn't be able to say they have a relationship with their cousins like I do. It's wonderful!

and so the vacation begins.....

PARK CITY, UTAH

We started our Utah vacation out with a wonderful 4 days up in Park City with Dave's parents and brother Kevin. It was the perfect get away. We stayed at a beautiful condo in the Mountain View Resort right at the mouth of the Alpine Slide. It was perfect for the kids and very convenient for the entertainment. All in all it was great and very nice to get some visiting time in with Jim and MaryAnn.

Carson and Cara gearing up to hit the Alpine Slide.

Dave and his Dad with the girls. We decided to hit Main Street to get a little eating and shopping in.

Dave, Carson, Cara, Kevin, and I at the top of the Alpine Slide. Gotta love that scenery!

Stroll down memory lane...

THIS TAG IS TOTALLY HITTING THE BLOGGING WORLD...CAN'T WAIT TO READ YOUR COMMENTS!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I have together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember....

2. Next repost these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave a memory for you.

Our in-home beauty parlor

So one of the best parts of having girl's and being a girl myself, is the fact that we all love to get our hair done....right? My girl's will do my hair for hours. As you can see from the picture they're pretty good at it too. So good that I was falling asleep when this picture was being taken. I can remember as a little girl fixing my Grandma's hair and she loved it. Now I know why. There's just something about having young girl's play with your hair and listening to their imaginative ideas and thoughts while doing it. Funny enough, as I'm blogging right now, Ryleigh is standing behind me on the office chair playing beauty parlor. Oh the joys of having girls!

Happy Birthday Ryleigh!

OUR TODDLER TURNS THREE

Yesterday(13th) was Ryleigh's birthday. We had her little party and celebrated with her friends on Saturday though. I decided against the theme idea and just went for a traditional birthday party. We face painted, decorated my garage in sidewalk chalk, popped balloons, had cake and ice cream and opened presents. I think they had a great time and there were cupcakes all over the kitchen floor to prove it.
She got some great gifts, including her Dora bike shown in the picture above. She hasn't got off of it since. Ryleigh's funny~ She's definitely had her "terrible two" moments so hopefully heading into the 3's will calm her drama queen attitude down a bit. We love Ryleigh. I mean how could you not, just look at what a cutie she is.

Graceland

Is Elvis still alive....well to answer that question, No he obviously has passed, but his legend definitely still lives on.

So I finally visited the inside of Graceland. I've always wanted to go but was waiting for someone else who REALLY wanted to go. My brother in law Ryan and his friend Jenny were driving through Memphis and Jenny really wanted to see Graceland so we went. It was nice to do it without the kids and I know I got a ton more out of the tour than I would have with them there. I learned a lot of really interesting things. His home was so retro. Everything very fancy and loud. We had to turn the flash on our cameras off so the pictures in the slide show below aren't great but they at least show those of you who have never been or may never go some of the inside. I would say the thing that shocked me the most was how thin he was and how many gold records he actually was awarded. TONS! All in all it was a great tour, there were only a handful of people there (compared to thousands on some days), and I was surrounded with good company. Thanks Jenny and Ryan for letting me be the third wheel and thanks for taking a detour on your way home.

(it was an audio tour, that's why we have headsets on in the pix)

Check out my Slide Show!

Thanks for the pix Ryan, I stole them while you were sleeping :)

DWTS/COUNTRY GAL

Most of you know I'm a huge "Dancing with the Stars" fan. So much so that I attended the live show in Nashville. I'm pretty partial to Julianne for obvious reasons....She's a Utah girl! As I was driving in the car today I heard her new song on the radio "That Song In My Head" and I love it. Not only am I a DWTS fan but I love country music too. This is her new song~ Just thought I'd share. Can't wait for season 8, but I don't think she'll be dancing. I'm sure her singing career is keeping her pretty busy for now.

I'm kicking myself....

(Me in NYC in 2004)

Okay so I'm trying to have a positive attitude but it's really hard when Dave is calling me every 5 minutes saying "Hey I'm in Times Square, or hey I'm at the NBC studios, and heading over to Central Park." To make a long story short, Dave is in NYC for a couple of days with work and I had the chance to meet him up there for the weekend but decided I needed to stay in town because Youth Conference is this week and I know the Young Women need me to stick around for that. Yep, I'm kicking myself right now, but I'm trying to remain positive and realize when I accepted my calling that I was going to have to make some sacrifices too. There's always next time!!!!

We hope you have a safe and happy 4Th of July!

Talk about getting the chills!

I'm sure most wouldn't argue with me when I say this is the best singing of the National Anthem ever. You go Whitney! Superbowl 1991...I know you all remember how amazing she did. Check it out again and I'm sure you'll get the chills all over just like I did. I love it!

(Make sure to pause the playlist music to your right)

A perfect week for a military tribute!

One thing my parents really taught us growing up was patriotism and to never take our freedoms for granted. Dave and I were both raised as "military brats" and both of us thankful for those experiences. My slide show below is just to pay tribute to those in my family serving/served in the military. I thank them for the examples they are and I thank their families for the many sacrifices they have made. A big thanks goes out to all of you!

Dad-Air force

Aaron (brother)-Air force

Jim Rees-Navy

Danny Rees-Navy

Lee Hooper-Army

Steve Hooper-Army

Grandpa Hooper-Air force

Papa Peck-Army

Mike Hadley-Air force

(check out my slide show below)

Check out my Slide Show!